In 2 Nephi 3:15 we find a prophecy concerning the latter-day Joseph by the ancient patriarch Joseph:
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… . for the Lord hath said unto me, I will preserve thy seed forever.
According to Matthew Brown, the scriptures inform us that the birthright in Israel belonged to Joseph (see 1 Chronicles 5:1-2) and his son Ephraim (see Jeremiah 31:9). The symbol assigned to the birthright tribe was the ox and one of the responsibilities laid upon that tribe was the gathering of the Lord’s people by symbolically pushing them together, from the four quarters of the earth, with oxen horns (see Deuteronomy 33:13-17; see especially nt. 17b)… . In this light it is interesting to note that the twelve oxen underneath the Brazen Sea in King Solomon’s Temple (and also those underneath many LDS temple baptismal fonts) were arranged in four groups of three with the horns of each group pointing to one of the cardinal directions of the earth (see 1 Kings 7:23-25; compare 1 Nephi 22:25; 2 Nephi 21:12; 3 Nephi 16:5; D&C 33:6; 45:46; JS-Matthew 1:37). This could be seen as a visual representation of Joseph’s responsibility to push together, or gather together, the tribes of Israel from the four quarters of the earth. According to Wilford Woodruff, the tribe of Joseph/Ephraim is “the first fruits of the kingdom of God in this dispensation,” and the other tribes of Israel will get their “endowments, and be crowned under the hands of the children of Ephraim” (Journal of Discourses, 4:232) [Matthew B. Brown, The Gate of Heaven, pp. 146-147]
“The Power of the Lord Shall Bring My People Unto Salvation”
In 2 Nephi 3:15 we find in a prophecy concerning the latter-day restoration of all things by the hand of Joseph that “the thing which the Lord shall bring forth by his hand, by the power of the Lord shall bring my people unto salvation.”
Richardson, Richardson and Bentley note that in the Book of Acts we discover an ancient prophecy (that has apparently been deleted from the Old Testament) which speaks of a “period of restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21--New American Standard Bible). Part of the “restoration of all things” is the return of the Urim and Thummim--or interpreters used anciently by the Hebrew prophets (Exodus 28;30; Leviticus 8:8; Deuteronomy 33:8; Ezra 2:63; Nehemiah 7:65).
Ancient Jewish tradition has proclaimed that a great servant of God from the House of Joseph would come in the latter days to prepare the way for the coming of Shilo, the Great Messiah. They began calling him, “Messiah ben Joseph,” and called their Shilo, “Messiah ben David.” Literally translated, these appellations mean, “The anointed One, son of Joseph,” and “The anointed One, son of David.”
In Joseph Klausner’s doctoral dissertation on the Messiah ben Joseph at the Heidelberg University in 1904, he estimated that the Urim and Thummim, which had been lost since the destruction of the first temple, would be returned during the time of the Messiah ben Joseph. [Allen H. Richardson, David E. Richardson and Anthony E. Bentley, 1000 Evidences for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Part Two-A Voice from the Dust: 500 Evidences in Support of the Book of Mormon, pp. 27-28]
2 Nephi 3:17 I will raise up a Moses ([Illustration] Moses and the Burning Bush. [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Gospel Art, #107]
“The Thing Which the Lord Shall Bring Forth by His Hand Shall Bring My People Unto Salvation”
Catherine Thomas notes that while Joseph was in Egypt, Canaan languished in famine. Having been driven to Egypt by hunger, ten penitent sons of Israel listened to the remarkable account of their younger brother’s survival and rise to prominence. Joseph graciously said to them as he revealed his true identity: “Be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves … for God did send me before you to preserve life … to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” (Genesis 45:5, 7) This Joseph was the prototype of the chief gatherers in Israel; this was he who would gather souls, like the corn he gathered into storage, numberless as the sand of the sea; he would “push the people together to the ends of the earth, … the ten thousands of Ephraim, and … the thousands of Manasseh” (Deuteronomy 33:17); he would also, foreshadowing the Redeemer’s deliverance, magnanimously offer life to his own brethren who had rejected him.
The covenant prophecies which Joseph of Egypt uttered appear in 2 Nephi 3:5-21 and in outline are as follows: Joseph of Egypt’s seed would not be completely destroyed, but would be delivered through another of his descendants, Joseph Smith (verse 7-15) by means of the Book of Mormon, which would manifest the Messiah and his covenants with their forefathers, as well as this Israelite branches’s true identity. They would be converted and drawn back into the Lord’s fold.
It is interesting that Pharaoh had named Joseph of Egypt Zaphnath-paaneah, “he who reveals that which is hidden.” (Genesis 41:45) Joseph Smith would disclose many godly mysteries to ancient Joseph’s seed, which “by the power of the Lord shall bring my people unto salvation.” (2 Nephi 3:15) The hidden darkness may refer to the fact that the true identity of the remnant of Joseph of Egypt in America was unknown for many centuries until the Lord revealed it through Joseph Smith. [Catherine Thomas, “A Great Deliverance,” in Studies in Scripture: Book of Mormon, Part 1, pp. 104-105]