Section V
E P I L O G U E
~ Unto Him Shall the Gathering of the People Be ~

     Beyond the summaries and before any appendixes is the Epilogue. It is a piece of writing at the end of a work designed to bring closure to the work, the bottom line so to speak. Now the ultimate epilogue would be a direct revealation stating the settlement of the matter or perhaps the discovery of some yet unrevealed scipture such as the coming forth of the plates of brass. But barring that neither of these has yet occured it must settle upon an ending evidence which suggests the definitive determination of the matter.

Already explored is Judah's patriarchal blessing and the exceptions taken as to the traditional conclusion that in and of it self uniquely limits the Messiah's ancestry to the tribe of Judah. And it is to that which is now again firt turned.

"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." ~ Genesis 49:10

What is meant by 'from between his feet' is that the person who holds the sceptre or rule of the people shall be a bioligical descendant of Judah of the male line, from between his DNA feet. This does pertain to all of the kings and rulers who were of the house of David, for indeed were they all biological descendant of Judah in that Boaz of Judah was the biological father of Obed who was the father of Jesse who was the father of David. And though the Royal house down to Joseph and Mary may have fell to a such related cousin/nephew of a particular house who had no immediate hier as the difference between the genealogies of Matthew and Luke do suggest, the fact was still that the rulers and kings came out of the house of David. That is until Christ.

On the one hand, certainly Mary was of the house of David, but Jesus' biological father was not. Jesus' father was God the Father, His Only Begotten Son in the flesh. That is where the paternal biology of the sceptre from between the feet of Judah did end. Jesus was not a patriarchal son of the house of David biologically. He was a matriarchal son of the house of David through Mary. But he was but adopted by Joseph the Carpenter of the house of David as his first son and hier.

Jesus was the heir of the Crown of David. Mary's father was the heir to the throne of David. He had no surviving sons, so that left but his daughter as his heir to the throne. Then on the other hand the next of kin male relative was a near relative and an otherwise contending heir of possibility. That was Joseph the carpenter. And yet by adoption, Joseph did recognize Jesus as his first born son. Thus the two house that were closely related, the one being the heir and the other being a possible contender to the crown in the event of no male heir were both recogciled in Jesus. Jesus was heir of his mother Mary to the Royal crown by Maternal biological descent and also by Joseph the carpenter according to his acceptance of adopting Jesus as his oldest son and heir.

It has already been discussed that Shiloh here in Judah's blessing does refers to Jesus Christ and that Jesus Christ was indeed the patriarchal Son of God, His Only Begotten Son in the flesh. In that alone Judah is not the patriarchal ancestor of Jesus Christ and neither is Joseph, or the tribe of Ephraim. Yet, as already reviewed, the house of David was a bloodline heir of Boaz the Jew, David's descendants were they who held the sceptre and the law. Jesus was descended from his mother Mary and adopted by Joseph the carpenter.

Now some might attempt to argue that Jesus was no longer of the bloodline of Jusah and thus was no longer the holder of the sceptre held by the tribe of Judah. But that line of reasoning is counter productive as Jusus was the rightful heir of the Crown of David and he was still of the motal bloodline of Judah, though it had become but by his mother Mary only. The matter of until Shiloh come has its significance that Jesus was not to Rule and be King by the right of man, but by the right of God, God being his biological Father by whom he received the heir-ship of eternal rule and the government of the theocracy of God while also satisfying the matters of earthly right as well.

And thus it was also that Boaz was but acting as the surrogate kinsman and raising up seed to the dead house of Mahlon and Elimeleck. It was the adoptive Law of Moses, the Law of God, that David, Jesse and Obed Ephrathites of the house of Elimelech and Mahlon, the rightful heirs of the birthright covenat of the firstborn, and in this right did Jesus again become heir as the 'adoptive' and legally determined son of Joseph the Carpenter and his mother Mary. In this is Jesus was the heir and descendant of the House of Joseph of Egpyt and the rightful heir of the firstborn of Israel and the Covenant of Abraham, which is the same as that everlasting oath and covenant of the fathers given by God to man before the world was.

Now for the bottom line evidence. It is held in the statment that 'unto him shall the gathering of the people be.' It was Moses who held the keys of the gathering of Israel. And it was this same Moses who appeared in the Kirkland Temple on April 3, 1836 and 'committed the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north' (D&C 110:11) to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. And we have learned that the fulfilling and gathering of Israel and the blessing of the nations of the earth according to the covenant of Abraham is to be fulfilled in, through and by the tribe of Ephraim as assisted by Manasseh, the covenant sons of Joseph. And it is unto the latter day church so established that the gathering of the people is to be. That church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Now it could be said that that gathering is unto Joseph Smith as Messiah ben Ephraim, but that would place too much upon Joseph which is not his. That gathering is unto Shiloh who is Jesus Christ. And it is that Jesus Christ who is Messiah ben Joseph, Messiah ben Ephraim, as well as Messiah ben David. Yes the latter day gathering is unto and by the hand of Ephraim of the House of Joseph in fulfillment of the Covenant of Abraham, the Blessing of the Fathers, that Everlasting Oath and Covenant given unto His children by God the Father of Spirits before the world was. And Ephraim is Israel, and the head of Israel is Jehovah, even Jesus Christ, who is Messiah ben Joseph ~ Messiah ben David.