And they who are in the north countries shall come in
remembrance before the Lord; and their prophets shall hear his voice, and shall
no longer stay themselves; and they shall smite the rocks, and the ice shall
flow down at their presence. (D&C 133:26)
The reference to those in the “north countries” (verse
26) appears to be a symbolic reference to a loss of cultural identity that the Israelites
suffered when the northern kingdom of Israel was conquered, and its people were
deported to the north by the Assyrian Empire. This supposition seems to align with
other information in the scriptures about the location of the lost tribes, but
we currently do not have enough information to state with absolute certainty how
these prophecies will be fulfilled. One thing that is stated for certain is
that the other tribes of Israel will receive blessings and glory from the tribe
of Ephraim. Most of the Israelites gathered into the Church so far in this
dispensation have been from the tribe of Ephraim. They are either Ephraimites
by lineage or by adoption; no distinction is made between the two. But the statement
that the other tribes of Israel will “fall down and be crowned with glory, even
in Zion, by the hands of the servants of the Lord, even the children of Ephraim”
(verse 32) is undoubtedly a reference to the blessings of the priesthood and
the temple, which are offered by the Lord’s Church in the latter days. (Casey
Paul Griffiths, Scripture Central Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants,
4 vols. [Springville, Utah: CFI, 2014], 4:267-68)
Commenting on “north” in
scripture, we read the following in the Anchor Yale Bible Commentary:
In addition to the expected use in reference to the
direction, “north” comes to have several specific connotations in the OT.
“North” is especially the direction from which invaders come (Jer 1:14–15; Isa
14:31). Certainly Israel’s position influenced this understanding. Protected by
the sea on the W and the Syrian desert on the E, her only major concerns for
massive invasion came from the S (Egypt) and the N (Assyria, Babylon, the
Hittites, etc.). Especially in the latter period of the monarchy and exilic/postexilic
periods, those empires to the N and E were by far the strongest. Perhaps as
much symbolically as geographically, “north” is also the direction invaders
will come upon Babylon (Jer 50:9; Zech 2:10—Eng 2:6) and the direction from
which Gog of Magog will come (Ezek 38:6, 15).
Since the invaders have come out of the N and have
carried off exiles, it is only natural that the returning exiles will come from
the N (Jer 3:18). (Joel F. Jr. Drinkard, “North,” in The Anchor Yale Bible
Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman, 6 vols. [New York: Doubleday, 1992], 4:1136.)
Elsewhere in the Lexham
Bible Dictionary, we read:
North
Country A geographical reference used by the Old Testament
prophets for the place from which their enemy invaders came (Isa 41:25; Jer
1:14–15; 50:3, 9, 41; 51:48; Ezek 26:7). The prophets used this phrase because
invaders of Syria-Palestine on their way to Jerusalem would have come from the
north, since the Arabian Desert is to the east of Jerusalem. The “north” can
also refer to the former kingdom of Israel (Jer 3:12, 18), which was located
north of Judah and where Assyria relocated people after conquering Israel. In
addition, the “north” is used as a motif for Jewish exiles returning to Judah;
the returning exiles are described as coming from the north because that is
where the invaders who sent them into exile came from originally (Jer 16:15;
23:8; 31:8; Zech 2:6). (“North County,” in The Lexham Bible Dictionary,
ed. John D. Barry et al. [Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2016], Logos ed.)
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