The late Richard Packham, in his “Joseph Smith As A Prophet” offered the following criticism of D&C 133:26:
ICE SHALL FLOW: Nov
3, 1831. D&C 133:26. Those "who are in the north countries... shall
smite the rocks, and the ice shall flow down at their presence."
FULFILLED?: The church has made
no claim that this prophecy has been fulfilled. Besides, what does it mean?
Here is one potential explanation of this verse:
ANOTHER SPHERE
If the Lord did indeed remove the
ten tribes from the earth, it certainly would not have been the first time that
He performed such an act. Earlier the Lord did this with Enoch’s city (see
Moses 7:69) and again with Melchizedek’s city of Salem (see Joseph Smith
Translation, Genesis 14:32-34 [in the Bible appendix]). It is also possible
that the Lord may have done this at other times as well.
In each of these cases, the Lord
took an entire civilization, with their land, and relocated them to another
part of our galaxy. The Lord is said to be the same yesterday today and
forever, and if He has done this in the past, He certainly could have repeated
this process again for the lost ten tribes. After all, what better way of
keeping the ten tribes hidden than by removing them from the earth?
Something else worth mentioning
is that if these ten tribes were indeed taken from this earth, John the
Revelator would still be able to minister unto them because John is translated
being, and as Joseph Smith said about translated beings, “Their place of
habitation is that of the terrestrial order, and a place prepared for such
characters [the Lord] held in reserve to be ministering angels unto many
planets.” This would allow John to minister unto the lost ten tribes, even if
they are not currently on this earth.
. . .
If the lost ten tribes were
indeed taken with a piece of this earth and relocated somewhere in our galaxy,
who then would they then return in the latter days? As it turns out, this
question may be answered by the description of their return, as recorded in
section 133 of the Doctrine and Covenants. If we examine this section with this
new information, we find the following.
We first read that “they who are
in the north countries shall come in remembrance before the Lord” (Doctrine and
Covenants 133:26). If the ten tribes returned from another sphere or planet,
they would logically return to the same place from whence they disappeared,
which would be somewhere in the north, near the Arctic Ocean. From here, these
Israelites in the “north countries” would begin their journey toward Zion. (Richard
Brunson, Before the Second Coming [2d ed.; Springville, Utah: CFI, 2025],
113-14, 115, Kindle edition)
Further Reading:
