User:Chauvelin2000/sandbox/Messiah ben Joseph (LDS Church)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Messiah ben Joseph, in Latter-day Saint (LDS) studies, refers to an ancient eschatological figure that appears in both traditional Jewish[1][2][3][4][5] and non-canonical texts[6][7][8][9][10][11] (allusions to which appear also in the Hebrew bible)[12][13][14][15][16][17][18] but one that, for adherents of the LDS faith, is personified in a modern historical figure foundational to their religion — the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr (1805-1844).[19][20][21][22][23] Notwithstanding Smith having suffered a martyr's death, the end-times role for the Prophet, in the LDS worldview, has not yet been consummated.[24][19][25][21][22]
This is not a Wikipedia article: It is an individual user's work-in-progress page, and may be incomplete and/or unreliable. For guidance on developing this draft, see Wikipedia:So you made a userspace draft. Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL |
Ancient ancestral prophecies concerning the House of Joseph (many of them now 'restored' through Joseph Smith from their lost or 'corrupted' state)[21][26] center upon what some members and scholars of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have, in recent decades, come to view as a messianic figure — an 'anointed one' of Jewish tradition and legend who is variously called 'Messiah ben Joseph' or 'Messiah ben Ephraim'.[20][22][23] This figure, set to 'prepare the way' for the coming of the great and atoning 'Messiah ben David', represents a Josephite 'restorer' and 'deliverer' from the tribe of Ephraim.[3][10][17] Because Ben Joseph mirrors in significant ways, in his messianic-forerunner characterization, the earthly mission of the LDS Church's founding prophet, many LDS scholars believe that Ben Joseph's identification is to be found in the life and mission of Joseph Smith.[19][21][27]
Within this millennia-old messianic tradition,[2][3][4] the ancient texts foretell that in the latter days, by the grace of God, the tribes of scattered Israel (having dwelt in captivity and dispersion among the nations of the world through a long night of general apostasy) would be "gathered" again — by a 'chosen and anointed' deliverer[1][8][28] — into "one" fold of the 'elect of God' in the Promised Land of Joseph's 'double portioned' inheritance.[29][27] Latter-day Saints believe this 'second' promised land to comprise the whole of the American continent of North and South America (with North America serving as the center of the latter-day 'Zion') which God has consecrated to house, in a future day, His holy city of the 'New Jerusalem'.[30][27][31][26]
In Jewish tradition, the restoration of Israel (its lost tribes), which included a special appearance (or 'return') of Elijah, was always associated with this Josephite mashiaḥ (messiah: 'the prophet who restores')[1][32] of the tribe of Ephraim.[8][3][5] Elijah's return is one that Latter-day Saints profess has already taken place (D&C 110:13-16).[21][22][26]
For Latter-day Saints, the personification and the vouchsafing of the messianic-forerunner mantle to the House of Joseph, in the person of Joseph Smith,[20][21][22] symbolizes the glorious restoration of light and knowledge (collectively called 'Wisdom' by the ancients)[33] that thereafter, in its authorized dissemination to the rest of the world, became the central, divinely appointed mission of Joseph of Egypt's numerous latter-day progeny — which Church members consider themselves generally to be.[29][19][27][22]
Latter-day Saints — representatives of the House of Joseph bearing the record of Joseph, the Book of Mormon[19][26] — view themselves collectively as the counterpart to their brethren of the House of Judah, who hold and have gifted to the world their own record, many of the books of which were brought together to form the Bible.[21][27] Together, these two tribal or familial sticks (Ezek 37:16-19) are today, according to LDS belief, being brought together, divisions and breaches are being healed, and their records are becoming "one" in the hands of many[22] — a "marvellous work and a wonder" (Isa 29:14) made possible through the key instrumentality of a latter-day Joseph, one 'anointed' of God (mashiaḥ) whose coming, foretold in both scripture and legend, has been anticipated by prophets and wise men for millennia.[1][2][8][3][4][12][5][11][19]