Doctrine and Covenants 113

Doctrine and Covenants 113

Historical Context

Doctrine and Covenants 113 is the first revelation Joseph received in Far West, Missouri. As opposition continued to grow in Kirtland, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon were eventually forced to flee for their lives on January 12, 1838. Joseph later wrote of this discouraging time in his history, “A new year dawned upon the church in Kirtland in all the bitterness of the spirit of apostate Mobocracy; which continued to rage and grow hotter and hotter until Elder Rigdon and myself were obliged to flee from its deadly influence as did the apostles and prophets of old, and as Jesus said ‘when they persecute you in one city flee to another.’”1

Joseph and Sidney’s journey to Far West took place in the middle of winter and under extreme conditions. Joseph described the circumstances as follows:

The weather was extremely cold, and we were obliged to secrete ourselves in our wagons, sometimes, to elude the grasp of our pursuers who continued their race more than 200 miles, armed with pistols &c seeking our lives. They frequently crossed our track, twice they were in the houses where we stopped. Once we tarried all night in the same house with them, with only a partition between us & them, and heard their oaths, and imprecations, and threats concerning us if they could catch us, and late in the evening they came in our room and examined us, but decided we were not the men. At other times we passed them in the Streets, and gazed upon them and they on us, but they knew us not.2

Joseph arrived in Far West on March 14 and was warmly greeted by the Saints there. Shortly after his arrival, he answered a series of questions related to the prophecies of Isaiah. These answers, some of which begin with “thus saith the Lord,” were inscribed by George Robinson in a record book for the First Presidency known as the “Scriptory Book of Joseph Smith.” The first three questions and their corresponding answers were written in the book under the heading “Quest. On Scripture.”3 The remaining two questions and their answers were recorded under the heading “Questions by Elias Higby.”4 The first three questions all relate to Isaiah 11, a chapter quoted to Joseph Smith during his first experience with the Angel Moroni in 1823 (Joseph Smith—History 1:40). The last two questions relate to Isaiah 52, one of the most important Old Testament passages on the mission of Jesus Christ.

The answers to the questions in Doctrine and Covenants 113 are written in revelatory language and clearly came from divine inspiration. Because of this, Brigham Young had the revelation added to the 1876 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants.

See “Historical Introduction,” Questions and Answers, between circa 16 and circa 29 March 1838–A [D&C 113:1–6]; and “Historical Introduction,” Questions and Answers, between circa 16 and circa 29 March 1838–B [D&C 113:7–10].

Verse-by-Verse Commentary

D&C 113:1–2

1 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.

Isaiah 11 was part of the scriptures that the Angel Moroni quoted to Joseph Smith in 1823 (Joseph Smith—History 1:40). The prophecy in Isaiah 11 speaks of the royal family of David, who was a descendant of Jesse. The King James Version of the Bible uses the word “stem” in this prophecy. However, the Hebrew word Isaiah uses in his prophecy is closer in meaning to the word “stump.” For instance, another biblical translation of Isaiah 11:1 reads, “but a shoot shall grow out of the stump of Jesse.”5 Isaiah’s use of the word “stump” suggests that the vitality and life of the house of Jesse would in the future be gone, and the family would essentially be left as a dead stump.

Doctrine and Covenants 113:2 interprets the stump as Christ. This interpretation likely has a double meaning. The first meaning deals with the lineage of Christ. In Isaiah’s day the vitality and strength of the house of Jesse was nearly spent. But with the birth of Christ, a descendant of David and the rightful king of Israel, new life sprung out of the dead stump of Jesse’s descendants and the true mission of the house of Jesse became known. The second meaning points to the Resurrection of Christ. Jesus Christ was resurrected and overcame death. The Resurrection of the Savior enables the royal house of Jesse—and all of us—to come back from death and reproof. After we die, our mortal bodies gain new life through the vitality and miraculous Resurrection of the King of kings, Jesus Christ.

D&C 113:3–6

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.

Many Christians interpret the “rod” spoken of in Isaiah 11 as Jesus. This interpretation likely stems from the fact that other versions of the Bible use the words “shoot”6 or “branch” in place of the word “rod” in the King James Version of the Bible, a usage that suggests new life and vitality to the royal house of Jesse. However, since Doctrine and Covenants 113:2 identifies the rod as a person who is “partly a descendant of Jesse as well as of Ephraim,” the rod cannot be Christ, who was a descendant of Judah. While the rod is not explicitly identified in verses 4–6, the most likely candidate is Joseph Smith.

The “root” of Jesse is likely the same person as the “rod” mentioned in verse 3 since both are identified as “a descendant of Jesse, as well as of Joseph” (D&C 113:6). The “root” is also identified as one “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” (D&C 113:6). It should be noted that a “root” in Old Testament imagery is often used to mean an offspring of someone, not an ancestor (as is common in Western culture). Neither Jesus nor Joseph Smith were ancestors of Jesse or David, but they can still be “roots” and chosen heirs of the blessings of the priesthood.7

The mission of Joseph Smith is foretold in several places in scripture (2 Nephi 3:17). Other revelations identify Joseph in Messianic imagery and speak of his right to the priesthood through the lineage of his fathers. Doctrine and Covenants 86:8–10 declares, “Therefore, thus saith the Lord unto you, with whom the priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your fathers—For ye are lawful heirs, according to the flesh, and have been hid from the world with Christ in God—Therefore your life and the priesthood have remained, and must needs remain through you and your lineage until the restoration of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began.” In line with this prophecy, the lineage of Joseph Smith was watched over and protected until the time of the Restoration. When Moroni quoted Isaiah 11 to Joseph Smith in 1823, he declared that the prophecy was about to be fulfilled (Joseph Smith—History 1:40).

D&C 113:7–10

7 Questions by Elias Higbee: What is meant by the command in Isaiah, 52d chapter, 1st verse, which saith: Put on thy strength, O Zion—and what people had Isaiah reference to?

8 He had reference to those whom God should call in the last days, who should hold the power of priesthood to bring again Zion, and the redemption of Israel; and to put on her strength is to put on the authority of the priesthood, which she, Zion, has a right to by lineage; also to return to that power which she had lost.

9 What are we to understand by Zion loosing herself from the bands of her neck; 2d verse?

10 We are to understand that the scattered remnants are exhorted to return to the Lord from whence they have fallen; which if they do, the promise of the Lord is that he will speak to them, or give them revelation. See the 6th, 7th, and 8th verses. The bands of her neck are the curses of God upon her, or the remnants of Israel in their scattered condition among the Gentiles.

The first two verses of Isaiah 52 read, “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.” The Savior also quoted these verses to the Nephites during his appearance to them (3 Nephi 20:36–37).

The revelation given to Joseph Smith at the request of Elias Higbee clarifies that the redemption of Israel will come about in the latter days through the “power of priesthood” (D&C 113:8). The revelation further establishes that the captivity of Israel was not physical but spiritual. The “lost” tribes of the Israelite family are lost in the sense that they do not know their real identity and purpose. The Book of Mormon is the primary instrument designed to help the lost remnants of Israel know their true heritage. As its title page states, the record was preserved “to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever” (Book of Mormon Title Page).

Speaking of the house of Israel in this future time of Restoration, Isaiah prophesied, “Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I” (Isaiah 52:6). The “bands of her neck” (D&C 113:10) that bind Israel can only be loosed by accepting the commandments and the covenants of the Lord administered by those who hold the priesthood.

Footnotes

• 1. JS History, vol. B-1, p. 780, JSP.
• 2. JS History, vol. B-1, p. 780, JSP.
• 3. Questions and Answers, between circa 16 and circa 29 March 1838–A [D&C 113:1–6], p. 17, JSP.
• 4. Questions and Answers, between circa 16 and circa 29 March 1838–B [D&C 113:7–10], p. 18, JSP.
• 5. The Jewish Study Bible, ed. Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler, 2014, 789.
• 6. Jewish Study Bible, 789.
• 7. Stephen E. Robinson and H. Dean Garrett, A Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants, 2005, 4:100.