My sweetheart and I would sit in council and ask ourselves, “What do we want to have happen at our family reunion?” How could we bless their lives? Ten married couples, thirty-two grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren would be there. Make it simple, we thought. The acronym JBN was chosen—Just Be Nice. This was the emphasis for the year. T-Shirts for everyone, the American flag: their names emblazoned on the stripes and on the front JBN. They took it to heart; they were nice. The following reunion we used the acronym IAL—I Am Loved. We set up teaching stations where our children and older grandchildren taught everyone that they were loved by our Heavenly Father and Savior, parents and grandparents, brother and sisters, aunts and uncles, cousins, friends, and neighbors, and by our prophet and Church leaders. Each teaching station taught why they were loved and gave them a square bead with a hole in it. These were threaded onto an elastic string which became their bracelet, spelling out the words I am loved. When they wore their T-shirt with IAL and their bracelet, the reminder was there. They knew they were loved. At the same reunion they received a gold heart with the word remember engraven on the front to remind them that they are a child of God and to be pure in heart. Yes, reunions are a time to build unity and love and a time to teach eternal gospel truths. (Ed J. Pinegar)
“The Scattering and Gathering”
The scattering occurred in three primary phases: (1) the Assyrian captivity of the northern kingdom of ten of the tribes of Israel (ca. 722 BC); (2) the Babylonian captivity of the kingdom of Judah (c. 587 BC); and (3) the destruction of the Judean state and second temple by Rome (AD 66–70). While other cases of scattering occurred, these phases accomplished the Lord’s purposes of punishing his covenant people by scattering them. But he mercifully made preparation for gathering their descendants in the latter years when they “come to the knowledge of their Redeemer” (2 Nephi 6:8–14).
Numerous references to Israel’s scattering appear in scripture. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Nephi 1, and others wrote much concerning it (e.g., Isaiah 50–53; Jer. 3; 18; Ezek. 6:8–10; 11–12; 36; 2 Nephi 10). Perhaps the most notable of these is the prophecy of Zenos given “unto the house of Israel” and cited in the Book of Mormon by Jacob, son of Lehi (Jacob 5). In language similar to Isaiah 5:1–7 and echoed in Romans 11:17–24, Zenos compared the history of the house of Israel to an olive tree planted in a vineyard, likening it to a “tame olive tree” that begins to decay. Gentiles, represented in Zenos’ allegory as branches from a wild olive tree, were grafted onto the tame tree to preserve its natural fruit. Servants assisted the lord of the vineyard in providing the best conditions for growth—digging, pruning, fertilizing, and finally transplanting, grafting, and pruning. Meanwhile, they planted branches of the mother tree in remote parts of the orchard. In three “visits” to the vineyard (Jacob 5:4, 16, 30), the lord and his servants labored to produce desirable olives that could be stored for “the season, which speedily cometh” (5:76). Finally, the desired fruit appeared, which greatly pleased the lord of the vineyard (5:38–75).
Book of Mormon prophets and the resurrected Savior also spoke of the scattering. Reflecting on his people’s situation in a new land, Nephi 1 noted that they were part of scattered Israel that would one day be gathered (1 Nephi 22:3–5, 7–12). Jacob observed, “We have been driven out of the land of our inheritance; but we have been led to a better land” (2 Nephi 10:20–22). The resurrected Jesus told listeners in the Americas that though the prophesied scattering was not yet complete, the promised gathering was certainly forthcoming (3 Nephi 20:11–18, 29–46; 21:1–9, 26–29).
The scattering of Israel interests Latter-day Saints because of the promise of the latter-day gathering, which began in 1829 when the Lord restored the priesthood through the Prophet Joseph Smith. Then, on April 3, 1836, Moses appeared and gave the keys, or authorization, of gathering to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple. Today, commissioned by those with priesthood authority, missionaries gather latter-day Israel back to the covenant, to acceptance of their Redeemer, teaching them in the nations to which their ancestors were long ago dispersed. (Douglas A. Stewart, Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1–4 vols., ed. Daniel H. Ludlow (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 708)