Book of Mormon Commentary CofC - Odessa, Missouri Community ...

Book of Mormon Commentary
2 Nephi Chapter 9
2 Ne 9:126 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time
to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from
Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the
sea.
9:126 This return is to be the result of a divine movement. God shall intercede (see comments on
II N. 5:19). It shall be but a remnant of his chosen people this time. To "recover" here signifies to
gather them from the lands abroad to their homeland in Palestine.
In II Nephi 5:35-37 the call is made more emphatic. "The Messiah will set himself again the
second time, to recover them." This process is now going on. He is to "set up an ensign for the
nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from
the four corners of the earth" (127). An ensign is "a banner, especially the national flag"
(Webster). Jeremiah mentions the gathering of the “remnant of Israel" from the "land of the north"
and other lands (see Jer. 16:14-17; 31:7-9; D. and C. 108:5,6).
That this prophecy was not fulfilled thousands of years ago, nor even in this century, is made clear
in the following verse of Isaiah 11: 13: "The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the
adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex
Ephraim" (128). At this writing it is the armies of the United Nations which patrol the borders that
keep the adversaries of the Jews from attacking.