Question: My wife is Native American. Being of Manasseh, she would like to know something about Manasseh & Ephraim and what they were promised as blessings? And what are the titles of books we could read about them? Thank you. Answer: In Jacob’s birthright blessing of Ephraim in Genesis 48:19, Jacob mentions that Ephraim (or […]
What are the Roles of Ephraim and Manasseh? Read More »
Having first established—by analyzing the Book of Isaiah’s internal literary features—that “all things that he spake have been [in ancient times] and shall be [in the end-time]” (3 Nephi 23:3; cf. Ecclesiastes 1:9), we learn that Egypt, the great superpower of Isaiah’s day, forms a type of America, the great superpower of our day. But
One way the Middle East today differs from Moses’ day is that many of its inhabitants descend from Abraham, whom God promised all the Land from Mesopotamia to Egypt (Genesis 15:18). Besides Isaac—Abraham’s son by Sarah—and Isaac’s sons Jacob and Esau by Rebekah, those descendants include Ishmael—Abraham’s son by Hagar, ancestor of the Arabs—and Zimran,
I have shown that ancient Near Eastern emperor–vassal covenants are helpful in understanding the workings of the Sinai and Davidic Covenants. On a parallel with those ancient models, God acts in the role of emperor and his people or King David and his heirs act in the role of vassals. But there is a third
Solemn Brotherhood Read More »
When Jehovah God of Israel addresses his end-time people through Isaiah, saying “I announce to you new things, things withheld and unknown to you, things now coming into being, not hitherto, things you have not heard of before, lest you should say, Indeed I knew them! You have not heard them, nor have you known
There is something right or righteous about praising our Savior Jesus Christ. As Jehovah God of Israel—who “paid the price of our peace” and “by whose wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5; cf. 57:19)—he apprises those who believe in him that they are “a people I formed for myself to speak out in praise of
Question: If we (LDS) are the covenant people in the scriptures how did Brigham Young and everyone after him obtain the keys necessary for baptism if he/they did not rise to the level of a prophet? How do we have the keys to perform this basic ordinance? Can we still be labeled as covenant people
Does the Church Have the Priesthood? Read More »
In the Father’s “gift of his Son” (Ether 12:11)—a gift that keeps on giving—we observe the great “condescension of God” (1 Nephi 11:26) that underlies his plan of salvation and exaltation. Born in the flesh as a babe in Bethlehem (beit lehem, “the House of Bread”), Jehovah, God of the Old Testament, manifests himself to
If you have ever ventured to discuss some aspect of Isaiah’s prophecies with someone who was unacquainted with it, you may have inadvertently provoked the sometimes hostile response of “That’s controversial!” or “That isn’t in the manual!” or “I haven’t heard that before!”—as if what they haven’t heard before can’t be true, or that the
That’s Controversial! Read More »
Question: I’m trying to understand the marring of the end-time servant. It seems to me that it is the apostate people of Jehovah, the drunkards of Ephraim, who actually do the “marring.” Is this correct? Answer: The context of Jesus’ comments about his end-time servant’s being marred “because of them”—that is, because of those who
Who Mars the Servant? Read More »
The prophetic construct of a “Messiah Son of Joseph” that relies on rabbinical interpretations of Zechariah and other prophets was pounced on by many Ephraimite Gentiles when popularized by Joseph Klausner in his book, The Messianic Idea in Israel. To them, resemblances of this hypothetical figure to the prophet Joseph Smith were too good to
Messiah Son of Joseph Read More »
When Isaiah asks God’s people of our day, “You have heard the whole vision [hazut kullah]; how is it you do not proclaim it?” (Isaiah 48:6), he is predicting the Ephraimite Gentiles’ neglect of his end-time prophecies whose understanding would most empower them through the time the world has now entered. When he adds, “For
