The coat ofJoseph, Jacob’s son, represented his life and who he was. In Genesis 37, Joseph’s brothers took his ripped coat back to Jacob, who was blind, sitting at home, and in verse 33, it says that “he knew it.” That may just mean he recognized it, but some scholars think the Hebrew there may mean that he knew by the smell, which means the coat smelled like Joseph. That convinced Jacob that Joseph was dead.
Moroni pointed to Jacob’s observing that a part of the coat had not decayed over the many years and thus to Jacob’s seeing that as a symbol that a remnant of his seed would be preserved. Moroni said, “Let us preserve our liberty as a remnant of Joseph” (Alma 46:24).
And now who knoweth but what the remnant of the seed of Joseph, which shall perish as his garment, are those who have dissented from us? Yea, and even it shall be ourselves if we do not stand fast in the faith of Christ” (Alma 46:27).
Book of Mormon Central, “Why Did Moroni Quote the Patriarch Jacob about a Piece of Joseph’s Coat? (Alma 46:24),” KnoWhy 154, (July 29, 2016).