The Articles of Faith / A Series of Lectures on the Principal Doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

by James E. Talmage

[LECTURE XVII.]

THE DISPERSION OF ISRAEL.

Article 10.—We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes, etc.

1. Israel.—The term Israel, in its original sense, expressed the thought of one who had succeeded in his supplication before the Lord; "soldier of God," "one who contends with God," "a prince of God," are among the common English renderings. The name first appears in sacred writ as a title conferred by the Lord upon Jacob, when the latter prevailed in his determination to secure a blessing from his heavenly visitor in the wilderness, receiving the promise "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed."[908] We read further:—"And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padan-aram, and blessed him, and God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob; thy name shall not be called anymore Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel."[909]

2. But the combined name and title thus bestowed under conditions of such solemn dignity soon acquired a wider application, and came in course of time to represent the entire posterity of Abraham, through Isaac and Jacob,[910] with each of whom the Lord had covenanted, that through his descendants should all nations of the earth be blessed.[911] The name of the individual patriarch thus grew into the designation of a nation, including the twelve tribes; who delighted in the title Israelites, or children of Israel. By such names they were collectively known during the dark days of their Egyptian bondage;[912] throughout the four decades of the exodus and the journey to the land of promise;[913] so on through the period of their existence as a powerful people under the government of the judges; and as a united nation during the hundred and twenty years comprised in the successive reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon.[914]

3. At the death of Solomon, probably about 975 B. C., the kingdom was divided; the tribe of Judah and part of the tribe of Benjamin accepted Rehoboam, the son and successor of Solomon, as their king; while the rest of the people, usually spoken of as the ten tribes, revolted against Rehoboam, thus breaking their allegiance with the house of David; they chose Jeroboam as their king. The ten tribes under Jeroboam retained the title Kingdom of Israel, though the kingdom was likewise known by the name of Ephraim,[915] from its most prominent tribe; while Rehoboam and his subjects were known as the Kingdom of Judah. For about two hundred and fifty years the two kingdoms maintained a separate existence; after which (721 B. C.), the independent status of the kingdom of Israel was destroyed, and the people were brought into captivity by the Assyrians under Shalmanezer. The Kingdom of Judah was recognized for over a century longer, after which it was brought to an end by Nebuchadnezzar, who inaugurated the Babylonian captivity. For about seventy years the people remained in subjection, which fact was in accordance with the prophecy of Jeremiah,[916] then the Lord softened the hearts of the ruling kings, and the work of emancipation was begun by Cyrus the Persian. The Hebrew people were permitted to return to Judea, and to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem.

4. The people, then commonly known as Hebrews, or Jews,[917] retained as the name of their nation the designation Israel, though they scarcely comprised two complete tribes out of the twelve. The name Israel, thus held with commendable pride by the remnant of a once mighty people, was used in a figurative manner to designate the chosen and accepted ones who constituted the Church of Christ;[918] and in that sense it is still employed. The people of Israel, as first we meet them in history, were a united people. That we may comprehend the true import of the gathering to which reference is made in the tenth of the Articles of Faith, it is necessary that we first consider the dispersions and scattering to which the people have been subjected. The scriptures abound in predictions concerning such dispersions; holy scripture and history in general unite in testimony of the fulfillment of these prophecies.

5. The Dispersion of Israel Foretold.—It has been said, that "if a complete history of the house of Israel were written, it would be the history of histories, the key of the world's history for the past twenty centuries."[919] Justification for this sweeping statement is found in the fact that the Israelites have been so completely dispersed among the nations as to give to this scattered people a place of importance as a factor in the rise and development of almost every large division of the human family. This work of dispersion was brought about by many stages, and extended through millenniums. It was foreseen by the early prophets among the chosen people; and the spiritual leaders of every generation prior to and immediately following the Messianic era predicted the scattering of the people, as an ordained result of their increasing wickedness, or referred to the fulfillment of former prophecies regarding the dispersion, then already accomplished, and foretold a further and more complete disruption of the nation.

6. Biblical Prophecies.—In the course of Israel's troubled journey from Egypt, where they had dwelt as in a "house of bondage," to Canaan, the land of their promised inheritance, the Lord gave them many laws, and established ordinances for their government in temporal and spiritual affairs. He arrayed for their contemplation blessings beyond the power of the unaided mind of man to conceive, predicating these upon their obedience to the laws of righteousness, and their allegiance to Himself as God and King. In contrast with this picture of blessed prosperity, the Lord described with terrible distinctness, and soul-harrowing detail, a state of abject misfortune and blighting suffering, into which they would surely fall if they departed from the path of rectitude and adopted the sinful practices of the heathen peoples with whom they would have dealings. The darkest parts of this dread picture were those that depicted the prospective breaking up of the nation, and the scattering of the people among those who knew not God. These extreme calamities, however, were to befall Israel only after less severe chastisements had proved ineffective.[920]