The Doctrine and Covenants gives us the answer: “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” (D&C 113:4). Latter-day Saint scholar Sidney B. Sperry observed “that the ‘rod’ was Joseph Smith, believing that the Prophet, out of modesty, hesitated to name himself directly. … As the ‘rod’ or ‘servant in the hands of Christ,’ Joseph Smith fits naturally into Isaiah’s prophecy, and it is easy to understand why Moroni quoted and explained Isaiah 11 to him [see Joseph Smith–History 1:40]” (“Problem of the ‘Rod’ and the ‘Root of Jesse,’” 869–914; see also Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual, 283).