“There Shall Come Forth a Rod out of the Stem of Jesse”

Bryan Richards

Isaiah’s veiled meanings should not be veiled to the latter-day saints. Therefore, we will try to make sense of all of Isaiah’s references in this chapter. The easiest way to look at this chapter is as a description of the missions of two individuals: Christ (v. 2-9) and Joseph Smith (v. 10-16). In this chapter, one of the hardest verses to understand is verse 1.

For a scripture that was specifically interpreted in the Doctrine and Covenants, this is still a confusing verse. The D&C specifically explains who is the “stem of Jesse” and hints at the identity of the “rod” (see DC 113:1-4). But there are still terms in the verse which need explaining. For instance, who is the “branch”? Should we interpret the “branch” to be the same individual as the “rod”? What does the term “his roots” mean? Does the word “his” in verse 1 refer to the same person as the word “him” in verse 2?

For the sake of clarification, let’s make a list of terms and their interpretation:

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