It is further possible that the versions of
Joseph’s prophecy preserved in JST Genesis 50 and 2 Nephi 3 both preserve the
echoes of another Egyptian pun. The phrases “and a rod shall
be in his hand … and he shall smite the waters of the Red Sea with his rod” (JST
Genesis 50:34) along with “and I will give power unto him in a rod” (2 Nephi
3:17) are immediately juxtaposed with “and [he] shall write the word of
the Lord … And he shall not speak many words” (JST
Genesis 50:35) and “Yet I will not loose his tongue, that he shall speak much,
for I will not make him mighty in speaking” (2 Nephi 3:17). In terms of an
Egyptianism, the wordplay would turn on the Egyptian lexeme mdw, which as a
noun means both “rod” and “word” and as a verb means to “speak.” If valid,
such a wordplay would operate very similar to the Egyptianistic wordplay on
“rod” and “word” in 1 Nephi 11:25, “And it came to pass that I beheld
that the
rod of iron, which my father had seen, was the word of God,”
and 1 Nephi 15:23–24, “And they said unto me: What meaneth the rod of iron …?
And I said unto them that it was the word of God;
and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they
would never perish.” It is also Nephi who states that “by his [Moses’s] word the
waters of the Red Sea were divided hither and thither” and that “Moses, by his word according
to the power of God which was in him, smote the rock, and there came forth
water” (1 Nephi 17:26, 29). The Hebrew term for “rod” in the exodus
narratives is maṭṭeh — a term also attested in the collocation maṭṭēh [hā]ʾĕlōhîm, “rod of
God” (Exodus 4:20; 17:9) which parallels the Egyptian expression mdw– nṯr (“word of
God,” “divine decree,” “sacred writings”) — may constitute a loanword from
Egyptian mdw, if
not derived from Hebrew nāṭâ (Qal, “reach out,” “spread out,” “stretch
out”; Hiphil, “stretch out,” “spread out,” “extend, bestow”). For Nephi,
the “rod” and the “word” were interchangeable and this seems to have been
rooted in the polysemy of Egyptian mdw. The possibility that Nephi thought to connect the
“rod of iron” with the “word of God” when he had a vision of the tree of life
because of the similar Egyptianistic wordplay evident in Joseph’s story on the
brass plates is an intriguing one.
Matthew
L. Bowen, “'They
Shall Be Scattered Again': Some Notes on JST Genesis 50:24–25, 33–35,"
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 57
(2023): 122-23
Notably, both versions of Joseph’s prophecy also
conclude with the promise, “And I will make a spokesman for
him” which also appears to add to the wordplay. The Hebrew term used for
“spokesman” in the Exodus account is dibber, a formation from the same root as the
verb dābar,
“speak,” and the noun dābār, “word,” “thing.” This term corresponds
semantically to the Egyptian mdw-derived word mdwty, “talker” or “speaker.”
Just as Moses in his seeric role gathered, delivered,
and preserved Israel through the event of the Exodus with the help of Aaron as
“spokesman” (dibber, JST
Genesis 50:35; Exodus 4:16; JST Exodus 7:1; 2 Nephi 3:17), Joseph
Smith as seer would accomplish much of the initial work of the gathering and
restoration of Israel with Sidney Rigdon functioning as a “spokesman” and
scribe in writing the word:
And it is expedient in me that you, my servant
Sidney, should be a spokesman unto this people; yea, verily, I will ordain you
unto this calling, even to be a spokesman unto my servant Joseph. And I will
give unto him power to be mighty in testimony. And I will give unto thee power
to be mighty in expounding all scriptures, that thou mayest be a spokesman unto
him, and he shall be a revelator unto thee, that thou mayest know the certainty
of all things pertaining to the things of my kingdom on the earth. (D&C
100:9–11)
This revelation describes Joseph Smith’s and Sidney
Rigdon’s interrelationship in language reminiscent of the biblical descriptions
of the relationship between Moses and Aaron.
Here we recall that the rendition of the prophecy of
Joseph in Egypt in 2 Nephi 3 drew an additional parallel between Moses’s
seeric/ prophetic role and that of the latter-day Joseph. Just as Aaron
functioned as a spokesman for Moses, the latter-day, raised-up seer named
Joseph would also have a “spokesman”:
And the Lord said unto me also: I will raise up unto
the fruit of thy loins; and I will make for him a spokesman. And
I, behold, I will give unto him that he shall write the writing of the
fruit of thy loins, unto the fruit of thy loins; and the spokesman of thy loins
shall declare it. And the words which he shall write shall be the words which
are expedient in my wisdom should go forth unto the fruit of thy loins. And it
shall be as if the fruit of thy loins had cried unto them from the dust; for I
know their faith. (2 Nephi 3:18–19)
Joseph’s prophecy echoes the meaning of the name
Ephraim (“doubly fruitful”) in the collocation “fruit of thy loins” as a
designation for Joseph’s descendants, including Ephraim’s descendants. The
“spokesman of thy loins,” as a Josephite-Ephraimite descendant would be given
the gift of “writ[ing] the writing” of Joseph’s descendants to Joseph’s
latter-day descendants as part of the divine translation process that would
enable “the words” to “go forth” to those descendants. Moses “gather[ed]
together [the Lord’s] people … as a flock,” with the “his rod” (JST Genesis
50:34), even the “rod of
God” (Exodus 4:20, 17:9) — a Pharaonic image — with Aaron as spokesman. A
latter-day “Joseph” would gather together the Lord’s people with the word of
God, written as dictated by the seer himself and even preached by scribes as
“spokesm[e]n” (JST Genesis 50:35).
On one level, this prophecy was fulfilled by Oliver
Cowdery in his scribal work for Joseph Smith during the process of the Book of
Mormon’s divine translation. However, it was also fulfilled by Sidney Rigdon in
his service to Joseph as both a scribe and a spokesman. In each instance, these
spokesmen were instrumental in “writ[ing] the word of the Lord,” preaching that
word, and enabling it to go forth to gather the Lord’s people.
Matthew
L. Bowen, “'They
Shall Be Scattered Again': Some Notes on JST Genesis 50:24–25, 33–35,"
Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 57
(2023): 123-25
