The Rod of Jesse

Another symbol in Isaiah 11 is the rod mentioned in the first verse: “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse.”  The interpretation give by the Lord for the rod was this: “It is a servant in the hands of Christ, who was partly a descendant of Jesse as well as of Ephraim, or of the house of Joseph, on whom there is laid much power.”  This is a similar description given by the Lord to the root.  Both were to be a descendant of Joseph/Ephraim and Jesse (i.e. Judah).  The rod is a servant who has much power; the root is the person unto whom belongs the priesthood and the keys of the kingdom, involved in gathering out God’s people in the last days.  Taking the interpretation of the root to be Joseph Smith since it was he who was given the keys of the kingdom in our day, then certainly it makes sense to assume that this description of the rod is also Joseph Smith.  He was indeed “a servant in the hands of Christ” and was given much power to do the work of the Lord in the latter days.

            I wonder if there might be other interpretations of the rod.  For example, as I have written previously, 2 Nephi 3:24 appears to be speaking about a prophet who will be a descendant of Joseph, son of Lehi, yet to come forth: “And there shall rise up one mighty among them, who shall do much good, both in word and in deed, being an instrument in the hands of God.”  Could this be the same person as the “servant in the hands of Christ… on whom there is laid much power”?  Certainly both refer to someone who has been given power in the last days to much good.  The Bible Dictionary says that “rod” as used in Isaiah 11 the Hebrew word Khoter that means “twig or shoot.”  This does fit quite well with what we know about Joseph’s and the rest of the Nephites’ posterity.  Nephi described his people this way: “behold are we not broken off from the house of Israel, and are we not a branch of the house of Israel?” (1 Nephi 15:12)  And when Lehi spoke to Joseph shortly before Lehi’s death, he told his son this about Joseph of Egypt “he obtained a promise of the Lord, that out of the fruit of his loins the Lord God would raise up a righteous branch unto the house of Israel” (2 Nephi 3:5).  The Nephite people were surely a branch or twig cut off from the house of Israel in Jerusalem, and so one of them being described as a “rod” would certainly make some sense.  And perhaps, like so many other of Isaiah’s prophecies, this one too is dualistic speaking of more than one fulfillment.  The important message is that the work of the Lord has gone and will continue to go forth to gather Israel with power because of the foundation Joseph Smith laid and the Savior continues to move forth through His servants.