On the latter-day gathering of the Jews

Plowing ahead with the first draft of The Book:

So where do we stand? I think we are in the middle of a process that has been underway for some time but that still has a consider­able distance to go. The Lord is not in the same kind of hurry that we anxious mortals often are. He has time. I think that early Latter- day Saints imagined that the events previous to the Second Coming of the Lord would happen quickly, but they have not. That is not to say that those events have not commenced or that the Lord is not acting. Clearly, he is. It seems to be the plain teaching of the Book of Mormon that the true gathering of the Jews will commence after, and not before, they come to a knowledge of the true gospel.

And after they have hardened their hearts and stiffened their necks against the Holy One of Israel, behold, the judgments of the Holy One of Israel shall come upon them. And the day cometh that they shall be smitten and afflicted. Wherefore… they shall be scattered, and smitten, and hated; nevertheless, the Lord will be merciful unto them, that when they shall come to the knowledge of their Redeemer, they shall be gathered together again to the lands of their inheritance.[1]

When the day cometh that they shall believe in me, that I am Christ, then have I covenanted with their fathers that they shall be restored in the flesh, upon the earth, unto the lands of their inheritance.[2]

And I will remember the covenant which I have made with my people; and I have covenanted with them that I would gather them together in mine own due time, that I would give unto them again the land of their fathers for their inheritance, which is the land of Jerusalem, which is the promised land unto them forever, saith the Father. And it shall come to pass that the time cometh, when the fulness of my gospel shall be preached unto them; and they shall believe in me, that I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and shall pray unto the Father in my name … Then will the Father gather them together again, and give unto them Jerusalem for the land of their inheritance.[3]

[1] 2 Nephi 6:10-11.

[2] 2 Nephi 10:7. Notable here is the emphasis on the literal reality of the return to Pal­estine. It is not merely a metaphor or a spiritual abstraction, but will occur “in the flesh, upon the earth.” Professor Stephen D. Ricks addresses this issue on purely bibli­cal grounds in his article “The Prophetic Literality of Tribal Reconstruction,” in Avra­ham Gileadi, ed., Israel’s Apostasy and Restoration: Essays in Honor of Roland K. Harrison (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1988), 273-81. The entire book is of inter­est in this regard.

[3] 3 Nephi 20:29-31, 33.