Page:A dictionary of the Book of Mormon.pdf/197

Joseph. and was consequently stubbornly held by Mormon. The war at this time was carried on with ruthless cruelty on both sides, and the conquering army ravaged and utterly desolated the country through which it passed.  JOSEPH. The younger son of Lehi and Sariah, born to them during the difficulties and sorrows of their journey across the Arabian Peninsula (about 595 B. C), We are told very little of his life or character, but he appears to have been an upright man and a faithful servant of the Lord. At the time of his father's death he was still small, but was blessed by that patriarch with the rest of the family, shortly before Lehi's departure from this earth. Joseph with his elder brother Jacob, was ordained by Nephi, a priest, to minister to the Nephites, after the separation of that people from the adherents of Laman, Of his private history or death we are told nothing. Jacob, speaking of himself and Joseph, says: We did magnify our office [of priests] unto the Lord, taking upon us the responsibility, answering the sins of the people upon our own heads, if we did not teach them the word of God with all diligence.   JOSEPH. The son of the patriarch Jacob, and the ancestor of the Nephites and Lamanites. Lehi was descended from his son Manasseh, and Ishmael from Ephraim. He is referred to with great affection by a number of the Nephite worthies. Lehi quotes (II Nephi, 3,) some very important prophecies of Joseph, which do not appear in the Bible. The Nephites are frequently called, by their teachers, the seed or house of Joseph.   JOSEPHITES. A portion of the Nephite race, presumably the descendants of Joseph, the younger son of Lehi. This name is only used four times in the Book of Mormon.   JOSH. A Nephite general, who commanded a corps of ten thousand men in the last great struggle between the Nephites and the Lamanites. <section end="Josh" />