124. The Richer Blessing Upon Ephraim
"And they shall bring forth their rich treasures unto the
children of Ephraim, my servants. And the boundaries of the everlasting hills
shall tremble at their presence. And there shall they fall down and be
crowned with glory, even in Zion, by the hands of the servants of the Lord,
even the children of Ephraim. And they shall be filled with songs of
everlasting joy. Behold, this is the blessing of the everlasting God upon the
tribes of Israel, and the richer blessing upon the head of Ephraim and his
fellows." ~ D&C 133:30-34
This speaks of the events of the latter end of the last days which leads to
the coming of the Lord. It has ever been that Judah and the tribe thereof has
usurp to the position of being heir to Jacob and the blessing of the covenant
of the fathers from the days of Judah and Joseph until the present. The Bible
written from the very Jewish perspective proclaims that it is 'Judah who has
prevailed in Israel above his brethren and that of him the chief ruler' (1
Chronicles 5:2).
It has been presented in this text that this Jewish
perspective is held as a result of a number of events. First, one must
understand that it was Judah's purpose to have killed Joseph that he might
obtain the birthright. And if not for the preserving hand of Rueben, Judah's
design would have prevailed then, with the blood of Joseph on his hands at
that point. But Joseph was sold into Egypt as a slave and thus presumed dead,
or as good as dead. And Judah stood to be the head of Israel as a result,
Rueben, Simeon, and Levi having lost their hiership through various grevious
sins against Jacob and the Lord, though Judah's hidden sin against Joseph
would have been as great if not greater were it also known. But Joseph
prevailed in Egypt and remained heir of Jacob and Jacob blessed Joseph's son,
Ephraim, to stand in the place of his firstborn Reuben and in the birthright
and covenant of the fathers and to stand unto the sons of Jacob as Israel
(See JST Genesis 48:5-11).
So wherein did Judah prevail? This is in two matters. First, King David chose
Judah over Israel, Ephraim and the Kingdom thereof; as indeed David was by
blood the son of Boaz a Jew. But the Bible also preserves that David did this
though the great right in David was held by Israel. That 'greater right' was
according to the Law of God, that Boaz 'a near kinsman', NOT the nearest, did
perform the responsibility of the brother kinsman in two regards. He did as
stated in the law and varified in the book of Ruth, did take Ruth to wife,
the wife of Mahlon, the son of Elimelech, in order to raise up seed to the
dead that the name of the dead be not forgotten of lost in Israel (Deuteronomy
25:5-10 & Ruth 4:5 & 10). He also performed that added requirement of the law
in that he redeemed all the property of Elimelech, Chilion and Mahlon, which
had been sold out, and paid under the law that which it cost to then bring
that inheritence back upon the firstborn son of Ruth, Obed, as his family
inheritance of the lands of the house of Elimelech. This the nearer kinsman
was unwilling to do. Thus Boaz, a 'Jewish cousin' by maternal marriage to the
Ephraimite named Ephrathite family of Elimelech did both raise up seed to the
dead, making Obed the Son of the house of Elimelech as stated that Obed was a
son born to Naomi, Naomi being the only living representative of the House
of Elimelech, Chilion and Mahlon (Ruth 4:17). Obed was the legal and rightful
son of Mahlon and the heir of the birthright of the house of Elimelech, which
not only included all of the properties of Elimelech, Chilion and Mahlon so
also redeemed unto him by the vicarious grace of Boaz; but Obed was also heir
of that covenant blessing of the fathers which was preserved through Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Joseph (D&C 27:10), Ephraim and down to and through Elimelech
and Mahlon and to Obed as being that son raised up unto that family though
Mahlon was dead by the Law of God as set forth in Deuteronomy 25:5-10.
Thus though King David of his own choice chose Judah over Israel, that is
Ephraim, he only did so after he had lost his of position in the eternal
'covenant' as it sets out in D&C 132:39 that in consequence of David's sin
against God in the case of Uriah 'he hath fallen from his
exaltation', that is his position in the covenant line which covenant line
would resort back to Jesse, David's father in his stead. And therefore
whatever choose to do of his own according in denouncing Israel or Ephraim
and that heritace and selecting Judah instead was of no consequence unto the
'covenant linage'. David's 'sons' would become the sons of Jesse and still of
the covenant linage and of the right of the covenant, which covenant included
the birth of the Savior unto that linage, that Ephraimite lineage. And thus
the promise of the blessing of Jacob upon Joseph in his patriarchal blessing
was still in force which stated concerning Joseph"
" . . . from thence
[from Joseph] is the shepherd, the
stone of Israel:" ~ Genesis 49:24
That the birth of the Savior is a prominent part of the Covenant of
Abraham, of the covenant blessing of the fathers is explained in the LDS
Bible Dictionary under 'Abraham, Covenant of' which states that that covenant
'Included in the divine promises to Abraham ... that (1) Christ would come
through his linage'. This is an essential part of the 'richer blessings' of
that Everlasting Covenant as it so states in the book of Moses.
"And the Lord said: Blessed is he through whose seed Messiah
shall come; for he saith—I am Messiah, the
King of Zion, the Rock of
Heaven ... " ~ Moses 7:53
Thus beyond fulfilling the blessing of the nations of the earth through being
the servants of the Lord in the end of days in fulfilling that portion of
the Covenant Blessing and Promises of Abraham an the Fathers, Ephraim does
also qualify and receive the 'richer blessings' of being the legal and
rightful covenant ancestor of the Messiah in that Jesus according to the
Covenant is that Messiah ben Joseph so pronounced to come of Joseph through
Ephraim. And thus the 'King of Zion' is also the rightful earthly heir of
'Zion'; which is the promised land of Joseph. And in this he does fulfill all
righteousness.
Now that other respect in which Judah considers that they did prevail over
their brethren is in the sattering of Israel, in that the Kingdom of Israel
was scatter and 'lost' before the Kingdom of Judah was. And in that the
Kingdom of Judah was all that did remain and from their own perspective,
though many of the remnants of the other tribes did dwell amid them, the did
claim and usurp that they did 'prevail over their brethren'. Now this
consideration of prevailing 'over' another is in that they do place
themselves above and over the other tribes of Israel.
But consider Ephraim's position of having prevailed. As the scriptures
present Ephraim is but the servants of the Lord and in the truth aspects of
the teaching of Jesus, let he who would be servant to all be their leader.
Ephraim's order of 'prevailing' in Israel as the Lord's firstborn (Jeremiah
31:9) is in that capacity of service, bring the blessings of the covenant
not only unto Israel his brethren but unto all the nations of the earth to
the benefit of all who ever have, do now and will yet live upon this second
estate. Now that is the true position of greatness, not in putting others
down to 'rule over them', but in raising them all up that they might obtain
heaven and be one with the worthy of Ephraim, with Christ and God the Father.
And in this is Ephraim the greates of all the tribes and the Lord's servant,
not as Judah so present themselves to be. Now many prescribe that the home
and birth place of John was south of Jerusalem, even as far south as being
south of Hebron. But this could not be according to LDS understanding as it
is stated that John the Baptist was one of the children which came under
Herod's edict and Herod's edict according to scripture was unto the children
of the House of David throughout the region of Ramah, which Ramah was the
hill country of Ephraim and why the deaths were morned by Rachel and not Leah,
Ramah being the lands of Ephraim as well as those of the House of David.