Sunday, July 14, 2013

2 Nephi 3:16-20

Lehi continues to quote Joseph1’s prophecy.  Joseph was told by the Lord that his descendants shall be preserved forever. 

He talks more about Moses.  He will be given a rod for his power.  He will be strong in writing.  The Lord told Moses:

And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables [JST Deut. 10:2 ... which thou brakest, save the words of the everlasting covenant of the holy priesthood, and thou shalt] put them in the ark.
And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me.
Deuteronomy 10:2, 4

But, Moses will be slow in speech and tongue (see Exodus 4:10).  To deal with this, the Lord will give him a spokesman. 

And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother?  I know that he can speak well.  And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.
And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.
And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead [A prophet is a spokesman;  hence he speaks for, or instead of, God] of God.
Exodus 4:14 - 16

Joseph returns to his prophesy concerning Joseph Smith.  He will be given a spokesman.  He will write the words and the spokesman will declare it.  S. Kent Brown writes:

In these last blessings, Lehi taught his children principles for successful living in the promised land and prophesied of a time when his posterity would reject their Redeemer and rebel against the principles of righteousness. They would then lose the lands of their inheritance and be "scattered and smitten" (2 Nephi 1:11).

Even after picturing these difficulties, Lehi assured his family that their descendants would survive the disasters. Eventually, a special seer would bring to pass "much restoration unto the house of Israel, and unto the seed of thy brethren" (2 Nephi 3:24). Lehi also prophesied that the record his people kept would spread to the survivors of his seed and then to all parts of the world (see 2 Nephi 3:18-21).[1]

Joseph Smith will write the words he is given.  When the words go forth, it will “be as if the fruit of thy loins had cried unto them from the dust” (2 Nephi 3:19).   Isaiah would also prophesy, “And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust” (Isaiah 29:4).

Before his death, Nephi would write:

And there is none other which shall view it, save it be a few according to the will of God, to bear testimony of his word unto the children of men; for the Lord God hath said that the words of the faithful should speak as if it were from the dead.
(2 Nephi 27:13).

And now, my beloved brethren, all those who are of the house of Israel, and all ye ends of the earth, I speak unto you as the voice of one crying from the dust: Farewell until that great day shall come.
And you that will not partake of the goodness of God, and respect the words of the Jews, and also my words, and the words which shall proceed forth out of the mouth of the Lamb of God, behold, I bid you an everlasting farewell, for these words shall condemn you at the last day.
For what I seal on earth, shall be brought against you at the judgment bar; for thus hath the Lord commanded me, and I must obey.  Amen.
2 Nephi 33:13 - 15

Richard Rust tells us:

Writers such as Moroni and his father are, however, actually secondary authors of the Book of Mormon; the primary author is Jesus Christ. As Mormon affirms, "I ... do write the things which have been commanded me of the Lord" (3 Nephi 26:12).  Likewise, the premortal Savior told Joseph the Patriarch that Joseph Smith would write "the words which are expedient in my wisdom should go forth unto the fruit of thy loins" (2 Nephi 3:19).[2]

The voice that cries from the dust, it will cry repentance to “their brethren even after many generations have gone by”  (2 Nephi 3:20).  Nephi  would write, “For those who shall be destroyed shall speak unto them out of the ground, and their speech shall be low out of the dust, and their voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit; for the Lord God will give unto him power, that he may whisper concerning them, even as it were out of the ground; and their speech shall whisper out of the dust” (2 Nephi 26:16).

Moroni would tell us:

Search the prophecies of Isaiah.  Behold, I cannot write them.  Yea, behold I say unto you, that those saints who have gone before me, who have possessed this land, shall cry, yea, even from the dust will they cry unto the Lord; and as the Lord liveth he will remember the covenant which he hath made with them.
And no one need say they shall not come, for they surely shall, for the Lord hath spoken it; for out of the earth shall they come, by the hand of the Lord, and none can stay it; and it shall come in a day when it shall be said that miracles are done away; and it shall come even as if one should speak from the dead.
Mormon 8:23, 26

Warren Ashton comments:

Joseph of Egypt foretold that a latter-day seer bearing his name would bring forth the words of his posterity "from the dust" (see 2 Nephi 3:19–20), and Isaiah later prophesied of a sealed book in the last days that would "whisper out of the dust" (Isaiah 29:4). Finally, the Psalmist predicted that "truth shall spring out of the earth" (Psalm 85:11). Latter-day Saints, of course, see the coming forth of the Book of Mormon—a record literally taken from out of the earth—as the fulfillment of these prophecies concerning our day.[3]


[1] Nephi's Use of Lehi's Record, S. Kent Brown, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed July 14, 2013.
[2] Annual FARMS Lecture: The Book of Mormon, Designed for Our Day, Richard Dilworth Rust, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed July 14, 2013.
[3] Across Arabia with Lehi and Sariah: "Truth Shall Spring out of the Earth", Warren P. Aston, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed July 14, 2013.

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