Mormon Dilemma 700

Jesus is the Root and Offspring of David

D&C 113:1-2; “Who is the Stem of Jesse spoken of in the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, and 5th verses of the 11th chapter of Isaiah? 2 Verily thus saith the Lord: It is Christ. 3 What is the rod spoken of in the first verse of the 11th chapter of Isaiah, that should come of the Stem of Jesse? 4 Behold, thus saith the Lord: It is a servant in the hands of Christ, who is partly a descendant of Jesse as well as of Ephraim, or of the house of Joseph, on whom there is laid much power. 5 What is the root of Jesse spoken of in the 10th verse of the 11th chapter? 6 Behold, thus saith the Lord, it is a descendant of Jesse, as well as of Joseph, unto whom rightly belongs the priesthood, and the keys of the kingdom, for an ensign, and for the gathering of my people in the last days.”

Isaiah 11:1-2, 10; “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD…10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.”

Revelation 22:16; “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.”

Let’s look at this in the only way we can as Christians – piece by piece.

Here are the definitions of key words found in Isaiah 11:1-5 that we should know –

Rod – choòtÖeòr; unused root of uncertain signification, a twig or rod

Stem – geza’; the trunk or stump of a tree, stem, stock, to cut down trees

Branch – netser; in the sense of greenness as a striking color, a shoot, figuratively a descendant, branch

Roots – sheresh; a root (literally or figuratively), bottom, deep, heel, root

Smite – naòkaòh to strike (lightly or severely, literally or figuratively) – beat, cast forth, clap, give [wounds], go forward, indeed, kill, make [slaughter], murderer, punish, slaughter, slay, smite, strike, be stricken, stripes, wound

Rod – sheòbetÖ; branch off, a scion, that is, (literally) a stick (for punishing, writing, ruling, walking, etc) or (figureatively) a clan – correction, dark, rod, scepter, staff, tribe

Now that we have a clear understanding of those Hebrew key words, let’s take a look at that text. Is it really feasible this passage is saying (or implying) the rod or stem is  Joseph Smith?

Will Joseph Smith be the one that smites the earth?

Will Joseph Smith be the one that has righteousness girdled about his waist?

Will Joseph Smith be the one who executes judgment on the last day?

Is Joseph Smith the ensign?

Did you happen to notice one of the definitions from the word root?  It’s heel. Remember what God said in Genesis 3:15?

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

Is Joseph the one spoken of in this verse or is it Jesus? 

It may take an extra 5-10 minutes of your day to dig deep but the payoff is huge! 

How could anyone present themselves as the Savior? How did that man sleep at night?

Another suspicious detail from the Doctrine and Covenants is the wording. Look at how long and drawn out it is.

The man contradicted himself in verse 3 when he said Isaiah was referring to him because in the previous verses he said Isaiah was talking about Christ.  How does that work?