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Naming Lineage in the Patriarchal Blessing

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Naming Lineage in the Patriarchal Blessing na ing lineage in the Patriarchal Blessing A Few Words of Caution BY ELBERT A. SMITH HE GIVING OF BLESSINGS thoug~ important, is not th~ An address given before the Order of Evangelists during the Gene•·al most important function of Conference of 1948. L Tthe patriarch-who is also an evangelist. The blessing is not centive, also. At its. best, ancestral Concerning the Twelve Tribes of ~andator! to each person, as is bap­ pride may bring satisfaction and in- Israel tism. It 1s permissive. It should be centive. At its worst, it becomes ar­ sought out of an urgent, personal de­ This takes us back to the twelve rogance ~nd snobbishness. The Jews tribes of Israel, which is a broad sire and not because of any mass had a bigoted pride in tribe and subject. The Jews are of Israel, but appeal to go and get a blessing or even while plotting to kill Christ' not all Israel were or are Jews. The undue pressure from any other per­ boasted to him that they were of th~ tribe of Judah was one of twelve son. It is a very personal matter. seed of Abraham. They were re­ tribes. The naming of lineage in ~or is t~e naming of lineage the buked by him (John 8: 3 3_42) . ~h1ef ~unction of the blessing. That the blessing does not, as a rule, go Paul had cherished a great pride 1s o~tlonal with the patriarch, ac­ back of or outside of those twelve that he was "of the stock of Israel cording to the spiritual direction that tribes. of the tribe of Benjamin, an He: he ~ay have. The law says that the One of our church girls who mar­ brew of the Hebrews; as touching patna~ch may "if so led, point out ried a fine man of Japanese extrac­ the law a Pharisee."-Philippians the lmeage of the one who is tion said to me that she had noticed 3: 5: . As such, he persecuted the blessed."-Doctrine and Covenants that blessings given to Orientals Chnstia:is. Converted to Christ, by 125: 3. never .name lineage. That, I sup­ comparison, he counted all those No one should be urged to go to pose, 1s due to the fact that, in all things of lesser value. His joy and the patriarch merely to be told his probability, Oriental races back glory were first of all in Christ. He or her lineage. No one should be farther in history than the ~ame to see that for those "baptized disturbed if the 1'nP'' rrP. ; c tribes. I . ·~-u6~ ~ mto Christ," who had "put on n?t named m the blessing given. statement: ~hrist," there "is neither Jew nor 1here may be one of several good not so much concerned with where Greek," but all are "one in Christ" reasons. The chief functions of you came from as I am concerned (Ga~atians 3: 27, 28). Let us not the blessing are not to delve into the with the direction in which you are fall mto the error of overestimating past or to reveal in detail the future. going-and I think you are going the matter of naming lineage. they are to comfort, counsel, if neces~ in the right direction." sary admonish, sometimes rebuke, Some years ago I met a very intelli­ God made covenant with Abra­ encourage, bless, and-above all­ ~ent and fine-appearing representa­ ham and gave him certain wonderful nve of the Utah Mormon faith. help th_e person in all ways to con­ promises. His descendants were to form hi.s. or her life to the teachings Learning that I was a descendant of be as the sands of the sea in num­ Joseph Smith, founder of the church and Spmt of Christ. ber (not limited to Jews alone) . In The primary question is not, "Who ~1e seemed much impressed and shak: him and his seed should "all the na­ was rr:Y ancestor long, long ago?" mg my hand said, "One thing is tions of the earth be blessed." Many sure, Joseph Smith will take care of More. 1mp.~rtant and searching is the of the promises and prophesies made his own family throughout the eter­ quest10n, Am I now, today, bearing concerning Abraham and his pos­ wdl the name of Christ and keeping nal ages." I replied, "I not terity have been fulfilled. Others about that, but I am sure that his commandments that I may gro..:V are in process of being fulfilled. to be worthy of any inheritance that will take care of his own." The nations of the earth have been may come to me now or in the great Are you of Christ? That is the blessed through the seed of Abra­ question, first, last, and all the ham. From them came the law and With these qualifying thoughts in the commandments, the prophets of Ancestry . let us inquire ,.,,-..-.r~···~ and the apostles. Christ and his 'rh~ ere 1s· a certain· iustification for background of this custom of some­ and the Scriptures-includ- in family or tribal an- times na'.11~ng the lineage of the per­ cestry, if it is honorable-and an in- son receivmg a patriarchal blessing. JANUARY 22, !949 1 www.LatterDayTruth.org ing the Bible, the Book of Mormon, "He shall become a people, and he they were at the North Pole in the and the Doctrine and Covenants. shall be great." But of Ephraim he so-called "North Country." They In due time, Jacob, the grandson said, "His seed shall become a mul­ had the idea that up around the of Abraham, became the father and titude of nations." Many, when they North Pole there was a mysteriously progenitor of twelve tribal families. speak about the Hebrew peoples or warmed region where those tribes Before his death, Jacob gave a patri­ Israelites, think of the Jews. They found sanctuary and some day they archal blessing to his sons. Most out­ were only a part of the tribes of would be discovered; but the north standing were the blessings given to Israel. The children of Joseph, polar region has been crossed and Judah and Joseph. And those two Ephraim and Manasseh, were to be­ recrossed by airplanes, and that idea became the leading tribes. come nations, particularly so in the has been found to be without any We are all very well acquainted case of Ephraim. foundation in fact. There was an even more fantastic theory held by with the character of the blessing The "Ten Lost Tribes" given to Joseph. It figures promi­ some that there is a hole in the earth nently in our church belief. It was Following the exodus from at the North Pole and that the stated of him, "The blessings of thy Egypt, the twelve tribes of Israel twelve tribes were within the interior father hath prevailed above the were given their inheritances in the of the earth, mysteriously lighted blessings of my progenitors, unto Holy Land. The Jews are there yet and sheltered while they waited the the utmost bound of the everlasting -or again. After the death of King time of their return. That strange hills; they shall be on the head of Solomon, the tribes became divided notion is no longer advocated. Joseph." The blessing given to the and the ten tribes were known as the The theory seems much more rea­ progenitors of Jacob, so far as landed "Kingdom of Israel" in the north sonable that those tribes are lost estates were concerned, was limited of Palestine, while the Jews (Judah) only to the vision of the historian, to the Holy Land-a rather small but and at least a part of the tribe of and their posterity may be found in historically important bit of territory. Benjamin were known as the "King­ some of the countries of Europe, in The children of Judah, the Jews, are dom of Judah" in the south. There the British Isles, and in America. still fighting for poss~ssion of that seems to be some confusion about Those countries of Europe and the inheritance. The children of Joseph the course taken by the tribe of Ben­ British Isles might be spoken of as were to have an inheritance much jamin as a whole. The tribe may "north countries" as compared to greater, reaching to the "uttermost have been divided. In the Fir;t Palestine. Certain Scriptures indi­ bounds of the everlasting hills." Book of Kings, chapter 12, verse cate that those tribes of Israel had We learn through the Book of 20, it is stated: "There was none gone into the "North Country" and Mormon that children of Joseph in­ that followed the house of David, would return from the "North Coun­ herited ancient America, a vast ter­ but the tribe of Judah only.'' In the try" (as in Jeremiah 31: 8-10; and ritory far beyond that given to same chapter, verse 23, Judah and Doctrine and Covenants 108: 6). Jacob's progenitor, Abraham. Lehi, Benjamin are classed together, his­ The Books of Esdras were not a descendant of Joseph through torically they are so treated: "Ben­ accepted by compilers of the Bible Manasseh, with his family, founded jamin remained with Judah" (Jewish as "canonical," but they did often appear in older editions of the King an ancient civilization 111 the Encyclopedia, Volume 16, page Americas. 664). And: "Judah and Benjamin James version as among the so-called In Deuteronomy, chapter 33, we formed the southern kingdom under "Apocryphal" books.
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