Stick of Joseph Site: Messianic Mormonism?

[caspianrex]

I'm not sure exactly how I stumbled on this site: https://stickofjoseph.org. I can't find in my history what I was searching for when I found a blog entitled To the Remnant.

Anyways, it The Stick of Joseph in the Hand of Ephraim purports to be an adaptation of The Book of Mormon in which "much of the Gentile terminology with its correct Hebraic equivalents, and also includes many footnotes and references to aid the reader in understanding the text."

It's an...interesting piece of work. It is very similar to a Bible "translation" called the Orthodox Jewish Bible, a work that is not connected in any way with Orthodox Judaism. 

At the Stick of Joseph website, linked above, you can download a PDF of the version for free. I would love to hear people's thoughts on it. I may share some of my thoughts, once I've had a chance to read a bit more of it.

[JLHPROF]

That's a big no for me.

They take far too many liberties in rewording the Book of Mormon to reflect their Jewish perspective.

ETA - Snuffer's Inspired Version of the Book of Mormon.  Definite no.

Edited March 2, 2020 by JLHPROF

[Robert F. Smith]

1 hour ago, caspianrex said:

I'm not sure exactly how I stumbled on this site: https://stickofjoseph.org. I can't find in my history what I was searching for when I found a blog entitled To the Remnant.

Anyways, it The Stick of Joseph in the Hand of Ephraim purports to be an adaptation of The Book of Mormon in which "much of the Gentile terminology with its correct Hebraic equivalents, and also includes many footnotes and references to aid the reader in understanding the text."

It's an...interesting piece of work. It is very similar to a Bible "translation" called the Orthodox Jewish Bible, a work that is not connected in any way with Orthodox Judaism. 

At the Stick of Joseph website, linked above, you can download a PDF of the version for free. I would love to hear people's thoughts on it. I may share some of my thoughts, once I've had a chance to read a bit more of it.

They appear to be a Whitmerite group calling themselves "Call to Israel" (legally organized as Restoration Archive LLC):

"We are a group of believers in Messiah, who hail from both Judah and Joseph. We believe the God of Israel has set his hand again the second time to gather his scattered people, as prophesied in Isaiah 11:11-12."

They have published an English edition of the Book of Mormon as The Stick of Joseph in the Hand of Ephraim (Restoration Scriptures Foundation, 2019).  ISBN: 9781951168605

In assaying this new edition, I see that they follow the old 1830 (RLDS) chapters, but have invented their own versification (not LDS or RLDS), which makes it nearly impossible to follow any Scriptural citations.  The text they follow for that edition is not the best, earliest text, but instead a hodge-podge.  They have done some good things, such as getting the sequence of Alma 11:18-19 right.

On their website they state that their Stick of Joseph text is an account of a family which leaves Jerusalem in 601 (which is false), and that the family hails from the Tribe of Joseph, which is nonsense, since Joseph had long since been split into two tribes, Ephraim & Manasseh, and Lehi's family came from Manasseh.

[caspianrex]

1 hour ago, Robert F. Smith said:

In assaying this new edition, I see that they follow the old 1830 (RLDS) chapters, but have invented their own versification (not LDS or RLDS), which makes it nearly impossible to follow any Scriptural citations. 

You're not kidding there...I tried looking up something as famous as Moroni 10:4, and it took me a ridiculously long time to find it! (I mean, not being as familiar with the BoM as I am with the Bible, it takes me longer to find most things, but I'm not completely unfamiliar with the lay of the land...)

[Calm]

3 hours ago, caspianrex said:

At the Stick of Joseph website, linked above, you can download a PDF of the version for free. I would love to hear people's thoughts on it. I may share some of my thoughts, once I've had a chance to read a bit more of it.

Haven't looked at it yet, but I am leery of any site like that which goes out of its way to hide names of people involved.  They offer speakers but you have to contact them in order to find out who they are.

Edited March 3, 2020 by Calm

[caspianrex]

I went ahead and ordered a hardcover edition of The Stick of Truth in the Hand of Ephraim, to add to my growing LDS Library. It arrived a couple days ago, so I've had a little chance to dig through it.

It is a truly odd piece of work. It isn't just a matter of changing classic BOM names to Hebraicized spellings (Nephi becomes Nefi, Mosiah becomes Moshiyah, Moroni becomes M'roni, etc.). God seems consistently to be rendered "Elohim," Lord is rendered "YHWH" (transliteration of the Tetragrammaton), and Christ is rendered "Maschiach" (which is presumably what the Nephites would have used, rather than "Christ").Meanwhile, the testimonies of the witnesses have been moved to the back of the book, which is not a problem, as the 1830 BOM included those testimonies at the end as well. It is odd to me that those testimonies have also been Hebraicized ("...we, through the grace of Elohim the Father and our Adon Yeshua HaMaschiach…"). Perhaps most surprising of all is that the Title Page, in addition to being Hebraicized as the rest of the text has been, is relegated to the very end of the book, instead of being included at the beginning as every edition of the BOM with which I am familiar has always done.

I'm unclear as to the intended audience of this work, though. Are they perhaps thinking that it could be used to convince Jewish people of the truth of the Book of Mormon, or is it more of a Mormon (if you'll pardon the term) version of the "Hebrew roots movement" that has become popular in some areas of Christendom? I know this is the product of a "fringe group," so it probably won't make a whole lot of impact on the average Saint, but just like some of the more unusual Bible translations I've encountered, it is an interesting artifact.

[Calm]

2 hours ago, caspianrex said:

Perhaps most surprising of all is that the Title Page, in addition to being Hebraicized as the rest of the text has been, is relegated to the very end of the book, instead of being included at the beginning as every edition of the BOM with which I am familiar has always done.

https://rsc.byu.edu/book-mormon-first-nephi-doctrinal-foundation/title-page

Quote

Now let me share with you the steps I followed in my study of the title page. First, I read and reread the following statement by Joseph Smith about the title page, which appears in the standard histories of the Church:

I wish to mention here that the title-page of the Book of Mormon is a literal translation, taken from the very last leaf, on the left hand side of the collection or book of plates, which contained the record which has been translated, the language of the whole running the same as all Hebrew writing in general; and that said title page is not by any means a modern composition, either of mine or of any other man who has lived or does live in this generation. [2]

I expect the motivation was this in bold.

Did it provide any info about who the publishers were?

Edited March 6, 2020 by Calm

[Rajah Manchou]

On 3/6/2020 at 10:42 PM, caspianrex said:

It is a truly odd piece of work. It isn't just a matter of changing classic BOM names to Hebraicized spellings (Nephi becomes Nefi, Mosiah becomes Moshiyah, Moroni becomes M'roni, etc.).

And Mormon = M’raman.

The footnotes have some interesting comments on the People of Zarahemla:

"The people of Zerach’mla (commonly called Mulochites) and the Nefites had each only been in the land of Promise about 400 years—not long enough for language corruption alone to make their language unintelligible to one another. The Stick of Joseph tells us very little about the Mulochites, only that they were descendants of Muloch, the son of king Tzidkiyahu, and those who came with Muloch into the wilderness and across the sea (Ameni 1:6–7; Moshiyah 11:13; Cheleman 2:29; 3:9). We are never told who smuggled a son of Tzidkiyahu, heir to David’s throne, out of Jerusalem. Could they have been Babylonian dissidents? Whereas the Nefites spoke Hebrew (M’raman 4:11), there is internal evidence that the Mulochites may have been Aramaic speakers. Zerach’mla is Aramaic, and after the merger of the Nefites and Mulochites, Aramaic names like “Alma” (the Aramaic form of the Hebrew name “Elam”) begin to appear. 11 Moshiyah 1:1 12 Moshiyah 1:1 13 1 Nefi 7:5

And additionally, in the commentary:

Although Hebrew is given as the primary language of the text, Aramaic may have also played an important role. When the two groups known as the Mulochites and the Nefites first encountered one another, they faced a language barrier, as we read in Ameni:

And they discovered a people who were called the people of Zerach’mla. Now, there was great rejoicing among the people of Zerach’mla, and also, Zerach’mla did rejoice exceedingly because yhwh had sent the people of Moshiyah with the plates of brass, which contained the record of the Y’hudim. Behold, it came to pass that Moshiyah discovered that the people of Zerach’mla came out from Yerushalayim at the time that Tzidkiyahu king of Y’hudah was carried away captive into Babylon. And they journeyed in the wilderness and were brought by the hand of yhwh across the great waters, into the land where Moshiyah discovered them; and they had dwelt there from that time forth. And at the time that Moshiyah discovered them, they had become exceedingly numerous. Nevertheless, they had had many wars and serious contentions, and had fallen by the sword from time to time. And their language had become corrupted; and they had brought no records with them; and they denied the being of their Creator. And neither Moshiyah, nor the people of Moshiyah, could understand them. But it came to pass that Moshiyah caused that they should be taught in his language. And it came to pass that after they were taught in the language of Moshiyah, Zerach’mla gave a genealogy of his fathers, according to his memory. And they are written, but not in these plates. And it came to pass that the people of Zerach’mla and of Moshiyah did unite together, and Moshiyah was appointed to be their king. (Ameni 1:6–8)

Each of these two groups had come to the American continent from Judea about 400 years earlier. Yet after only 400 years of separation, the Mulochites (people of Zerach’mla) could not understand the Nefite language. By comparison, the average English speaker today can reasonably understand the English of the King James version of the Bible, published in 1611. This raises the question of why these two groups would be unable to communicate after a similar period of separation.

The answer may be that, whereas the Nefites spoke Hebrew, the Mulochites may have spoken Aramaic, which may have been easily mistaken for “corrupt” Hebrew by the Nefites. Hebrew and Aramaic are similar languages in that they both use the same twenty-two letters, share many of the same roots, and share much of the same grammar. However, the two languages differ enough that a speaker of one cannot understand the other.

The Mulochites originated when an unidentified group rescued Muloch, one of king Tzidkiyahu’s (Zedekiah’s) sons, from execution. The Tanakh tells us that Tzidkiyahu’s sons were executed by the king of Babylon (see 2 Kings 25:7; Jer. 39:6-7). A prophecy in Ezek. 17:1-24 speaks of a “tender one” or “twig” (apparently a son of Tzidkiyahu) transplanted to a “mountain” to flourish elsewhere.

An unknown group rescued Muloch from certain death at the hands of Babylon and smuggled him across the sea to the American continent (see Ameni 1:7 and Cheleman 2:29, 3:9). But this group kept no records, and their identity remains unknown. However, a group of “fifth column” Babylonians, or perhaps Jews culturally allied with Babylon, would have been most likely positioned to rescue Muloch from the king of Babylon. If this were the case, it would explain why the Mulochites spoke a language unintelligible to the Nefites. Such a group would likely have spoken Aramaic, not Hebrew.

...

In the period after the merger of the Nefites and the Mulochites, several Aramaic words appear transliterated into the text, such as Rabbanah (Alma 12:13), Raca (3 Nefi 5:24), and mammon (3 Nefi 5:38). The major writer Alma bears an Aramaic name (Alma is the Aramaic form of the Hebrew name Elam). Even the name of the non-Hebrew- speaking people (the people of Zerach’mla) reflects a compound of the Aramaic roots zera (seed/dispersed) and ch’mla (gathered in). Moreover, the “n” ending on many proper nouns in the text may point to Aramaic influence. While the plural masculine ending in Hebrew is -im, in Aramaic it is -in. Many pronouns that end in “m” in Hebrew, end in “n” in their Aramaic forms.
 

Edited March 8, 2020 by Rajah Manchou

[theplains]

On 3/2/2020 at 3:23 PM, caspianrex said:

Anyways, it The Stick of Joseph in the Hand of Ephraim purports to be an adaptation of The Book of Mormon in which "much of the Gentile terminology with its correct Hebraic equivalents, and also includes many footnotes and references to aid the reader in understanding the text."

What member of the tribe of Ephraim wrote any part of the Book of Mormon?

[caspianrex]

1 hour ago, theplains said:

What member of the tribe of Ephraim wrote any part of the Book of Mormon?

My understanding (as a non-LDS person) is that many scholars have seen the following quote from Doctrine & Covenants as showing a connection between the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and a prophecy from Ezekiel which speaks of a stick of Joseph in the hand of Ephraim:

Quote

...the hour cometh that I will drink of the fruit of the vine with you on the earth, and with Moroni, whom I have sent unto you to reveal the Book of Mormon, containing the fulness of my everlasting gospel, to whom I have committed the keys of the record of the stick of Ephraim. (D&C 27:5)

The prophecy from Ezekiel 37:15-17 reads as follows:

 

Quote

 

15 ¶ The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,

16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one ^astick, and ^bwrite upon it, For ^cJudah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and ^dwrite upon it. For ^eJoseph, the ^fstick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:

17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become ^aone in thine hand.

 

I don't know if that actually directly answers your question, but there is a brief article at FAIRMormon on the subject.

 

 

[InCognitus]

1 hour ago, caspianrex said:

My understanding (as a non-LDS person) is that many scholars have seen the following quote from Doctrine & Covenants as showing a connection between the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and a prophecy from Ezekiel which speaks of a stick of Joseph in the hand of Ephraim:

The prophecy from Ezekiel 37:15-17 reads as follows:

I don't know if that actually directly answers your question, but there is a brief article at FAIRMormon on the subject.

You've done your homework

I really like the New English Bible translation of Ezekiel 37:15-22.  Their translation of the Hebrew  עֵץ (‘ēts) as "leaf", "tablet", or "folding tablet" corresponds to the usage of wooden writing tablets in Ezekiel's day: 

Quote

"These were the words of the LORD to me:  Man, take one leaf of a wooden tablet and write on it, 'Judah and his associates of Israel.'  Then take another leaf and write on it,  'Joseph, the leaf of Ephriaim and all his associates of Israel.'  Now bring the two together to form one tablet; then they will be a folding tablet in your hand.  When your fellow-country-men ask you to tell them what you mean by this, say to them, These are the words of the Lord GOD:  I am taking the leaf of Joseph, which belongs to Ephraim and his associate tribes of Israel, and joining to it the leaf of Judah.  Thus I shall make them one tablet, and they shall be one in my hand.  The leaves on which you write shall be visible in your hand for all to see.
   Then say to them, These are the words of the Lord GOD:  I am gathering up the Israelites from their places of exile among the nations; I will assemble them from every quarter and restore them to their own soil.  I will make them one single nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and they shall have one king; they shall no longer be two nations or divided into two kingdoms...."
 

 

[Islander]

On 3/2/2020 at 2:23 PM, caspianrex said:

I'm not sure exactly how I stumbled on this site: https://stickofjoseph.org. I can't find in my history what I was searching for when I found a blog entitled To the Remnant.

Anyways, it The Stick of Joseph in the Hand of Ephraim purports to be an adaptation of The Book of Mormon in which "much of the Gentile terminology with its correct Hebraic equivalents, and also includes many footnotes and references to aid the reader in understanding the text."

It's an...interesting piece of work. It is very similar to a Bible "translation" called the Orthodox Jewish Bible, a work that is not connected in any way with Orthodox Judaism. 

At the Stick of Joseph website, linked above, you can download a PDF of the version for free. I would love to hear people's thoughts on it. I may share some of my thoughts, once I've had a chance to read a bit more of it.

Judiazers. Nothing but foolishness. The BoM was given to us in English, as God intended, entrusting His revelation to a gentile to preach the Gospel of salvation to the gentile nations. There is absolutely no need to "re-translate", as it were, the text. The gospel was taken away from (literal) Israel "and given to another," as the Savior predicted. And it became s stumbling block and a rock of offense to them of the circumcision. Paul chastised them in Acts 15:1,5, 21, 24, 28-29 and again in Galatians 1:6-7,  1:8, 1:11-2:10. In Romans 2:17-29 Paul demolished the false sense of security and boasting of the Jews. He points to the fact that once salvation in Christ was revealed, circumcision (and the law) avails them nothing. Since then, the BoM has been translated into many languages. So those that  the Lord has called and chosen from before the world was to come onto Christ may do so by hearing of the word of God and the testimony of the prophets in their own tongue. There is absolutely no value in doing such things ("re-translating the BoM"), in my opinion.

[RevTestament]

On 3/2/2020 at 1:23 PM, caspianrex said:

I'm not sure exactly how I stumbled on this site: https://stickofjoseph.org. I can't find in my history what I was searching for when I found a blog entitled To the Remnant.

Anyways, it The Stick of Joseph in the Hand of Ephraim purports to be an adaptation of The Book of Mormon in which "much of the Gentile terminology with its correct Hebraic equivalents, and also includes many footnotes and references to aid the reader in understanding the text."

It's an...interesting piece of work. It is very similar to a Bible "translation" called the Orthodox Jewish Bible, a work that is not connected in any way with Orthodox Judaism. 

At the Stick of Joseph website, linked above, you can download a PDF of the version for free. I would love to hear people's thoughts on it. I may share some of my thoughts, once I've had a chance to read a bit more of it.

I have not read it. but there is some guess work turning English back into Hebrew. Nevertheless, there seems to be some decent guess work. 

On 3/15/2020 at 1:21 PM, caspianrex said:

My understanding (as a non-LDS person) is that many scholars have seen the following quote from Doctrine & Covenants as showing a connection between the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and a prophecy from Ezekiel which speaks of a stick of Joseph in the hand of Ephraim:

The prophecy from Ezekiel 37:15-17 reads as follows:

I don't know if that actually directly answers your question, but there is a brief article at FAIRMormon on the subject.

I know you were responding to our friend, thePlains, but it occurs to me that if the stick of Joseph is the Book of Mormon, then the stick of Ephraim would be D&C itself, and perhaps additional scripture, as it refers to the BoM, but is not given to us through Manasseh, but rather Ephraim, ie Joseph Smith was of the tribe of Ephraim. 

D&C 113:4 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.