The concentrated presentation of great doctrines continues through this section of the narrative. It starts with Lehi reciting the prophecies of Joseph, Son of Jacob, of the coming of a Moses and of a future Joseph who would restore the Gospel and do a great work among the people. This also contains Nephi’s lamentation and praise of God known as the “Psalm of Nephi.” It ends with more recitation of Isaiah by Nephi's brother, Jacob.
There is a lot to cover here. But as I’m not writing to discuss the content so much as my thoughts about it, I’ll write what impresses me.
Remember, Joseph Smith translated this passage last. By the time he got to it, not counting the lost Book of Lehi, nearly 90 percent of the work was done. I can’t speculate on the Book of Lehi’s contents other than to say it was probably much more of a historical narrative with lessons drawn from what happened… Just like what we have from Mosiah forward. So what happens here? Joseph reads/translates the prophecy about a future Joseph, named after his father who would be the instrument of God to bless a future people.
A review… God unfolds things to us not all at once, but in bite-sized pieces so we can assimilate and process them. When He unloads a lot of information, you run the risk of having Nephi’s experience when he saw the future destruction of his people… it was devastating. So, in His mercy, God gives things to us in smaller amounts.
Such is what happened here with Joseph. He’d been told to this point, that his name would be had for good and evil. Now, he sees that not only is he bringing forth scripture, he’s going to do a lot more. He realizes his life mission is already set and that through him God is going to restore the authority and organization needed to carry the message in the Book of Mormon to the world. I wonder what conversations he had with Emma as they talked about these things?
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