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.32 And out of weakness shall he be made strong, in that day when my work shall go forth among all my people, which shall restore them, who are of the house of Israel, in the last days.14 And thus prophesied Joseph, saying: Behold, 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;33 And that seer will I bless, and they that seek to destroy him shall be confounded; for this promise I give unto you; for I will remember you from generation to generation; and his name shall be called Joseph, and it shall be after the name of his father; and he shall be like unto you; for the thing which the Lord shall bring forth by his hand shall bring my people unto salvation. [JST, Genesis 50:32–33]15 And his name shall be called after me; and it shall be after the name of his father. 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. [2 Nephi 3:13–15]
Lehi quotes or paraphrases the end of verse thirteen: “unto the restoring thee, O house of Israel, saith the Lord.” The JST account says: “Which shall restore them, who are of the house of Israel, in the last days” (v. 32). Lehi was speaking to the house of Israel, his people. Joseph Smith probably clarified the audience and the time because he was speaking primarily to the Gentiles and the House of Israel scattered among them in the latter days. Joseph was making the text more understandable, not necessarily correcting the text.
Joseph Smith III asked his mother, Emma Smith, if it was possible that his father had written the Book of Mormon and then dictated it to scribes. Emma said: “Joseph Smith could neither write nor dictate a coherent and well worded letter, let alone dictating a book like the Book of Mormon, and though I was an active participant in the scenes that transpired, and was present during the translation of the plates, and had cognizance of things as they transpired, it is a marvel to me, ‘a marvel and a wonder,’ as much so as to anyone else.”
While Emma describes the weakness Joseph had at the beginning of his ministry (v. 13), the growth and strength he gained through the blessings of the Lord are shown in the Doctrine and Covenants 121, 122, and 123. These three sections are excerpts from a letter he wrote in March 1839 while in Liberty Jail, Missouri, under extreme physical conditions. The full letter is recorded in the History of the Church 3:289–300, and both the sections in the Doctrine and Covenants and the full letter are too long to be quoted here, but they further exemplify the strength Joseph attained. President Joseph Fielding Smith called this letter “one of the greatest letters that was ever penned by man.” It is really one of the great pieces of literature of this generation, especially when the conditions under which it was written are considered.
According to Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Smith’s growth from weakness to spiritual strength also fulfills biblical prophecy. Oliver said that the angel Moroni told Joseph Smith that his work would fulfill the scripture: “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” The wording of this scripture is a slight variation of 1 Corinthians 1:27. Joseph Smith certainly fulfilled this scripture as well as the fifth prophetic description of the seer given by Joseph of Egypt.
The promise of the seer’s enemies being confounded (v. 14) was reiterated to Joseph Smith in a revelation to him in December 1831, following the publication of some newspaper articles by Ezra Booth, who had apostatized. The revelation read: “If any man lift his voice against you he shall be confounded in mine own due time” (D&C 71:10). The following example is just one of many of those times when Joseph’s enemies were confounded.
On July 8, 1838, Joseph Smith received a revelation calling the twelve on a mission to Great Britain. The revelation said: “Let them take leave of my saints in the city of Far West, on the twenty-sixth day of April next, on the building-spot of my house, saith the Lord.” (D&C 118:5). Wilford Woodruff, one of the newly called members of the Twelve Apostles records: “On the morning of the 26 of April, 1839, notwithstanding the threats of our enemies that the revelation which was to be fulfilled this day should not be fulfilled; notwithstanding ten thousand of the Saints had been driven out of the state by the edict of the governor; and notwithstanding the Prophet Joseph with his brother Hyrum, with other leading men, were in the hands of the enemies in chains and in prison, we moved on to the temple grounds in the city of Far West, held a council, and fulfilled the revelation and commandment given to us.”
As Joseph of Egypt prophesied, the sixth description of the seer, those that seek to destroy the choice seer would be destroyed (v. 14) fits Joseph Smith.
The seventh description of the choice seer also fits Joseph Jr., and his father Joseph Smith Sr. However, more important than the names coinciding is the similarity of the mission of Joseph of Egypt and Joseph Smith Jr. Just as Joseph of Egypt had preserved the house of Israel in Egypt so his family could later return to their promised land, Joseph Smith brought forth the Book of Mormon, which has been the means of gathering, or preserving, millions of Joseph of Egypt’s descendants out of the Gentile nations to occupy the land given to “a remnant of the house of Joseph … the land of [their] inheritance” (3 Nephi 15:12–13). As declared in the Doctrine and Covenants, and confirmed by patriarchal blessings, those gathered in the latter days are of the house of Israel, and particularly of Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph. The Lord revealed, in December 1832, that Church members had the priesthood “through the lineage of your fathers—For ye are lawful heirs, according to the flesh, and have been hid from the world with Christ in God” (D&C 86:8–9). In March 1838 Joseph Smith said regarding the rod spoken of in Isaiah 11:1:
4 Behold, thus saith the Lord: It is a servant in the hands of Christ, who is partly a descendant of Jesse as well as of Ephraim, or of the house of Joseph, on whom there is laid much power.
5 What is the root of Jesse spoken of in the 10th verse of the 11th chapter?
6 Behold, thus saith the Lord, it is a descendant of Jesse, as well as of Joseph, unto whom rightly belongs the priesthood, and the keys of the kingdom, for an ensign, and for the gathering of my people in the last days. [D&C 113:4–6]
Although Joseph, in his modesty, did not identify himself as the rod or the root spoken of by Isaiah, he was that person. He was given “power from on high, by the means which were before prepared, to translate the Book of Mormon” (D&C 20:8), and “the keys of the kingdom [were] given unto [him]; which kingdom is coming forth for the last time (D&C 90:2). Joseph further interpreted: “Put on thy strength O Zion” (Isaiah 52:1) as “the authority of the priesthood, which she, Zion, has a right to by lineage” (D&C 113:8). The Lord further revealed that those [of the house of Israel] in the north countries “ shall bring forth their rich treasures unto the children of Ephraim, my servants [Church members].”
31 And the boundaries of the everlasting hills shall tremble at their presence.
32 And there shall they fall down and be crowned with glory, even in Zion, by the hands of the servants of the Lord, even the children of Ephraim.
33 And they shall be filled with songs of everlasting joy.
34 Behold, this is the blessing of the everlasting God upon the tribes of Israel, and the richer blessing upon the head of Ephraim and his fellows. [D&C 133:30–34]
Jehovah made a promise to Abraham that the “right [of the priesthood] shall continue in thee, and in thy seed after thee (that is to say, the literal seed, or the seed of the body) shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal” (Abraham 2:11). “And as I (the Lord) said unto Abraham concerning the kindreds of the earth, even so I say unto my servant Joseph: In thee and in thy seed shall the kindred of the earth be blessed” (D&C 124:58). Joseph Smith and many Church members were and are literal descendants of Abraham, Joseph of Egypt, and his son Ephraim.
There is also a parallel between Jacob, the father of Joseph who was sold into Egypt, and Joseph Smith Sr., after whom Joseph the seer was named (v. 15). Both were patriarchs and gave blessings to their posterity. Jacob blessed Ephraim and Manasseh, sons of Joseph (Genesis 48), and his sons (Genesis 49). The seer Joseph Smith “conferred upon Joseph Smith, Sen., the Office and Priesthood of Patriarch of the Church” (TPJS, 38). Joseph the Seer taught: “Wherever the Church of Christ is established in the earth, there should be a Patriarch for the benefit of the posterity of the Saints, as it was with Jacob in giving his patriarchal blessing unto his sons” (TPJS, 151).