Most LDS tend to believe that Joseph Smith fulfilled 2 Nephi 3/JST Gen 50. However, not everyone in the broad “Mormon” Restorationist movement holds to this interpretation; instead, they believe it will be fulfilled in the future (often by a Native American prophet). Here is a discussion from an RLDS work from 1937 arguing against the traditional LDS interpretation:
. . . there is but little in the
mission of Joseph Smith that does correspond with the work of this seer. This
will be clearly seen in the light of the following points:
1. The man spoken of in the
prophecy is to be a seer to the seed of Joseph of Egypt. Joseph Smith's work
was to the gentiles.
2. The seer was to be esteemed
highly among Joseph's seed. Joseph Smith never was, for the evident reason that
he was not known to them.
3. The Lord has said that he
would give unto this seer a commandment to do a work for the fruit of the loins
of Joseph: Joseph Smith received no such commandment, nor did any particular
work for the fruit of the loins of Joseph.
4. The seer is to bring his
people, the branch, to a knowledge of the covenants God made with Joseph's
father, Jacob. This Joseph Smith did not do.
5. This seer is to be great like
unto Moses. Joseph Smith did the work appointed him of God, and it was great,
but not comparable to that of Moses.
6. The "word" which the
seer is to bring forth is "unto the seed of the loins of Joseph,"
referring to the branch which was broken off. The word brought forth by Joseph
Smith was primarily to the gen- tiles, though it may go in time to the seed of
Joseph.
7. The seer of the prophecy is to
convince the seed of Joseph of the truth of the word which had already gone
among them, (the Bible). Joseph Smith did not do this.
8. Nor did Joseph Smith confound
false doctrines, stop contentions, and establish peace among the fruit of the
loins of Joseph, as the choice seer is to do.
9. The branch that was broken off
was to be brought by this seer to a knowledge of their fathers. This was not
done by Joseph Smith.
10. This seer is to be "made
strong, in that day when my work shall go forth among all my people."
Since that work has not yet gone among "all my people," it is yet
future, and could not have been done by Joseph Smith.
11. The work to be done by the
seer is to accomplish the restoration of Israel. Joseph Smith was a prophet of
the gentiles and to the gentiles, and his work did not extend directly to
Israel.
12. The seer was to be divinely
preserved, "and they that seek to destroy him shall be confounded."
Joseph Smith was persecuted, imprisoned, and put to death by his enemies, and
they were not confounded. On the other hand there are the points of
correspondence between the work of Joseph Smith and that of the seer which we
also notice:
1. Joseph Smith was a seer as
well as a prophet.
2. He brought forth the word of
the Lord, by the urim and thummim, which was the writing in small part of the
fruit of the loins of Joseph.
3. His name was Joseph, and it
was after the name of his father.
These three points however, in
the light of the twelve points previously noted, do not establish Joseph Smith
as the choice seer of the prophecy. There have been many seers and there may be
many yet to come, so that it is easily possible that some other than the
prophet to the gentiles may fulfill the prophecy. The Book of Mormon brought
forth by Joseph Smith itself shows that there are greater and far more
important records that God holds in reserve but which are to come forth in due
time. And as to the name, correspondence with the prophecy in this particular
proves nothing unless there is correspondence in all other points also, which,
as we have seen, there is not. (Charles Fry, “The
Choice Seer: Who Is He?,” The Saints’ Herald 84, no. 1 [January 2,
1937]: 9)
