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Biblical Evidence of the Book of Mormon
By Steven Horne

Part One: A Record of a Branch of the House of Israel

     The book of Mormon claims to be a record of a branch of the
House of Israel which was lead to the American Continent in 600
B.C.  The book claims that Lehi and his family were members of the
tribe of Joseph.  In this first article I will show how this claim
is in perfect harmony with Biblical teachings and Biblical
prophesy.

Background on the Abrahamic Covenant
     To appreciate these claims, it is first necessary that we
understand something about the nature of the Abrahamic Covenant,
which will help us to understand some of the passages in the Bible
which deal with it.  Hence, I will begin with some examination of
the covenants that God made with the House of Israel.  If I am
belaboring points you already understand I hope you will be patient
with me because we must reach some common ground of understanding
before my arguments will make any sense.

The Covenant People Were Forseen by Noah

     The Abrahamic Covenant was forshadowed by Noah.  We read in
Genesis chapter 9 that Noah was drunk and his son Canaan "saw the
nakedness of his father" and his two brothers "went backward and
covered the nakedness of their father."  The Bible does not give us
enough information to fully understand what happened here, but it
is apparent that Canaan did something very wrong, for we read in
verse 25 that Noah cursed him.  However, the important part is the
next two verses.  Noah said, "Blessed be the Lord God of Shem..."
and "God shall enlarge Japheth and he shall dwell in the tents of
Shem..."  From Shem arose the Semetic (sometimes called the white)
race.  Shem was the progenitor of Abraham, the father of the
covenant.  We read in verses 2-5 of Chapter 10 that from Japeth
arose the families and nations of the Gentiles (sometimes called
the "heathen" nations, or the nations we think of today as the
Orientals.)

     I think the meaning of what Noah said about Shem is more clear
if you read it with a comma between Lord and God, like this:
"Blessed be the Lord, God of Shem" or in other words, "Blessed be
the Lord, who is the God of Shem."  Today, in place of the word
Lord we would probably use the name Jesus Christ and thus the
passage would read: "Blessed be Jesus Christ, the God of the
Semetic people."  This interpretation is born out by two things.
First, several prophets express the idea that the Abrahamic
covenant is one of "I will be your God and you shall be my people."
(Jer 30:22, Hosea 2:23 and Zech 13:9)  Thus, this forshadows the
fact that this covenant people would come through Shem.  Secondly,
we find literal fulfillment of these words when we consider the
Christian nations of the earth are the semetic nations.  This is
not to say that descendants of Japeth or Canaan have not also
accepted Christ as individuals, only that as nations they have not
accepted him.

     When Noah said that Japeth would "dwell in the tents of Shem"
he forshadowed the promise that those Gentiles which accepted the
gospel would be adopted into the house of Israel.  (See Roman
9:4-8)  To dwell in the tents is the equivalent of being adopted
into the house.  Tents probably were houses Noah and his family
were living in after the flood.  Thus, those who accept the gospel
who are not literally the seed of Shem and Abraham become the seed
of Shem and Abraham when the accept the gospel.

The Promises of God to Abraham

     However, the promises of God to Abraham were not limited to a
spiritual fulfillment.  When the Lord first made a covenant with
Abraham, it was conditional: "I am the Almighty God; walk before
me, and be thou perfect.  And I will make my covenant between me
and thee..."  (Genesis 17:1-8) The covenant was conditioned upon
Abraham walking uprightly before God.  However, after Abraham
offered up his son Issac in similitude of the Only Begotten Son of
God, the promise was made unconditionally: "By myself have I sworn,
saith the Lord, that because thou has done this thing, and hast not
withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless
thee..."  (Gen 22:15-18)  The unconditional promises given to
Abraham included the following:
     1.  His seed (posterity) would be as the stars of heaven.
     2. His seed would possess the gate of their enemies.
     3. Through his seed all nations of the earth would be blessed.

     In addition he had previously been promised that if he were
faithful:
     1. Nations would come out of him.
     2. Kings would come out of him.
     3. The Lord would be "a God unto thee, and to thy seed after
thee."  This was to be an everlasting covenant and fits Noah's
promise to Shem.
     4. The land of Canaan would become an everlasting possession
to his seed.

     These promised blessings became known as the birthright.
Issac inherited that birthright and Jacob (whose name means
"supplanter") also inherited it after his older brother Esau sold
it for a little lentil stew.  God confirmed this blessing on  Jacob
and gave him a new name, Israel, which has been interpreted as
either "He who prevails with God" or "Let God prevail".  Israel was
promised that "a nation and a company of nations" would come from
this loins (would be his literal descendents).

     Now, maybe we've belabored things you already knew, but before
we move on, let's examine one important question.  Can God lie?  If
he promises he will do something and swears by himself, will he not
fulfill it?  Paul said he would as indicated in Hebrews 6:12-17.
Hence, these promises and prophesies must be fulfilled or God is a
liar and we know God is not a liar, so these promises must be
fulfilled.  This is important to keep in mind because we are about
to make some points few people have understood.

Joseph and his Son's Inherited the Promised Blessings

     As we know, Jacob or Israel had 12 sons. One of them was
Joseph, who was sold as a slave into Egypt and disappeared to the
knowledge of his family for a period of time.  In fact, they
thought he was dead.  When they were re-united, Joseph brought his
two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh for a blessing.  He brought them so
that Ephraim would be at Jacob's right hand and Manasseh at this
left, but Jacob crossed his hands and gave them this blessing: "The
Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my
name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and
Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the
earth." (Gen 48:15-16)

     Joseph protested that the younger was receiving a greater
blessing than the elder, but Jacob insisted that Ephraim would be
the greater and that "In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make
thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh..."  He also said that Ephraim
would become "a multitude of nations."  (48:17-20)

     Jacob was adopting Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh as his
own in place of his two older sons, Reuben and Simion. (48:5)
Reuben had lost the birthright by defiling his father's bed
(49:3-4), and hence, Jacob adopted Ephraim as his oldest
(birthright) son.  Thus we see the promised blessings of Abraham,
Issac and Jacob were passed on to one tribe of Israel, Ephraim.
This is why the Lord could say through Jeremiah, "I am a father to
Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn." (Jer 31:9, see also I
Chronicles 5:1)

The Jews are Only Part of Israel

     Much confusion over the meaning of the scriptures has arisen
from failing to understand that the Jews are not Israel.  The Jews
are only one of twelve tribes of Israel and they are not even the
birthright tribe.  They did not inherit the promise that the Lord
would multiply them as the stars of heaven or that through them all
nations would be blessed.  These promises were given to the tribe
of Joseph.

     Judah was given a great blessing, but it was not the
birthright.  Judah was given the right of kings and the promise
that the Messiah should come through his loins.  Because Christ was
to come through Judah, he was told "...thou art he whom thy
brethren shall praise...thy father's children shall bow down before
thee..."  Judah was told he was a lion's whelp, who would go up
from the prey and then crouch down as an old lion who could not be
roused up.  Further, he was told that he would hold the sceptre (a
symbol of political power) which would not depart from him, "nor a
lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come..."  Shiloh is a
word which roughly means "whose right it is."  So political power
and law-givers would not depart from Judah until the person who had
rightful rule (ie, the Messiah) came.

Joseph's Birthright Blessing

     These were great blessings, but they were not the birthright
blessing.  The greatest blessings fell upon Joseph.  We read in
Genesis 49:22-26 as follows (with my comments added in brackets [
]).

     "Joseph is a fruitful bough [because he inherited the promise
that his seed would be as numerous as the stars of heaven or the
sands of the earth], even a fruitful bough by a well; whose
branches run over the wall:  [thus the descendents of Joseph were
to run over the wall, or leave the boundaries of the land of
Canaan]

     "The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and
hated him:

     "But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were
made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence
is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:) [ie, from Jacob's lineage,
or Jacob's God-- depending on how you read it--came Jesus Christ
Israel's shepherd and rock]

     "Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by
the Almighty, who shall bless thee with the blessings of heaven
above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the
breasts, and of the womb: [so Joseph's seed would be greatly
blessed of God]

     "The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the
blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the
everlasting hills: [or in other words, Jacob is saying that he has
received a blessing which prevails above--or is greater than--the
blessing given to his fathers Abraham and Issac, which blessing
extends to "the utmost bound of the everlasting hills"] they shall
be upon the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him
that was separate from his brethren.  [Thus, not only did Joseph
inherit the birthright blessings, he also inherited blessings that
extended beyond the blessings given to Abraham and Issac.]"

The Book of Mormon Records Part of the Fulfillment of these
Promises

     This is where the Book of Mormon begins to tie into the Bible,
because the Book of Mormon is a record of a remenant of the house
of Joseph who were led to the Americas by the hand of the Lord.
Thus, the prophesy of Jacob was fulfilled, the seed of Joseph "ran
over the wall" or crossed the ocean.  They inherited a land which
was not promised to Abraham or Issac, a land of "everlasting hills"
(the Rocky Mountains being the longest mountain chain in the world
extending from Alaska to the tip of South America).  This land of
everlasting hills was given to Issac over and above the promised
land of Canaan which his fathers had been promised and Jacob gave
this land to Joseph.  And note his emphasis that this blessing was
on the crown of the head of him who was SEPARATE from his brethren.

     The Lord uses history as a means of prophesy.  Abraham
offering his son Issac was in similitude of the sacrifice of
Christ.  Pharaoh letting the Israelites go upon the death of the
firstborn was in similitude of our being freed from the bondage of
sin by the firstborn of all creation, even Jesus Christ.  Here we
have a new similitude.  Joseph was sold into Egypt.  He was
SEPARATED from his brethren in life and led to a land that was the
bread basket of the ancient world.  They thought he was dead and
gone forever, but low and behold, he suddenly showed up again and
was able to be a means of temporal deliverance for  the rest of his
father's family.

     Likewise, a portion of the seed of Joseph was separated from
the rest of Israel and led to the new world where they became lost
to the knowledge of the rest of the house of Israel.

The Blessing of Moses on the House of Joseph

     This is not the only place, however, where the tribe of Joseph
was given these blessings.  They were also pronounced on him by
Moses in Deuteronomy 33:13-17.

     "And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for
the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that
croucheth beneath,
     "And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for
the precious things put forth by the moon,
     "And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for
the precious things of the lasting hills,
     "And for the precious things of the earth and the fullness
thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let
the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the
head of him that was separated from his brethren."

     Here we see Joseph's posterity being promised a land of great
wealth and natural resources, of "ancient mountains" and "lasting
hills" (the "utmost bound of the everlasting hills", again).    We
also see the hint about Joseph being SEPARATED from his brethren.


     The Book of Mormon calls the land of America the "promised
land" or the "land of promise" and says that it is a land which is
"choice above all other lands".  Most of us living in America
should be able to see that this is literally true.  America is the
wealthiest nation on the face of the earth.  She has vast
resources.  Such was the land promised to the seed of Joseph.  The
Book of Mormon testifies that it was the seed of Joseph who
inherited this land in fulfillment of these prophesies.  It also
promises that this land will be a free land unto those who possess
it as long as we "obey the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ."
This blessing said that Joseph would inherit a land blessed of God.

     The blessing doesn't end here, for another promise is made to
Joseph.

     "His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns
are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people
together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands
of Ephraim and they are the thousands of  Manasseh."

     Remember that Joseph inherited the birthright, part of which
was that through him and his seed all nations of the earth would be
blessed.  Here we have a promise that Joseph's seed, Ephraim and
Manasseh would be instrumental in gathering the people (pushing
them together) from the ends of the earth.  In other words,
Joseph's seed would be charged with the responsibility of gathering
in the scattered remenants of the house of Israel from the ends of
the earth.  The Old Testament is filled with prophesies that Israel
would be scattered and then gathered again in the last days.
However, most people make the erroneous assumption that the Jews
are Israel, and hence think that the Jews gathering to the land of
Canaan is the only fulfillment this prophesied gathering will have.

The TWO Nations

     The kingdom of Israel was united until after the time of King
Solomon after which the house of Israel split into two nations.
The southern nation was made up of the tribe of Judah plus one-half
the tribe of Benjamin, while the rest of the tribes became the
northern kingdom.  The southern kingdom was thereafter called
Judah, but the northern kingdom was called Israel.  The northern
kingdom was headed by an Ephraimite.  This was in fulfillment of
the promise made by Jacob or Israel when he said of Joseph's son's,
let my name (the name Israel) be named on them.  Thus, from that
time forward, the Jews were not considered Israel, they were called
Judah, while the rest of the tribes of Israel, headed by Ephraim,
became known as Israel.  This is a very important point because
thereafter the Old Testament distinguishes between Judah and
Israel.

     Furthermore, this was also a fulfillment of the promise to
Jacob that he would make him a "nation and a company of nations."
Judah was a nation, Israel under the direction of Ephraim was a
"company of nations."

     The Bible as we have it is almost entirely a record kept by
the tribe of Judah.  It is primarily a record of the tribe of
Judah.  In fact, it records little or nothing about the fulfillment
of God's promises to the House of Joseph, while recording a great
deal about the fulfillment of his promises to Judah.   But the
Bible foretells that there would be a record kept for both of these
nations.  Ezekiel records:

     "The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,
     "Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick and write upon
it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then
take another stick and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of
Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
     "And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall
become one in thine hand."

     Mormon's have commonly referred to the sticks in this passage
as scrolls that were to be written upon.  However, the word here
translated as stick is more frequently translated as "board".
Recent archeological evidence has determined that it was common
practice at the time of Ezekiel to write upon boards embedded with
wax.  These boards (or tablets) could be laced together and made
into books.  Hence, a more recent translation of this passage, the
New English Bible, renders it thusly:  "These were the words of the
Lord unto me: Man, take one leaf of a wooden tablet and write upon
it, "Judah and his associates of Israel."  Then take another leaf
and write on it, "Joseph, the leaf of Ephraim and all his
associates of Israel."  Now bring them together to form one tablet:
then they will be a folding tablet in your hand.  When your fellow
countrymen ask you to tell you what you mean by this, say unto
them, These are the words of the Lord God: I am taking the leaf of
Joseph, which belongs to Ephraim and his associate tribes of
Israel, and joining to it the leaf of Judah.  Thus I will make them
one tablet, and they shall be one in my hand.  The leaves on which
you write shall be visible in your hand for all to see."

     The passage then indicates that at the time when these tablets
are joined together  the Lord God will take "the children of Israel
from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them
on every side and bring them into their own land..." So the
gathering of Israel and Judah (the two nations) would commence in
the day when these tablets were joined.

     Jesus Christ himself recognized that there were more nations
of the house of Israel than just the Jews when he said, "And other
sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring,
and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one
shepherd."  (John 10:16) He was not speaking of the Gentiles
because: 1.  He didn't visit them--ie, they did not hear his
voice--he only sent missionaries unto them and 2.  He made it very
plain that "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of
Israel." (Matt 15:24).  The Book of Mormon testifies that he not
only visited this remenant of the house of Joseph after his
resurrection but that he visited all of the scattered remenants of
Israel and that all these records will eventually come to light.

     Again, the Bible makes it clear that there are more nations of
Israel than the Jews and that these nations also had great
promises.  Doesn't it make sense that Christ would minister to the
seed of Joseph as well as the seed of Judah?  Doesn't it make sense
that God would see to it that a record was kept for both of the
great branches of the house of Israel, for the two great nations
which came of Jacob?  Does it make sense that He would ignore any
record of fulfilling his promises unto the house of Joseph,
especially when they were the birthright nation?  Does God fulfill
his promises or doesn't He?

     The Lord himself makes it plain in the Book of Mormon that he
will fulfill all the promises he made to the House of Israel in
these words: "Know ye not that there are more nations than one?
Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and
that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that
I rule in the heavens above and in the earth beneath; and I bring
forth my word unto the children of men, even upon all the nations
of the earth?  Wherefore murmur ye because that ye shall receive
more of my word?  Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is
a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like
unto another.  And when the two nations shall run together the
testimony of the two nations shall run together also...For behold,
I shall speak unto the Jews and they shall write it; and I shall
speak unto the Nephites [a remenant of Joseph] and they shall write
it; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of
Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it...And it
shall come to pass that my people, which are of the house of
Israel, shall be gathered home unto the lands of their possessions;
and my word shall be gathered in one.  And I will show unto
them...that I am God, and that I covenanted with Abraham that I
would remember his seed forever."

     I testify that God has and is fulfilling his promises to
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  I testify that the Book of Mormon shows
that God has already fulfilled many of his promises unto the tribe
of Joseph and that these fulfillments are found in the Book of
Mormon.  The Book of Mormon is a record (a stick or tablet) written
upon for Joseph and all the House of Israel his fellows which has
been joined with the stick of Judah, the Bible, not to take its
place, but to clarify and reinforce the Bible's message.  It is
another testament of Jesus Christ.  There is hardly a page in the
Book of Mormon that does not persuade men to come unto Christ and
be saved.  It even tells of his visit to this remenant of the House
of Joseph in fulfillment of his own prophesy that he had other
sheep (who could only have been lost sheep of the House of Israel
according to his own words) who were not in Jerusalem, but were in
another fold.  He gave his words to them also and they recorded it
so that when the old world and the new world came together, the
books testifying that Jesus is the Christ also came together.  And
all this has been done so that God could commence his work to
gather all of the scattered remenants of Israel together as he
foretold he would.  And I bear witness that these things are true
in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, who is my God and the rock of
my salvation.