The 32nd chapter of Deuteronomy proclaims that the Lord speaks to heaven and earth, that His "doctrine shall drop as the rain," and that His speech "shall distill as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass."
The Lord is acclaimed as "the Rock," a "God of truth and without iniquity, just and right." His work is described as perfect. The foolish and unwise are reminded that He is "thy father that hath bought thee," and it was He who made and established them. (Deut. 32:1-6.)Then there is this description of the children of Israel's ingratitude:
"But Jeshurun [a characterization of Israel] . . . forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
"They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger. . . .
"Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee." (Deut. 32:15-6, 18.)
Because of their ingratitude, the Lord declared He would hide His face from them, and "scatter them into corners" and "make the remembrance of them to cease from among men." (See Deut. 32:20-26.)
In A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, Elder Bruce R. McConkie of the Council of the Twelve wrote:
"How aptly this [Deut. 32:20-26T describes the situation with reference to the Ten Tribes who are now lost to the knowledge of men. . . .
"How shall Israel be gathered? First will come the conversion and gathering of the tribe of Joseph. Then Joseph shall gather the other tribes. `His horns are like the horns of the unicorns [wild oxenT: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth.' It will not be an easy work. Every lost sheep must be taught the gospel. . . .
"Moses - mighty, mighty Moses - acting in the power and authority of the holy order, gathered Israel once. What is more fitting than for him to confer upon mortals in this final dispensation the power and authority to lead latter-day Israel . . . into their promised Zion?
"Moses, who mediated the cause of his erring brethren in ancient times, and to whom the Lord revealed the doctrine of the scattering and the doctrine of the gathering, is the very one who came in resurrected glory to give the needed authorization and keys to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. (See D&C 110:11.)