16 Yea, thus prophesied Joseph: I am sure of this thing,
even as I am sure of the promise of Moses; for the Lord hath said unto me, I
will preserve thy seed forever.
17 And the Lord hath said: I will raise up a Moses; and I
will give power unto him in a rod; and I will give judgment unto him in writing.
Yet I will not loose his tongue, that he shall speak much, for I will not make
him mighty in speaking. But I will write unto him my law, by the finger of mine
own hand; and I will make a spokesman for him.
18 And the Lord said unto me also: I will raise up unto
the fruit of thy loins; and I will make for him a spokesman. And I, behold, I
will give unto him that he shall write the writing of the fruit of thy loins,
unto the fruit of thy loins; and the spokesman of thy loins shall declare it.
19 And the words which he shall write shall be the words
which are expedient in my wisdom should go forth unto the fruit of thy loins.
And it shall be as if the fruit of thy loins had cried unto them from the dust;
for I know their faith.
20 And they shall cry from the dust; yea, even repentance
unto their brethren, even after many generations have gone by them. And it
shall come to pass that their cry shall go, even according to the simpleness of
their words.
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 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” (JST
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]
[2] Annual FARMS Lecture: The Book of Mormon,
Designed for Our Day, Richard Dilworth Rust, Provo, Utah: Maxwell
Institute.
[3] Across Arabia with Lehi and Sariah:
"Truth Shall Spring out of the Earth", Warren P. Aston, Provo,
Utah: Maxwell Institute.
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