40. Ancient Scripture Often Foreshadows the Future
"One In Thine Hand"
Often ancient scripture not only prophesies of the future, but just as
history has its parallels, the events and words of ancient scripture can
reflect the future as such events are prophetically repeated and as with the
parables, they can foreshadow the future. Thus from the Old Testament comes
one such tale which has it fulfillment in the events that have come after it.
A Child Divided
It seems that there were two women of the same house and each did lay their
separate claims to the same child. The case was brought before the great
king of wisdom and justice who decided the fateful and thus prophetic outcome
of such parallel events to come in the manner of his own court decision. This
of course is the tale of the two harlots of one house and their dispute over
whose was the living and dead child, both claiming the living child to be
their own. The scriptural account reads:
¶ Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood
before him. And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. And this woman's child died in the night; because she overlaid it. And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear. And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king. Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy
son is the dead, and my son is the living. And the king said, Bring me a
sword. And they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, Divide
the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.
Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it. Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof. And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment. ~ 1 Kings 3:16-28
Now the first woman, harlot or inn/housekeeper, would be that of Rachel,
Joseph, Ephraim and/or the northern kingdom of Israel. And the second would
be that of Leah or Judah. Both such nations are well known in scriptures as
playing the harlot in seeking after false Gods, thus the representation of
being 'harlots' is a fair assecessment. Each women did lay claim to the
living child, one as Messiah ben Joseph/Ephraim and the other as Messiah ben
David/Judah. The judgment was to divide the child into two. And the one did
being representative of Judah did persist in that the one living child be
divided into two. Such a division of the child, the Messiah, would tend to
destory the one true Messiah by dividing him into two. This the Jews have
done by presenting that the Messiah be divided between Joseph, Messiah ben
Jodseph, and Judah, as Messiah ben David. But the first or Rachel, in order
to keep the child as one, was welling to yield up the child unto the other.
Therefore Judah, as the harlot who did overlay and kill the child Jesus
Christ, the suffering child who they attributed to be Messiah Ben Joseph,
will not have the living child Judah claims as Messiah Ben David to bring
forth in the last days. And thus the great king and judge did determine in
the end to give the living child to the first who was its rightful and legal
parent, and that is Ephraim of Joseph in the latter-days. And in the
latter-days it will be so, for it is Ephraim who doth bring forth the Second
Coming of the child to the world as the Ensign to the nations, Ephraim being
the rightful heir of Jacob as adopted as his firstborn son of the covenant.
Further, the irony of the scriptures do persist, as even in Rabbinical
interpretation of the words of Ezekiel, the two claims of Messiah ben Joseph
and Messiah ben David do become one and the same. That is the 'rod' or
'staff' who is Jesus Christ as is spoken of in Ezekiel 37. And just as
various scriptures of true life parables and parallels have various depths of
meaning, so does that scriptural account of the two harlots before king
Solomon.
Now many LDS members do not look beyond the Book of Mormon and Bible
relationship portrayed in Ezekiel chapter 37. But the Book of Mormon is
merely today's representation of the history and stick of Joseph/Ephraim.
The 'larger' history of the nation of Joseph and Ephraim as the kingdom of
Israel extends beyond the beginnings and ending of the Book of Mormon. The
brass plates of Laban may well we looked to as that part of the stick of
Joseph which preceeded the Book of Mormon and the very latter-day history of
the restoration may be further considered as a part of that extended history
and stick of Joseph/Ephraim. And just as well is the New Testament and the
latter-day histories of the Jews a part of the 'stick of Judah'.
Further, besides being the historical records of the seed, nations and
kingdoms of Joseph/Ephraim and Judah, Each such record is set as a witness
to Jesus Christ, the Messiah, before the world. And each speaks of Christ's
relationship to them. Judah's or Leah's record presents the woman who
overlaid her child and caused his death. Joseph's or Rachel's record presents
the true, rightful and legal parentage of the Messiah and presents the nation
which will usher in his Second Coming. Let's read Ezekiel's record.
"¶ The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick,
and write upon it, For Judah,
and for the children of Israel his companions: then take
another stick, and write upon it,
For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for
all the house of Israel his companions:
And join them one to another into one
stick; and they shall become one in thine
hand.
¶ And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying,
Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I
will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the
tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick
of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
¶ And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before
their eyes. And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold,
I will take the children of Israel from among the
heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side,
and bring them into their own land: And I will make
them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel;
and one king shall be king to them all:
and they shall be no more two nations,
neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:
Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with
their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will
save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will
cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will
be their God. And David [Jesus Christ] my servant shall be king over them;
and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my
judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the
land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have
dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their
children's children for ever: and my servant David
shall be their prince for ever. Moreover I will make a covenant
of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will
place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them
for evermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their
God, and they shall be my people. And the heathen shall know that I the LORD
do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for
evermore." ~ Ezekiel 37:15-18
Before we analyze this scripture, it should be pointed out that Christ as
Jehovah has been endowed with the power of God the Father to act in his name.
He often speaks by divine investature as the Father. And he often thus speaks
of himself in the second person. Thus 'my servant David' who is to be our
king is to be understood as Jesus Christ the son of God. He will be our God,
the advocate of the Father to us. It is he who is the one and only true
shepherd. It is he who will be our prince forever. Thus another name by
which our ruling Lord will be known by is David, the Son of David, being the
same as Jesus Christ the one and only Messiah, the Son of God.
Now in one level of meaning, the sticks are representative of the 'word' of
God which will come out of Judah and out of Joseph, the latter being in the
hand of Ephraim. And they are generally represented by the Bible of Judah and
the Book of Mormon of Joseph. Then on another level, the records are those
of two nations and those two nations are into which Jacob's seed is divided
into, the nation of Judah and the nation of Ephriam or Israel. But then in an
even deeper meaning the 'Word' is the same as Christ, that is Christ being
the 'rod', 'staff', 'stick' or 'Word' (John 1:1) as it were of Ephraim and
Judah via David of Boaz of Judah and of Mahlon of Ephraim. And the Lord God,
the 'Word' as Messiah ben Joseph/Ephraim, and the 'Word' or Lord God, Messiah
ben David/Judah, will become One God of the two nations and of the two
nation's records. And the dispute will be
settled as explained in the latter end of the last paragraphs of Ezekiel 37
above.
Now of further interest is that the Book of Mormon, while commonly presented
as the 'stick or word of Joseph', is not the full and complete record of
Joseph which testifies of Christ. It is what might be considered but a
particle installment. To that ancient record, which tells of the Lehi and
Mulek branches of Joseph (yes Mulek as seed of David is to be considered as
seed of Joseph just as the Savior is to be so considered), there is more to be
considered the 'stick of Joseph.' Our own modern scriptures of the Doctrine
and Covenant are scriptural records written by the hand of Ephraim and are
therefore a record of the more modern branch of the branches of Joseph. And
then there is the plates of brass which some, among whom I am, consider to
be but a more ancient extension of the 'stick of Joseph.' Those brass plates
contained genealogies specific to the house of Joseph and many additional
prophets who were prophets to the house of Joseph more so than to the house
of Judah.
There are two scriptures which should be considered in defining a broader
scope to the definition to the 'stick of Joseph' which reaches beyond the
limited record of the Book of Mormon. First, it was Joseph of Egypt not
Ezekiel who first received instructions from the Lord for there to be two
records kept. In the Inspired Version, verse 31 of the 50th chapter of
Genesis, Joseph of Egypt was told of the need for the two records. It reads
as follows:
"Wherefore the fruit of thy loins shall write, and the fruit of the loins of
Judah shall write, and that which shall be written by the fruit of they loins,
and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of judah, shall
grow together unto the confounding of false doctrine, and laying down of
contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, and
bringing them to a knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also
to the knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord." ~ JST Genesis 50:31
Thus one might well consider that from that date the records where kept and
the plates of brass being but the house of Joseph record. The brass plates
certainly contained more prophets in those plates who specifically prophecied
concerning the house of Joseph being Zenos, Zenock, and Ezias. And that brass
plate record was being kept by the house of Joseph, being in the possession
of Laban and having the geneologies of Joseph upon them which are largely
missing out of the Jewish Old Testament Bible. It is curious to consider that
at the same time that Hilkiah the high priest of the temple in Josiah's day
did find the record of the Law of Moses in the temple (see 2 Kings 22:8),
Laban and his ancestors right there in Jerusalem had always had at their
disposal the five books of Moses in the brass plates record which did contain
that very law as part of the record of the house of Joseph (see 1 Nephi
5:11-16 particularly verse 16 which states that Laban and his fathers, plural,
had been keeping the brass plates records, thus for many generations). Or
perhaps the 'book of the law in the house of the LORD' did contain more
detailed ordinance works than where common to the common record of the
people in the five books of Moses?
The brass plate record is promised to come forth one day. And then we will
likely know more of the truth of the promises of Joseph and how it is that
the covenants of the fathers did by right proceed down to its rightful
heirs through Joseph and Ephraim. I would think that the details of the
genealogies of the house of Elimelech would therefore be therein contained.
And with the coming forth of the brass plates and perhaps other records as
well, the more complete 'stick of Joseph' will then be had among us. I
look foreward to that day when more will be understood and clarified.