Chapter V: Corroborative Evidence Furnished by Modern Discoveries (2)

=16.= From the scriptures cited, and from numerous other assurances of holy writ, it is evident that continual revelation has ever been characteristic of the living Church. It is equally plain that revelation is essential to the existence of the Church in an organized state on the earth. If to have authority to preach the Gospel, and administer in the ordinances of the same, a man must be called of God, "by prophecy"[879] it is evident that in the absence of direct revelation, the Church would be left without authorized officers, and would, in consequence, become extinct. The prophets and patriarchs of old, the judges, the priests, and every authorized servant from Adam to Malachi, were called by direct revelation manifested through the special word of prophecy. This was true also of John the Baptist,[880] of Christ Himself, and of the apostles,[881] and lesser officers[882] of the Church, as long as an organization recognized of God remained on the earth. Without the gift of continual revelation there can be no authorized ministry on the earth; and without officers duly commissioned there can be no Church of Christ.

[879] See Lecture x, page 184.

[880] Luke i, 13-18.

[881] John xv; Acts i, 12-26.

[882] Acts xx, 28; I Tim. iv, 14; Titus i, 5.

=17.= Revelation is essential to the Church, not only for the proper calling and ordination of its ministers, but also that the officers so chosen may be guided in their ministrations:--to teach with authority the doctrines of salvation; to admonish, to encourage, and if necessary to reprove the people; and to declare unto them by prophecy the purposes and will of God respecting the Church, present and future. The promise of salvation is not limited by time, place, or persons. So taught Peter on Pentecost day, assuring the multitude of their eligibility to blessing:--"For the promise is unto you," said he, "and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."[883] Salvation, with all the gifts of God, was of old for Jew and Greek alike;[884] the same Lord over all, rich unto those that call upon Him, without difference.[885]

[883] Acts ii, 39.

[884] Rom. x, 12; Gal. iii, 28; Col. iii, 11.

[885] Rom. iii, 22.

=18. Alleged Objections in Scripture.=--The opponents of the doctrine of continual revelation quote, with gross perversion of meaning, certain scriptural passages to sustain their heresy; among such scriptures are the following. The words of John with which he approaches the conclusion of his book are these:--"For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."[886] To apply these sayings to the Bible as it was afterward compiled is wholly unjustified, for surely John did not write with a knowledge that his book would be the concluding section of any such compilation of the scriptures as we now possess in our Bible. John had reference to his own words, which, having come to him by revelation, were sacred; and to alter such, by omission or addition, would be to modify the words of God. The sin of altering any other part of the revealed word would be equally great. Moreover, in this oft-quoted passage, no intimation is given that the Lord may not add to or take from the word therein revealed; the declaration is that no man shall change the record and escape the penalty.

[886] Rev. xxii, 18-19; see also Doc. and Cov. xx, 35.

=19.= A similar injunction against altering the message of Divine command was uttered by Moses, over fifteen centuries before the date of John's writing;[887] and with a similarly restricted application. Another alleged objection to modern revelation is offered in Paul's words to Timothy, regarding the holy scriptures "which are able to make thee wise unto salvation,"[888] and which are "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."[889] And the remarks of the apostle to the elders at Ephesus are quoted with the same intent; the passage reads: "Ye know ... how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house.... For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God."[890] It is argued that if the scriptures known to Timothy were all-sufficient to make him "wise unto salvation," and the man of God "perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works," the same scriptures are sufficient for all men to the end of time; and that if the doctrines preached to the Ephesian elders represented "all the counsel of God," no further counsel is to be expected. In reply, it is perhaps sufficient to say that the objectors to continued revelation who defend their unscriptural position by strained interpretation of such passages, if consistent, would be compelled to reject all revelation given through the apostles after the date of Paul's utterances, including even the Revelation of John.

[887] Deut. iv, 2; xii, 32.

[888] II Tim. iii, 15.

[889] II Tim. iii, 16-17.

[890] Acts xx, 18-27.

=20.= Equally absurd is the assertion that Christ's dying exclamation, "It is finished," meant that revelation was at an end; for we find the same Jesus afterward revealing Himself, as the resurrected Lord, to His apostles, promising them further revelation,[891] and assuring them that He would be with them even unto the end.[892] And, moreover, were the words of the Crucified One susceptible of any such intent, the apostles who taught by revelation as long as they lived must be classed as impostors.

[891] Luke xxiv, 49.

[892] Matt. xxviii, 20; see also Mark xvi, 20.

=21.= To justify the anathema with which the opponents of modern revelation seek to persecute those who believe in the continual flow of God's word to His Church, the following prophecy of Zechariah is quoted:--"And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the Lord: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied."[893] The day here spoken of appears to be yet future, for surely the "idols" and the "unclean spirits" still have influence; and, moreover, the fact that the "prophets" here intended are false ones is shown by Zechariah's associating them with idols and unclean spirits.

[893] Zech. xiii, 2-4.

=22.= Such attempts to oppose the doctrine of continued revelation as have been made on the authority of the foregoing scriptures are pitiably futile; they carry their own refutation, and leave untouched the truth, that belief in modern revelation is wholly reasonable and strictly scriptural.[894]

[894] See Note 2.

=23. Modern Revelation.=--In the light of our knowledge concerning the constancy of revelation as an essential characteristic of the Church, it is as reasonable to look for new revelation today as to believe in the existence of the gift during ancient times. "Where there is no vision the people perish,"[895] was declared of old; and surely it is proper to include with vision, revelation also, since the latter gift is often manifested through dreams and visions. Nevertheless, in spite of abundant and most explicit testimony of scripture, the so-called Christian sects of the day are practically a unit in declaring that revelation ceased with the apostles, or even before their time; that further communication from the heavens is unnecessary; and that to expect such is unscriptural. In assuming this position, the discordant sects of the day are but following the path that was trodden by unbelievers in earlier times. The recreant Jews rejected the Savior, because He came to them with a new revelation. Had they not Moses and the prophets to guide them? what more could they need? They openly boasted "We are Moses' disciples," and added "We know that God spake unto Moses; as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is."[896]

[895] Prov. xxix, 18.

[896] John ix, 28-29.

=24.= The scriptures, far from predicting a cessation of revelation in latter times, expressly declare the continuation of that gift among the people of the Lord. John foresaw the restoration of the gospel in the last days, through angelic ministration:--"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people."[897] He knew further that the voice of God would be heard in the last days, calling His people from Babylon to a place of safety:--"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."[898]

[897] Rev. xiv, 6.

[898] Rev. xviii, 4.

=25.= The Book of Mormon is not less explicit in declaring that direct revelation shall abide as a blessing upon the Church in the latter days. Note the prediction given through Ether the Jaredite; the context shows that the time spoken of is that of the last dispensation:--"And in that day, they [the Gentiles] shall exercise faith in me, saith the Lord, even as the brother of Jared did, that they may become sanctified in me, then will I manifest unto them the things which the brother of Jared saw, even to the unfolding unto them all my revelations, saith Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of the heavens and of the earth, and all things that in them are.... But he that believeth these things which I have spoken, him will I visit with the manifestations of my Spirit, and he shall know and bear record."[899]

[899] Ether iv, 7, 11.

=26.= Lehi, instructing his sons, quoted a prophecy of Joseph the son of Jacob, which is not recorded in the compilation of books known as the Bible; it has special reference to the work of Joseph the modern prophet:--"Yea, Joseph truly said, Thus saith the Lord unto me: A choice seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and he shall be esteemed highly among the fruit of thy loins. And unto him will I give commandment, that he shall do a work for the fruit of thy loins, his brethren, which shall be of great worth unto them, even to the bringing of them to the knowledge of the covenants which I have made with thy fathers."[900]

[900] II Nephi iii, 7.

=27.= Nephi, the son of Lehi, spoke by prophecy of the last days, in which the Gentiles should receive a testimony of Christ with many signs and wondrous manifestations:--"He manifesteth himself unto all those who believe in him, by the power of the Holy Ghost; yea, unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, working mighty miracles, signs, and wonders, among the children of men, according to their faith. But behold, I prophesy unto you concerning the last days; concerning the days when the Lord God shall bring these things forth unto the children of men."[901]

[901] II Nephi xxvi, 13-14.

=28.= The same prophet, apostrophizing with warning words the unbelievers of the last days, predicted the coming forth of additional scriptures:--"And it shall come to pass, that the Lord God shall bring forth unto you the words of a book, and they shall be the words of them which have slumbered. And behold the book shall be sealed: and in the book shall be a revelation from God, from the beginning of the world to the ending thereof."[902]

[902] II Nephi xxvii, 6-7.

=29.= The Savior, addressing the Nephites, repeated the prediction of Malachi concerning the revelation to be given through Elijah, before the day of the Lord's second coming:--"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord; and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse."[903]

[903] III Nephi xxv, 5-6; see also Mal. iv, 5, 6; pp. 11, 153-154
this book; and for the fulfillment, Doc. and Cov. cx, 13.

=30.= By revelation in the present day, the Lord has confirmed and fulfilled His early promises, and has specifically rebuked those who would close His mouth, and estrange Him from His people. His voice is heard to-day, "proving to the world that the Holy Scriptures are true, and that God does inspire men and call them to His holy work in this age and generation, as well as in generations of old, thereby showing that He is the same God, yesterday, to-day, and forever."[904]

[904] Doc. and Cov. xx, 11-12. See also i, 11; xi, 25; xx, 26-28;
xxxv, 8; xlii, 61; l, 35; lix, 4; lxx, 3; and the entire volume,
as evidence of the continuation of revelation in the Church today.

=31. Revelation Yet Future.=--In view of the demonstrated facts that revelation between God and man has ever been and is a characteristic of the Church of Christ, it is reasonable to await with confident expectation the coming of other messages from heaven, even until the end of man's probation on earth. The Church is, and will continue to be, as truly founded on the rock of revelation as it was in the day of Christ's prophetic blessing upon Peter, who by this gift of God was able to testify of his Lord's divinity.[905] Current revelation is equally plain with that of former days, in predicting the yet future manifestations of God through this appointed channel.[906] The canon of scripture is still open; many lines, many precepts, are yet to be added; revelation, surpassing in importance and glorious fulness any that has been recorded, will yet be given to the Church and be declared to the world.

[905] Matt. xvi, 16-19; Mark viii, 27-30; Luke ix, 18-20; John vi,
69.

[906] Doc. and Cov. xx, 35; xxxv, 8; and the Doc. and Cov.
references last cited.

=32.= What shadow of justification or pretense of consistency can man claim for denying the power and purposes of God to reveal Himself and His will in these days as He assuredly did in former times? In every department of human knowledge and activity, in everything for which man arrogates to himself glory, he prides himself in the possibilities of enlargement and growth; yet in the Divine science of theology, he holds that progress is impossible, and advancement forbidden. Against such heresy and blasphemous denial of the Divine prerogatives and power, God has proclaimed His edict in words of terrible import:--"Wo be unto him that shall say We have received the word of God, and we need no more of the word of God for we have enough."[907] "Deny not the spirit of revelation, nor the spirit of prophecy, for wo unto him that denieth these things."[908]

[907] II Nephi xxviii, 29; see also 30, and xxix, 6-12.

[908] Doc. and Cov. xi, 25.

NOTES.

=1. Freedom under Inspiration.=--Faussett has this to say of
man's agency under the influence of inspiration:--"Inspiration
does not divest the writers of their several individualities of
style, just as the inspired teachers in the early Church were not
passive machines in prophesying (I Cor. xiv, 32). 'Where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty' (II Cor. iii, 17). Their
will became one with God's will; His Spirit acted on their
spirit, so that their individuality had full play in the sphere
of His inspiration. As to religious truths, the collective
Scriptures have unity of authorship; as to other matters, their
authorship is palpably as manifold as the writers. The variety is
human, the unity Divine. If the four evangelists were mere
machines, narrating the same events in the same order and words,
they would cease to be independent witnesses. Their very
discrepancies (only _seeming_ ones) disprove collusion.... The
slight variations in the decalogue between Exo. xx and its
repetition Deut. v, and in Ps. xviii compared with II Sam. xxii,
in Ps. xiv compared with Ps. liii, and in New Testament
quotations of Old Testament (sometimes from the Septuagint, which
varies from the Hebrew, sometimes from neither in every word),
all prove the spirit-produced independence of the sacred writers,
who, under Divine guidance and sanction, presented on different
occasions the same substantial truths under different aspects,
the one complementing the other."--_Bible Cyclopedia_, A. R.
Faussett, p. 308.

=2. The Doctrine of no Further Revelation, New and False.=--"The
history of the people of God, from the earliest ages, shows that
_continued revelation_ was the only way by which they could
possibly learn all their duties, or God's will concerning them.
They never once thought that the revelations given to previous
generations were sufficient to guide them into every duty. A
doctrine which rejects new revelation is a new doctrine, invented
by the devil and his agents during the second century after
Christ; it is a doctrine in direct opposition to the one believed
in and enjoyed by the saints in all ages. Now, to subvert and do
away a doctrine four thousand years old, and introduce a new one
in its stead can only be done by divine authority.... As the
doctrine, then, of continued revelation is one that was always
believed by the saints, it ought not to be required of any man to
prove the necessity of the continuation of such a doctrine. If it
were a new doctrine, never before introduced into the world, it
would become necessary to establish its divine origin; but
inasmuch as it is only the continuation of an old doctrine,
established thousands of years ago, and which has never ceased to
be believed and enjoyed by the saints, it would be the greatest
presumption to call it in question at this late period; and hence
it would seem almost superfluous to undertake to prove the
necessity of its continuance. Instead of being required to do
this, all people have the right to call upon the new-revelation
deniers of the last seventeen centuries to bring forward their
strong reasonings and testimonies for breaking in upon the
long-established order of heaven, and introducing a new doctrine
so entirely different from the old. If they wish their new
doctrine to be believed, let them demonstrate it to be of divine
origin, or else all people will be justified in rejecting it, and
clinging to the old."--Orson Pratt, _Divine Authenticity of the
Book of Mormon_, I (2) 15, 16.

=3. Inspiration a Sure Guide.=--"Inspiration has been defined to
be the 'actuating energy of the Holy Spirit, in whatever degree
or manner it may have been exercised, guided by which the human
agents chosen by God have officially proclaimed his will by word
of mouth or have committed to writing the several portions of the
Bible.' By _plenary inspiration_ we mean that this energy was so
fully and perfectly exercised, as to make the teaching of the
sacred writers to be, in the most literal sense of the words,
God's teaching, as proceeding from him, truly expressing his
mind, and bearing with it the sanction of his authority. By
_verbal inspiration_ we mean that this energy was not exhausted
in suggesting to the writers the matter of Scripture, and then
leaving them to themselves to convey, in their own manner and
after an exclusively human sort, what had been supernaturally
suggested; but that they were assisted and guided in the
conveyance of the truth received.... When the doctrine of plenary
and verbal inspiration is thus disentangled from the
misapprehensions which have been entertained of it, it presents
in no point of view any just ground of objection. It is
consistent with all the conclusions relative to the Word which
modern scholarship has succeeded in establishing; for the dreams
of the 'higher criticism' are little more than the vagaries of
arbitrary caprice; and it is much to be regretted that they have
been honored with a deference wholly undeserved, and have been
rashly placed side by side with the valuable and precious results
of genuine criticism. These results, in many respects, point
decisively in the direction of plenary inspiration, when the
doctrine itself is rightly understood, as supplying the only
consistent and logical ground on which the authority of the
canonical writings can be safely based."--Cassell's _Bible
Dictionary_, pp. 559, 561.

=4.= "Is it unreasonable, is it unphilosophical, thus to look for
additional light and knowledge? Shall religion be the one
department of human thought and effort in which progression is
impossible? What would we say of the chemist, the astronomer, the
physicist, or the geologist, who would proclaim that no further
discovery or revelation of scientific truth is possible, or who
would declare that the only occupation open to students of
science is to con the books of by-gone times and to apply the
principles long ago made known, for none others shall ever be
discovered? The chief motive impelling to research and
investigation is the conviction that to knowledge and wisdom
there is no end. 'Mormonism' affirms that all wisdom is of God,
that the halo of his glory is intelligence, and that man has not
yet learned all there is to learn of him and his ways. We hold
that the doctrine of continuous revelation from God is not less
philosophical and scientific than scriptural."--_The Philosophy
of "Mormonism._" The Author, in _Improvement Era_, Vol. iv, p.
468.

LECTURE XVII.

THE DISPERSION OF ISRAEL.

=Article 10.=--We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and
in the restoration of the Ten Tribes, etc.

=1. Israel.=--The term _Israel_, in its original sense, expressed the thought of one who had succeeded in his supplication before the Lord; "soldier of God," "one who contends with God," "a prince of God," are among the common English renderings. The name first appears in sacred writ as a title conferred by the Lord upon Jacob, when the latter prevailed in his determination to secure a blessing from his heavenly visitor in the wilderness, receiving the promise "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed."[909] We read further:--"And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padan-aram, and blessed him, and God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob; thy name shall not be called anymore Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel."[910]

[909] Gen. xxxii, 28.

[910] Gen. xxxv, 9-10.

=2.= But the combined name and title thus bestowed under conditions of such solemn dignity soon acquired a wider application, and came in course of time to represent the entire posterity of Abraham, through Isaac and Jacob,[911] with each of whom the Lord had covenanted, that through his descendants should all nations of the earth be blessed.[912] The name of the individual patriarch thus grew into the designation of a nation, including the twelve tribes; who delighted in the title Israelites, or children of Israel. By such names they were collectively known during the dark days of their Egyptian bondage;[913] throughout the four decades of the exodus and the journey to the land of promise;[914] so on through the period of their existence as a powerful people under the government of the judges; and as a united nation during the hundred and twenty years comprised in the successive reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon.[915]

[911] I Sam. xxv, 1; Isa. xlviii, 1; Rom ix, 4; xi, 1.

[912] Gen. xii, 1-3; xvii, 1-8; xxvi, 3-4. xxviii, 13-15.

[913] Exo. i, 1, 7; ix, 6-7; xii, 3, etc.

[914] Exo. xii, 35, 40; xiii, 19; xv, 1; xxxv, 20, 30; Lev. i, 2;
Numb, xx, 1, 19, 24, etc.

[915] See references in great number throughout the books of
Judges, I and II Samuel, and I and II Kings.

=3.= At the death of Solomon, probably about 975 B. C., the kingdom was divided; the tribe of Judah and part of the tribe of Benjamin accepted Rehoboam, the son and successor of Solomon, as their king; while the rest of the people, usually spoken of as the ten tribes, revolted against Rehoboam, thus breaking their allegiance with the house of David; they chose Jeroboam as their king. The ten tribes under Jeroboam retained the title _Kingdom of Israel_, though the kingdom was likewise known by the name of Ephraim,[916] from its most prominent tribe; while Rehoboam and his subjects were known as the _Kingdom of Judah_. For about two hundred and fifty years the two kingdoms maintained a separate existence; after which (721 B. C.), the independent status of the kingdom of Israel was destroyed, and the people were brought into captivity by the Assyrians under Shalmanezer. The Kingdom of Judah was recognized for over a century longer, after which it was brought to an end by Nebuchadnezzar, who inaugurated the Babylonian captivity. For about seventy years the people remained in subjection, which fact was in accordance with the prophecy of Jeremiah,[917] then the Lord softened the hearts of the ruling kings, and the work of emancipation was begun by Cyrus the Persian. The Hebrew people were permitted to return to Judea, and to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem.

[916] Isa. xi, 13; xvii, 3; Ezek. xxxvii, 16-22; Hos. iv, 17.

[917] Jer. xxv, 11-12; xxix, 10.

=4.= The people, then commonly known as Hebrews, or Jews,[918] retained as the name of their nation the designation Israel, though they scarcely comprised two complete tribes out of the twelve. The name Israel, thus held with commendable pride by the remnant of a once mighty people, was used in a figurative manner to designate the chosen and accepted ones who constituted the Church of Christ;[919] and in that sense it is still employed. The people of Israel, as first we meet them in history, were a united people. That we may comprehend the true import of the gathering to which reference is made in the tenth of the Articles of Faith, it is necessary that we first consider the dispersions and scattering to which the people have been subjected. The scriptures abound in predictions concerning such dispersions; holy scripture and history in general unite in testimony of the fulfillment of these prophecies.

[918] See Notes 1 and 2.

[919] Rom. ix, 6; Gal. vi, 16.

=5. The Dispersion of Israel Foretold.=--It has been said, that "if a complete history of the house of Israel were written, it would be the history of histories, the key of the world's history for the past twenty centuries."[920] Justification for this sweeping statement is found in the fact that the Israelites have been so completely dispersed among the nations as to give to this scattered people a place of importance as a factor in the rise and development of almost every large division of the human family. This work of dispersion was brought about by many stages, and extended through millenniums. It was foreseen by the early prophets among the chosen people; and the spiritual leaders of every generation prior to and immediately following the Messianic era predicted the scattering of the people, as an ordained result of their increasing wickedness, or referred to the fulfillment of former prophecies regarding the dispersion, then already accomplished, and foretold a further and more complete disruption of the nation.

[920] Compendium, p. 85 (1884 ed.).

=6. Biblical Prophecies.=--In the course of Israel's troubled journey from Egypt, where they had dwelt as in a "house of bondage," to Canaan, the land of their promised inheritance, the Lord gave them many laws, and established ordinances for their government in temporal and spiritual affairs. He arrayed for their contemplation blessings beyond the power of the unaided mind of man to conceive, predicating these upon their obedience to the laws of righteousness, and their allegiance to Himself as God and King. In contrast with this picture of blessed prosperity, the Lord described with terrible distinctness, and soul-harrowing detail, a state of abject misfortune and blighting suffering, into which they would surely fall if they departed from the path of rectitude and adopted the sinful practices of the heathen peoples with whom they would have dealings. The darkest parts of this dread picture were those that depicted the prospective breaking up of the nation, and the scattering of the people among those who knew not God. These extreme calamities, however, were to befall Israel only after less severe chastisements had proved ineffective.[921]

[921] Read the fateful predictions in Leviticus xxvi, 14-33.

=7.= When the journey following the exodus was nearing its close, as the Israelites were preparing to cross the Jordan and to take possession of the land of promise; when Moses, patriarch, law-giver, and prophet, was about to ascend Nebo, from which he was to look over the goodly land and then die there; he repeated the story of contrasted blessings and cursings which formed the condition of God's covenant with the people. "The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies"[922] was declared unto them; and again:--"The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone. And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee."[923] And yet further:--"The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; a nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favor to the young:[924] ... And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone."[925]

[922] Deut. xxviii, 25.

[923] Verses 36-37.

[924] Verses 49, 50.

[925] Verse 64.

=8.= As the sacred record progresses, the fact is made plain that Israel had chosen the evil alternative, forfeiting the blessings and reaping the curses. When the son of sinful Jeroboam lay sick almost unto death, the troubled king sent his wife in disguise to Ahijah, the blind prophet of Israel, to inquire concerning the fate of the child. The prophet, seeing beyond the physical blindness of his old age, predicted the child's death and the overthrow of the house of Jeroboam; and declared further:--"For the Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water, and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river, because they have made their groves, provoking the Lord to anger."[926]

[926] I Kings xiv, 15.

=9.= Through Isaiah the Lord justifies His judgment upon the people, likening them to an unprofitable vineyard,[927] which, in spite of protecting hedge and fullest care, had yielded out wild grapes, and which was fit only for spoliation; "therefore," He continues, "my people have gone into captivity."[928] And yet other tribulations were to follow, against which the people were warned lest they alienate themselves entirely from the God of their fathers:--"And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help?"[929] The prophet directs the attention of his erring people to the fact that their tribulations are from the Lord:--"Who gave Jacob for a spoil and Israel to the robbers? did not the Lord, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law. Therefore he has poured upon them the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle."[930]

[927] Isa. v, 1-7.

[928] Verse 13.

[929] Isa. x, 8.

[930] Isa. xiii, 24-25.

=10.= After the captivity of Ephraim, or the kingdom of Israel, specifically so called, the people of Judah needed yet other admonishings and threatenings. Through Jeremiah the fate of their brethren was brought to their remembrance;[931] then, as a result of their continued and increasing wickedness, the Lord said:--"And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim."[932] Their land was to be despoiled; all the cities of Judah were to be consigned to desolation,[933] and the people were to be scattered among the kingdoms of the earth.[934] Other prophets[935] revealed the Lord's words of anger and dire warning; and the Divine decree is recorded:--"I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve;"[936] and again: "I will sow them among the people, and they shall remember me in far countries."[937]

[931] Jer. vii, 12.

[932] Verse 15.

[933] Jer. ix, 11; x, 22.

[934] Jer. xxxiv, 17.

[935] Ezek. xx, 23; xxii, 15; xxxiv, 6; xxxvi, 19; Amos vii, 17;
ix, 9; Micah iii, 12.

[936] Amos ix, 9.

[937] Zech. x, 9.

=11. Book of Mormon Predictions.=--The record made by that division of the house of Israel which took its departure from Jerusalem and made its way to the western hemisphere about 600 B. C., contains many references to the dispersions that had already taken place, and to the continuation of the scattering which was to the writers of the Book of Mormon yet future. In the course of the journey to the coast, the prophet Lehi, while encamped with his family and other followers in the valley of Lemuel on the borders of the Red Sea, declared what he had learned by revelation of the future "dwindling of the Jews in unbelief," of their crucifying the Messiah, and of their scattering "upon all the face of the earth."[938] He compared Israel to an olive tree,[939] the branches of which were to be broken off and distributed; and he recognized the exodus of his colony, and their journeying afar as an incident in the general plan of dispersion.[940] Nephi, the son of Lehi, also beheld in vision the scattering of the covenant people of God, and on this point added his testimony to that of his prophet-father.[941] He saw also that the seed of his brethren, subsequently known as the Lamanites, were to be chastened for their unbelief, and that they were destined to become subject to the Gentiles, and to be scattered before them.[942] Down the prophetic vista of years, he saw also the bringing forth of sacred records, other than those then known, "unto the convincing of the Gentiles, and the remnant of the seed of my brethren,[943] and also the Jews who were scattered upon all the face of the earth."[944]

[938] I Nephi x, 11-12.

[939] Verse 12; xv, 12, 13; see also Jacob v and vi.

[940] I Nephi x, 13.

[941] I Nephi xiv, 14.

[942] I Nephi xiii, 11-14.

[943] The division of Lehi's posterity, known at a later date as
Lamanites.

[944] I Nephi xiii, 39.

=12.= After their arrival on the promised land, the colony led by Lehi received further information regarding the dispersion of Israel. The prophet Zenos,[945] quoted by Nephi, had predicted the unbelief of the house of Israel, in consequence of which these covenant ones of God were to "wander in the flesh, and perish, and become a hiss and a by-word, and be hated among all nations."[946] The brothers of Nephi, skeptical in regard to these teachings, asked whether the things of which he spake were to come to pass in a spiritual sense, or more literally; and were informed that "the house of Israel, sooner or later, will be scattered upon all the face of the earth, and also among all nations"; and further, in reference to dispersions then already accomplished, that "the more part of all the tribes have been led away; and they are scattered to and fro upon the isles of the sea";[947] and then, by way of prediction concerning further division and separation, Nephi adds that the Gentiles shall be given power over the people of Israel, "and by them shall our seed be scattered."[948] Though an ocean lay between the country of their nativity and the land to which they had been miraculously led, the children of Lehi learned through revelation by the mouth of Jacob, Nephi's brother, of the captivity of the Jews whom they had left at Jerusalem.[949] By Nephi they were further told of troubles then impending over the city of their birth,[950] and of a further dispersion of their kindred, the Jews.[951]

[945] See Note 3.

[946] I Nephi xix, 12-14.

[947] I Nephi xxii, 1-4.

[948] I Nephi xxii, 7.

[949] II Nephi vi, 8.

[950] II Nephi xxv, 14-15.

[951] Verse 15.

=13.= The Lamanites, a division of Lehi's colony, were also to be disrupted and scattered, as witness the words of Samuel, a prophet of that benighted people.[952] Nephi, the third prophet of that name, grandson of Helaman, emphasizes the dispersion of his people by declaring that their "dwellings shall become desolate."[953] Jesus Himself, after His resurrection, while ministering to the division of His flock on the western hemisphere, refers solemnly to the remnant of the chosen seed who are to be "scattered forth upon the face of the earth because of their unbelief."[954]

[952] Helaman xv, 12.

[953] III Nephi x, 7.

[954] III Nephi xvi, 4.

=14.= From these references it is plain that the followers of Lehi, including his own family, and Zoram,[955] together with Ishmael and his family,[956] from whom sprang the mighty peoples the Nephites, who suffered extermination because of their unfaithfulness, and the Lamanites, who, now known as the American Indians, have continued in troubled existence until the present day, were informed by revelation of the dispersion of their former compatriots in the land of Palestine, and of their own certain doom as a result of their disobedience to the laws of God. We have said that the transfer of Lehi and his followers from the eastern to the western hemisphere was itself a part of the general dispersion. It should be remembered that another colony of Jews came to the western hemisphere, the start dating about eleven years after the time of Lehi's departure. This second company was led by Mulek, a son of Zedekiah the last king of Judah; they left Jerusalem immediately after the capture of the city by Nebuchadnezzar, about 588 B. C.[957]

[955] I Nephi iv, 20-26, 30-37.

[956] I Nephi vii, 2-6, 19, 22; xvi, 7.

[957] Omni i, 14-19; Mos. xxv, 2-4; Alma xxii, 30-32; Hel. vi, 10;
viii, 21; p. 268.

=15. The Fulfillment of these Prophecies.=--The sacred scriptures, as well as other writings for which the claim of direct inspiration is not asserted, record the literal fulfillment of prophecy in the desolation of the house of Israel. The dividing of the nation into the separate kingdoms of Judah and Israel led to the downfall of both. As the people grew in their disregard for the laws of their fathers, their enemies were permitted to triumph over them. After many minor losses in war, the kingdom of Israel met an overwhelming defeat at the hands of the Assyrians, in or about the year 721 B. C. We read that Shalmanezer IV, king of Assyria, besieged Samaria, the third and last capital of the kingdom,[958] and that after three years the city was taken by Sargon, Shalmanezer's successor. The people of Israel were carried captive into Assyria, and distributed among the cities of the Medes.[959] Thus was the dread prediction of Ahijah to the wife of Jeroboam fulfilled. Israel was "scattered beyond the river,"[960] probably the Euphrates, and from the time of this event the ten tribes are entirely lost to history.

[958] Shechem was the first capital of the kingdom of Israel (I
Kings xii, 25); later, Tirzah became the capital: it was famous
for its beauty (I Kings xiv, 17; xv, 33; xvi, 8,17, 23; Song of
Sol. vi, 4); and lastly Samaria (1 Kings xvi, 24).

[959] II Kings xvii, 5-6; xviii, 9-11.

[960] I Kings xiv, 15.

=16.= The sad fate of the kingdom of Israel had some effect in partially awakening among the people of Judah a sense of their own impending doom. Hezekiah reigned as king for nine and twenty years, and proved himself a bright exception to a line of wicked rulers who had preceded him. Of him we are told that "he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord."[961] During his reign, the Assyrians under Sennacherib invaded the land; but the Lord's favor was in part restored to the people, and Hezekiah roused them to a reliance upon their God, bidding them take courage and fear not the Assyrian king nor his hosts, "for" said this righteous prince, "there be more with us than with him; With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles."[962] The Assyrian army was miraculously destroyed.[963] But Hezekiah died, and Manasseh ruled in his stead; this king did evil in the sight of the Lord,[964] and the wickedness of the people continued for half a century or more, broken only by the good works of one righteous king, Josiah.[965]

[961] II Kings xviii, 1-3; II Chron. xxix, 1-11.

[962] II Chron. xxxii, 7-8.

[963] II Chron. xxxii, 21-22.

[964] II Chron. xxxiii, 1-10; II Kings xxi, 1-9.

[965] II Kings xxii, 1; II Chron. xxxiv, 1.

=17.= While Zedekiah occupied the throne, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, laid siege to Jerusalem,[966] took the city about 588 B. C., and soon thereafter led the people captive into Babylon, thus virtually putting an end to the kingdom of Judah. The people were scattered among the cities of Asia; and groaned under the vicissitudes of the Babylonian captivity for nearly seventy years,[967] after which they were given permission by Cyrus the Persian, who had subdued the Babylonians, to return to Jerusalem. Multitudes of the exiled Hebrews availed themselves of this opportunity, though many remained in the land of their captivity; and while those who did return earnestly sought to re-establish themselves on a scale of their former power, they were never again truly an independent people. They were assailed by Syria and Egypt, and later became tributary to Rome, in which condition they were during the personal ministry of Christ among them.

[966] II Kings xxv, 1-3; II Chron. xxxvi, 17.

[967] See pp. 327-328.

=18.= Jeremiah's prophecy still lacked a complete fulfillment, but time proved that not a word was to fail. "Judah shall be carried away captive, all of it; it shall be wholly carried away captive;"[968] this was the prediction. A rebellious disturbance among the Jews gave a semblance of excuse for a terrible chastisement to be visited upon them by their Roman masters, which culminated in the destruction of Jerusalem, A. D. 71. The city fell after a six months' siege before the Roman arms led by Titus, son of the Emperor Vespasian. Josephus, the famous historian, to whom we owe most of our knowledge as to the details of the struggle, was himself a resident in Galilee and was carried to Rome among the captives. From his record we learn that more than a million Jews lost their lives through the famine incident to the siege; many more were sold into slavery, and uncounted numbers were forced into exile. The city was utterly destroyed, and the site upon which the temple had stood was plowed up by the Romans in their search for treasure. Thus literally were the words of Christ fulfilled, "There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down."[969]

[968] Jer. xiii, 19.

[969] Matt. xxiv, 1-2; see also Luke xix, 44. See "Jesus the
Christ," pp. 563, 567, 586.

=19.= Since the destruction of Jerusalem and the final disruption of the organized people, the Jews have been wanderers upon the face of the earth, outcasts among the nations, a people without a country, a nation without a home. The prophecy uttered by Amos of old has had its literal fulfillment: truly have Israel been sifted among all nations "like as corn is sifted in a sieve;"[970] let it be remembered, however that coupled with this dread prediction was the promise, "Yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth."

[970] Amos ix, 9.

=20. The Lost Tribes.=--As already stated, in the division of the Israelites after the death of Solomon, ten tribes established themselves as an independent kingdom. This, the kingdom of Israel, was terminated, as far as history is concerned, by the Assyrian captivity, 721 B. C. The people were led into Assyria; and later disappeared so completely that they have been called the Lost Tribes. They seem to have departed from Assyria, and while we lack definite information as to their final destination and present location, there is abundant evidence that their journey was toward the north.[971] The Lord's Word through Jeremiah promises that the people shall be brought back "from the land of the north,"[972] and a similar declaration has been made through Divine revelation during the present dispensation.[973]

[971] Jer. iii, 12.

[972] Jer. xvi, 15; xxiii, 8; xxxi, 8.

[973] Doc. and Cov. cxxxiii, 26-27.

=21.= In the writings of Esdras or Ezra, which, however, are not included among the canonical books of the Bible, but are known as apocryphal, we find references to the north-bound migration of the ten tribes, which they undertook in accordance with a plan to escape the heathen by going to "a further country where never man dwelt, that they might there keep their statutes which they never kept in their own land."[974] The same writer informs us further that they journeyed a year and a half into the north country; but he gives us evidence that many remained in the land of their captivity.

[974] II Esdras xiii. See Note 4.

=22.= The resurrected Christ, while ministering among the Nephites on this hemisphere, specifically mentioned "the other tribes of the house of Israel, whom the Father hath led away out of the land;"[975] and again He referred to them as "other sheep which are not of this land, neither of the land of Jerusalem; neither in any parts of that land around about, whither I have been to minister."[976] Christ announced a commandment of the Father that He should reveal Himself to them. The present location of the Lost Tribes has not been accurately revealed.

[975] III Nephi xv, 15.

[976] III Nephi xvi, 1.

NOTES.

=1. Hebrews.=--Shem is called "the father of all the children of
Eber," as Ham is called father of Canaan. The Hebrews and
Canaanites were often brought into contact, and exhibited the
respective characteristics of the Shemites and the Hamites. The
term "Hebrews" thus is derived from "Eber" (Gen. x, 21; comp.
Numb, xxiv, 24).--_Bible Cyclopedia_, by Fausset.

The writer of the article "Hebrew" in Cassell's Bible Dictionary
questions the evidence on which the derivation of "Hebrew" from
"Eber" or "Heber" is asserted, and says: "All that can be
confidently affirmed is that the term is employed of Abraham, and
of the descendants of Jacob in general. The interest attaching to
the word, coupled with its obscure origin, suffices to account
for the many speculations in regard to it. It may be added that
some scholars have found the name 'Hebrews,' a little changed, on
the monuments of Egypt. If this interpretation is verified, it
will be of value, as showing that when the Egyptians called
Joseph a Hebrew, they employed the designation which was accepted
among them."

=2. Jews.=--The term properly signifies "a man of Judah," or a
descendant of Judah, but the word came to be applied to all those
who were otherwise designated 'Hebrews.' It does not appear to
have come into use until long after the revolt of Jeroboam and
the ten tribes, and so long as the kingdom stood, it was
naturally employed of the citizens of the kingdom of Judah (II
Kings xvi, 6; xxv, 25); but it rarely occurs in this sense. After
the exile it took the extension of meaning which it has to the
present day. It was adopted by the remnants of all the tribes,
and was the one name by which the descendants of Jacob were known
throughout the ancient world; certainly it was far more common
than 'Hebrew.' It occurs in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther,
Daniel, etc., is found in the Apocrypha; and is common in
Josephus, and in the New Testament."--_Cassell's Bible
Dictionary_.

"Under the theocracy they were known as Hebrews, under the
monarchy as Israelites, and during foreign domination as Jews.
The modern representatives of this stock call themselves Hebrews
in race and language, and Israelites in religion, but Jews in
both senses."--_Standard Dictionary_.

=3. Zenos.=--"A Hebrew prophet, often quoted by the Nephite
servants of God. All we are told of his personal history is that
he was slain because he testified boldly of what God revealed to
him. That he was a man greatly blessed of the Lord with the
spirit of prophecy is shown by that wonderful and almost
incomparable parable of the Vineyard, given at length by Jacob
(Jacob, chap. v). His prophecies are also quoted by Nephi (I
Nephi xix, 10, 12, 16), Alma (Alma xxxiii, 3, 13, 15), Amulek,
Alma (xxxiv, 7), Samuel the Lamanite (Helaman xv, 11), and Mormon
(III Nephi x, 16)."--_Dictionary of the Book of Mormon_, by Elder
George Reynolds.

=4. The Journeyings of the Lost Tribes.=--Esdras, whose books, as
stated in the text, are classed among the apocrypha, describes a
vision, in the course of which the Ten Tribes are noticed in this
way:--"Those are the tribes which were carried away captives out
of their own land in the time of Oseas [Hosea] the king, whom
Shalmanezer, the king of the Assyrians, took captive, and crossed
them beyond the river; so were they brought into another land.
But they took counsel to themselves, that they would leave the
multitude of the heathen, and go forth unto a further country
where never man dwelt, that they there might keep their statutes,
which they never kept in their own land. And they entered in at
the narrow passage of the river Euphrates. For the Most High then
showed them signs, and stayed the springs of the flood till they
were passed over. For through the country there was a great
journey, even of a year and a half, and the same region is called
Arsareth (or Ararah). Then dwelt they there until the latter
time, and when they come forth again, the Most High shall hold
still the springs of the river again, that they may go
through."--II Esdras xiii.

Concerning the journeyings of the Ten Tribes toward the north,
Elder George Reynolds, in his little work _Are We of Israel?_
says:--"They determined to go to a country 'where never man
dwelt,' that they might be free from all contaminating
influences. That country could only be found in the north.
Southern Asia was already the seat of a comparatively ancient
civilization; Egypt flourished in northern Africa; and southern
Europe was rapidly filling with the future rulers of the world.
They had therefore no choice but to turn their faces northward.
The first portion of their journey was not however north;
according to the account of Esdras, they appear to have at first
moved in the direction of their old home; and it is possible that
they originally started with the intention of returning thereto;
or probably, in order to deceive the Assyrians, they started as
if to return to Canaan, and when they crossed the Euphrates and
were out of danger from the hosts of Medes and Persians, then
they turned their journeying feet toward the polar star. Esdras
states that they entered in at the narrow passage of the river
Euphrates, the Lord staying the springs of the flood until they
were passed over. The point on the river Euphrates at which they
crossed would necessarily be in its upper portion, as lower down
would be too far south for their purpose. The upper course of the
Euphrates lies among lofty mountains; near the village of Pastash
it plunges through a gorge formed by precipices more than a
thousand feet in height, and so narrow that it is bridged at the
top; it shortly afterward enters the plain of Mesopotamia. How
accurately this portion of the river answers to the description
of Esdras of the 'Narrows' where the Israelites crossed!"