More light reading: Russell Surprises Rabbi during Reception preceding Presidential Prayer Breakfast
Posted: Thu May 06, 2021 4:57 pm
To be filed under White House Scripture Chase Champion.
From Hope in Our Hearts, 2009, Russell M. Nelson, pp. 82-83
From Hope in Our Hearts, 2009, Russell M. Nelson, pp. 82-83
Russell M. Nelson wrote: Other Old Testament passages foretell of the Book of Mormon. One such passage came to mind when I attended a prayer breakfast at the White House in Washington, D.C., hosted by President Bill Clinton. During an informal reception that preceded the breakfast, I was chatting with a distinguished and scholarly Jewish rabbi from New York. Our conversation was interrupted by another rabbi who asked his colleague from New York if he could recall the scriptural reference to the stick of Judah and the stick of Joseph that would come together one day. My friend paused for a moment, stroked his chin pensively, and then replied, "I think you will find that in the book of Ezekiel."
With that, I could not restrain myself. "You might look in the thirty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel," I interjected. "There you will find the scriptures that you seek."
My rabbi friend expressed surprise: "How did you know that?"
"This doctrine," I concluded, "is very important in our theology."
Indeed it is. You know it, and I know it.
"Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand" (Ezekiel 37:16-17).
Saints of modern Israel in 160 nations across the world are blessed to hold the Bible and the Book of Mormon in their hands. The worth of this privilege must never be underestimated.
Isaiah described the spirit of the Book of Mormon as "familiar" (Isaiah 29:4). It resonates with people who know the Old Testament, especially those who are conversant with its Hebrew language. The Book of Mormon is rich with Hebraisms - traditions, symbolisms, idioms, and literary forms. It is familiar because more than 80 percent of its pages come from Old Testament times.(15)
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[Footnote] 15. Personal communication from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland