There is a mystery in the scriptural record for Christians which they do not appreciate and perhaps do not know they need to ask about. Here is the scenario. There was a man who had 12 sons and lived in a place he called Beth-el. His sons had four different mothers. His eleventh son was name Joseph. This son was highly regarded by his father and it showed.
His older brothers were incensed by this favoritism and unfair regard for the youth. They presumed they should be more highly regarded and this set the stage for a drama which was both a tragedy and a miracle within this family.
The story of what transpired is found in Genesis 37. The brothers seized upon an opportunity to take care of the usurper. After removing his coat of many colors, they sold him into slavery which resulted in his eventual captivity in Egypt. Joseph later explained this to his brothers as: Ye thought evil against me; but
God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive (Genesis 50:20).
So it continues today. Joseph is the forgotten son. Scholars of Christianity do not acknowledge his importance and do not see the foreshadowing of a latter-day ministry to once again preserve the House of Israel from perishing. He is presumed to be lost and yet, from a position of obscurity, in a land unknown by his brethren, Joseph has yet, in his integrity, continued to labor on behalf of Jacob’s children for centuries.
When the Lord was ready to announce the storehouse of spiritual nourishment prepared by Joseph through Manasseh and carefully laid in the hand of Ephraim for the rescue of both Israel and the Gentiles
(just as both Gentile and Israelite prospered in the grain stores Joseph had prepared) his efforts were rebuffed, scoffed at and ridiculed. This storehouse of the latter day is the Book of Mormon.
The record of the Book of Mormon will be most effective when it is in the hands of the sons and daughters of the prophets who prepared it.