The Root of Jesse

Doctrine and Covenants 113 contains answers to questions about some verses in Isaiah 11 and Isaiah 52. Isaiah 11:1 mentions symbolically four parts of a tree: “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.” So we have a rod, a stem, a branch, and roots. Section 113 asks questions about all of these except the branch. The stem is identified as Christ: “Verily thus saith the Lord: It is Christ” (v1). The rod is described this way: “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” (v4). The root has a similar description, though it is different: “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” (v6). Elder McConkie suggested that these two were both referring to the Prophet Joseph Smith: “Are we amiss in saying that the prophet here mentioned is Joseph Smith, to whom the priesthood came, who received the keys of the kingdom, and who raised the ensign for the gathering of the Lord’s people in our dispensation? And is he not also the ‘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’?” Certainly given the language of these descriptions, Joseph seems a likely candidate for who they could be describing. He had “much power” granted him, and he was given the priesthood and the keys of the kingdom. In fact, just two years earlier he received the visit of Moses in the Kirtland Temple who, as Joseph described it, “committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north.” In the same vision, Elijah said to him, “Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands” (Doctrine and Covenants 110:11, 16). So certainly Joseph was one who “received the keys of the kingdom” to gather the Lord’s people in the last days.

                Knowing Elder McConkie’s statement, I was interested in what Sister Susan Easton Black said recently in a podcast about section 113’s description of the root. She agreed that the rod was indeed Joseph Smith (“the servant” who was given “much power”), but she gave a different interpretation for verse six. She suggested that it is the Church itself. She said, “Look at what you get in the church. You get the priesthood, you get the keys of the kingdom of God. It's an Ensign where it's we're gathering the people here in the last days.” Certainly in the Church we have the priesthood, the keys of the kingdom, and it acts as an ensign to the nations to gather the Lord’s people in the last days. President Hinckley referenced this verse in general conference when he said this: “My brethren and sisters, the priesthood is upon the earth, the power of God given to men to act in His name and for His purposes. It carries with it ‘the keys of the kingdom, for an ensign, and for the gathering’ of the people of the Lord in the last days. (D&C 113:6.)” His statement suggests that we view the priesthood as containing the keys of the kingdom, as being an ensign to the nations, and as being the force by which the Lord’s people can be gathered in the last days. Thus the verse for him was perhaps more about the structure and authority that was set up in the last days than a single individual that brought it about. Certainly all of things came in the last days because of Joseph Smith, and they continue today through the Church that the Lord set up through him. The priesthood and its keys given to man on the earth enable the restoration of the Lord’s people once again. I think we can see both Elder McConkie and Sister Black as being correct; there is no need in my mind to limit this interpretation to one thing for the root of Jesse. The next passage from Isaiah that is quoted suggests that all of us who make covenants with the Lord in the last days have an important part to play in this work to build up Zion and gather Israel: “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” (Doctrine and Covenants 113:8). We can all put on the strength of the priesthood, men and women, through the ordinances of the temple as we do our part to bring to pass the redemption of Israel in these last days.