The Book of Mormon as the Stick of Ephraim

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The Book of Mormon as the Stick of Ephraim


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Question: Was the Book of Mormon figure Ishmael a descendant of Ephraim?

Latter-day Saints have historically interpreted Ezekiel 37:15–17 as being a prophecy of coming forth of the Book of Mormon in the last days. Elder Boyd K. Packer explained it this way in General Conference, October 1982:

I must tell you of a work that has moved quietly forward in the Church virtually unnoticed. It had its beginning in Old Testament times and is the fulfillment of a prophecy by Ezekiel, who wrote:

"The word of the Lord came...unto me, saying, Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand."

The sticks, of course, are records or books. In ancient Israel records were written upon tablets of wood or scrolls rolled upon sticks. The record of Judah and the record of Ephraim, according to the prophecy, were to become one in our hands. Two events connected with the fulfillment of the prophecy were centered in print shops.

One of Joseph Smith's early revelations makes the connection between the Book of Mormon and Ezekiel's "stick of Ephraim": "The hour cometh that I will drink of the fruit of the vine with you on the earth, and with Moroni, whom I have sent unto you to reveal the Book of Mormon, containing the fulness of my everlasting gospel, to whom I have committed the keys of the record of the stick of Ephraim." (D&C 27:5.)

Since the Book of Mormon makes clear that Lehi was a descendant of Manasseh, brother of Ephraim (Alma 10:3), why is the Book of Mormon referred to as the "stick of Ephraim"? Joseph Smith answered a similar question "as to the Stick of Joseph in the hand of Ephraim" (see Ezekiel 37:19): "I will merely say suppose yourself to be an Ephraimite, and suppose all this church to be, of the blood of Ephraim and the book of Mormon to be a record of Manasseh which would of course [be a re]cord of Joseph, Then suppose you being an Ephraimite, Should take the record of Joseph in your hand, would not then the stick of Joseph be in the hand of Ephraim. solve this mistery and se[e]."[1]

In addition, Church leaders in the late 1800s stated that Joseph Smith learned in the lost 116 pages of the Book of Mormon that Ishmael was of the tribe of Ephraim:

  • Orson Pratt, 1850: "The records of Manasseh in the hands of Ephraim shall gather out the Lord's elect from the four winds, from one end of the earth to the other The Book of Mormon is the record of Manasseh; it is now in the hands of Ephraim, who have been for many generations, as the Prophet Hosea said, "mixed among the people." By them will the Lord "push the people together to the ends of the earth," even by the children of Ephraim, who is the Lord's first-born in this great latter-day work The American Indians are partly of the children of Manasseh; though many of them are of Ephraim, through the two sons of Ishmael."[2]
  • Erastus Snow, 1882: "The Prophet Joseph informed us that the record of Lehi, was contained on the 116 pages that were first translated and subsequently stolen, and of which an abridgement is given us in the first Book of Nephi, which is the record of Nephi individually, he himself being of the lineage of Manasseh; but that Ishmael was of the lineage of Ephraim, and that his sons married into Lehi's family, and Lehi's sons married Ishmael's daughters, thus fulfilling the words of Jacob upon Ephraim and Manasseh in the 48th chapter of Genesis."[3]
  • Franklin D. Richards, 1896: "Brother Joseph, how is it that we call the Book of Mormon the Stick of Joseph in the hands of Ephraim, when the book itself tells us that Lehi was of the lineage of Manasseh? I cannot find in it about the seed of Ephraim dwelling on this land at all." Joseph replied: "You will recollect that when Lehi and his family had gone from Jerusalem out into the wilderness, he sent his son Nephi back to the city to get the plates which contained the law of Moses and many prophecies of the prophets, and that he also brought out Ishmael and his family, which were mostly daughters. This Ishmael and his family were of the lineage of Ephraim, and Lehi's sons took Ishmael's daughters for wives, and this is how they have grown together, 'a multitude of nations in the midst of the earth.' "If we had those one hundred and sixteen pages of manuscript which Martin Harris got away with, you would know all about it, for Ishmael' s ancestry is made very plain therein. The Lord told me not to translate it over again, but to take from Nephi' s other plates until I came to the period of time where the other translation was broken off, and then go on with Mormon's abridgment again. That is how it came about that Ishmael's lineage was not given in the Book of Mormon, as well as Lehi's."[4]
  • Editor of the Improvement Era, 1905: "President Franklin D. Richards, and other Latter-day Saints acquainted with the Prophet Joseph, have declared, to this writer’s personal knowledge, that in conversation they had known him to say that in Mormon’s abridgement of the book of Lehi, (which supplied the 116 pages of manuscript lost by Martin Harris) it was plainly stated that Ishmael was of the tribe of Ephraim."[5]


Question: How should we interpreter Ezekiel 37 regarding the Book of Mormon?

In context, this portion of Ezekiel's record is a prophecy of the restoration and reunification of the divided house of Israel. Ezekiel sees a vision of a valley of dry bones that are miraculously reassembled with flesh, and the breath of life returns to them (37:1–10). The Lord promises Ezekiel that he will raise the people of Israel from the dead and give them rest in their own land (11–14). The Lord then gives the prophecy of the sticks (15–20). He explains the sticks represent the restoration of Israel to their homeland and reunification of the formerly separated nations of Judah and Israel (Ephraim) (21–22). They will live God's law, be purified from unrighteousness, and be ruled over by the heir of house of David (23–28).

So what does the Book of Mormon have to do with the reunification of Israel and how does Lehi, descendant of Manasseh, fit into a prophecy of a "stick of Ephraim"?

For Latter-day Saints this is an example of "likening the scriptures unto ourselves," as Nephi suggested (1 Nephi 19:23). The Book of Mormon is the restoration scripture for modern-day Ephraim—the people of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—and a message that they take to the world so that Israel may be gathered a final time in preparation for the second coming of the Lord.

Although Ezekiel was speaking directly of reunification, Latter-day Saints have applied their own modern application of this passage as it relates to the Book of Mormon's role in the restoration of the gospel and the gathering of Israel.


Erastus Snow (1882) The Prophet Joseph informed us that the record of Lehi, was contained on the 116 pages that were first translated and subsequently stolen, and of which an abridgement is given us in the first Book of Nephi, which is the record of Nephi individually, he himself being of the lineage of Manasseh; but that Ishmael was of the lineage of Ephraim, and that his sons married into Lehi's family, and Lehi's sons married Ishmael's daughters, thus fulfilling the words of Jacob upon Ephraim and Manasseh in the 48th chapter of Genesis.

From a speech delivered in May 6, 1882 recorded in Erastus Snow, Journal of Discourses 23:184-185.

The first important labor of this ministry is to go abroad and preach the Gospel to the nations. The Gospel of the kingdom must be preached to all people and nations and tongues before the end can come; and by the preaching of the word and the administering of the ordinances of the Gospel, is Israel sought out from among the nations among which they are scattered, especially the seed of Ephraim unto whom the first promises appertain, the promise of the keys of the Priesthood. For it must be remembered that of all the seed of Abraham whom the Lord chose to bear the keys pertaining to this holy order of Priesthood, the seed of Ephraim, the son of Joseph, were the first and chief. While the tribe of Levi, unto which Moses and Aaron belonged, was specially charged with the administration of affairs of the lesser Priesthood under the law, yet Ephraim, the peculiar and chosen son of Joseph, was the one whom the Lord had named by his own mouth and through the Prophets, to inherit the keys of presidency of this High Priesthood after the order of the Son of God. In this also we see the fulfillment of the covenants and promises of God; not that Joseph by birthright inherited this blessing, for Reuben was the first-born among the twelve sons of Jacob; but we are told in Chronicles, the 7th chapter, that Reuben forfeited this birthright by his adultery, and that God took it from him and conferred it upon the sons of Joseph; and of the sons of Joseph he chose Ephraim as the chief; and while the Patriarch Jacob, as we read in the 49th chapter of Genesis, adopted into his own family two of the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, yet he placed Ephraim the younger foremost, and blessed him with the chief blessing, saying, that Manasseh shall be great, but Ephraim shall be greater than he; he shall become a multitude in the midst of the earth. Another Scripture also says concerning scattered Israel, that Ephraim has mixed himself among the people; and speaking of the gathering of Israel in the latter-day dispensation, the Prophet Jeremiah has said that God would gather Israel and lead them as a shepherd does his flock, and says he, I am Father to Israel, but Ephraim is my first-born. Now, if Ephraim has been scattered and has mixed himself with the people until their identity is lost among the nations, how are they going to be recognized and receive the promised blessings—how is it that Ephraim shall be the first-born of the Lord in the great gathering of the latter-days? If we turn back to the blessing which Moses gave to the twelve tribes of Israel, as found in Deuteronomy, we shall there see that in blessing the tribe of Joseph, he especially charged them with the duty of gathering the people from the ends of the earth. Said he, Joseph's horns are like the horns of unicorns, which shall push the people together from the ends of the earth, and they are the thousands of Manasseh and ten thousands of Ephraim; showing that it shall be the ten thousands of Ephraim and thousands of Manasseh who shall be in the foremost ranks of bearing the Gospel message to the ends of the earth, and gathering Israel from the four quarters of the world in the last days. Whoever has read the Book of Mormon carefully will have learned that the remnants of the house of Joseph dwelt upon the American continent; and that Lehi learned by searching the records of his fathers that were written upon the plates of brass, that he was of the lineage of Manasseh. The Prophet Joseph informed us that the record of Lehi, was contained on the 116 pages that were first translated and subsequently stolen, and of which an abridgement is given us in the first Book of Nephi, which is the record of Nephi individually, he himself being of the lineage of Manasseh; but that Ishmael was of the lineage of Ephraim, and that his sons married into Lehi's family, and Lehi's sons married Ishmael's daughters, thus fulfilling the words of Jacob upon Ephraim and Manasseh in the 48th chapter of Genesis, which says: "And let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the land." Thus these descendants of Manasseh and Ephraim grew together upon this American continent, with a sprinkling from the house of Judah, from Mulek descended, who left Jerusalem eleven years after Lehi, and founded the colony afterwards known as Zarahemla and found by Mosiah—thus making a combination, an intermixture of Ephraim and Manasseh with the remnants of Judah, and for aught we know, the remnants of some other tribes that might have accompanied Mulek. And such have grown up on the American continent. But we are not informed that the Prophet Joseph and the first Elders of this Church who were called and chosen of God to bear the Priesthood and lay the foundation of this work, were descended from any portion of those remnants that peopled America anciently, and whose history is given us in the Book of Mormon. Yet we find in the Doctrine and Covenants the declaration concerning the first Elders of this Church, that they were of the house of Ephraim; and another passage referring to the wicked and rebellious, says, they shall be cut off from among the people, for the rebellious are not of the seed of Ephraim. And there is a passage in the Book of Mormon which is a part of the prophecy of Joseph written on the plates of brass and quoted by Lehi, concerning the Prophet Joseph Smith, who, it says, was to be raised up in the latter days to translate the records of the Nephites, and whose name should be Joseph, and who should be a descendant of that Joseph that was sold into Egypt, and also that that should be the name of his father.

Orson Pratt (1850): "the Lord took one of his sons, whose name was Mulek, with a company of those who would hearken unto His words, and brought them over the ocean, and planted them in America"

Orson Pratt, Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon, no. 6 (Liverpool, England: 15 October 1850): 91–92.

29.—Ephraim, the Lord's first-born, shall be like a mighty man, and his heart shall rejoice as through new wine; for he shall crown the tribes of Israel with glory, and his birthright shall never be wrested from his hand; his dwellings shall be in the fat valleys, and his seed shall cover the hills; he shall put forth his branches in all directions, and many shall repose in the shade thereof; with him is the key of hidden mysteries—the mysteries of ancient times; he shall unlock the sacred archives of heaven, and the skies shall pour down righteousness, like rain; the bowels of the earth shall open, and shall disclose the wonders of ages unknown. By him Zion shall be built, and her dwellings shall be encircled with glory; her light shall be as the sun, and her beauty as the morning; her tabernacles shall be as the dwelling places of the Most High, and in her palaces kings shall arise and worship; her children with one heart shall look upward, while the Zion that is above shall look downward; then the heavens and the earth shall meet, and all the creations shall shake with gladness; then the union of all dispensations will be completed, and the royal families of heaven and earth will be one from henceforth, even for evermore. This is the blessing of the children of Zion, and the glory of Ephraim the Lord's servants. The children of Manasseh shall assist Ephraim, and in all his glory they shall be glorified.

30.—The records of Manasseh in the hands of Ephraim shall gather out the Lord's elect from the four winds, from one end of the earth to the other The Book of Mormon is the record of Manasseh; it is now in the hands of Ephraim, who have been for many generations, as the Prophet Hosea said, "mixed among the people." By them will the Lord "push the people together to the ends of the earth," even by the children of Ephraim, who is the Lord's first-born in this great latter-day work The American Indians are partly of the children of Manasseh; though many of them are of Ephraim, through the two sons of Ishmael, who came out of Jerusalem six hundred years before Christ, and some of Judah, through the loins of David and the kings that reigned over Jerusalem. When Zedekiah, king of Judah, was carried away captive into Babylon, the Lord took one of his sons, whose name was Mulek, with a company of those who would hearken unto His words, and brought them over the ocean, and planted them in America. This was done in fulfillment of the 22nd and 23rd verses of the seventeenth chapter of Ezekiel, which read thus: "Thus saith the Lord God, I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it: I will cross off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent; in the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it; and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit and, be a goodly cedar; and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell." By reading this chapter, it will be seen that the Jews were the "high cedar," that Zedekiah the king was the "highest branch," that the "tender one" cropped off from the top of his young twigs, was one of his sons, whom the Lord brought out and planted him and his company upon the choice land of America, which He had given unto a remnant of the tribe of Joseph for an inheritance, in fulfillment of the blessing of Jacob and Moses upon the head of that tribe.


Franklin D. Richards (1896): "Brother Joseph, how is it that we call the Book of Mormon the Stick of Joseph, in the hands of Ephraim, when the book itself tells us that Lehi was of the lineage of Manasseh?"

As cited in B. H. Roberts's 1909 New Witnesses for God, vol. 3

One day in the autumn of that year, (1843) as I was passing near, (the "Nauvoo Mansion") it being in warm weather, I observed the door standing open and the Prophet Joseph inside conversing with one of the brethren, leaning against the counter. It being a public house, I ventured to walk in, and scarcely had more than time to exchange usual civilities, when this brother said: "Brother Joseph, how is it that we call the Book of Mormon the Stick of Joseph, in the hands of Ephraim, when the book itself tells us that Lehi was of the lineage of Manasseh? I cannot find in it about the seed of Ephraim dwelling on this land at all."

Joseph replied: "You will recollect that when Lehi and his family had gone from Jerusalem out into the wilderness, he sent his son Nephi back to the city to get the plates which contained the law of Moses and many prophecies of the prophets, and that he also brought out Ishmael and his family, which were mostly daughters. This Ishmael and his family were of the lineage of Ephraim, and Lehi's sons took Ishmael's daughters for wives, and this is how they have grown together, 'a multitude of nations in the midst of the earth.'

"If we had those one hundred and sixteen pages of manuscript which Martin Harris got away with, you would know all about it, for Ishmael's ancestry is made very plain therein. The Lord told me not to translate it over again, but to take from Nephi's other plates until I came to the period of time where the other translation was broken off, and then go on with Mormon's abridgment again. That is how it came about that Ishmael's lineage was not given in the Book of Mormon, as well as Lehi's."'—Franklin D. Richards, The Contributor, Vol. XVII, p. 425.


Joseph Fielding Smith (1957): "It is true that Lehi was a descendant of Manasseh...Ishmael, who was the other founder of the colony, was a descendant of Ephraim"

From Answers to Gospel Questions 3:197–98

Question: "Our missionary manual gives us the Bible quotation Ezekiel 37:15-20 as a prophecy concerning the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and calls it ' . . . for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions.'

"Amulek, in giving his genealogy in Alma 10:3, says that Lehi was 'a descendant of Manasseh, who was the son of Joseph who was sold into Egypt by the hands of his brethren.'

"How can we reconcile these two passages of scripture?"

Answer: It is true that Lehi was a descendant of Manasseh (Alma 10:3), but the Nephites were just as much the descendants of Ephraim, for we know that Ishmael, who was the other founder of the colony, was a descendant of Ephraim. This we learn from the Prophet Joseph Smith, but it is not so stated in the Book of Mormon. This information was contained in the 116 pages of lost manuscript which was not re-translated into the Book of Mormon.

You are aware of the fact that the sons of Lehi married the daughters of Ishmael.

JOSEPH SMITH WAS A DESCENDANT OF EPHRAIM

Ezekiel 37:19 reads as follows:

Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and they shall be one in mine hand.

Now if you will carefully analyze this verse, you will discover that it positively states that this "stick" which is the "stick of Joseph," thus covering both tribes, is "in the hand of Ephraim." The record, after its presentation to the Prophet Joseph Smith, was placed in the hand of Ephraim, for Joseph Smith was of Ephraim.

There is no reason for us to attempt a reconciliation. The Book of Mormon is as much the stick of Ephraim as it is of Manasseh, because both Ephraim and Manasseh were the sons of Joseph. The record of Joseph is now in the hand of Ephraim. So far as the fulfilment of the prophecy is concerned, it becomes the record of Ephraim, for the Latter-day Saints are, in the main, of Ephraim.

There are many statements in the Bible of similar nature to this, but they all make sense when the proper inspiration is received.


Source(s) of the criticism
Critical sources
  • Contender Ministries, Questions All Mormons Should Ask Themselves. Answers
  • James H. Hunt, Mormonism: Embracing the Origin, Rise and Progress of the Sect (St. Louis: Ustick and Davies, 1844), 81-82. off-site
  • James M’Chesney, An Antidote To Mormonism, revised by G. J. Bennet (New York, NY: Burnett & Pollard, 1838), xxx. off-site Full title
  • One Who Hates Imposture, Mormonism Dissected, or, Knavery “On Two Sticks,” Exposed (Bethania, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania: Reuben Chambers, 1841), 18–20. off-site Full title
  • Walter Scott, “Mormon Bible–No. III,” The Evangelist (Carthage, Ohio) 9, no. 3 (1 March 1841): 62–65. off-site
  • H. Stevenson, A Lecture on Mormonism (Newcastle: J. Blackwell and Co., 1839), 3-32. off-site
  • Tower to Truth Ministries, "50 Questions to Ask Mormons," towertotruth.net (accessed 15 November 2007). 50 Answers
  • Amos H. Wickersham, An Examination of the Principles of Mormonism (Wilmington, DE: Allderidge, Jeandell, & Miles, 1843), ??. off-site Full title Reply
Past responses
  • Book of Mormon Broadside (Palmyra, N. Y.) (1844). off-site
    Advertises in these terms
  • Anon., "Books," Times and Seasons 3 no. 21 (1 September 1842), 908–9. off-site GospeLink off-site
  • George J. Adams, A Lecture on the Authenticity & Scriptural Character of the Book of Mormon (Boston: J. E. Farwell, 1844), 10-14.
  • George J. Adams, "Sectarian Folly and Wickedness Made Manifest. Northampton, 22 June, 1841," Millennial Star 2 no. 3 (July 1841)), 33-37. off-site
  • Julian Moses, A Few Remarks in Reply to an Anonymous Scribbler... (Philadelphia: 1841), 11. off-site Full title
  • Benjamin Winchester, “The Claims of the Book of Mormon Established—It also Defended,” The Gospel Reflector (Philadelphia) 1, no. 6 (15 March 1841): 121–28. off-site
  • Benjamin Winchester, “The Object of a Continuation of Revelation,” The Gospel Reflector (Philadelphia) 1, no. 5 (1 March 1841): 97-120. off-site


Notes

  1. ↑ "Letter to Stephen Post, 17 September 1838," josephsmithpapers.org.
  2. ↑ Orson Pratt, Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon no. 6 (Liverpool, England: 15 October 1850), 91–92.
  3. ↑ "Discourse by Apostle Erastus Snow," at Logan, Utah, May 6, 1882, in Journal of Discourses 23:184.
  4. ↑ Franklin D. Richards, "Origin of American Aborigines," The Contributor 17:7 (May 1896), 425.
  5. ↑ Editor, "Questions and Answers—The Stick of Ephraim," Improvement Era 8:10 (August 1905), 781–782.
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