In the prophecies of Joseph of Egypt, quoted by Lehi to his son Joseph, the ancient Joseph prophesied concerning the choice seer who the Lord would raise up from the fruit of the ancient Joseph’s loins: “his name shall be called after me” (2 Nephi 3:15). McConkie and Millet comment that in patriarchal times personal names were considered to be of great importance. Conscious effort was made to assure identity between the name and its bearer. Often names would constitute a miniature biography of the bearer. Names were also used as reminders of significant events, to connote character traits, to identify position, and in some instances to foreshadow the bearer’s destiny or that of his posterity. Thus names were used as memorials, as symbols, and as prophecies. Among righteous people, names were used to identify and testify of great truths or great events, thus keeping such things constantly in the consciousness of the people.
The etymology of the name Joseph is usually given as “the Lord addeth,” “may [God] add,” or “increaser.” Though appropriate, such renderings have veiled a richer meaning associated with the name. In Genesis 30:24, where Rachel names her infant son Joseph, the Hebrew text reads Asaph, which means “he who gathers,” “he who causes to return,” or perhaps most appropriately, “God gathereth.” (See O. Odelain and R. Seguineau, Dictionary of Proper Names and Places in the Bible, p. 40.) Thus the great prophet of the Restoration was given the name that most appropriately describes his divine calling. [Joseph Fielding McConkie and Robert L. Millet, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 1, p. 209]
His Name Shall Be Called After Me Joseph
Matthew Brown writes of ancient Hebrew traditions which speak of two separate messiahs that were foreordained to arise among the covenant people of the Lord--one from the tribe of Judah (the Messiah ben David or “son of” David) and one from the tribe of Joseph (the Messiah ben Joseph/Ephraim). According to Jewish lore the Messiah ben Joseph concept first arose when Rachel, the mother of Joseph of Egypt, prophesied that Joseph would be the ancestor of a messiah who would “arise at the end of days.” Scholars who have studied this legend have determined that it was “a standard article of faith, early and firmly established and universally accepted.”
The Messiah ben Joseph legends hold special interest for Latter-day Saints for two main reasons. First, these Jewish legends claim that Joseph of Egypt uttered prophecies about the Messiah ben Joseph, while prophecies by Joseph of Egypt found in the Book of Mormon and JST speak of a latter-day seer who would be named “Joseph” (see 2 Nephi 3:6-15; JST Genesis 50:26-33). Second, there are several elements found in the Messiah ben Joseph legends that closely correspond to the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith. The following are ten points of correspondence:
1. The Messiah ben Joseph is to be held in reserve to live on the earth in the “last days.”
In D&C 132:7 the Lord states that He had appointed Joseph Smith to hold the keys of the sealing power of the Priesthood “in the last days.”
2. The Messiah ben Joseph is to be born through the lineage of Joseph of Egypt’s birthright son Ephraim.
In a meeting held in Nauvoo, Illinois, on 8 January 1845, President Brigham Young stated that Joseph Smith’s “descent from Joseph that was sold into Egypt was direct, and the blood was pure in him. That is why the Lord chose him.” On a later occasion President Young stated that “Joseph Smith was a pure Ephraimite.”
3. The Messiah ben Joseph is to live upon the earth prior to “when Messiah ben David [i.e., Jesus Christ] appears in all his glory” and is to act as His “forerunner.”
“President [Lorenzo] Snow reported that on one occasion Joseph Smith was … asked who he was. The Prophet smiled kindly upon his interlocutor and replied, ’Noah came before the flood. I have come before the fire’”--meaning the fire that will accompany the Second Coming of Christ (see D&C 29:12; 133:40-41).
The Prophet taught the following about the “Elias” principle. “The spirit of Elias is to prepare the way for a greater revelation of God… . When God sends a man into the world to prepare for a greater work, holding the keys of the power of Elias, it [is] called the doctrine of Elias… . That person who holds the keys of Elias [has] a preparatory work.” According to Parley P. Pratt, “Joseph Smith was the Elias, the Restorer, the presiding Messenger, holding the keys of the Dispensation of the fullness of times … to prepare the way of the Lord.”
4. The Messiah ben Joseph is to be “the revealer of the true faith” of Jehovah. In one Jewish legend Joseph of Egypt prophesies that the Messiah ben Joseph will cause some erroneous elements of religious worship that have crept in among the Israelite tribes to “vanish.” Thus, he will perform his work after a period of apostasy.
The Lord Jesus Christ has declared: “I have sent forth the fullness of my gospel by the hand of my servant Joseph” (D&C 35:17). The Lord has also indicated in a modern revelation that the religious system He revealed through Joseph Smith constitutes “the only true and living Church upon the face of the whole earth” (D&C 1:30).
5. The prophet Elijah is to return to the earth, as foretold in Malachi 4:5-6, during the days of the Messiah ben Joseph
D&C 110:13-16 records the fulfillment of this expectation. In verses 14-15 of this passage, Elijah is represented as saying that his arrival in the Kirtland Temple fulfilled the prophecy of Malachi 4:5-6.
6. The Messiah ben Joseph is to “rebuild the temple” of Israel and restore its “true worship.”
Just as the Lord revealed the pattern for the Tabernacle to Moses (see Exodus 25:9) and the pattern of the Jerusalem Temple to David and Solomon (see 1 Chronicles 28:11-19), He also revealed the patterns for the Kirtland Temple (see D&C 94:5-6) and the Nauvoo Temple (see D&C 124:42) to the Prophet Joseph Smith.
7. The Messiah ben Joseph is to gather the children of Israel around him, including a portion of the lost ten tribes.
Joseph Smith’s father spoke the following words while administering a patriarchal blessing to his son. “A marvelous work and a wonder has the Lord wrought by thy hand, even that which shall prepare the way for the remnants of His people to come in among the Gentiles, with their fullness, as the tribes of Israel are restored.” In the Kirtland Temple on 3 April 1836, Joseph Smith received the keys for the gathering of the twelve tribes of Israel. “The heavens were again opened unto us; and Moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north” (D&C 110:11).
8. The Messiah ben Joseph is to be a warrior.
On 10 March 1841 Thomas Carlin, Governor of the state of Illinois, commissioned Joseph Smith to the rank of Lieutenant General over the Nauvoo Legion. By 1844 the Nauvoo Legion is estimated to have been about 5,000 men strong. The Legion was not only the largest military unit in the state of Illinois but it was second only in size to the United States Army.
9. The Messiah ben Joseph is to be a king.
William Clayton relates that during a Council of Fifty meeting held on 11 April 1844 in Nauvoo, Illinois, “President Joseph [Smith was] chosen [as] our Prophet, Priest and King by hosannas.” George A. Smith likewise recorded in his diary, under the date of 9 May 1844, that Joseph Smith had been installed as “King over the immediate House of Israel” by the Council of Fifty. A revelation from the Lord to the Council of Fifty on 27 June 1882 verified that Joseph Smith had been called “to be a Prophet, Seer and Revelator to my Church and Kingdom; and to be a King and Ruler over Israel.” Once when the Prophet was “preaching from Daniel 2nd chapter, 44th verse, [he] said that the kingdom referred to was already set up, and that he was the king over it.” Joseph Smith served in the capacity of a substitute sovereign over God’s earthly kingdom, just as the kings of ancient Israel did (see 1 Chronicles 29:23).
10. The Messiah ben Joseph is to die as a martyr.
John Taylor informs us that “when Joseph [Smith] went to Carthage to deliver himself up to the pretended requirements of the law, two or three days previous to his assassination, he said: ’I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer’s morning; I have a conscience void of offense towards God, and towards all men. I shall die innocent, and it shall be said of me--he was murdered in cold blood’” (D&C 135:4).
In summary, Brown states that while it cannot be stated with certainty that Joseph Smith and the Messiah ben Joseph are one and the same person, it cannot be denied that the parallels between them are striking. It is also of great interest that some of the Messiah ben Joseph legendary elements are present in revealed scriptural texts that clearly do refer to the Prophet (see 2 Nephi 3:6-15; JST Genesis 50:26-33). [Matthew B. Brown, All Things Restored: Confirming the Authenticity of LDS Beliefs, pp. 34-39]
2 Nephi 3:15 His name shall be called after me [Joseph] (Illustration): Parallels between the Messiah ben Joseph Legend and Restoration Scriptures. This chart illustrates five parallels between the ancient Jewish legends of the Messiah ben Joseph and scriptural literature that was produced by the Prophet Joseph Smith. [Matthew B. Brown, All Things Restored: Confirming the Authenticity of LDS Beliefs, p. 39]