The Gospel of Joseph

If you take a big step back from the smaller details of the Restoration, where every individual thing is a grain of sand, and consider the "mandala," as it were, you may eventually notice how important the figure of the patriarch Joseph was to the Restoration. The Book of Mormon is presented to the world as Josephite scripture. Descendants of Joseph made their way to the New World before the Babylonian conquest of the Kingdom of Judah. They took with them on their journey the "plates of brass," which contained Josephite scripture passed down generation after generation by descendants of Joseph. This Josephite scripture expands on our knowledge of Joseph, and prophesies of a Joseph, who is a son of Joseph, who will do important work in the latter days.

The Book of Mormon was not the last time that new scripture concerning Joseph would be revealed to Joseph Smith the prophet. In his translation of the Bible, Joseph Smith would once again expand the story of the patriarch Joseph, and when in Kirtland the Church purchased papyri recovered from Egypt, Joseph Smith declared that those ancient texts contained records of Abraham and Joseph. The record of Abraham would be translated and published as the Book of Abraham, eventually joining the LDS canon of scripture in 1880, but the record of Joseph was never, to my knowledge translated, although certain passages in the Book of Abraham raise interesting questions regarding the distinctness of Joseph's record from Abraham's. Could it be that the Abraham that Joseph Smith translated was thought to be Joseph's version? It seems possible if not likely so.

That would mean that three of Joseph Smith's translation projects dealt in some way or another with the legacy of the patriarch Joseph. Those who believe Joseph Smith either composed or was influenced by contemporary sources when he translated have noted that the prophet seems to have drawn upon the works of Josephus. This is most noticeable in the translation of Abraham, where we encounter the image of Abraham as a sage and scientist who teaches astronomy to the pharaoh--Josephus got there first. This, in turn, raises questions regarding Joseph Smith's view of Josephus. Did he think of Josephus as a descendant of Joseph, who also preserved Josephite versions of Israelite traditions? It is possible, although I am unaware of any tradition that makes such a claim. Josephus is ordinarily described as the descendant of the priestly Kohens and a descendant of the Hasmonaean dynasty through his mother. That does not, however, exclude the possibility that Joseph Smith thought such was the case.

More interesting to me is the structural significance of Josephite identity in the larger Israelite tradition. Perhaps thinking about this will help us understand why Joseph Smith sought to connect himself to the patriarch Joseph. One reason must be the identification of the descendants of Joseph with the northern tribes that were lost. The return of the Lost Tribes of Israel was a major theme of early Mormonism and one of the primary purposes of receiving a patriarchal blessing was to see how converts to the Restoration fit into that process of the gathering of the tribes. Many Mormons who received their patriarchal blessings were identified as descendants of Ephraim, which conveniently made them the "brothers" of those Native Americans who were believed to be descendants of Manasseh through Lehi. Joseph's own patriarchal blessing was interpreted to point to the settling of descendants of Joseph in the New world.

Genesis 49.22: "Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall."

Later Mormons came to identify Joseph Smith with the Messiah ben Joseph, a figure discussed in Talmudic commentary on Zechariah 2.1-4. However one interprets these theories, it shows the richness of Israelite traditions available for Restorationists to mine or synthesize with their own beliefs and interpretations. Certainly Joseph Smith saw in himself a kind of messianic figure who, like Joseph of old, would play an important role in the gathering of Israel, and one can make a case, regardless of belief or non-belief, that there is some truth to that claim. One of the great strength of Israelite traditions is their appeal to many peoples and those peoples' creative interpretations of the same. Christianity and Islam have sprung from that same tree, and Restorationism is right there too. Among those things that make Restorationism distinctive, although it is not often consciously recognized, is its strong identification with the patriarch Joseph.

One of the ways that this identification works, in my opinion, is the role that Joseph has played in bridging the gap between insiders and outsiders, foreigners and natives, and covenant people and those outside of the/a covenant. Joseph is a liminal figure. Tossed out of his family, he ended up in a prison in Egypt. From there he was lofted up to the heights of the court of the pharaoh, and in that company he married Asenath, daughter of an Egyptian priest at Heliopolis. She converted to the faith of Israel before marrying Joseph, and they raised their children in the covenant. Through Joseph, then, one sees how Israel expands through the covenant. Israel is not complete without the converts and outsiders who become part of the family. This message is consistent with the message of the Restoration. Joseph Smith attached the Church he founded to the Israelite tradition in a way that surpassed the philo-Judaism of other Christian faiths. Restorationists would identify themselves, through prophetic blessings, with specific tribes of Israel. The Restoration would enthusiastically embrace and proliferate the tradition of the temple worship in a Hebraic Christian-Masonic vein.

Some of the strength of this new tradition of covenant and temple derives from its rich connection to the patriarch Joseph. If anything that legacy should receive more attention, study, and discussion than it does.