At times like these, I thinks it’s valuable to review one of the Book of Mormon’s most repeated prophecies.
Quick review: Gentiles=white people. Remanent of Jacob=Natives. If Gentiles repent, they can join with the remnant.
3 Nephi 16:
8 But wo, saith the Father, unto the unbelieving of the Gentiles—for notwithstanding they have come forth upon the face of this land, and have scattered my people who are of the house of Israel; and my people who are of the house of Israel have been cast out from among them, and have been trodden under feet by them …
10 And thus commandeth the Father that I should say unto you: At that day when the Gentiles shall sin against my gospel, and shall reject the fulness of my gospel, and shall be lifted up in the pride of their hearts above all nations, and above all the people of the whole earth …
13 But if the Gentiles will repent and return unto me, saith the Father, behold they shall be numbered among my people, O house of Israel.
14 And I will not suffer my people, who are of the house of Israel, to go through among them, and tread them down, saith the Father.
15 But if they will not turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, I will suffer them, yea, I will suffer my people, O house of Israel, that they shall go through among them, and shall tread them down …
3 Nephi 20:
Jesus talking to the Nephites and Lamanites
14 And the Father hath commanded me that I should give unto you this land, for your inheritance.
15 And I say unto you, that if the Gentiles do not repent after the blessing which they shall receive, after they have scattered my people—
16 Then shall ye, who are a remnant of the house of Jacob, go forth among them; and ye shall be in the midst of them who shall be many; and ye shall be among them as a lion among the beasts of the forest, and as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he goeth through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.
Then continues quoting Micah 5
3 Nephi 21
21 And I will execute vengeance and fury upon them [the Gentiles], even as upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.
22 But if they will repent and hearken unto my words, and harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant and be numbered among this the remnant of Jacob, unto whom I have given this land for their inheritance;
23 And they shall assist my people, the remnant of Jacob, and also as many of the house of Israel as shall come, that they may build a city, which shall be called the New Jerusalem.
DC 87:
Sometime after the Civil War
5 And it shall come to pass also that the remnants who are left of the land will marshal themselves, and shall become exceedingly angry, and shall vex the Gentiles with a sore vexation.
Quiz: whose land is this according to the Book of Mormon?
Comments
17 responses to ““As a Young Lion among the Flocks of Sheep””
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My earlier comment got mangled to the point of showing up the opposite of my intention. The intended comment is:
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This land is promised to the seed of Lehi. And as one who believes that Sorenson’s model is the best fit for the Book of Mormon’s geography I’m of the opinion that Lehi’s descendants spring from southern Mexico and Guatemala–and thereabouts. And that means that most of the folks who are crossing the southern border could very well be the remnant that the Lord speaks of–and that we would do well to carry them on our shoulders as the–scriptures require–rather than be faced with the wrath of a “young lion” so to speak.
In saying all of that, I’m not suggesting that our immigration policies should allow all comers. I’d like to see a system that is both soft and organized. In being generous we need not admit hardened criminals–and the U.S.’s immigration policies are really quite generous comparatively speaking.
Even so, I’m of the opinion that we should make it as easy as possible for Mexican citizens to immigrate–especially if their primary purpose for coming here is to find work. They are our neighbors–and that fact alone IMO should grant them access to a “fast track” of sorts.
Re: Trumps campaign promises: I’m all for rooting out hardened criminals–but I’d like to see a change in the current system that will allow good illegal aliens to remain in the U.S. while they get their papers in order–especially!–if they have a family here.
Also, I wanted to say that I believe the Post-Civil War American Indian War fulfills Joseph Smith’s prophecy about the remnant becoming exceedingly angry and vexing the gentiles. Of course I could be wrong–and perhaps we’ll see and even great “vexing” in the future. Time will tell.
Thanks for these, in my reading of the BOM this past year I too came away impressed that the White American is not the main character in the Restoration. We are nursemaids or a part of the Olive “vineyard.”
Glad you got to express yourself, enterprise!
Good points, Jack. It does strike me as wise to be a whole lot nicer than Trump and Miller are being to immigrants if we take the Book of Mormon seriously. I see DC 87:5 linked to these BoM passages and the lines about “go[ing] forth among them; and ye shall be in the midst of them who shall be many” sounds more like our current situation that late 19th century US. The description of what the remnant of Jacob will do sound more substantial that the minor fight the Natives put up after the Civil War.
Thanks, RL. Sounds to me like the Gentiles could improve on being nursing fathers.
We gentiles (as the term is used in this set of prophecies) in the promised land had our moment in the spotlight: receiving the restored gospel, bringing the Book of Mormon to light, surviving the initial persecution, building an institution that can now reach out to the rest of the world in a big way. We can be proud of what our ancestors (physical or spiritual) accomplished.
But RL is right–we’re the supporting actors, not the leads. Our role may not be completely finished, but we’re past the stage where the prophecies mostly have good things to say about us and into the stage where it’s all conditional. If we’re righteous, we can join in on the covenant God made with Lehi regarding this land, but if we’re not…well, it’s not pretty. Maybe it’s not literal conquest: Old Testament prophets lived in violent times when peaceful coexistence wasn’t an option, and perhaps describing the conquest of their enemies was the only way the Lord could convey to his people that they would be safe. But maybe not. I confess I couldn’t see it happening until recently (we are powerful and our cities great and all that) but now it’s all too easy to imagine civil strife putting us in a state where conquest by the righteous would be welcome.
Here is the complete 1878 interview between Dr. P. Wilhelm Poulson of the Deseret Evening News and David Whitmer, one of the Three Witnesses, recorded and published on August 16, 1878
Poulson: “When will the temple be built at Independence?”
Whitmer: “Right after the great tribulation is over.”
Poulson: “What do you mean by that?”
Whitmer: “A civil war more bloody and cruel than the rebellion. [THE REBELLION IS WHAT THEY WERE STILL CALLING THE CIVIL WAR IN 1878] It will be a smashing up of this nation, about which time the second great work has to be done, a work like Joseph did, and the translation of the sealed plates and peace all over.”
RLD,
You bring up a question that I don’t know how to answer. When talking about remnant theology we typically make the assumption that a “remnant” is a righteous people–or at least it seems so to me. But it almost seems like the folks that the Savior is speaking of–the young lion–might be a remnant only in the sense of being the seed of Lehi–that is, without respect to their degree of righteousness.
That said, I agree that being conquered by a righteous remnant would be most welcome.
Stephen,
You could very well be right that Joseph’s prophecy has yet to be fulfilled vis-a-vis the vexing of the gentiles. Even so, this little map of the American Indian War between 1860 & 1890 looks like a vexation–to me at any rate–and it only includes the more notable skirmishes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_Wars#/media/File:Western_Indian_Wars.jpg
For what it’s worth, I had been collecting notes on this for more many years before I stopped taking notes on it about a decade ago. I take it as a given that it will happen at some point. I figure it will happen in conjunction with the downfall of all Western Civilization (white, Caucasian, Gentile, European) as the Times of the Gentiles are finally Fulfilled and the rest of the world (Native American, African, Asian) rises in ascendancy and takes its turn on Top of things for awhile. The truth of God, meanwhile, “will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.” https://docs.google.com/document/d/1s06QIGXXiEBYG-7Lh8ndnIZ1Fr3dBMrX6QFqaScuT8g/edit?tab=t.0
Very timely reminder Stephen! And definitely one of the passages from the Book of Mormon that very directly bears on the current political climate.
However, I have it on good authority that while the Book of Mormon is a staggering work of religious genius, the gold plates didn’t actually exist in the material world. They’re more of a metaphor that Joseph used – perhaps to emphasize the eternally precious nature of the spiritual truths he was teaching. So it’s not a historical record, and thus the Lehites weren’t real people. A beautiful and compelling metaphor, that we could productively anylyze, but not grounded in historical reality. Any “promises” made about them will need to be interpreted allegorically.
Thanks for the quote, Tom. There’s a long history of Mormons emphasizing or deemphasizing what current scholars tend to call the Native apocalypse. Parley Pratt made a big deal of it in the first edition of his Voice of Warning, but Mormon critics frequently accused the Mormon of planning to unite with the Natives against the whites (BoM sort of sounds like that). So Pratt took it out, and Mormons often deemphasized it.
It’s REALLY been deemphasized over the last 100+ years. I’ve never heard it taught in church. I first noticed it on my mission in the mid 90s.
I agree RLD that recent events make me see the fulfillment as conceivable.
Jack, my reading of the prophecies in 3 Nephi really make it sound like the remnant of Jacob will “win,” thus I don’t see the clashes of the late 1800s as fulfilling the prophecy.
John, that’s a big and complicated issue. Naturally, I don’t know for sure what the future holds, but noting that JS’s Civil War prophecy looks pretty accurate causes me to give credence to the Native apocalypse as well.
Stephen,
Not to belabor a side issue–but I think we’re talking past each other. I don’t see the prophecy about the young lion (in 3rd Nephi) as necessarily aligning with the actions of the “remnants” in Joseph’s prophecy. I could be wrong–but I think they can be interpreted as separate events.
John,
As prophecies from the Book of Mormon become fulfilled it becomes more difficult–for me at least–to interpret its provenance as purely metaphorical.
Perhaps they aren’t linked but our scriptural footnotes links that remnant to the 3 Nephi verses I quote. Regardless, the focus of this post are those 3 Nephi verses. Looks to me like the remnant has gone forth among the Gentiles and are in the midst of them, so it looks like that first part has happen. And it looks like the Gentiles are currently making a lot of them very angry. I’m curious what the future holds.
I’m confused about “remnant of Jacob = natives” if we’re trying to map these prophecies onto current reality.
Who is native/remnant? Anyone with darker skin and some genetic connection to native Americans? Culturally hispanic people in Latin America? There is of course no genetic marker linking any native American group to Jacob, as our newer introduction to the BoM tacitly acknowledges by indicating that the BoM peoples were “among” the ancestors of current native Americans. Who exactly is going to be driving the “Native apocalypse?”
Yes, it appears to me that the Book of Mormon refers to Native Americans as the remnant of Jacob. Whether Natives have Israelite ancestry or not, what the Book of Mormon said happened to the Natives is accurate, as is the fact that they have gone forth among the Gentiles and are currently being treated badly (being made “exceedingly angry”).
Again, JS got the Civil War right, and quite a number of key points relating to the Natives correct so far also. I’m curious to see if his other prophecies about the Natives will be correct as well. Perhaps ancestry is a metaphor, but the Civil War and treatment of the Natives wasn’t/isn’t.