COVENANTS MADE TO JOSPEH OF EGYPT AND HIS DESCENDANTS
He would give them the western hemisphere to be a land of inheritance for the descendants of Joseph, and they would build a holy city, the New Jerusalem. (2 Ne.1:5, 3 Ne. 13:12-12, Ether 13:6-8)
Prophets of both Joseph’s and Judah’s posterity would write, and in the latter days the writing of these two would come together to combat false doctrine and bring the posterity of
Joseph to a knowledge of their forefathers and God’s covenants.
Book of Mormon Reference Companion, pg 469
God would be merciful to Joseph’s descendants so they would not perish, but be preserved forever.
He would raise up a righteous branch from Joseph’s posterity that would be broken off from the rest of the house of Israel.
The Messiah would be manifest to Joseph’s posterity in the latter days to bring them out of darkness to light, and from captivity to freedom.
He would raise up a choice seer of Joseph’s lineage. This seer would be like Jospeh and would also be named Joseph, as would his father. This prophet would bring God’s work to Joseph’s posterity and bring them to a knowledge of the covenants God made with their father, convince them also of the truth of God’s word which had already gone forth among them and bring them to salvation.
UNDERSTANDING THE LAMANITE MARK
Clifford P. Jones, Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 56 (2023): 171-258
“The first rebellion was against Nephi and his teachings, for which Nephi’s brethren were cursed (cut off from the presence of the Lord). The second rebellion was directly against the Lord himself. For this rebellion, they were cursed with a sore curse (or sore cursing) — a cursed thing that Nephi calls a skin of blackness. This cursing on their skins made them loathsome to Nephi’s people, subject to repentance.
These two rebellions and cursings didn’t take place simultaneously. When Nephi’s brethren rebelled against him and his teachings, he and his followers fled to the land of Nephi. Later, his brethren rebelled again, this time against the Lord himself and his laws, and received the sore cursing, or skin of blackness. This order of events identifies the approximate time when the Lord gave Nephi a revelation that isn’t mentioned in Nephi’s small-plate account but is quoted later by Mormon. In this revelation, the Lord says, ‘Behold, the Lamanites have I [already] cursed; and I will [later] set a mark upon them, that they and their seed may be separated from thee and thy seed from this time henceforth and forever except they repent of their wickedness and turn to me, that I may have mercy upon them” (Alma 3:14). It would appear that Nephi received this revelation sometime after his brethren were already cursed for rebelling against him, but before their rebellion against the Lord, for which they were later cursed with a sore curse, or skin of blackness. In this revelation, the Lord calls this skin of blackness ‘a mark’ that will separate the Lamanites from the Nephites until the Lamanites repent of their wickedness.”
“From at least the 1600s through the 1900s, some Christians, eventually including some members and leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, taught that the mark set upon Cain was dark skin color imposed by God and that it was linked with a curse. It is now clear that these teachings were wrong. The Hebrew wording of Genesis 4:15 mentions neither a dark skin nor a curse. The wording is specific to Cain with no indication that it might apply in any way to his seed.
An essay on the official website of the Church now counters the idea that God curses anyone by changing their skin color. ‘The Church disavows the theories advanced in the past that black skin is a sign of divine disfavor or curse ... or that blacks or people of any race or ethnicity are inferior in any way to anyone else.’ This suggests that no scripture, including Genesis 4:15 and any Book of Mormon passage, describes any curse from God that altered anyone’s skin color. There is simply no legitimate connection between the Book of Mormon’s cursed Lamanite mark and the protective token that the Lord gave to Cain.”
“Leviticus 19:28 says, ‘Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord.’ This statute prohibits two different ‘unholy' practices (Leviticus 19:2). The first was a pagan practice of cutting gashes in one’s own body to mourn for the dead. The second practice, described with the English word mark, isn’t about mourning for the dead. It involves cutting permanent, sacrilegious marks (ancient tattoos) into the skin. The Hebrew word translated here as marks (qaaqa) is used only this once in the Old Testament. This passage forbids any incision, imprintment, or tattoo that honors pagan gods. Bearing such a mark violated the law of Moses, so the mark itself was a curse — a cursed thing cut into the skin in violation of God’s law. As such, it fits the description of the Lamanite mark in Alma 3:4–19.”
“[The Lord] inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness. And he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen. And all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile' (2 Nephi 26:33).
Most modern readers initially assume that the words black and white in this passage refer to natural skin color. Our present culture suggests that this reading could be essential to Nephi’s teaching that all people everywhere are alike unto God. This passage is often cited, very appropriately, to emphasize the wrongness of racial prejudice. But these ancient words teach this essential message about God’s perfect love from outside the modern social construct of race. The historical evidence indicates that these words were written, and should be read, from the cultural perspective of ancient Israel. This passage never mentions skin. Similar passages in the Bible use the word black to symbolically designate mournful, afflicted people and use the word white to symbolically designate the pure and joyful. These ancient meanings certainly don’t pop into the minds of modern readers, but they fit perfectly in this ancient passage.”
“If it can be said, as Mormon says, that it was God who 'set a mark upon’ the Amlicites when the red on their foreheads was obviously self-imposed, it stands to reason that God could also have 'set a mark upon’ the Lamanites in the same self-imposed manner. Indeed, Mormon tells us that the Amlicites marked themselves ‘after the manner of the Lamanites’ (Alma 3:4). Then, after talking at length about the Lamanite curse and mark, Mormon returns to the Amlicites mark, telling us that they ‘also had a mark set upon them’ (Alma 3:13). The Early Modern English meaning of the word also, like the term after the manner of the Lamanites, indicates that, in Mormon’s eyes, even though the self-imposed Amlicite mark was red and the Lamanite mark was black, the Amlicite mark was similar to or ‘in the very manner of’ the Lamanite mark. Color was clearly not the attribute that made the two marks similar, so it would appear that they were similar because both were adopted in the manner associated with the curse.”
NEPHI’S PSALM
The psalms were composed anciently to express the full range of emotions of a life lived in faith before God from lament to trust to praise. They reveal truth about God and humanity.
Circumstance—the situation devoid of thought or feeling Thoughts—the story we tell ourselves about the circumstance Feelings—the emotions that are generated by our thoughts
RACE AND THE PRIESTHOOD
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/race-and-the-priesthood?lang=eng
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