The Articles of Faith Part 39

=2.= But the combined name and t.i.tle 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 t.i.tle 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; x.x.xv, 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 t.i.tle _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 a.s.syrians 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 emanc.i.p.ation 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. x.x.xvii, 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 const.i.tuted 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 G.o.d 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 rect.i.tude 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 G.o.d. These extreme calamities, however, were to befall Israel only after less severe chastis.e.m.e.nts 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 G.o.d'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 G.o.ds, 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 G.o.ds, 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 G.o.d 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. x.x.xiv, 17.

[935] Ezek. xx, 23; xxii, 15; x.x.xiv, 6; x.x.xvi, 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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.d 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 pa.s.s 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.