Stick of Judah, Stick of Ephraim
Mormon Doctrine, pg 767; “Ezekiel, in foretelling the preparation and coming forth of the Book of Mormon, called it the stick of Ephraim, and the stick of Joseph in the hand of Ephraim. In similar imagery he called the Bible the stick of Judah. The promise was that these two records would become one stick in the Lord’s hand in the day of the gathering of Israel. (Ezek. 37:15-28.)”
Ezekiel 37:16, 20-22; “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: 20 And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes. 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.”
As you can see in the Mormon reference above the Church believes the two sticks are two books; the Bible and the Book of Mormon. While the Church says Ezekiel’s use of imagery to explain the two books is good what he forgot to say is the two books represent two nations – Israel and America.
This theory in Mormonism also refers to Smith’s idea that all Mormons come from the line of Ephraim.
The problem with this whole scenario? God promised in the Bible that Ephraim would be wiped out and sure enough they were. Obadiah 1:18; “And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.”
You can read more about this in our article here.
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