I Will Bring Them Again

Jeremiah wrote these words of the Lord concerning the gathering of Israel: “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” (Jeremiah 16:14-15). Despite living in the time when the people of Israel were being scattered, Jeremiah prophesied of the eventual gathering of Israel. It would be such a great event that we would associate it with the Lord’s power even more than the miraculous departure of Israel from Egypt. A contemporary to Jeremiah, Ezekiel also wrote about the gathering. He gave us these words of the Lord while in Babylon himself, “For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you” (Ezekiel 36:24-25). He also described a powerful vision he had of dry bones coming to life, giving us this explanation from the Lord, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel” (Ezekiel 37:11-12). Like these bones coming back to life, Israel would be restored as a people and be gathered again. Ezekiel surely mourned for them from the land of Babylon, but he must have been comforted knowing that Israel would be gathered again.

            It is interesting to note that Lehi, who lived at Jerusalem at the same time as Jeremiah and Ezekiel, also prophesied of the gathering. He taught his family, “And after the house of Israel should be scattered they should be gathered together again; or, in fine, after the Gentiles had received the fulness of the Gospel, the natural branches of the olive tree, or the remnants of the house of Israel, should be grafted in, or come to the knowledge of the true Messiah, their Lord and their Redeemer” (1 Nephi 10:14). All three of these prophets who experienced first hand the scattering of Israel were able to prophesy about a coming day when the Lord’s people would be gathered again. Lehi was scattered to the Americas, Ezekiel was sent to Babylon, and Jeremiah ultimately died in Egypt. All were away from Jerusalem at the time that the Jews were captive in Babylon. But surely they found hope in the Lord’s promise to one day gather again his people.

            Lehi’s sons Jacob and Nephi were similarly scattered from Jerusalem, and both of them likewise emphasized the future gathering of Israel in their prophecies. Nephi said of a later day, “Yea, then will [the Lord] remember the isles of the sea; yea, and all the people who are of the house of Israel, will I gather in, saith the Lord, according to the words of the prophet Zenos, from the four quarters of the earth” (1 Nephi 19:16). After quoting Isaiah, who also wrote of the gathering, Nephi expounded on it: “Wherefore, he will bring them again out of captivity, and they shall be gathered together to the lands of their inheritance; and they shall be brought out of obscurity and out of darkness; and they shall know that the Lord is their Savior and their Redeemer, the Mighty One of Israel…. And he gathereth his children from the four quarters of the earth; and he numbereth his sheep, and they know him; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd; and he shall feed his sheep, and in him they shall find pasture” (1 Nephi 22:12, 25). Having personally been scattered from Jerusalem, Nephi must have found comfort in these prophecies.

            Jacob was clearly affected personally by the scattering of his own family, for he wrote about his family, “We being a lonesome and a solemn people, wanderers, cast out from Jerusalem, born in tribulation, in a wilderness” (Jacob 7:26). He must have found spiritual strength in the future gathering of Israel. He wrote of the Jews in the latter days, “Wherefore, after they are driven to and fro, for thus saith the angel, many shall be afflicted in the flesh, and shall not be suffered to perish, because of the prayers of the faithful; they shall be scattered, and smitten, and hated; nevertheless, the Lord will be merciful unto them, that when they shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer, they shall be gathered together again to the lands of their inheritance” (2 Nephi 6:11). He also taught, “That he has spoken unto the Jews, by the mouth of his holy prophets, even from the beginning down, from generation to generation, until the time comes that they shall be restored to the true church and fold of God; when they shall be gathered home to the lands of their inheritance, and shall be established in all their lands of promise” (2 Nephi 9:2). With perhaps some sadness that he never got to see or live in Jerusalem, he prophesied of a future gathering to that land of inheritance of Israel: “And it shall come to pass that they shall be gathered in from their long dispersion, from the isles of the sea, and from the four parts of the earth; and the nations of the Gentiles shall be great in the eyes of me, saith God, in carrying them forth to the lands of their inheritance” (2 Nephi 10:8). Jeremniah, Ezekiel, Lehi, Nephi, and Jacob all surely found hope in the knowledge of a future gathering of Israel even though they themselves had been scattered. And more important than a physical gathering is the spiritual gathering that we can all take part in today as the Lord’s people are again being brought to “to believe in Christ” (2 Nephi 30:7). All past prophets, especially these who lived at the time of the Babylonian captivity, looked forward with great anticipation for the gathering we are a part of today.