[793] Pearl of Great Price: Moses vii, 59-62.
=7. Biblical Prophecies and their Fulfillment.=--David, who sang his psalms over a thousand years before the "Meridian of Time," declared, "Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven."[794] And so also declared Isaiah.[795] Ezekiel saw in vision[796] the coming together of the stick of Judah, and the stick of Joseph, signifying, as the Latter-day Saints affirm, the Bible and the Book of Mormon. The passage last referred to reads, in the words of Ezekiel:--"The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, 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; And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand."
[796] Ezek. xxxvii, particularly verses 15-20.
=8.= When we call to mind the ancient custom in the making of books,--that of writing on long strips of parchment and rolling the same on rods or sticks, the use of the word "stick" as equivalent to "book" in the passage becomes at once apparent,[797] At the time of this utterance, the Israelites had divided into two nations known as the people of Judah, and that of Israel, or Ephraim. There would seem to be little room for doubt that the records of Judah and of Joseph are here referred to.[798] Now, as we have seen, the Nephite nation comprised the descendants of Lehi of the tribe of Manasseh, of Ishmael an Ephraimite, and of Zoram whose tribal relation is not definitely stated. The Nephites were then of the tribes of Joseph; and their record or "stick" is as truly represented by the Book of Mormon as is the "stick" of Judah by the Bible.
[797] See a corresponding use of the word "roll" in Jeremiah xxxvi, 1, 2; and its synonym "book" in verses 8, 10, 11, and 13.
[798] Compare with Lehi's prediction made to his son Joseph, II Nephi iii, 12.
=9.= That the coming forth of the record of Joseph or Ephraim is to be accomplished through the direct power of God is evident from the Lord's interpretation of the vision of Ezekiel, wherein He says:--"Behold, _I will take_ the stick of Joseph ... and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah."[799] And that this union of the two records is to be a characteristic of the latter days is evident from the prediction of an event which is to follow immediately, viz., the gathering of the tribes from the nations among which they had been dispersed.[800] Comparison with other prophecies relating to the gathering will conclusively prove that the great event is to take place in the latter times, preparatory to the second coming of Christ.[801]