{"id":18914,"date":"2012-02-08T21:30:39","date_gmt":"2012-02-09T02:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=18914"},"modified":"2012-02-08T21:15:19","modified_gmt":"2012-02-09T02:15:19","slug":"literary-bmgd-7-joseph-from-out-of-the-dust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2012\/02\/literary-bmgd-7-joseph-from-out-of-the-dust\/","title":{"rendered":"Literary BMGD #7: Joseph, From Out of the Dust"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Orson F. Whitney<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lehi’s final counsel in the Book of Mormon is to his son Joseph makes an interesting literary link between Joseph in Egypt, Joseph the son of Lehi and Joseph Smith, Jr. But, LDS authors have largely ignored this link, especially before 1900, when any mention of Joseph was usually a reference to Joseph Smith, Jr. But I did manage to find an exception in Orson F. Whitney’s epic, Elias<\/em>.<\/p>\n

As far as I can tell, other than general righteousness, the only real link between these three is that they happen to have the same name. Their histories aren’t really comparable in any way that I can see. Still, Whitney at least mentions the prophecy of Joseph’s name, and connects it to Joseph in Egypt.<\/p>\n

While perhaps overly turgid in his prose, Whitney is as or more sophisticated in his imagery than any of his poetic Mormon predecessors that I’ve read. To me the oblique references made to biblical, book of Mormon and mythological elements are fascinating.<\/p>\n

The six stanzas I’ve chosen below (starting with the 30th stanza in Canto six) cover the Book of Mormon from its beginning to Lehi’s death, although the vast majority of the story is left out in favor of examining Lehi’s family’s importance to the overall narrative. I’ve left in Whitney’s explanatory footnotes verbatim.<\/p>\n

Joseph<\/h3>\n

from Canto Six, Out of the Dust<\/em>, from Elias, An Epic of the Ages<\/em><\/p>\n

by Orson F. Whitney<\/em><\/p>\n

Again, athwart the wilderness of waves
\nSurging old East and older West between,
\nWhere the lone sea a flowery southland laves,
\nAnd Zarahemla reigns as ocean queen,
\nBraving the swell, a storm-tossed bark is seen.
\nFrom doomed Jerusalem, to Jacob dear,
\nAlbeit a leper[fn1], groping, blind, unclean,
\nGoes forth Manasseh’s prophet pioneer[fn2],
\nPredestined to unveil the hidden hemisphere.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

His lot to reap and plant on this rare shore
\nThe promise of his fathers: Joseph’s bough[fn3],
\nFrom Jacob’s well, the billowy wall runs o’er;
\nAbides in strength the archer-stricken bow,
\nUnto the utmost bound prevailing now,
\nOf Hesper’s heaven-upholding hills. Bend, sheaves
\nOf Israel, as branches bend with snow,
\nUnto his sheaf grown mightiest! Here, as leaves
\nFor multitude, the son the great sire’s glory weaves.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n

.<\/p>\n

Ere chimes for him the earth-departing hour,
\nSummoning a weary soul to restful toil
\nIn risen worlds, where life puts on all power,
\nLehi his house convenes,\u2014their hearts the while
\nAglow beneath the burning words that pile
\nA pyramid of prophecy whose spire
\nEmpierces heaven,\u2014and lest they soil
\nThe prospect pure, and tempt Jehovah’s ire,
\nWarns them ‘gainst ways of pride and paths of dark desire.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

He speaks of Joseph’s, Judah’s, destiny;
\nOf blighting and of blessings yet to pour;
\nProclaims deliverance his own shall see,
\nWhen cometh one the wandering to restore;
\nForenames a chosen seer[fn4] (revealed of yore,
\nWhen the boy dreamer’s star o’er Egypt rose),
\nBringing from dust a blest land’s buried lore[fn5].
\nSeals then his benison, and eyelids close
\nTo wake on worlds divine, whither, past all, he goes.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

The favored son[fn6] of that prophetic sire\u2014
\nFavored because most faithful and most just\u2014
\nHath soared to sacred mysteries still higher,
\nAnd tongued to envious ears the heavenly trust.
\nAnd serpent self, that demon of the dust,
\nHath coiled and clung around rebellious souls,
\nNe’er friendly though fraternal, whose distrust
\nAnd jealousy breed bitterness that rolls
\nRivers of wormwood ‘twixt two races and their goals.<\/p>\n

.<\/p>\n

Now peoples twain the Promised Land divide:
\nNorthland and Southland see their tribes increase,
\nFrom Arctic floe to far Antarctic tide;
\nFrom where the Eastern waves their thunders cease,
\nTo where the Western waters are at peace.
\nWhite and delightsome, they that worship God;
\nThey that deny Him, dark, degenerate, these,
\nDoomed the stern wild to penetrate and plod\u2014
\nTransgression’s scourge and school, the Chastener’s heavy rod[fn7].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

.<\/p>\n

[fn1] A Leper. Jerusalem in her degenerate state.<\/p>\n

[fn2] Prophet Pioneer. Lehi, a descendant of Joseph, through Manasseh, with a colony from Jerusalem, succeeds the all but extinct Jaredites upon the Land of Promise, where they extend the glory of their great ancestor.<\/p>\n

[fn3] Joseph’s Bough. “Joseph is a fruitful bough.” (Gen. 49:22).<\/p>\n

[fn4] Chosen Seer. Lehi predicts the coming of ” a choice seer” who is to be a lineal descendant of Joseph. The name of that seer is also to be Joseph, and it is to be the name of his father\u2014a prophecy fulfilled in Joseph Smith, Jr. (II Nephi 3.)<\/p>\n

[fn5] Buried Lore. The Book of Mormon.<\/p>\n

[fn6] Favored Son. Nephi, who succeeded his father Lehi, and against whom his brothers Laman and Lemuel rebelled, thus dividing the nation into Nephites and Lamanites.<\/p>\n

[fn7] Heavy Rod. The Lord used the savage Lamanites to scourge the enlightened yet ofttimes disobedient Nephites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lehi’s final counsel in the Book of Mormon is to his son Joseph makes an interesting literary link between Joseph in Egypt, Joseph the son of Lehi and Joseph Smith, Jr. But, LDS authors have largely ignored this link, especially before 1900, when any mention of Joseph was usually a reference to Joseph Smith, Jr. But I did manage to find an exception in Orson F. Whitney’s epic, Elias. As far as I can tell, other than general righteousness, the only real link between these three is that they happen to have the same name. Their histories aren’t really comparable in any way that I can see. Still, Whitney at least mentions the prophecy of Joseph’s name, and connects it to Joseph in Egypt. While perhaps overly turgid in his prose, Whitney is as or more sophisticated in his imagery than any of his poetic Mormon predecessors that I’ve read. To me the oblique references made to biblical, book of Mormon and mythological elements are fascinating. The six stanzas I’ve chosen below (starting with the 30th stanza in Canto six) cover the Book of Mormon from its beginning to Lehi’s death, although the vast majority of the story is left […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":18920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-and-poetry","category-sunday-school-lesson-book-of-mormon"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/0-Orson_F._Whitney.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18914"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18921,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18914\/revisions\/18921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}