18. And the Lord said unto me also: I will raise up unto the fruit of thy loins; and I will make for him a spokesman. And I, behold, I will give unto him that he shall write the writing of the fruit of thy loins, unto the fruit of thy loins; and the spokesman of thy loins shall declare it.
19. And the words which he shall write shall be the words which are expedient in my wisdom should go forth unto the fruit of thy loins. And it shall be as if the fruit of thy loins had cried unto them from the dust; for I know their faith.
20. And they shall cry from the dust; yea, even repentance unto their brethren, even after many generations have gone by them. And it shall come to pass that their cry shall go, even according to the simpleness of their words.
21. Because of their faith their words shall proceed forth out of my mouth unto their brethren who are the fruit of thy loins; and the weakness of their words will I make strong in their faith, unto the remembering of my covenant which I made unto thy fathers.
This is Lehi speaking to his son Joseph. Lehi is quoting the words of his ancestor, Joseph who was sold into Egypt. I know the traditional reading of these verses (and a correct one I might add) is that it is referring to Joseph Smith and the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon. However, I like to also read an earlier fulfillment of the prophecies here, though I'm not exactly sure I've got it all right, especially where I’ve got Moses and Aaron listed. I've listed in brackets after each pronoun who I think the pronoun is referring to. I would like it if one of my imaginary readers would leave a comment clarifying my interpretation of these verses.
18. And the Lord said unto me [Joseph of Egypt]: I will raise up unto the fruit of thy loins [descendants of Joseph of Egypt]; and I will make for him [Moses] a spokesman [Aaron]. And I [the Lord], behold I will give unto him [Moses] that he [Moses] shall write the writing [brass plates] of the fruit of thy loins [early descendants of Joseph of Egypt, like those living in Moses’ day]; and the spokesman of thy loins [Aaron] shall declare it.
19. And the words which he [Moses] shall write shall be the words which are expedient in my [the Lord’s] wisdom should go forth unto the fruit of thy loins [later descendants of Joseph of Egypt, like Lehi and his people]. And it shall be as if the fruit of thy loins [early descendants of Joseph of Egypt] had cried unto them [later descendants of Joseph of Egypt] from the dust; for I [the Lord] know their [early descendants of Joseph of Egypt] faith.
20. And they [early descendants of Joseph of Egypt] shall cry from the dust; yea, even repentance unto their brethren [later descendants of Joseph of Egypt] even after many generations have gone by them [early descendants of Joseph of Egypt]. And it shall come to pass that their [early descendants of Joseph of Egypt] cry shall go, even according to the simpleness of their [early descendants] words.
21. Because of their [early descendants] faith their [early descendants] words shall proceed forth out of my [the Lord’s] mouth unto their [early descendants] brethren who are the fruit of thy loins [later descendants]; and the weakness of their [early descendants] words [brass plates] will I make strong in their [early descendants] faith, unto the remembering of my [the Lord’s] covenant which I made unto thy [Joseph of old] fathers [Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob].
The important thing about these verses, under both readings, is that they explain an extremely important principle which applies to remembering, and that is that the faith of those who write can make weak words strong and bring to the remembrance of those who read, even generations later, the covenants of the Lord. Moses wrote in his day, and his words were made strong for Lehi and Nephi and other righteous people in the Book of Mormon. Likewise, Nephi and others in the Book of Mormon wrote, and their faith made their words strong for those of us in this day and age who read those words.
It must follow, then, that if I write in faith, and if I write the words the Lord would have me write, then my written words will be a tool to help those who read to remember the covenants of the Lord. So one of the things we are supposed to remember is the covenants of the Lord. He has promised us that if we follow him and walk in his ways, all that he has will be given us. I need to write things to my children and in my own journal that will help them remember the covenants of the Lord, and I need to do it with the faith that my words will be made strong in the day my children read them.
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