Over the Wall

Addition sometimes results in separation.

Jacob blessed each of his twelve sons at the end of his life. In his blessing to Joseph, he emphasized both prosperity and distance:

Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall. …

The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

Genesis 49:22, 26

The name “Joseph” (יוֹסֵף) means “let him add.” It can be read as Rachel’s prayer for her son — that God would continually add to his blessings, even as he was a blessing to her. (See Genesis 30:22-24.) But Joseph’s blessings, including the coat he received from his earthly father and the dreams he received from his Heavenly Father, led to his separation from the family, as his envious brothers sold him into slavery.

Jacob’s blessing on his son vividly illustrates that process. Like a flourishing tree, Joseph outgrew his boundaries. Even the promised land of Canaan was too small to contain the blessings he received from God. His migration to Egypt was prompted by the privileges he had received, and the move in turn opened the door for him to receive more blessings.

Many years later, a descendant of Joseph named Lehi quoted a prophecy of Joseph about a yet-future prophet. Speaking to one of his sons, who was also named Joseph, Lehi said:

Joseph truly saw our day. And he obtained a promise of the Lord, that out of the fruit of his loins the Lord God would raise up a righteous branch unto the house of Israel; not the Messiah, but a branch which was to be broken off, nevertheless, to be remembered in the covenants of the Lord that the Messiah should be made manifest unto them in the latter days, in the spirit of power, unto the bringing of them out of darkness unto light—yea, out of hidden darkness and out of captivity unto freedom.

2 Nephi 3:5

This future prophet—Joseph Smith—received great blessings from God. Like the ancient Joseph, his blessings resulted in multiple kinds of separation, including from traditional Christianity, from his birthplace, and even at times from his closest friends. Joseph Smith was in many ways “broken off” but not forgotten. The separation generated by his extraordinary gifts ultimately enabled God to restore precious truths, priesthood power, and covenant relationships, all of which would initiate the latter-day gathering of Jacob’s descendants, who had been scattered throughout the earth.

Today I will be grateful for the unique gifts God has given me. When those gifts pull me out of my comfort zone, I will trust that God is stretching me and preparing to bless me and others in ways I can’t yet see.