According to Lenet Read, the great work of Joseph of Egypt was to bring salvation to a starving world during a time of famine--but particularly to his own people, the house of Israel. This ancient work testified of the greater saving work to be done in the last days, which was undertaken under the leadership of the Prophet Joseph Smith, his Heir and his namesake.
Joseph of Egypt prophesied, “And he shall be like unto me; for the thing, which the Lord shall bring by his hand, by the power of the Lord shall bring my people unto Salvation” (2 Nephi 3:15).
Elder B. H. Roberts wrote: “The Book of Mormon throughout is true to this Josephic idea; it is impregnated with it. Joseph is the central figure throughout. His spirit runs through the whole scheme of the book. We learn in the Book of Mormon of a great Seer that is to arise from the descendants of this Patriarch Joseph, to bring forth the word of God to them, a thing quite in keeping with the important part to be taken by Joseph and his seed in the affairs of the western world in the last days.”
The Apostle Paul also testified of the saving work of Joseph Smith. In Romans 11, he wrote of the twisting of fortunes that would occur to Israel. He explained that the original heirs of Israel were blinded so that the blessing of the gospel might go to the Gentiles. After warning that sin would cut off the inheritance for the Gentiles, as it had for the original Israelites, he prophesied that “all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion [Zion] the Deliverer, and he shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob” (Roman 11:26). He testified that a prophet would be raised up out of Israel’s line who would bring righteousness back to the original descendants of Israel. It is clear that “the Deliverer” in this scripture is Christ, but as in many other cases the prophecy in context here may well have a dual fulfillment, pointing to Joseph as “the rod … that should come of the Stem of Jesse” (D&C 113:3; see also History of the Church, 1:313).
Elder Bruce R. McConkie taught that “many of [the ancient prophets] lived in special situation or did particular things that singled them out as types and patterns and shadows of that which was to be in the life of him who is our Lord.”
Perhaps no prophet has had more parallels drawn between himself and Christ than Joseph of Egypt. His life was a pattern that looked up and forward to Christ in his suffering, in his exaltation. Jesus Christ fulfilled these witnesses through greater sufferings and through a far greater work of salvation.
Similarly, the work of the Prophet Joseph Smith and of us as descendants of Joseph follow after Christ, again in His pattern.
A final climax of this saving work will occur when Jesus Christ, like Joseph of Egypt, unveils His face to His brethren, and they and the world will come to know He is their slain brother and their Redeemer.
The ancient Joseph set the pattern for Jesus Christ (and for all future Josephs and descendants of Joseph) when he said:
“I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold … Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life” (Genesis 45:4-5). [Lenet Hadley Read, “Why All These Josephs?,” Book of Mormon Conference, 14-16 August 2001: The Twenty-Fifth Annual Church Education System Religious Educators Conference at Brigham Young University, pp. 103-104]
Note* It is interesting that a prophecy alluding to Joseph’s role in the restoration might be found in Romans 11. This is the chapter that mentions olive trees and which is often tied to the allegory of Zenos in Jacob 5. It is no small thing that both the allegory of Zenos and Romans 11 would be linked to the tribe of Joseph. [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]
“He Shall Be Like Unto Me”
According to Joseph McConkie, we know that Joseph of Egypt knew the Prophet Joseph Smith by the spirit of prophecy and revelation, that he described the work that Joseph Smith would do, that he named him by name, and declared that “he shall be like unto me” (2 Nephi 3:15).
In viewing the life of Joseph of Egypt as a type foretelling the destiny of his tribe in the last days as it centers in the experiences of Joseph Smith, the following parallels are suggested:
1. The older brothers of Joseph of Egypt lost their spiritual birthright and it was given to Joseph. The older brothers of Joseph Smith (the Christian churches) had lost their spiritual birthright and it was given to Joseph Smith and the tribe of Joseph.
2. Joseph of Egypt had a “coat” given to him that represented the authority of the priesthood. Joseph Smith was clothed in the “robes of righteousness” (D&C 109:76), and both the Melchizedek and Aaronic priesthood were restored through him (D&C 13).
3. The name “Joseph” is itself a prophecy of events of the last days. In the Bible account wherein Rachel names her infant son Joseph the Hebrew text reads Asaph, which means “he who gathers,” “he who causes to return,” or perhaps most appropriately “God gathereth” (Genesis 30:24; see also the footnote to the LDS edition).
4. Both Joseph of Egypt and Joseph Smith had their earthly destiny revealed to them. The dream of the “sheaves in the field” or Joseph’s dream of earthly dominion is matched by the promise given to Joseph Smith wherein the Lord said, “I hold forth and deign to give unto you greater riches, even a land of promise, a land flowing with milk and honey, upon which there shall be no curse when the Lord cometh; And I will give it unto you for the land of your inheritance, if you seek it with all your hearts” (D&C 38:18-19).
5. Both Joseph of Egypt and Joseph Smith had their heavenly dominion revealed to them. Joseph of Egypt’s dream of heavenly dominion, that of the sun, the moon, and the stars, finds fulfillment only in the sealing powers of the priesthood. Jacob interpreted Joseph’s dream as having reference to himself (the sun), Rachel (the moon), and Joseph’s brothers (the stars) bowing down to Joseph (Genesis 37:10). The unanswerable difficulty that this presented to Bible interpreters is that Rachel had died many years before, while giving birth to Benjamin. The context of promises associated with the sealing power and the assurance given Joseph Smith that the keys and authority he held would never be taken from him in this life or “in the world to come” (D&C 90:3) give meaning to Jacob’s interpretation.
6. The thought that Joseph of Egypt had some promised destiny that was not theirs caused Joseph’s brothers anciently to “hate him yet the more” (Genesis 37:5). Again our story contains the type or pattern: “I soon found,” Joseph Smith said, “that my telling the story had excited a great deal of prejudice against me among professors of religion, and was the cause of great persecution” (JS-H 1:22).
7. It is of interest that the promise of future destiny was given to Joseph of Egypt when he was seventeen years of age (Genesis 37:2). Similarly, it was when Joseph Smith was seventeen that Moroni appeared to him and unfolded the great destiny that was his and many passages of scripture promising the restoration of Israel in the last days (JS-H 1:33-41).
8. As Potiphar’s wife accused Joseph of her own sins that she might have him cast into prison (Genesis 39:14-18), so Joseph Smith was accused of the crimes of his enemies who had him cast into prison.
9. “The keeper of the prison” anciently “committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the prison” (Genesis 39:22). And so were “committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners” in the spirit world. As Joseph Smith stands at the head of this dispensation of the gospel on earth, so he stands at its head in the spirit prison.
10. As Joseph was sold into Egypt, so Joseph Smith (or the Church in the last days) was forced into the bondage of a desert, where it was assumed that it would perish. As this happened to Joseph when he was seventeen, so it happened to the Church in 1847, or in its seventeenth year.
11. As Joseph interpreted the dreams of those in prison anciently, so Joseph Smith by the power of that same spirit has been able to interpret revelations given to others (the Bible, the papyrus of Abraham, and so on) in our day.
12. To the hungry, Pharaoh, lord of Egypt, said, “Go unto Joseph” (Genesis 41:55). As Joseph was the only source of bread to a starving world, so Joseph Smith, to whom the truths and authority of salvation have been revealed, becomes the only source of the bread of life to a world perishing for want of the truth.
13. As Joseph of Egypt was lifted up and sustained by a foreign power, thus enabling him to restore his family, so Joseph of the last days has been lifted up by a great Gentile nation (1 Nephi 22:6) and granted the power to again restore Israel.
14. Joseph of Egypt’s brothers came to him for salvation. The ten tribes will yet come to Joseph Smith (the Church) seeking the bread of everlasting life (D&C 133:26-32). As Joseph saved his family anciently, so Joseph of the last days will be a savior to Israel (D&C 86:11).
15. As the Lord said to Jacob who was nearly blind, “Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes” (Genesis 46:4), so he has said to Israel of the last days: “For his (Joseph Smith’s) word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith. For by doing these things the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name’s glory” (D&C 21:5-6).
[Joseph Fielding McConkie, Gospel Symbolism, pp. 38-43]