101 Reasons Why I Believe Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God.
Evidence Seventy-Five:
Twenty-Three Prophecies about Joseph Smith in 2 Nephi 3©
Introduction: I was privileged to teach The Book of Mormon for many years as an Institute instructor. One of my favorite chapters in a book with many, many favorite chapters, is 2 Nephi 3. Many readers will know the background story. An elderly father Lehi, anticipating his demise, gathers his family and bestows upon them blessings. Chapter 3 is the account of his blessing upon his youngest son Joseph who was born during the wilderness wanderings as the family/colony traveled south along the western Arabian coast. In the course of the blessing, Lehi tells Joseph he and Lehi are descendants of the ancient Biblical Joseph who was sold into Egyptian bondage by his jealous and ambitious ten older brothers. Lehi told Joseph that the Lord made “great” covenants with Joseph in Egypt. He was also a “seer” and “saw our day,” meaning the days of Lehi. One of the promises he received was that from among his descendants God would raise up a righteous branch “unto” the House of Israel. The branch was to be “broken off,” yet “remembered in the covenants of the Lord” who would be important in the latter days when they would be brought out of “hidden darkness and out of captivity unto freedom.” (2 Ne. 3:4-6.) The branch broken off was Lehi’s colony who settled in the New World, “this precious land of promise.” (2 Ne. 1:10)
Then, Lehi tells his son Joseph, that Joseph in Egypt spoke of a future individual who would come from his posterity “who shall be a choice seer,”(1) and he repeated the phrase in the next verse. (2 Nephi 3:6-7.) This is the first of almost two dozen prophecies about Joseph Smith which are found in vss. 6-20. Later in the account Nephi writes that Joseph in Egypt “prophesied concerning all his seed. And the prophecies he wrote, there are not many greater.”(2 Ne. 4:2) It is this author’s contention that the twenty-three prophecies concerning Joseph Smith by Joseph in Egypt are among those which there are not many greater. Consider a close scrutiny of the following list:
1. He will be a “choice seer” to be raised up unto the posterity of Joseph in Egypt.
a. 2 Ne. 3:6 For Joseph truly testified, saying: A seer shall the Lord my God raise up, who shall be a choice seer unto the fruit of my loins. `
2. He shall be raised up out of the posterity of Joseph in Egypt.
a. 2 Nephi 3:7 Yea, Joseph truly said: Thus saith the Lord unto me: A choice seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins....
3. He shall be esteemed highly among the posterity of Joseph in Egypt.
a. 2 Nephi 3:7 “ ... and he shall be esteemed highly among the fruit of thy loins. ...”
4. He will be commanded to do a work for the posterity of Joseph in Egypt which will be of great worth unto them.
a. 2 Nephi 3:7 “...And unto him will I give commandment that he shall do a work for the fruit of thy loins, his brethren, which shall be of great worth unto them...”
5. The great work he will do for the posterity of Joseph in Egypt will bring them to a knowledge of the covenants which the Lord made with the fathers of Joseph–i.e., Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
a. 2 Nephi 3:7 “... even to the bringing of them to the knowledge of the covenants which I have made with thy fathers.”
6. He shall be commanded to do no other work besides that which God commands him.
a. 2 Nephi 3:8 “And I will give unto him a commandment that he shall do none other work, save the work which I shall command him.”
7. God will make him great in the eyes of God, for he will do the work of God.
a. 2 Nephi 3:8 “And I will make him great in mine eyes; for he shall do my work.”
8. He will be great like Moses.
a. 2 Nephi 3:9 “And he shall be great like unto Moses, whom I have said I would raise up unto you, to deliver my people, O house of Israel.”
9. He is a seer raised up from the posterity of Joseph in Egypt to whom God will give power to bring forth his word to the posterity of Joseph in Egypt.
a. 2 Nephi 3:11 “But a seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and unto him will I give power to bring forth my word unto the seed of thy loins....”
10. He will be given power to convince the posterity of Joseph in Egypt of his word which has already gone forth among them (the Bible).
a. 2 Nephi 3:11 “...and not to the bringing forth my word only, saith the Lord, but to the convincing them of my word, which shall have already gone forth among them.”
11. His writings and the Bible will “grow together.”
a. 2 Nephi 3:12 “Wherefore, 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,...”
[12-16]. The uniting of Joseph Smith’s writings with the Bible will produce five important effects to:
12. Confound false doctrine.
13. Lay down contention.
14. Establish peace among the posterity of Joseph in Egypt
15. Bring the posterity of Joseph in Egypt to a knowledge of their fathers in the latter days.
16. Bring the posterity of Joseph in Egypt to a knowledge of the covenants of the Lord.
g. 2 Nephi 3:12 “...unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, and bringing them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also to the knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord.”
17. Out of weakness he shall be made strong in the day when the Lord’s works to restore his people, the House of Israel.
a. 2 Nephi 3:13 “And out of weakness he shall be made strong, in that day when my work shall commence among all my people, unto the restoring thee, O house of Israel, saith the Lord.”
18. He will be blessed so that those who seek to destroy him will be confounded and the fulfilling of this promise is sure.
a. 2 Nephi 3:14 “... that seer will the Lord bless; and they that seek to destroy him shall be confounded; for this promise, which I have obtained of the Lord, of the fruit of my loins, shall be fulfilled. Behold, I am sure of the fulfilling of this promise;”
19. His name shall be called after Joseph in Egypt, the same name as his father.
a. 2 Nephi 3:15 “...his name shall be called after me; and it shall be after the name of his father.”
20. He shall be like unto Joseph in Egypt and the Lord will bring forth by his hand the salvation of the Lord’s people.
a. 2 Nephi 3:15 “And he shall be like unto me; for the thing, which the Lord shall bring forth by his hand, by the power of the Lord shall bring my people unto salvation.
21. God will make for Joseph Smith a spokesman like he will do for Moses. (See vs. 17.)
a. 2 Nephi 3:18 “...I will raise up unto the fruit of thy loins; and I will make for him a spokesman...”
22. He will write the writing of the posterity of Joseph of Egypt; the spokesman will “declare it.”
a. 2 Nephi 3:18 “...I will give unto him that he shall write the writing of the fruit of thy loins, unto the fruit of thy loins; and the spokesman of thy loins shall declare it.”
23. His writings will be those things which are expedient in the eyes of the Lord, and it will be as if the posterity of Joseph of Egypt were crying from the dust. It will be the cry of repentance in simple words.
a. 2 Nephi 3:19-20 19) And the words which he shall write shall be the words which are expedient in my wisdom should go forth unto the fruit of thy loins. And it shall be as if the fruit of thy loins had cried unto them from the dust; for I know their faith. 20) And they shall cry from the dust; yea, even repentance unto their brethren, even after many generations have gone by them. And it shall come to pass that their cry shall go, even according to the simpleness of their words.
Much could be said about this list. Indeed, for most of my career I intended to write a book about the prophecies of Joseph in Egypt about the Prophet Joseph Smith and include a chapter on each of the prophecies. Alas...good intentions. Some of these prophecies have captured the attention of some authors more than others. Among them #s 1, 5, 8, 11, 17, 19, and 20. Nineteen is perhaps the best known because it identifies the subject of these prophecies by name–Joseph, named after Joseph in Egypt and his own father–Joseph Smith, Sr. This list also includes the promises that Joseph Smith will be like Moses (#8), and like Joseph in Egypt himself, (#20).
One of the most astounding of all these prophecies is little noticed and almost never commented upon. It is #7. There God said, “I will make him [Joseph Smith] great in mine eyes; for he shall do my work”!! The questions immediately arise: “What does one have to do to be considered great in the eyes of God?” and “Has this ever been said of anyone else in scripture?” I will answer them in reverse order. Indeed, only one other person has had this said of him. Luke 1:15 says of John the Baptist: “For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord....” Matthew 11:11 may give some insight into this when it says, “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist....” Joseph Smith said this was true because John the Baptist was given two important missions no other prophet had–1), he was entrusted to prepare the way “before the face of the Lord,” and 2), he was entrusted to baptize the Savior.(2) Joseph of Egypt’s statement was that Joseph Smith would be great and do the work of the Lord. Most LDS know that is an allusion to Moses 1:39, “this is my work and my glory–to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” John Taylor wrote a brief account of the martyrdom which was later canonized as D&C 135. Therein he testified that Joseph Smith “lived great, and died great in the eyes of God, and his people.” (D&C 135:3) In the same section he rendered one of the most eloquent, memorable, and oft quoted passages about the Prophet’s saving work: “Joseph Smith, the Prophet and seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it.” (D&C 135:3, emphasis added.) Verse 24 of 2 Nephi 3 speaks of a future “mighty” one who will “do that which is great in the sight of God, unto the bringing to pass much restoration unto the house of Israel....”(3) Joseph Smith, of course, as the head of this final dispensation, laid the foundation of the Restoration.
I will reserve comment on some of the other prophecies in this amazing collection perhaps for other blogs, but I would like to conclude this one with some observations I think carry a lot of weight as evidence that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. All of the above prophecies have or are in the process of being fulfilled. How astounding is that? Who among us under age twenty-five would be willing to write twenty-three prophecies about ourselves and our spiritual work in life for the world to see and evaluate? And then for them to be fulfilled, several in notably miraculous ways over which Joseph Smith had no control. Who can gainsay that he was God’s prophet when evaluated on the basis of these twenty-three statements and their fulfillment?
But there is more. As far as I know, and I’ve spent most of my life studying Joseph’s life and teachings–as far as I know he never breathed one word or alluded in any way to any of these prophecies!(4) He appears to have dictated them to Oliver Cowdery and then let them stand on their own without further comment or discussion. To me this is remarkable for at least two reasons. The first is what it suggests about his humility and confidence in the word of the Lord. It was both an act of humility and supreme faith to include twenty-three prophecies, many of them far reaching in their scope and others with detail that can be verified, and simply let them stand for others to evaluate and comment upon. Magnificent, Joseph!
Second, Joseph’s silence on this matter is a strong argument against his authorship of the book. How so? Precisely because he never sought to capitalize on these statements. No, he never used them to increase his influence over his followers. He did not try, using this material, to elevate his status among them either. If he were a self-seeking, money-grubbing, high-handed, power-hungry con man, then here is his golden opportunity is it not? If he is a genius-charlatan pawning himself off as a prophet why leave this set of gems untouched, unmined, unexploited?(5) It doesn't speak well of his skill as a fraud to leave a treasure as valuable as this is not cashed in!
Thank God for Joseph Smith!
Let's think together again, soon.
Notes:
1. Unless otherwise noted, all emphasis is mine.
2. Joseph Fielding Smith, comp., Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1967, 275.
3. Most commentators on verse 24 assume this is a summary statement about Joseph Smith. However in 1947, Elder Spencer W. Kimball spoke of this as a future Lamanite leader. See Conference Report, October 1947, 22. More recently, Monte Nyman, retired BYU professor of religion, published a multi-volume commentary on the Book of Mormon in which he cites this reference by Elder Kimball, adds another, less clear, reference by Joseph Fielding Smith, then adds his own analysis favoring Elder Kimball’s interpretation. See, Monte S. Nyman, I, Nephi, Wrote this Record: A Teaching Commentary on The First Book of Nephi and The Second Book of Nephi, Volume 1, Orem, UT: Granite Publishing and Distribution, 2003, 427-28.
4. I do not mean this to sound boastful. If there is something out there where the Prophet commented on or alluded to the prophecies about him in 2 Nephi 3, it is neither obvious or well known, and I know of no commentator on 2 Nephi 3 who calls attention to any such statement.
5. I’m grateful to Dan Peterson for this perspective and argument, which an anonymous family member of his applied to other aspects of the Book of Mormon. See, Daniel C. Peterson, “‘All Can Partake, Freely,’” Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 42 (2021): xiii.
