The Promises To Israel

Yesterday I wrote about the references in the Book of Mormon to the promised covenants that the Lord has made to the House of Israel.  Those covenants seem to refer to both the promise of physical and spiritual gathering in the last days.  So where are these promises or covenants in the Old Testament?  Do we have them?  One of the clearest is in Jeremiah: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:31-33).  Paul quoted this same passage Hebrews 8 and it seems to be referring to the promise that the House of Israel will be gathered again spiritually to the gospel in the last days.  

                Another passage in Jeremiah also promises the physical gathering of Israel in the last days.  “Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks” (Jeremiah 16:14-16).  In other words, at some day people will no longer be talking about how the Lord brought the children out of Egypt because He will have brought them again out from all the places they have been scattered to and returned to their place of inheritance.  Isaiah was another prophet who spoke much about the promise of Israel returning.  He wrote how God “gathereth the outcasts of Israel” and quoted the Lord giving this promise to Israel, “Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 43:5-6, 56:8).  That likely again refers to both the spiritual and physical gathering.

                Ezekiel was another prophet who spoke about the restoration of Israel.  He said, “Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel….  And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezekiel 11:17).  Again here he seemed to be referring to both the physical gathering to “the land of Israel” and the spiritual gathering of coming back to the ordinances of the Lord and becoming His people.  There are many other references to this promise of the Lord to gather Israel again—clearly the fulfillment in our day has been looked to in earnest by both Old Testament and Book of Mormon prophets.