Old Testament Commentary - JST Genesis 50

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
Genesis JST 50 verses 24-38 Joseph of Egypt obtained certain promises of the Lord God Jehovah [Jesus Christ] in relationship to a 'righteous branch', Moses, Joseph Smith and even indirectly implied the Messiah of the fruit of his loins.
24 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die, and go unto my fathers; and I go down to my grave with joy. The God of my father Jacob be with you, to deliver you out of affliction in the days of your bondage; for the Lord hath visited me, and I have obtained a promise of the Lord^a, that out of the fruit of my loins^a, the Lord God will raise up a righteous branch^a out of my loins; and unto thee, whom my father Jacob hath named Israel, a prophet^a; (not the Messiah who is called Shilo^a;) and this prophet shall deliver my people out of Egypt^a in the days of thy bondage. ~ Not the Messiah ~ There's one purpose for this otherwise redundant clarification. The Bible, the stick of Judah, emphasizes that Jesus was of the blood line of Judah, being of the House of David, descent of Boaz. But Obed was raised up as the heir of Mahlon and Elimelec, Ephrathites/Ephraimites. And David's father, Jesse, is said to be 'that Ephrathite' of Bethlehem. If only of the blood-line of Judah, then there is no need for the clarification that the 'prophet' from Joseph in verse 24 was 'not the Messiah', because being of Joseph he would already be understood to NOT be that Prophet. But as implied by the needed clarification, the Messiah was of the House of Joseph, the firstborn heir of Israel through Ephraim who Jacob adopted to be his firstborn son in stead of Reuben. And it was needed to stipulate that the prophet promised to Joseph was NOT the Messiah of Joseph. Joseph's own patriarchal blessing stated as much (Genesis 49:24) that 'from thence [Joseph] is the shepherd, the stone of Israel'. And that is also why in 1 Chron. 5:1-2 the Jewish record keeper recognized Joseph/Ephraim's 'firstborn-birthright' though the genealogy was after Judah [because of Boaz].	24^a I, [Joseph], have obtained a promise of the Lord: - Out of the fruit of my loins [that is out of the house of Joseph] 1. God will raise up a righteous branch 2. A prophet to deliver Israel out of Egypt [Moses] [Disclaimer: Since the Messiah was known at this date and time to come of Joseph, NOT Judah, this particular prophet (Moses) of Joseph is needed to be said that he is not the Messiah who is called Shilo.] See verse 29 to understand how it is that Moses is of the house of Joseph. Judah's Secptre Judah in his patriarchal blessing was stated to have the 'sceptre', that it shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet (Gen. 49:10) UNTIL Shiloh come, that is Jesus Christ. And then unto him, Jesus Christ the Messiah, shall the gathering of the people be.' How else is it to be that all the house of Israel 'shall bow down unto thee [seed of Ephraim/Joseph], from generation to generation, unto the fruit of thy loins [Joseph/Ephraim] forever' (JST Genesis 48:10)? The only one who all will continue to bow down to and worship will be the Messiah, even Jesus Christ. Thus for Joseph Smith's Inspired translation of the Bible to be true, Jesus Christ, the Messiah ben David, must also be Messiah ben Ephraim (see link to above text picture of 'Messiah ben David ~ Messiah ben Joseph' - upper right corner link.)	The Adopted Fruit When God established the Gospel, one of the high principles was that of the 'adoptive ordinance'. When properly 'adopted', they who are so adopted are as the same as being the literal 'fruit of one's loins'. One of the first 'adoptions' recorded in the Bible is that of Jacob adopting the two sons of Joseph as his own in the stead of Reuben and Simeon, at least as far as the positions of being Jacob's first and second born sons. And Jacob put on them the name of 'Israel' (see Genesis 48). Through Moses, God established another form of adoption, which made of Obed, the son and heir of Mahlon and Elimelech, Ephrathites or Eprhraimites, which made the House of David and Jesus Christ as being of the descent of Joseph and Ephraim (Deut. 25:1-10 & Ruth 4:5 & 10), Israel's firstborn heir, though of the blood line of Judah (1 Chron. 5:1-2). Moses himself was also an adopted son of Joseph, which verse 29 coupled with verse 24 here, makes the King of Egypt, Pharaoh, at Moses' time to be a descendent of Joseph, which has slipped out from the history of the Bible record. And we all become the 'adopted sons and daughters of Jesus Christ/Jehovah by the Gospel ordinance of the 'new birth' of baptism and the fact that the Father anointed the Son to act in his stead in all things in order to perform the atonement for the redemption of man (Lev. 16:32 (all)). Even Jesus in a temporal sense was a lawful adopted son of Joseph the Carpenter, the other Joseph who is his father.
25 And it shall come to pass that they shall be scattered again; and a branch shall be broken off, and shall be carried into a far country; nevertheless they shall be remembered in the covenants of the Lord, when the Messiah cometh; for he shall be made manifest unto them in the latter days, in the Spirit of power; and shall bring them out of darkness into light; out of hidden darkness, and out of captivity unto freedom.
A Choice Seer [Joseph Smith] Raised Up
A seer shall the Lord my God raise up, who shall be a choice seer unto the fruit of my loins. Thus saith the Lord God of my fathers unto me, A choice seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins, and he shall be esteemed highly among the fruit of thy loins; and unto him will I give commandment that he shall do a work for the fruit of thy loins, his brethren. And he shall bring them to the knowledge of the covenants which I have made with thy fathers; and he shall do whatsoever work I shall command him.
This Seer to be Great Like Unto Moses (Moses is to be considered of the house of Joseph)
29 And I will make him great in mine eyes, for he shall do my work; and he shall be great like unto him who I have said I would raise up unto you, to deliver my people, O house of Israel, out of the land of Egypt; for a seer will I raise up to deliver my people out of the land of Egypt; and he shall be called Moses^a. And by this name he shall know that he is of thy house; for he shall be nursed by the king’s daughter, and shall be called her son^a.	29^a Moses, he is of thy house [house of Joseph]; for he shall be nursed by the king’s daughter, and shall be called her son Joseph ruled over all of Egypt in the name of Pharaoh and lived in the king's palace. It is not a big jump from that position for one of the descendants of Joseph to marry into and become of the royal house of Egypt. In fact, if the 'king’s daughter' was of the house of Joseph in order that Moses her adopted son was also so to be counted of the house of Joseph, then is is reasonable to presume that at this stage the king of Egypt was a descendant of Joseph, though he would reject his Israelite ties, not 'knowing Joseph' his ancestor; thus chosing Egypt over Israel.
A Promised Seer to Bring Forth God's Revealed Word (Is this Joseph Smith, or is it another yet to come?)
30 ^aAnd again, a seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins^a, and unto him will I give power to bring forth my word unto the seed of thy loins; and not to the bringing forth of my word only, saith the Lord, but to the convincing them of my word, which shall have already gone forth among them in the last days^a;	30^a And again, a seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins ... to the convincing them of my word, which shall have already gone forth among them in the last days Now there could be various readings of this verse. It is often subscribed unto Joseph Smith as just being another verse which is applied unto him and rightly so. But remember scripture can be dualistic in applicationand meaning, recall that Lehi also spoke of one to be raised up out of his son Joseph in the last days upon whom much power would be laid (2 Nephi 3:22-24). Certainly the Book of Mormon has gone forth already by the hand of Joseph Smith. But we are also promised that the other records will come forth. By whose hand and by what power and to what purpose? Certainly it would be by the hand of a seer unto is given much power. There seems to be adequate room for still another out of the fruit of the loins of Joseph of Egypt to be raise up and there still seems to be ample work to be done in convincing the world of the truth of the word of the Book of Mormon. Could it be that herein is such a reference to that next great other seer? Since the Church is here to stay, we must consider that he will be raised up within the confines of the Church.	30^a 2 Nephi 3:11
Two Records to be Kept, of Judah and of Joseph (Compare Ezekiel 37)
31 Wherefore the fruit of thy loins shall write^a, and the fruit of the loins of Judah shall write; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah, shall grow together unto the confounding of false doctrines, 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.	31^a the fruit of thy loins shall write Hundreds of years prior to the similar commandment as given to Ezekiel in Ezekiel chapter 37, the Lord commanded Joseph that his descendants would be required to write the 'record of Joseph'. It will be noted that the rest of this verse parallels that which is spoken of concerning the record of Joseph to come forth in the latter days which would join with the Bible to fulfill the intentions of the Lord. Thus it ought to be understood that the Book of Mormon is in part that record which the fruit of the loins of Joseph would write. But it is only a part of the larger 'record of Joseph' which also includes the plates of brass as will as the latter day records such as the Doctrine and Covenants. It is significant that the text of the plates of brass record were written in Egyptian (Mosiah 1:4). It would seem logical that if Joseph were so commanded that his descendents should write, that they would begin and continue to write in that language which Joseph of Egypt was familiar with, Egyptian. And since it was the descendants of Joseph who did keep the brass plates records, then indeed those brass plates are a part of that which was to be written by the seed of Joseph as commanded by the Lord (1 Nephi 5:16 (14-16)). At some future date, in the dew time of the Lord, all such records written by the loins of Joseph will come forth, which includes not only the Book of Mormon, but also the brass plates and all those other records of the Nephites including the large plates of Nephi and those plates which contained the 116 lost pages. Also we ought to consider that we, as descendants of Jospeh, are still writing such of the record of Joseph which concerns our own day and the gospel in the despensation of the fulness of times.
Joseph Smith Named after His Father and after Joseph of Egypt
And out of weakness shall he be made strong, in that day when my work shall go forth among all my people, which shall restore them, who are of the house of Israel, in the last days. And that seer will I bless, and they that seek to destroy him shall be confounded; for this promise I give unto you; for I will remember you from generation to generation; and his name shall be called Joseph, and it shall be after the name of his father; and he shall be like unto you; for the thing which the Lord shall bring forth by his hand shall bring my people unto salvation.
Reverts to Speaking of Moses Being Means of Delivering Israel
And the Lord sware unto Joseph that he would preserve his seed forever, saying, I will raise up Moses, and a rod shall be in his hand, and he shall gather together my people, and he shall lead them as a flock, and he shall smite the waters of the Red Sea with his rod. And he shall have judgment, and shall write the word of the Lord. And he shall not speak many words, for I will write unto him my law by the finger of mine own hand. And I will make a spokesman for him, and his name shall be called Aaron.
And it shall be done unto thee in the last days also, even as I have sworn. Therefore, Joseph said unto his brethren, God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land, unto the land which he sware unto Abraham, and unto Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph confirmed many other things unto his brethren, and took an oath of the children of Israel, saying unto them, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. So Joseph died when he was an hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and they put him in a coffin in Egypt; and he was kept from burial by the children of Israel, that he might be carried up and laid in the sepulchre with his father. And thus they remembered the oath which they sware unto him.