After many years of despair, the ancient patriarch Jacob was blessed with the knowledge that his covenant firstborn son, Joseph, was yet alive in a foreign land, Egypt. Additionally, Joseph presented Jacob with his own firstborn sons, Ephraim and Manasseh--two sons of the covenant. But he made it clear that it was Ephraim who held the keys. Ephraim and Manasseh were adopted by Jacob: “they are mine.” (v. 5) Ephraim was given the firstborn blessing above Manasseh, although both were blessed as firstborn. Joseph was given “one portion above thy brethren” (JST Genesis 48:28).
Jacob made a statement that is of great interest concerning these “sons” of Joseph who were now his through adoption. He said, when Joseph brought them, “who are these?” (Genesis 48:8). Isaiah, the master of combining all past statements and episodes from the lives of the patriarchs into “one” (3 Nephi 23:14) spoke about this incident. It is as though Isaiah was quoting the lamentations of Jacob at the spiritual loss of his sons, and the physical loss of Joseph. We can almost hear Jacob weep for years, before he found Joseph alive:
There is none to guide her (Israel) among all the sons whom she hath brought forth: neither is there any (sons) that taketh her (Israel) by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up. These two things [two things is a mis-translation, the Book of Mormon clarifies “things” as these two “sons”--2 Nephi 8:19--meaning Ephraim and Manasseh] are come unto thee (Jacob), who shall be sorry for thee (Jacob)--thy desolation and destruction--and by whom shall I comfort thee? [This is stated as a question to Jacob: … by whom shall I comfort thee? The answer: by these two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh] Thy sons (the sons of Jacob) have fainted, save these two (Ephraim and Manasseh), they lie at the head of all the streets. (Isaiah 51:18-20, and 2 Nephi 8:18-20)
It is obvious to latter-day saints of the great blessings that have come to the world through these two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. Lehi was from Manasseh, and Ishmael was from Ephraim. But Lehi‘s and Ishmael’s children born to inherit the land of promise, were children of Joseph through both of his sons. Through them and their descendants, we have the record of the stick or tribe of Ephraim, even the Book of Mormon. Who can say too much of the marvelous place and significance of this book in restoring both “Jew and Gentile” (title page of the Book of Mormon) to Jesus the Christ. Does not the Book of Mormon, the record of Ephraim and Manasseh, lie at the head of all the streets that those in this dispensation are to travel? [Richard D. Anthony, Isaiah and Joseph, pp. 47-48, unpublished]
“They Lie at the Head of All the Streets”
Leland Gentry writes that according to the Doctrine and Covenants, the “two sons” who “lie at the head of all the streets” (2 Nephi 8:19, 20) are “two prophets that are to be raised up to the Jewish nation in the last days, at the time of the restoration, and to prophesy to the Jews after they are gathered and have built the city of Jerusalem in the land of their fathers” (D&C 77:15).
Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote of these men:
Their ministry will take place after the latter-day temple has been built in Old Jerusalem, after some of the Jews who dwell there have been converted, and just before Armageddon and the return of the Lord Jesus. How long will they minister in Jerusalem and in the Holy Land? For three and a half years, the precise time spent by the Lord in his ministry to the ancient Jews. The Jews, as an assembled people, will hear again the testimony of legal administrators bearing record that salvation is in Christ and in his gospel. Who will these witnesses be? We do not know, except that they will be followers of Joseph Smith; they will hold the holy Melchizedek Priesthood; they will be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is reasonable to suppose, knowing how the Lord has always dealt with his people in all ages, that they will be two members of the Council of the Twelve or of the First Presidency of the Church (Millennial Messiah, p. 390).
How will the people receive their witness? Much the same as the ancient Jews received the Messiah. Elder McConkie continued:
“And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.” …
“And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.” The rejoicing of the wicked at the death of the righteous constitutes a witness, written in blood, that the rebels of the world have ripened in iniquity and are fit and ready for the burning.
“And after three days and a half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.”
Jerusalem is shaken by a mighty earthquake even as it was at the crucifixion of Christ. This time many of the wicked are slain, while the saints--those Jews who have accepted Christ and his gospel, those who have participated in building the temple, those who have received the ordinances of the house of the Lord and are waiting for his return--they shall give glory to the God of heaven (pp. 390-392)
[As quoted by Leland Gentry, “God Will Fulfill His Covenants,” in The Book of Mormon: Second Nephi, The Doctrinal Structure, pp. 170-171]