John (7:12)

Stephen, this is just what you said it would be. It's both informative. I'm learning about ancient Egypt and Scripture and I'm also learning how to forgive and reconcile. I love this. Let's keep going.

Dr. Stephen Smoot (7:27)

Well, great. Let's maybe then talk about Jacob's patriarchal blessings to his kids. Lots of important stuff here. And as Latter Day Saints, this should resonate very deeply with us. At the end of chapter 47, Jacob realizes that he's knocking on death's door here. He says in verse 29, when the time of Israel's death drew near, he called his son Joseph and said to him, if I have found favor with you, put your hand under my thigh. Abraham does it with his servant. Back in Genesis, I think it's 15. This is sort of ritual symbol we're not sure about. Put it under my thigh and promise to deal loyally and truly with me. Do not bury me in Egypt. He does not want to be buried in Egypt. He wants to be back with his ancestors in the land of Canaan. Carry me out of Egypt and bury me in a burial place. Joseph says he's going to do that. We're setting up the blessings that are coming now in chapters 48 and 49. Before we get to there, gentlemen, as Latter Day Saints, we should be thinking of somebody else who was about to die. And so he brought his kids together and he gave them blessings and promises and it was a whole kind of ordeal. You know what I'm talking about?

John (8:29)

That would be Lehi.

Dr. Stephen Smoot (8:31)

Indeed, Lehi. I think it is a deliberate mirror narrative pattern happening here. The aged patriarch is about to die, so he calls his family to give them his final benediction, his final blessing. In fact, I think that Lehigh probably deliberately and Nephi deliberately patterned their narrative of that after Jacob's example. Let's look at his patriarchal blessing. By the way, you can correct me if I'm wrong here. My wife mentioned this to me when she received her patriarchal blessing. Her patriarch told her, I can give you your capital P patriarchal blessing that gets recorded in the church. But he told her that your father can absolutely give you personal patriarchal blessings that are just as real and powerful and binding for you as I, as your patriarch. And I just pulled up here the church's handbook on giving blessings of comfort and counsel, including father's blessings. It says that Melchizedek priesthood holders may give blessings of comfort and counsel to family members and then it says a father who holds Melchizedek priesthood may give father's blessings to his children. These may be especially helpful when children go to school, go on missions, get married, enter military service or face special challenges. Parents encourage their children to seek father's blessings in times of need, which would describe our story here. As the family is suffering through a famine and trying to survive, father's blessings may be recorded for personal use. That's what I was sort of getting at here. The the key difference between a patriarchal blessing in the formal sense and a father's blessing is who records it and what is it used for. It says a Melchizedek priesthood holder does not need to seek permission or, or approval from a priesthood leader to give a blessing of comfort and counsel or a father's blessing. To learn more about that, how we do it in the church Today, it's chapter 18, section 14.1 of the Church Handbook. Imagine with Jacob here, it's sort of a combination of both a patriarchal blessing in the formal sense and a father's blessing in the informal sense. We're kind of bridging that gap here. The first people that Jacob is going to bless are, interesting enough, it says grandkids. It's Ephraim and Manasseh. This is now in chapter 48. First of all, we all know who Ephraim and Manasseh are. They are Joseph's children. Are they full blooded Israelites or not?

Hank (10:49)

Gentlemen, they got some Egyptian in them.

John (10:51)

They have some Egyptian. Yeah, an Egyptian mother.

Dr. Stephen Smoot (10:54)

Indeed. Their mother Asenith is an Egyptian. They are half Israelite, half Egyptian. That's actually important for us both in the story and today. And we'll discuss sort of the doctrinal significance because what that means is Ephraim and Manasseh need to be adopted into the house of Israel, do they not? They need to be adopted into this covenant. Do you remember that Isaac, he's not able to just go marry any woman that he wants. He specifically goes back to the homeland of his ancestors to find a woman, next of kin, as it were, someone in their covenant lineage. You have to adopt the kids back into the family. That's important for them. So that's what we're going to do in chapter 48. We're going to have Ephraim Manasseh brought to Jacob, Israel in order to adopt them into the house of Israel. In a minute we can talk about why Ephraim is so important, why Manasseh is so important, but let's just make sure we know what's going on in the story. He brings them there. Pop quiz, gentlemen, who's the older brother, Ephraim or Manasseh?

Hank (11:49)

Manasseh.

John (11:49)

Manasseh.

Dr. Stephen Smoot (11:50)

Manasseh is the older brother. By all rights, he should be receiving the birthright inheritance, but that's not really what happens. It's this really interesting imagery. So read with me here. Verse 8. Joseph brings his sons to Israel. When Israel saw them, he said, who are these? Joseph said to his father, they are my sons whom God has given me. Here. He said, bring them, please, that I may bless them. Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age. We could not see well, that's important for our story. He's near blind. Joseph brought them near to him and he kissed them and embraced them. That's a nice loving detail. Joseph's a nice guy. Israel said to Joseph, I did not expect to see your face. And here God has let me see your children also. He removes them from his father's knees, suggesting they're probably little kids, maybe he bows himself and he takes them both. And here in verse 13, Ephraim is at his right hand toward Israel's left. Ephraim's on the left hand and Manasseh on his. Joseph's left hand towards Israel's right hand. Manasseh's on the right. Ephraim was on the left. Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands, for Manasseh was the firstborn. He's going to give them their blessing in verses 15 and 16, echoes the Abrahamic blessing in the Abrahamic covenant very closely. We can just read it. He blessed Joseph and said, the God before whom my ancestors, Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all harm. Bless the boys, and in them let my name be perpetuated and the name of my ancestors, Abraham and Isaac, let them grow into a multitude on the earth. That's a nice blessing to give your kids. That's a textbook Abrahamic blessing. May they be a great multitude. May they be a blessing. Here's the reaction, here's the kicker. What's Joseph's reaction to this beautiful blessing, this very intimate moment? It's very nice, it's very loving, very powerful. Verse 17. When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. Joseph's not happy about that. That's his immediate reaction. He took his father's hand and removed it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. Joseph said to his father, not so, my father, since this one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head. Joseph thinks Dad's having a senior moment here. He's old, he's blind, he must be mixed up. You know which kid is right there. Dad, I'm going to help you. I'm going to cross your hands and put them on. And Jacob's response, verse 19. His father refused and said, I know my son. I know he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great, referring to Manasseh. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nation. And he blessed them once again. He says it in verse 20. By you, Israel will invoke blessings, saying, God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh. He put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh. We as Latter Day Saints hopefully aren't too scandalized by this because we have a figure who is the youngest brother, who is kind of an upstart a little bit in our Book of Mormon guy by the name of Nephi, who's going to inherit all the blessings of his father as opposed to his older brothers also. This of course parallels Joseph himself. Joseph is the younger brother, and this parallels the fact that he will be the main character of the story here, just as Ephraim will be, even though he's the younger brother too.

Hank (15:24)

Is there ever a time when the eldest son actually does get the birthright blessing?

Dr. Stephen Smoot (15:31)

We're seeing this recurring theme here. The younger brother inherits what's going on with Ephraim and Manasseh. Why do we care about this at all as Latter Day Saints?

Hank (15:39)

Why?

Dr. Stephen Smoot (15:40)

First of all, Ephraim and Manasseh are half Egyptians. They are being adopted into the Abrahamic covenant. I love the fact that Jacob will say they are mine as much as Simeon and Reuben are mine. He is claiming them as his own covenant children. That I think is significant. It's also significant for us. If Ephraim and Manasseh are half Egyptian and half Israelite. They grew up in Egypt. They're speaking Egyptian. They probably don't speak this early dialect of Canaanite. Right. That the brothers are speaking. They don't look like them, they don't dress like them, they don't eat like them. They are going to be different from the other kids, from the other members of the House of Israel. What I see in this story is a great reassurance to those who have joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from different backgrounds, different cultures, different ethnicities who speak different languages. You do not have to come from pioneer ancestry. You don't have to grow up eating green jello and funeral potatoes. You don't have to go to BYU and root for the Cougars, although you should. You don't have to do that. You are as much a Covenant member of the House of Israel if you do not grow up on the Wasatch front, if you don't have white skin and a short haircut like I do speaking English. This is a powerful reminder that the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant are available to everybody, either by lineal descent as a member of the House of Israel or through adoption into the House of Israel. Those blessings were promised to Ephraim and Manasseh, these half Egyptian, half Israelites. They are promised to you despite what your language is, despite what you look like, your culture, your clothes. That does not matter to Jacob. These are his kids as much as my kids are my kids, is what he's saying in this chapter. And they're adopted in. I think that's beautiful for us. I think that goes nicely with the statement in the Book of Mormon that all are alike unto God and he esteems them all together. I love our late President Russell M. Nelson. Dearly departed President Nelson has emphasized recently that these blessings are universal for all of God's children. Your standing before God does not depend on the color of your skin or what language you speak or your ethnicity or your culture. It depends on if you are righteously following his commandments and keeping those covenants. Chapter 48 here is a beautiful reassurance of that.

John (17:55)

Well said. That's not something that I regularly think about, but I bet it is something that someone else might be listening going, thank you for saying that. Maybe always felt like maybe a second class citizen in the House of Israel. And you are not. You are as much a child of the Covenant as anyone else.

Hank (18:13)

Yeah. And look where the church is growing. I remember when the announcement was made that there were more members of the Church outside of North America than inside. And that was a long time ago. Now the Church News recently put out those maps which countries have the most members as a percentage of their population. I was so excited to see the Philippines climbing to number 10. It was like what When I was there as a missionary, there was one temple in Manila under construction. I think we're at is it 13 now, if I get it wrong, I know somebody will email me. But there were four missions. Now there's more than 22. So that's a good thing to remember.

John (19:00)

Yeah. If someone's listening and they're thinking, what are you guys talking about again? Let's review. The idea is that way back in Genesis 12 and probably even before that, because Abraham says he's seeking the blessings of the fathers, God made a promise to Abraham that if you are in his family, his descendants would be a blessing to all the earth. And they would receive certain blessings if they kept God's commandments, if they kept their covenants, if they repented when they did not, they would receive blessings and also be a blessing to bless the whole earth. With this same knowledge, the lineage continues through Isaac, through Rebekah, through Jacob and Rachel, Leah, Bilhah, zilpah, through these 12 sons, you can see that what Stephen's walking us through the same blessings. Let's say you're not a direct descendant. I don't know if anybody could actually even trace if they were a direct descendant of the house of Israel. But you join the church, you get baptized, you are in the house of Israel. You are in this family.

Hank (20:08)

Yeah.

Dr. Stephen Smoot (20:08)

The covenant adoption of people into the house of Israel, that's prominent in Paul's teachings, that's prominent in the Book of Mormon, that Gentiles or non Israelites, they can join the house of Israel to join in the work of the Father in the last days, to gather Israel in through the gospel and ordinances of Jesus Christ that we make that happen. Without that fuller perspective, this Abrahamic covenant in the Hebrew Bible, it mostly sort of pertains to, like, land, inheritance. I'm grateful that we have added revelation and perspective from the restoration that says that these blessings in the Book of Genesis, of land and posterity and safety, that's all really important. But more important are the eternal blessings that come from this. Blessings of salvation and exaltation that come from keeping and making these covenants. Section 132 of the Doctrine and Covenants discusses this. Abraham, Chapter 2. When Abraham receives his blessing, it expands on this. The blessings of salvation or life eternal come with this covenant. Well said there, Hank. Thank you for helping contextualize that. Being here in chapter 48 especially, I have a nephew.

John (21:10)

His name is Chad Savage. He's adopted into our family. It's funny to him how frequent people will say, oh, you look just like your father, your grandfather. And he'll say, thank you very much. A part of our family. He's our own.

Dr. Stephen Smoot (21:25)

Yep. Just a couple more things I'd like to add, if we can, on this chapter. What are the respective roles of Ephraim and Manasseh? On the one hand, this story is partly trying to explain why Ephraim later becomes so prominent in ancient Israelite history. Ephraim is going to come to, like, dominate the northern tribes of Israel, the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Ephraim is going to become a shorthand for the Northern Kingdom amongst Israelite prophets. It does explain why he rises to prominence in that regard also for us as Latter Day Saints. This is important because it's Ephraim am Manasseh, according to our Book of Mormon, who is Lehi, a descendant of Son of Manasseh. So we have in our Book of Mormon a preservation of Manasseh as the covenant partner with Ephraim. I hope that we won't take away from this that your lineage in the church is like a badge of honor. I'm a Benjaminite. I'm an Ephraimite. And that means I'm so special. No, no, no. What it means is you have a responsibility. And the different tribes which we'll get to here in chapter 49 are going to have different roles. They're going to inhabit. Whatever tribe you're in, you have a part in the kingdom, a part in the house of Israel as part of this great work we're engaged with. That's the message of chapter 48. It's not that you're special or extra righteous or whatever. It's that with great covenant blessings comes great covenant responsibility, if you want to put it in that way. One more thing I do want to add. We have some significant expansions on this in the Joseph smith translation, both 48 and then 50, which we'll look at. But in chapter 48, we have these expansions in the JST. We don't need to read all of it necessarily. Rather, what happens is what Joseph Smith restores is this idea that as part of this blessing that Jacob gave to Ephraim and Manasseh is a charge and a promise that. That their descendants will spiritually save Israel in the latter days. We can look at this here. This is like JST. Let's look at 9, 10 and 11 in the JST. You can, of course, find this in your footnotes. Read with me along here. Verse 9. In delivering my people, this is Jacob speaking, thy brethren from famine which was sore in the land wherefore the God of thy fathers shall bless thee and the fruit of thy loins shall that they shall be blessed above all thy brethren and above thy father's house. Verse 10. For thou has prevailed. That's like President Nelson, Let God prevail. Thou hast prevailed and thy father's house hath bowed down unto thee even as it was shown unto thee before thou was sold into Egypt by the hands of thy brethren. Wherefore thy brethren shall bow down unto thee from generation to generation unto the fruit of thy loins for ever. This is verse 11. Thou shalt be a light unto my people to deliver them in the days of their captivity from bondage and to bring salvation unto them when they are altogether bowed down under sin. That's a beautiful and important expansion on this blessing to know that Joseph and his children, Ephemim, Manasseh and their descendants are going to be instrumental in bringing salvation to the House of Israel. Both, we might say literally in their literal restoration in the latter days, but also spiritually in their in bringing them the Gospel. And of course, gentlemen, as good self respecting Ephraimites, what's our job to do? It is to bring the Gospel to all nations, kindreds, tongues and people. At least that's what I was told in my patriarchal blessing when I was declared to be the lineage of Ephraim. I was told it's your job to preach the Gospel. That is one of the primary responsibilities that Ephraim is going to have to fulfill this prophecy.

John (24:55)

Yeah, and I know that there are people out there who are maybe not from Ephraim, Ephraim Normanasse. And they say, well, what am I supposed to do? Well, right now we're all doing the same thing. We are trying to find Israel using the Book of Mormon, Right. As our tool. We are trying to find Israel and remind them of who they are and bring them in. As John, by the way, likes to say, we are still in the gathering, the gatherers phase. We're looking for the House of Israel and they will respond to the Book of Mormon. I think every tribe is, look, we're all on the same team here, working together. There may be separate things that we do likely later on, but right now I think John, wouldn't you say, Stephen, wouldn't you say we're all in the work of missionary work trying to find the gatherers?

Dr. Stephen Smoot (25:43)

Absolutely. It's an ongoing process that will only be finished when the Great Jehovah himself returns and declares the work is done. That famous statement from Joseph Smith, up to our eyeballs. In this work of gathering the gatherers of Israel I like that.

Hank (25:56)

You know, I've had young people ask me, well, I'm from Dan. What am I supposed to do? And they're looking in Genesis 49. I'm like, well, you can look there if you want, but look at your own patriarchal blessing. That's going to be more current, more personal for you. Like you said, Hank, go back to Abrahamic covenant. We're going to try to bless all the families of the earth, and the greatest blessing we can offer them is binding our families together with temple covenants.

Dr. Stephen Smoot (26:22)

I have a really profound story to highlight everything we've been talking about here, the gathering of Israel and why it's significant. The story comes by way of my wife Amberly, who served her mission in Eastern Ukraine, which, from what I've heard, it's fertile ground for the gathering of Israel. This story illustrates this. I'm going to read her account of this experience that she had so that I don't mess up the details. I had her write it up for me so I get it right. This happened In August of 2012, when she was a missionary in Eastern Ukraine. Here's the story. While serving as a missionary in Ukraine, Elder Don R. Clark, a member of the 70, visited a small group of saints. Fewer than a hundred of us gathered in a modest chapel. Faithful members, missionaries, and recent converts. Nothing outwardly remarkable at first glance. Partway through his remarks, Elder Clark asked how many of us had received our patriarchal blessings. Many hands went up. Then he did something I had never seen before. He began calling out the tribes of Israel slowly, deliberately, in birth. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah. As each tribe was named, individuals quietly stood one by one. Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, including both Ephraim and Manasseh, and finally, Benjamin. By the end, every tribe of Israel was represented in that small Ukrainian chapel. What I felt in that moment was not loud or dramatic. It was weighty, sacred, ancient. It felt as though something long promised had briefly become visible. Prophecy unfolding not on a world stage, but in a quiet room filled with ordinary disciples. Later, I learned that Elder Clark shared this experience with President Boyd K. Packard, who noted that it was believed to be the first time since the scattering of Israel nearly 3,000 years ago that all 12 tribes had been represented in a single gathering. Abraham's faith created a covenant family, and that family, scattered, preserved, and remembered, stood gathered before my eyes. And then she concluded with her testimony. I know the Lord continues this gathering slowly, one by one, through baptismal fonts throughout the world.

Hank (29:01)

Thank You Amberly for sharing that. We got to get her on the podcast. That's beautiful writing.

Dr. Stephen Smoot (29:06)

Absolutely.

John (29:09)

When we speak of the gathering of Israel, that's something we've talked about quite a bit on our podcast, John, that when Moroni appears to Joseph Smith, he doesn't talk about restoring Christ's New Testament church, though we do that. He talks about it's time to gather Israel. This is a promise made through Isaiah 750 years before the Savior was even born. That promise to gather Israel was long forgotten after the Savior died. It wasn't very many people. In fact, I don't know if there's any talking about, hey, what about the promise God made to the house of Israel. Then a 17 year old boy in New York prays, an angel appears, says my name is Moroni and it's time to gather Israel. I think the only person who hasn't forgotten this promise is Jesus. He's saying, look, I made a promise, I intend to keep it. President Nelson, of course, as we all know, this was very important to him. He brought it to the forefront of our minds. I want to read this to you. My dear brothers and sisters. These surely are the latter days and the Lord is hastening his work to gather Israel. That gathering is the most important thing taking place on the earth today. Think about all the important things we are watching happen on the earth today. He says there's nothing more important. Nothing else compares in magnitude. Nothing else compares in importance. Nothing else compares in majesty. And if you choose to, if you want to, you can be a big part of it. You can be a big part of something big. Big. Something grand, something majestic. He says participating in the gathering of Israel will require some sacrifice on your part. It may even require some changes in your life. It will definitely take some of your time and energy and your God given talents. Are you interested? Just think of the excitement and urgency of it all. Every prophet commencing with Adam has seen our day. Every prophet has talked about our day when Israel would be gathered and the world would be prepared for the second coming of the Savior. Think of it. Of all the people who have ever lived on planet Earth, we are the ones who get to participate in this final great gathering event. How exciting is that you were sent to Earth at this precise time, the most crucial time in the history of the world, to help gather Israel. There is nothing happening on this earth now that is more important than that. There is nothing of greater consequence. Absolutely nothing. This gathering should mean everything to you. Why? This is the mission for which you were Sent to earth.

Hank (31:58)

I would add too, Hank, that he emphasized not just that we're children of God, but that we're children of the covenant. Like you said, Stephen, this is our job.

Dr. Stephen Smoot (32:10)

That extends us into chapter 49, which is the blessings to the rest of the kids, the rest of the sons. Chapter 49, Genesis is really archaic Hebrew poetry. In fact, there's some argument to say that it may be one of the oldest portions of the Bible written like that. We have these archaic poems, Exodus 15, Judges 5 and Genesis 49. Scholars typically see this as some of our oldest portions of the Hebrew Bible. It's poetry that means if it's very confusing to you, don't feel too bad, because poetry tends to be very confusing with some of its symbolism, some of its language. Benefit you to consult other translations besides the King James Bible, because the Hebrew many places also very obscure. When I was in my PhD coursework, we actually did a whole seminar on the patriarchal narratives in Genesis. Chapter 49 is like a brick wall that you hit in terms of reading, because trying to parse every little Hebrew word, some of it gets very obscure. There's some corruptions in the text, some unsure readings. It may benefit you to to consult different translations to see how different people render it. I do want to point out a few things here, just to kind of lay that groundwork. One thing I love about these blessings, the literary artistry of the author of our narrator here is on display. The literary artistry of Jacob giving these blessings. Because a lot of these blessings that are given to these individual sons, there is again the word of the day, para nomasia. There's play on words, there is puns. He's carefully shaping this poetry using sound, using wordplay in order to convey the meaning that is attending to the name of the son. Each son, their name is evoked. And the imagery of that name, the words and the sounds and associations are used to communicate the blessing. So I'll just use a few examples that are kind of fun, and I'll read some of the Hebrew here to give you a flavor for it of what we get here. Let's start in Judah. In chapter eight, Judah's name is connected to and sounds similar to the Hebrew word for praise, yada. In Hebrew, it's yahuda atah yodu haichika yad ha. Did you catch that? The yehud, yehud kind of that alliteration happening here. Yehudah ata yodeha echicha yadeha. You are the praise of your brothers Judah you are the praise of your brothers who are praising you in your hands. There's this fun thing, this association with him praising Judah, basically what this is saying. And it goes on to say Judah's name means something like praise. And so Jacob is saying, you're going to live up to your name by your brothers praising you. There's that artistry in the Hebrew happening there. Famously, of course, in Judah's blessing. We want to look at verse 10. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes unto him and the obedience of the people is his. We can read this both in historical terms. The southern kingdom of Judah will come to dominate politically with the southern kingdom there after the kingdom splits. But of course, Christologically, we would read this as a messianic prophecy that ultimately the scepter will not depart from Judah's descendant, Jesus Christ, who holds that scepter even today as the King of Kings. If we go down to verse 16, this is the blessing to Dan. Dan's name in Hebrew means judge. What we have in verse 16 is Dan Yadin Amo. Dan will Dan his people. Dan will judge his people. The judge will judge. Very fun, clear alliteration there in Hebrew. Here's your Hebrew lesson for the day. There's a thing called a cognate accusative where the same root is used as both a noun and a verb. Think in the Book of Mormon when Lehi says, I have dreamed a dream, or in other words, I have seen a vision here. Dan will Dan the people. The Dan the noun, Will Dan, verb, the people. So Dan will have this judgment kind of associated with him. And then probably my all time favorite verse in terms of the literary artistry in the Hebrew happening Here is verse 19 with Gad. Poor Gad. Nobody thinks about Gad. I mean, we love Gad. But he gets one little verse here. He doesn't really play a big role in the rest of the story. Here's the blessing in Hebrew. Gad, Gadud Yagudenu Vahu Yagud Okev. Did you hear that? The Gad sounds there in the Hebrew, Gad will be raided by raiders, but he will raid at their heels on that verb Gad, to raid or to plunder or something. In other words, if you're hearing this in ancient Hebrew as the original audience, this sounds like a rhythmic battle cry or chant or something. Gad will Gad. The Gads who Gad. You can kind of hear this alliterative emphasis there that Tickles me pink that this entire verse is just this phoneme gad being used in different ways, literally. The troops will raid the troop who troops? The troops that raid him kind of thing. It's kind of a tongue twister. The last thing we can talk about is Joseph. We want to talk about Joseph's blessing. In verse 22. Joseph is a fruitful bough. A fruitful bough by a spring, his branches run over a wall. The archers fiercely attack him. They shot at him and pressed him hard. Yet his bow remained taut and his arms were made agile by the hands of the mighty one, of Jacob, by the name of the shepherd, the rock of Israel. And it goes on in that manner. Verse 26. The blessings of your father are stronger than the blessings of the eternal mountains. The bounties of the everlasting hills, may they be on the head of Joseph, on the brow of him who is set apart from his brothers. Why is this significant? Well, Joseph's name, Yasaf in Hebrew means like, to multiply, to add or to multiply. The theme of the blessing based on his name is that these blessings will be multiplied as a fruitful bow upon Joseph who will spread his branches. Imagery of fertility, of fruit, things like that. This, of course, gentlemen, ties in with our Book of Mormon, does it not? With the prophecy that Joseph's seed will be preserved as a fruitful bow. We know that a remnant of the line of Joseph made it here into the new world and established themselves in helping to fulfill this prophecy. That's beautiful, this stuff. You don't have to read the Hebrew. I hope to appreciate why these blessings are important, why they are meaningful. But it helps to have some of this literary context in mind to know. In a lot of these cases with these sons, the blessings are being shaped on the name and the meaning of the name. And there's this artistry, the significance going in there to bring that out.

Hank (38:37)

I love that these names have that sound in the alliteration you showed us these hidden in plain sight things. If you're not reading it in Hebrew, which most of us are not, does

John (38:48)

that leave us chapter 50. Are we to the end of Genesis?

Dr. Stephen Smoot (38:51)

Yeah, we can wrap it up here. End of end of Genesis. All of this culminates in chapter 50. Jacob dies and what was interesting is they embalm him. Verse 2. We all know they turn him into a mummy. Every little 8 year old kid that's loved mummies at the museum in Egyptology. They should love this, that they embalm him. Actually that's Significant because embalming is a timely and costly process. You want to do it right. Predominantly the mummies that we have, the really nice mummies in museums are like royalty or high officials because they could afford to have a proper mummification. We actually have had like botched mummifications or like very poorly done mummifications. We've recovered examples of that from ancient burials, if you're even lucky to get mummified. So you want to do it right. Verse 2. Joseph commanded the physicians in his service to embalm. Their father Jacob is getting the Rolls Royce red carpet treatment for embalmin for the afterlife Here they spent 40 days doing this, for that is the time required for embalming. And indeed we have ancient Egyptian instruction manuals for how to embalm people. And it takes about that long. And the Egyptians wept for him for 70 days. So we have a morning period. You'll notice that down in verse 15, after their dad is dead, the brothers realize that their father being dead, it says verse 15, Joseph's brothers said, what if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong we did to him? So now that dad's out of the picture, they're worried, okay, now that he's gone, is he going to come back and get us with a vengeance here? So they approach Joseph saying, your father gave this instruction before he died. Say to Joseph, I beg you forgive the crime of your brothers and the wrong they did in harming you. Dad said, pretty please, Joseph, forgive the brothers. Of course dad would say that, you know, as you can see them pulling on their neck collar as they say this. Now therefore, please forgive the crime of the servants of God, of your father. And. And once again, what's Joseph's response? Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Then his brothers also wept and fell down before him and said, we here are as your slaves. But Joseph said, do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God even though you intended to do harm to me? Once again, he recognizes, even though you acted wickedly and iniquitously against me, God intended it for good in order to preserve a numerous people. That's our big punchline of this whole story. It does not dismiss when people do bad things or minimize it. But God, through the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ, can turn that into good for us. Finally it ends and then we'll touch on a jst thing. Joseph himself is going to die. He's also going to be embalmed and later we find out that they're going to take Joseph's body with them into the land of Israel as well, the land of Canaan. We have like father, like son. We get two royal mummifications, two embalming happening here. Maybe the only other thing to add from a Latter Day Saint perspective that's really important About Genesis chapter 50 is a significant expansion in the JST JST starting in verse 24, right before Joseph dies, the last thing he says, he gives this extended prophecy about a branch of Joseph's descendants being led to a faraway land. I'm summarizing here. They will be remembered in the covenants of the Lord. God will call a latter day prophet named Joseph to join the records of Judah and Joseph and of Aaron serving as spokesman for Moses. So we're going to prophesy about basically the people in the Book of Mormon, we're going to prophesy about Joseph Smith's calling and we're going to prophesy about the coming of Aaron and Moses, which is kind of interesting. That's our important point here. I do want to point out the fact that JST Genesis 50 is also third Nephi chapter three. Lehi's blessings to his son named Joseph. He gives him almost a verbatim prophecy or blessing to him. So the question is gentlemen, what do we do with this? How do we make sense of this? Are these separate revelations or blessings given? Or did Lehi have access to something on the brass plates? Or is Joseph Smith restoring something original to Genesis? There's questions. I'll give you my thoughts and I'd love to hear what you think about this. I suspect based on the description of the Book of Mormon, they have the brass plates and they say in the brass plates are the five books of Moses, the writings of Isaiah and other prophets, the writings of Zenas and Zenith and Niam and these guys and Lehi's genealogy. It seems, if I'm not mistaken, that Lehi has access to some form or version of this blessing that Joseph pronounces at the end of Genesis 50 and that he uses that as a base text for giving a blessing to his son named Joseph in second Nephi Chapter three. Fast forward to when Joseph Smith the prophet is doing the Joseph Smith translation of the Bible. He picks up on the prophecy in 2 Nephi chapter 3 and sticks a version of that in Genesis 50 to all tie it back together. Does that make sense? We want to make sure that we know where this is all coming back to. It originates with Joseph of Egypt, we have a version of it in the Book of Mormon. I believe Joseph is inspired to take that out of this Book of Mormon context and slot it back here in this Genesis 50 context in order to wrap it all up. So we have a nice continuity there. That's what I think may be happening here. Be curious to hear your thoughts, because without the brass plates and without other ancient records, we can't be totally sure. This may be a way to make sense of it and to see how it all fits together.

Hank (44:15)

Man, I never thought of that. But of course, the second Nephi 3 is the small plates, so it would have been the last part of the translation process, but the JST came later. I mean, thank you for that reminder. Lehi had access to it somehow. And that idea of a choice seer that's repeated here is amazing. And I could see how he would put that. Then in the jst, you could see

Dr. Stephen Smoot (44:39)

the thematic interest to. There's many Josephs. There's Joseph the son of Lehi, Joseph Smith, the prophet Joseph of Egypt. We all want to tie it together. I see the prophet Joseph Smith as the revelator and translator of these texts. He's the one who deliberately wants to make that tie. In that connection, I will just say, of all the different things in here, I love the imagery in verse 31 of JST, Genesis 50, which is also 2 Nephi 3. The fruit of thy loins shall write, 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. Why are the Bible and the Book of Mormon growing together? There's that imagery of fruit trees growing together together unto the confounding of false doctrines, laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, and to bring them a knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and a knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord. That's beautiful. If you need a mission statement for the Bible in the Book of Mormon, why do we have these? Why do we care about these books? That's right there. Genesis JST 52nd Nephi 3 Establish peace, put away contention, and bring people to a knowledge of their fathers and the covenants that God has made with them.

Hank (45:52)

We often say that Lehi was commanded to go back and get the plates of brass, or commanded his sons to go get them so that he would have a genealogy. But there's more. This is First Nephi 5:14 and it came to pass, my father Lehi also found upon the plates of brass a genealogy of his fathers, wherefore he knew that he was a descendant of Joseph, yea, even that Joseph, who was the son of Jacob, who was sold into Egypt and who was preserved by the hand of the Lord that he might preserve his father Jacob and all his household from perishing with famine. There's a great tie in to Joseph and then there's even in the war chapters, this little thing that we don't have in our Bible about this remnant of the code of Joseph that hasn't decayed in Alma 46, when I was

Dr. Stephen Smoot (46:41)

at Catholic University of America doing my coursework, as you could probably guess from the name, it's a Catholic university, okay, not exclusively Catholic, but predominantly Catholic. The faculty and students, I, myself another friend, were the only two Latter Day Saints I knew of in our program. Very friendly. I had a great experience. As a matter of fact, I mentioned earlier, I did a class on the patriarchal narratives in Genesis. One of the units for our coursework was basically the reception history of these stories. So for those who don't know what that is, reception history is how these stories were told and handed down and utilized over time by different religious communities in the New Testament, in the Book of Mormon, even in the Quran, our Muslim friends. Joseph of Egypt is a very significant figure in the Quran. Different religious communities have used these figures from the Bible and have understood them in different ways. And so we explored that knowing that I'm a Latter Day Saint. My Catholic professor came to me and he said, stephen, if it's all right, I would love for you to share with us why or how Joseph of Egypt is significant in the Latter Day Saint faith tradition, specifically in the Book of Mormon. Could you do that for us? And I was like, sure, I think so. It was genuinely very nerve wracking for me. Not because I didn't know the material, it was because I wanted to make sure I properly represented this important figure in our faith tradition. To my Catholic friends and my classmates, we read two Nephi chapter three and yes, Alma 46. My professor was genuinely intrigued by this. This idea that the coat becomes like a symbol for the remnant of the people and all that kind of stuff. Little fun anecdote of how this Joseph figure from our Bible, he shows up in different contexts and it's really important. He's an important figure for us. We learn a lot from him.

John (48:22)

For anybody who's wondering, wait, what are you talking about? There's a point in the war chapters where Captain Moroni talks about the code of Egypt. We went over this with Dr. David Boren. Do you remember, John? We talked about Hugh Nibley and his work on that account and how it is found in other places. But they're very old sources. We're going thousands of years back.

Hank (48:44)

And there it is in the Book of Mormon.

John (48:47)

As we close the Book of Genesis. I want to ask you both a couple of questions and we'll just. Let's just talk here. God chose this family. He says in the beginning, this is my chosen family to bless all the families of the earth.

Dr. Stephen Smoot (49:02)

Yet

John (49:04)

this family has problems. Like they have serious problems. You know, it's not like, oh, occasionally they argue and bicker. We've got betrayal, we've got estrangement, Jacob and Esau. We've got this complicated Hagar and Sarah situation, Leah and Rachel. Then you've got the brothers who sell their brother. Almost by the end of Genesis 50, they're still going. But you're thinking, the Lord ought to get a new family. Let's just start over and choose a different family. What does that tell you? That the Lord says, no, this is the family. And here we are. How many years later, thousands of years later, the Lord is still saying, nope, this is my chosen family. I will get them to their key role.

Hank (49:58)

I think the Book of Mormon starts similarly with a family with all sorts of ups and downs. When you get to the point where you're talking about slaying another family member, that's a problem. Thank you for being so real. That's what I like. Thank you for being so real so that we don't think if our family is messy, that we're messed up or something. Everybody's messed up.

Dr. Stephen Smoot (50:24)

Read the Bible.

Hank (50:24)

Read the Book of Mormon.

Dr. Stephen Smoot (50:27)

Yes. Such as is common to man. I love what both of you guys have said about this. I totally agree with it. We sometimes want to turn scripture characters into like superheroes, like little two dimensional comic book heroes. What you find out is they were real people, real men and women. They had sometimes very messy lives. We can just appreciate that in our stories. I don't think we have to gloss over that or make excuses. We can just be real with the human element in these scriptural characters, both in our Bible and in our Book of Mormon. I think it's important also to remember besides what you both have said, which I agree with having a dysfunctional family or having family members that perhaps aren't as righteous as they could be, maybe we have family or friends who have gone off the covenant path. That is not any sign of indication that you are less righteous as a parent or as a sibling. Abraham was no less Abraham because he had kids and grandkids that were dysfunctional. Lehi was no less a prophet Lehi because of what his sons did. I hope that we'll also take that away from these scriptural accounts. Whatever the messiness of our human condition, it does not make you any less righteous or a covenant heir if you are staying true to your covenants, Even if perhaps your children or grandchildren might not. Thank you for bringing that up, Hank. It's worth reiterating that, and hopefully we can see the humanity in these stories.

John (51:42)

You know what? It's okay. God uses imperfect people to bring about his purposes.

Dr. Stephen Smoot (51:48)

Is it Saints Volume one where we read about how William Smith and Joseph Smith got in a fistfight in the temple over disagreements? Like, that's serious stuff, right? That's Joseph Smith and his family in the Kirtland temple. They got in a fistfight over disagreements. We love Joseph and William, but come on, guys, take it outside. Hopefully it's a little bit relatable. Hopefully we don't beat each other up in the temple. That's the first thing we should say, right? No fisticuffs in the temple. We're okay with the humanity of these people. We can love them all the same.

Hank (52:15)

God's not finished yet. We are all a work in progress. Our families are a work in progress. As you've said, Hank, Joseph couldn't go to the next page and see what was going to happen when he was in prison. Hang in there, because God's not done with you yet. And he's really, really good at restoring and delivering and saving and just hang on, because story's not played out yet.

John (52:38)

I think it's very refreshing. I also think it's real. I think it can bring solace to someone's heart when they've maybe been raised in some sort of falsehood. That God can only use the perfectly obedient to bring about his purposes. Or that God only cares about the perfectly obedient. He's with these people the whole time. Not to minimize some of the things that happen. They are serious. Joseph does say, you sold me.

Hank (53:06)

Yeah, you sold me. I was right there. I remember.

John (53:10)

But we can work this out. I also, like, you can work things out. That doesn't always mean that you can live in the same house with someone. It doesn't always mean that a relationship needs to continue. There are some separations in this book. Where the Lord separates the family members from each other. These are real people, and they hurt each other. They were able to work it out, not perfectly. Things are never going to be the same. But there's a lot of forgiveness in this family. One story that I'll never forget, that I don't think I knew as well as these others, is Esau allowing Jacob to return. And this is the same Jacob. No wonder Jacob is saying to his son, forgive. Please forgive. And maybe Joseph witnessed that reunion. Do you remember we talked about that, John? That maybe little Joseph witnessed the reunion of his father and his brother. And now they were able to forgive. Let's talk about one last thing. We've seen the Savior showing up in types and shadows throughout this entire book. With Abraham and Isaac especially. We saw it with Joseph and Judah. Stephen showed it right here at the end in chapter 50. And feel free to bring any others up that both of you have seen. I find it interesting that now Jacob is dead. You talked about this earlier, Stephen. They think, oh, no, this is what's been holding Joseph back from exacting revenge on us. And Joseph weeps. It's almost as if you don't believe me that I forgive you. Yes, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good. It reminded me of a story in the Gospel of Luke. Both of you know this story. Jesus is at the house of a Pharisee. His name is Simon. This isn't Simon Peter, but apparently he hasn't been very hospitable. Stephen talked about how hospitable the Middle east is. Apparently not in this case. This woman comes in, and she begins washing the Savior's feet with her tears and wiping them with her hair. Jesus has this exchange with Simon talking about her. He said, verse 47. Her sins, which are many, like just Joseph did. He's not minimizing it. Her sins, which are many, are forgiven. Then look at verse 48, he tells her again. He said unto her, thy sins are forgiven. It's almost as if the Savior will reiterate that to us, like Joseph does here, where they think, you couldn't possibly have forgiven me. Do you realize what we did? And he weeps in chapter 50 and says, yes, you thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good. Fear ye not. Listen to this. I will nourish you and your children, your little ones. And he comforted them and spake kindly unto them. That is so Christlike, that is.

Hank (56:18)

Like you said, Hank, a second or third time. Joseph's like, no, no, no, no. God meant this for good. He meant it. He knew what was coming. And it just reminds me, you know, what I'm going to say, Hank, that verse, section 58, verse 3. You cannot behold with your natural eyes for the present time the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation. The whole idea that God has his design and he has read ahead a few pages. Things haven't fully unfolded yet. So hang in there with your faith that God has a way of bringing families back together.

John (56:59)

As Stephen said, he's an alchemist and he can take this dross and turn it into gold. John, I don't know if I've told this story before. It's a pretty intense story, but I think it fits really well here, and I did receive permission to share it. One of my favorite teachers ever in church education is a man named David Christensen. He was an institute teacher up at the University of Utah for many, many years. He was a mission president in Salt Lake, a speaker at Education Week. Just a delightful person in every way. Well, he told a story once that I have never forgotten. It was about his wife, Pat. He and Pat had a son named Carrie. They had other children, but Carrie had some mental disabilities that were going to limit him for his entire life. For Carrie, school was pretty fun because he was a beloved person among all of his friends at the high school. After graduation, Carrie started to realize that everyone else is moving on. They're going on missions and getting married. And he is really staring at these disabilities, starting to try to grasp them for the first time. And he has a limited ability to do so. Well, David said for a while he would get angry. He would get very angry. They'd often have to calm him down and say, it's okay, it's okay, and try to explain to him how he is different. Well, one Sunday morning, David was the stake president. He said, I was in the stake president's office when the phone rang. And his stake executive secretary said, you better take this. And he came to the phone and it was his daughter on the phone. And she said, dad, come home quickly. Carries hurt, Mom. He said he jumped in his car, drove a few minutes back to his house, and there is an ambulance there, a police officer or two. And he is totally fazed, like, you know, what's going on at my house? And he goes inside and he said the first thing he saw on the couch was his. His son Carrie in handcuffs, you know, on the couch by a police officer. And he's Crying and he's upset. And he said, I went into the kitchen. He said, I was not prepared for what I saw. There is my wife with two EMTs. She's standing up, and they're holding her over the sink, and blood is pouring from her nose and mouth. He's just in shock. He's watching these paramedics work with his wife. She had broken bones, and they're trying to get her in a place where they can get her into the ambulance. And there's his son on the couch. And then his other children are crying and yelling, and he says, I'm just in shock. Then he said, one of the officers stood Kerry up to put him in one of the police cars. He said, hank, I have taught the atonement of Jesus Christ my entire career. I've talked about it, taught it, studied it, talked about it. He said, in this moment, I more fully grasped it than ever before through all my reading. As they are standing his son up to take him away, there's a hand that reaches on and grabs David's arm, and it's his wife. It's Pat. And he turns to her, and through all of this blood that's pouring out into the sink, she says, david, don't let them take him. And he said, he kind of came out of his shock, and he. He goes over to the police officer and says, you know, take the handcuffs off of him and. And let him go. Let him go. And he gets his son and holds his son. And what had happened is Carrie had gotten very upset. His mom had gotten after him, and he'd gotten very upset and had hurt her. He had taken a chair and hurt her. He said in that moment, he saw the Savior's love. Thanks, you guys, for letting me tell that story. It. It really means a lot to me. Stephen, let's give you the last word here. The book of Genesis, perhaps, where you see the Lord or what you've learned.

Dr. Stephen Smoot (61:43)

Thank you for that powerful story and the other points of conversation we've had. Gentlemen, it's been a great pleasure of mine. I see Jesus Christ on almost every page in the book of Genesis, in every story from Genesis 1 to Genesis 50. I see him explicitly as the God Jehovah, the God of Israel, who steps in at the creation. He's there with Adam and Eve. He's there with Noah and Enoch. He makes a covenant with Abraham and his children and his family. He is there explicitly on the pages as the Lord Jehovah stepping in to deal with his children. I also see him Typologically I see him symbolically, as we've discussed, I see him as the figure of Joseph forgiving his brothers. I actually loved hanky. Or comment. Can I return to my father without so and so? Right. That's actually a beautiful way to see the Savior's intercession for us. In these pages, I see him in the example of Judah, Abraham, Isaac. Of course, with the binding of Isaac, we could go on and on. For our readers of the Book of Genesis, you're listening to the podcast. I study the Book of Genesis academically. In fact, my dissertation is on Genesis, chapter one on the creation account in Genesis. I sometimes have my scholar hat on when I read the book of Genesis. As a scholar of the Bible, that's interesting and that's meaningful to me and worthwhile to me me. But even more important to me is my faith and testimony as a Latter Day Saint that Jesus Christ, as we affirm, was Jehovah of the Old Testament and the Christ of the New Testament. Looking at it with that lens and with that set of eyes to see him there in those pages has turned this into, you know what? This is more than just old stories. They're great stories. I love to teach them the stories, but they can be so much more than that. If you will let the spirit illuminate you, you will see Jesus Christ there as well as I have. I thank you for that opportunity to come here and talk with you about this. And I hope that in all of my ramblings, I have had some semblance of a good thought or two that can help us indeed. Follow Him.

Hank (63:39)

There you go.

Dr. Stephen Smoot (63:40)

Right, tie it all in with the podcast.

John (63:41)

I love it. Stephen, thank you. Thank you for your time, your expertise. This has really been a joy to walk through these verses with you see things I've never seen before and then to feel things that are familiar. But wonderful. Very uplifting.

Dr. Stephen Smoot (63:58)

Pleasure is all mine.

John (63:59)

Thank you so much, Stephen. With that, we want to thank very soon Dr. Steven Smoot for his expertise and his time with us. We want to thank our executive producer, Shannon Sorensen, our sponsors David and Verla Sorensen, and every episode we remember our founder, Steve Sorensen. We hope you'll join us next week. We're jumping into the second book of Moses called Exodus on Follow Him. As a thank you to our wonderful listeners, we'd love to gift you the digital version of our book, Finding Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. It offers short, meaningful insights drawn from our past Old Testament episodes. Visit followhim.co. that's followhim co to download your free copy today and you'll also find the link to purchase the print edition. Thank you for being part of our Follow him family. Of course, none of this could happen without our incredible production crew. David Perry, Lisa Spice, Will Stoughton, Crystal Roberts, Ariel Cuadra, Heather Barlow, Amelia Kabwica, Sydney Smith, and Annabel Sorenson. Whatever questions or problems you have, the answer is always found in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Turn to Him. Follow Him.