Josiah Summary

I realize most of you must feel confused about much of what we have covered. This is a different way of learning that is foreign to most of us. Think of it as panning for gold. We put the ore in our pans and we've been running water over it in the hope a nugget of gold will remain once we have washed the material thoroughly.

Our next step is to review what we have learned and condense the content down to something more understandable.

In Josiah, we have a king who sits on the throne of Judah. The throne of Judah was occupied by David, the son of Jesse. During David's reign, Saul reigned over the remaining tribes of Israel until the death of Saul and his sons. The two groups became one when the elder's of Israel approached David and asked that Judah be combined to the remaining tribes and the two would become one.

Josiah was a descendant of Jesse through Hezekiah. Whenever the king sought to sanctify his people and restore a tribe of Israel the Lord directed the process through a redundant pattern repeated through out the scriptures. The king began the process by remodeling the Temple and directing the priests and Levites to sanctify themselves. They were the ministers of the Temple and had to be in place before Israel could begin to renew covenant mandated sacrifice.

Once the Temple is repaired and the priests and Levites sanctified, Judah had to repent of their idolatry and false worship. This was done by teaching them the content of the book of the law stored within the Temple. Under the kings direction the people were exhorted to repent and prepare themselves for true worship of God at the Temple. A willingness to obey God's commandment that there would be no other gods before him was demonstrated by the destruction of all idols and idol worshiper's from among them. Josiah carried out his commission and secured peace and safety for his people during his tenure as king. He was not able to deliver Judah after his reign, however and their eventual desolation was complete following Josiah's death.

This pattern is repeated frequently in the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon. Failure to recognize it limits our ability to see how the Lord will gather Israel in the last days. Israel's current condition mirrors the fallen condition Israel currently remains in. Our inability to recognize this pattern is greatly influenced by our assumption the Church will gather Israel through the efforts of the missionary program of the Church. While the missionary program will successfully gather Ephraim and Manasseh, (the tribes of Joseph/repentant Gentiles) the body of Israel will be gathered in the patterned demonstrated by David, Hezekiah, Josiah and king Benjamin.

Call it a pattern, type, template or prior precedent. It is all the same. The Lord follows a predictable pattern in gathering His covenant people. It will be done in accordance with Priesthood authority and will result in Israel gathering to an ensign and then finding their way back to Ephraim to receive their Melchizedek covenants and becoming one with the brethren of the scattered tribes, never to be divided again. We will look at these examples so we all may witness how the Lord will do His work of gathering in the last days.