Gathering of Israel...

For your consideration, Jeremiah 46:27–28; 50:17–20, 33–34, 41

27 ¶But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.

 28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the Lord: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.

17 ¶Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.

 18 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.

 19 And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead.

 20 In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.

34 Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

 35 ¶A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the Lord, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wisemen.

41 Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.

Now lets look at D&C 110:11

After this vision closed, the heavens were again opened unto us; and Moses appeared before us, and committed unto us the keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north.

In these passages in Jeremiah, we see the Lord’s promise that, although Israel will be punished and scattered, they will also be restored. Those who have scattered Israel will also be punished.

We also see that there is a promise that a nation will come from the north, and many kings will be raised up from the coasts of the earth.

In the account given in D&C 110, we see that Moses gives the keys of the gathering of the house of Israel to Joseph Smith. It is interesting to note that shortly afterward, Heber C. Kimball was called to serve the first mission outside of local or regional areas—to Great Britain. And so the gathering of Israel began…and so it continues.

Was Great Britain the “north” that both of the scriptural accounts refer to?

What is known is that in a few short years from the restoration of the keys of gathering Israel, Elder Orson Hyde was commissioned to journey to Jerusalem, and officially dedicate the land for the return of Israel.