"Therefore, thus saith the Lord unto you, with whom the priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your fathers—For ye are lawful heirs, according to the flesh, and [ye] have been hid from the world with Christ in God—Therefore your life and the priesthood have remained, and must needs remain through you and your lineage until the restoration of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began." D&C 86:8-10

In ordering the affairs of earth, they were established upon the same order and principles of Heaven. That is, Adam was set to be the ruling Patriarch of this earth. Yet, since earth was a natural corruption, a perfect Patriarchal Order could not always be maintained. Cain was the eldest of Cain and Abel. Yet Cain's devotion to God was grossly lacking and Abel was selected over Cain to be heir to the priesthood and to be next in the priesthood after his Father Adam as set out in D&C 84:14-17. When Cain killed Abel, it was some time before another was selected in Seth to be the next in line. That most ancient line of righteous Patriarchs after the Patriarchal Order of heaven included such as Adam, Enoch and thence to Noah and Noah's son Shem and then through Melchizedek to Abraham and from Abraham to Isaac then Jacob and then Jospeh as set out in D&C 84:14-17, D&C 107:40-53, D&C 138:41, Abraham 1:2-4, and D&C 27:10.

Now the immediate fathers of Abraham were not worthy priesthood bears. Terah himself being an idolator and worshipper of false Gods. So then once again there was another 'human' flaw in the Patriarchal Order. The immediate father to the immediate eldest son order was lost in the wickedness of the people. And it wasn't until the days of Abraham that one was found worthy who sought after the ancient blessings of the fathers, after the Patriarchal Order. Abraham had obtained the priesthood in Ur of Chaldees. There he was given a Urim and Thummim which constitutes a seer. But Abraham sought after more and was eventually ordained by Melchizedek to succeed in the being the rightful heir of the Patriarchal Order of the Priesthood after the High Order of God.

From Abraham it continued on through his son Isaac and then to Jacob. Neither Abraham, Isaac or Jacob were firstborn and Abraham's claim to the Patriarchal Order did not come by way of his immediate father who was wicked. Thus in relation to the imperfect natural order of earth, unworthy persons and generation links are removed and the Patriarchal Order will be seen to often go to younger sons and even skip generations until a worthy heir is found. Yet the Patriarchal Order is the true order of the priesthood of God which will be that order which will exist in the Celestial Heaven.

From Jacob the Patriarchal authority of the covenant and right of the Firstborn of Israel fell to Joseph of Egypt and then upon the head of Joseph's son Ephraim (see JST Genesis 48, 1 Chronicles 5:1-2 & Jeremiah 31:9). It was Jacob himself who ordained Ephraim to be the rightful heir in Israel. Jacob places his name 'Israel' upon him and give him the greater blessing over Manasseh, Joseph's eldest. The Lord himself through the prophet Jeremiah (31;9) states that Ephraim is the Lord's recognized 'Firstborn in Israel' or in other words the presiding Patriarch of the Patriarchal Order, the Covenant of the Firstborn. And as stated in the Doctrine and Covenants, the 'blessings of the fathers' meaning the Promise of the Covenant including the promise of the Messiah did remain through Joseph, Jacob, Issac and Abraham (D&C 27:10). Judah is NOT mentioned in the rights to the Covenant of the Firstborn as an administering worthy priesthood holder as that right of the Covenant of Abraham fell to the lawful, legal and rightful seed of Ephraim the ordained of the covenant by the hand of Jacob, Joseph's second born son.

From Ephraim, according the Chronicles, the righteous heirship line passed on down from Ephraim until it reaches a descendant named Nun which name means fish. And of course Nun was the father of the Ephraimite Prophet leader of Israel who Moses renames Jehoshua or Joshua which is the same name as Jesus and meaning Jehovah is Salvation. Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea clearly states in the first book of his Ecclesiatical History, chapter 3, that Moses knew that the name Joshua was the name of the Messiah from the foundation of the world and therefore as an honor to the son of Nun, he remaned Oshea after the name to be given the Messiah, even JESUS in the Greek or Jehoshua in the more proper form of the Hebrew language. And as previous cited, in the book of Jasher, Nun is identified as being an Ephrathite. And this, though Nun was born in Egypt and never set foot in the promised land. In the book of Jasher the meaning of Ephrathite is clearly seen to mean that Nun was the rightful heir of the tribe of Ephraim.

The Jewish compiled Old Testament fails to give the genealogy of the descendants of Joshua or any such descending lineage from Joseph of Egypt beyond Joshua. This seems to be an almost intentional design. However the Book of Ruth, even through the Jewish perspective, does retain the fact that Elimelech and Mahlon his son were also Ephrathites as were Nun and his son Joshua. And here we are able to join the rightful heirship of Jesus Christ to the proper Patriarchal Order of descendancy from Ephraim, the rightful heir of the Patriachal blessings of the fathers from Adam, Enoch and Noah to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and then Ephraim. From Ephraim to Nun and Joshua and presumably from them to Elimelech and Mahlon.

Now the concept of Patriarchal right and linage was so great in Israel that a Law of Marriage was established whereby the patriarchal order of the families of Israel would not be lost and could be preserved. This Law can be found in Deuteronomy chapter 25 verses 5-10. It in effect states that a kinsman to a family who has no patriarchal male heirs is responsible to raise up an heir to the dead by marrying the wife of the deceased line. The firstborn son of that marriage became the legal, lawful and rightful patriarchal heir and seed of the flesh of the deceased family line in Israel. This is NOT just a mere form of adoption, but the first born son of such a marriage by the Law of God did become that 'heir' of the family to all the family lands and blessings, which would include the right and heirship to the patriarchal order of the priesthood of the Covenant of the Firstborn to that family. Simply stated, Obed was the Heir of the Covenant of the Ephraimite house of Mahlon and Elimelech. Boaz was merely the surrogate vicarious ordinance performer under God's Law.

This is what Boaz did knowingly as he so states in Ruth 4:5 & 10 himself. Related to Elimelech by a maternal marriage link which made kinsmens of Elimelech of Ephraim and Boaz of Judah, Boaz proceeded to raise up 'literal seed' according to God's Law to the dead meaning Mahlon, by marrying Ruth the widow of Mahlon. The first born son of that marriage was Obed, who was consider legally and rightfully as being of the house of Elimelech and Naomi, the son of the dead Mahlon. This made Obed the legal and rightful heir of the patriarchal line of Ephraim. This made Obed an Ephrathite and so it was stated that Jesse, Obed's son was an Ephrathite meaning that his was the rightful heir of the Patriarchal Order of Ephraim and the seed of the house of Elimelech and Mahlon.

Here the Jewish perspective in their compilation of the Bible muddles the water of understanding by disregarding and contrary to the Law of God in the Law of Moses, by stating Obed's surrogate bloodline linage over the true vicarious lawful and legal patriarchal lineage of being of the tribe of Ephraim and heir of the Covenant of the Firstborn a descendant of Joseph of Egypt. Obed should rightfully and legally be stated as the seed of Mahlon the son of Elimelech the descendant of Joshua the son of Nun the rightful heir and descendant of Ephraim the son of Joseph, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the heir of the Patriarchal Order of the fathers bestowed by Melchizedek and thence through Noah, Enoch and back to Adam. This would then yeild the true Patriarchal Order linage of the house of David, the ancestor of Jesus Christ through Mary and Joseph the carpenter's adoption of Mary's firstborn. But the Jewish perspective of pride and coveting the heirship of the Messiah dismisses and 'hides' that true linage and makes King David a Jew of the bloodline of Boaz rather than the true parent of God's Law, Mahlon. Yet this was still well known in Israel by the Jewish scholars, for the Pharisees still attack Jesus as being in truth a 'Samaritan', which references his 'mixed' linage due to various marriages in the linage of the Messiah which included Ruth a Moabitess and other women who are not of Israel, thus making the whole house of David to be of a mixed linage of Ephraim with other nations as were the Samaritans, and thus in truth the same as those who were Samaritans of the mixed linage of Ephraim.

Yet here is the true Patriarchal Order being preserved 'to fulfill all righteousness' on earth as in heaven. Jesus Christ was the rightful heir of the righteous Patriarchal Order from Adam which descended through Ephraim the Covenant Firstborn of Israel and rightful heir to the priesthood. By this right of order, Christ was in truth the Great High Priest of both heaven and earth, having rights of descendancy and heirship of both through Adam and through God the Father. All the Patriachs from Adam through and including Ephraim were promised that the Messiah would be born of their legal and rightful patriarchal seed. There is even evidence that Joshua was considered a part of this ancestrial line to the promised Messiah.

This is a righteous patriarchal chain of descent which the tribe of Judah could not of itself bestow upon the Messiah. It could only have descended by righteous worthy right through such as Joseph of Egypt and Ephraim his son. It is in considering this righteous and rightful Patriarchal Order linage of descent that one is lead to conclude that Jesus Christ was an Ephrathite as was his righteous link through Jesse, the father of David. David having lost his position in that patriarchal linage due to his unrighteous acts relative to Uriah and his wife.

Now according to God's Law, the first born son of the marriage of Bathsheba and David would of necessity revert to Uriah, the husband of the widow without heir. Thus that first born son was claimed in death by the hand of the Lord. And then the later born son Solomon was not of Uriah but was legally of the lienage of the righteous patriarchal father Jesse, the father of David, by whom the blessings of the father did pass to the descendants of Daivd, David being skipped in the Patriarchal Order due to his wickedness and lost position in the Kingdom of Heaven.