=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.