15 The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,
16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
(Ezekiel 37:15-19 KJV)
Ezekiel goes on to explain the primary meaning of this prophecy:
21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:
(Ezekiel 37:21-22 KJV)
Nephi writes in the Book of Mormon:
“… mine eyes hath beheld the things of the Jews, and I know that the Jews do understand the things of the prophets, and there is none other people that understand the things which were spoken unto the Jews like unto them, save it be that they are taught after the manner of the things of the Jews.”
(2Ne. 25:5 (11:8 RLDS))
The Messianic Jewish writer David Stern suggests that:
…we should take note of the four kinds of Scripture interpretation which the rabbis used:
* P'shat (simple) ㄧ The plain, simple sense of the text, what modern interpreters call grammatical-historical exegesis.
* Remez (hint) ㄧ Peculiar features of the text are regarded as hinting at a deeper truth than that conveyed by its plain sense.
* Drash or midrash (search) ㄧ Creativity is used to search the text in relation to the rest of the Bible, other literature or life in order to develop an allegorical or homiletical application of the text. This involves eisegesis ㄧ reading ones own thoughts into a text ㄧ as well as exegesis, which is extracting from a text its actual meaning.
* Sod (secret) ㄧ One operates on the numerical values of the Hebrew letters; for example, two words whose letters add up to the same amount would be good candidates for revealing a secret through "bisociation of ideas."
(Messianic Jewish Manifesto; David Stern, 1988 p. 106)
Moreover we read in the Midrash Rabbah “…there are seventy facets of expounding the Torah.” (Numbers Rabbah 13:16)
In the Book of Mormon Lehi makes a Midrash on the meaning of Ezekiel’s prophecy saying:
12 Wherefore, the fruit of thy loins shall write; and the fruit of the loins of Judah shall write; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah, shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, and bringing them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also to the knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord.
13 And out of weakness he shall be made strong, in that day when my work shall commence among all my people, unto the restoring thee, O house of Israel, saith the Lord.
(2Ne. 3:12-13 (2:19-24 RLDS))
So we have in these verses of Ezekiel a picture not only of the reunion of the two houses of Israel, but of the growing together of the stick of Judah (the Bible) and the stick of Joseph (the Book of Mormon).
Romans 9:26-26 begins the contrast of the “Jews” and “Gentiles” by quoting Hosea 2:23; 1:10 in Rom. 9:25-26.
23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
25 As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
26 And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:
(Romans 9:23-27 KJV)
If we look up the context of the people “which were not my people” which he calls “my people” in Hosea we find that they are the “children of Israel”:
Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
(Hosea 1:10 KJV)
He contrasts these with “the children of Judah”:
Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
(Hosea 1:11 KJV)
And then he says of "the children of Israel":
And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.
(Hosea 2:23 KJV)
So in Romans 9:23-27 the “Jews” of Rom. 9:24 are the “Children of Judah” and the “Gentiles” of Rom. 9:24 are the “children of Israel."
Therefore when Paul reaches Romans 11 he illustrates this contrasting pair as two olive trees: A wild olive tree (the children of Israel) and a tame olive tree (the children of Judah). Paul's allegory of the two olive trees corresponds to the two “sticks” prophecy of Ezekiel 37. The word "stick" in the Hebrew of Ezekiel 37 is ETZ which also means "tree."
16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.
20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.
24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
(Romans 11:16-26 KJV)
When Paul uses the phrase “fullness of Gentiles” in 11:15 he is recalling a passage from Genesis:
18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.
19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.
20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
(Gen. 48:18-20 KJV)
In the Hebrew the phrase מלא הגוים (m’loa HaGoyim) “multitude of nations” (Gen. 48:29) could also be translated “fullness of Gentiles” (Rom. 11:25).
Here we have an allegory about Ephraimite branches being grafted into a Jewish olive tree, and this union parallels the union of the two houses of Israel as the two sticks being made one in Ezekiel 37. It must also tell us therefore about the “growing together” of the Bible and the Book of Mormon. And now we see why Lehi uses the phrase “growing together”, because the two sticks prophecy of Ezekiel corresponds to the allegory of the two olive trees given by Paul… but which Lehi knew earlier as given by the prophet Zenos in the Brass Plates (Jacob 5 & 6 (3:30-4:18 RLDS).
Paul emphasizes that the Ephraimite branches from the wild olive tree must be fed by the root of the “good” olive tree of Judah:
17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
(Romans 11:17-18 KJV)
Messianic Jewish writer David Stern comments on these verses saying: “…whether the root is Yeshua, Avraham, the Patriarchs, the Messianic Jews or all the Jews, it is a Jewish root, and don't you forget it!” (Jewish New Testament Commentary; David Stern; 1992 p. 413 on Rom. 11:17-18)
In the Brass Plates as quoted by Jacob in the Book of Mormon, Zenos speaks in more detail about these Jewish roots of the good olive tree. Speaking of the days of the original followers of Yeshua as Messiah Zenos writes that by partaking of the moisture of the root, the branches of the wild olive tree (Ephraim) brought forth much strength and “tame fruit” because of the strength of the root:
18 And he said unto the servant: Behold, the branches of the wild tree have taken hold of the moisture of the root thereof, that the root thereof hath brought forth much strength; and because of the much strength of the root thereof the wild branches have brought forth tame fruit. Now, if we had not grafted in these branches, the tree thereof would have perished. And now, behold, I shall lay up much fruit, which the tree thereof hath brought forth; and the fruit thereof I shall lay up against the season, unto mine own self.
(Jacob 5:18 (3:54-57 RLDS))
Then speaking of the time of the great apostasy Zenos says that despite the falling away “that the roots are good” and that YHWH has “preserved them” “because of their much strength.”:
36 Nevertheless, I know that the roots are good, and for mine own purpose I have preserved them; and because of their much strength they have hitherto brought forth, from the wild branches, good fruit.
(Jacob 5:36 (3:82 RLDS))
Finally speaking of the restoration Zenos says:
54 And, behold, the roots of the natural branches of the tree which I planted whithersoever I would are yet alive; wherefore, that I may preserve them also for mine own purpose, I will take of the branches of this tree, and I will graft them in unto them. Yea, I will graft in unto them the branches of their mother tree, that I may preserve the roots also unto mine own self, that when they shall be sufficiently strong perhaps they may bring forth good fruit unto me, and I may yet have glory in the fruit of my vineyard.
(Jacob 5:54 (3:115-117 RLDS))
Just as Ephraim must be fed by the Jewish roots of the good olive tree, our Book of Mormon understanding must be fed by the same Jewish Roots as our Bible understanding so that the Stick of Judah and the Stick of Joseph may grow together from their shared Jewish roots:
12 Wherefore, the fruit of thy loins shall write; and the fruit of the loins of Judah shall write; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah, shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, and bringing them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also to the knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord.
13 And out of weakness he shall be made strong, in that day when my work shall commence among all my people, unto the restoring thee, O house of Israel, saith the Lord.
(2Ne. 3:12-13 (2:19-24 RLDS))
Michael Jones
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