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" ... if Joseph received the birthright, and if the birthright and the Presidency of the Chruch [?Covenant Rights of Priesthood?] were inseparable, then it should have been through Joseph that the Messiah should have come ... [1 Chron 5:1-2]" (Origins of the Reorganized Chruch, Joseph Fielding Smith, p 73)Joseph Fielding Smith mixed apples and oranges [Apostolic Order and Patriarchal Order] in his logic of Presidency and the Messiah. The office of Presidency is in the Birthright, except when there is a Church. By the 'Covenant Birthright', Joseph Smith did qualify for being rightful descendant of Joseph of Egypt, the heir of Israel. That high right to the birthright's everlasting covenant is according to patriarchal order and one's righteousness. As noted in D&C 27:10, the 'promises' or covenant of the fathers was preserved through Adam down to and including Joseph, it being the connection to the promises of the fathers, the birthright's everlasting covenant of Abraham. The heir of Ephraim would be Jesus Christ, as well would be Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith was foreordained in the pre-existence to his positional calling and he was the legal rightful heir according to his linage of the flesh, being the promised prophet descended from Joseph of Egypt, the covenant heir (see D&C 86:8-11). One presumes Jesus is also in order to fulfill all righteousness to the letter of the law of linage. Many have 'dual' ancestry from various ancestors. Jesus was of the blood of Judah, but Judah was NOT the 'covenant seed'—the seed of the birhtright as was Joseph. This text will give evidence that Jesus, as well being of Judah, was the legal heir of the covenant, being the heir of Joseph and Ephraim. He has been 'hid' from the world via the Jewish perspective of the scriptural records of the Bible which favors Judah over Joseph. |