The Lord promised Joseph in Egypt that the choice latter-day seer, Joseph Smith, would be highly esteemed (respected, honored) by his righteous and loyal descendants and that the seer would help them come to a knowledge of the covenants of the fathers (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) and of the accompanying saving ordinances.
Following are a few lines from the patriarchal blessing that Joseph Smith Sr. gave to his son Joseph Smith Jr.:
“I bless thee with the blessings of thy fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and even the blessings of thy father Joseph, the son of Jacob. Behold he looked after his posterity in the last days … ; he sought diligently to know from whence the son should come who should bring forth the word of the Lord, by which they might be enlightened and brought back to the true fold, and his eyes beheld thee, my son; his heart rejoiced and his soul was satisfied, and he said, … ‘From among my seed, scattered with the Gentiles, shall a choice seer arise … , whose heart shall meditate great wisdom, whose intelligence shall circumscribe and comprehend the deep things of God, and whose mouth shall utter the law of the just.’ … Thou shalt hold the keys of this ministry, even the presidency of this church, both in time and in eternity.” 5
Joseph in Egypt knew that the latter-day seer would be “great like unto Moses,” whom the Lord would raise up to deliver his people out of the land of Egypt—a remarkably specific prophecy of what would happen to Jacob’s descendants, the children of Israel, within a few centuries after Joseph’s lifetime and exactly who would be sent to earth to bring about their dramatic exodus from Egypt.