In Genesis 49:22–26, Joseph is described as “a fruitful bough” and his designation may be a biblical prophecy of the Book of Mormon (see #32 DOES GENESIS 49:22 SUPPORT THE BOOK OF MORMON?). Joseph is told that he will receive from God “the blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb” (Genesis 49:25).  This last part obviously means that Joseph would have a large posterity.

Tad R. Callister explains further:

The book of Deuteronomy further describes this blessed land, which Joseph’s descendants would inherit, as “precious” on five different occasions (see Deuteronomy 33:13–16). What was this land of their inheritance but the precious land of the Americas, which Lehi also referred to as “this precious land of promise” (2 Nephi 1:10; emphasis added; see also Ether 2:7–12). If the Nephites and Lamanites are not the descendants of Joseph as prophesied, and their precious land is not the Americas, then where are Joseph’s descendants who crossed the ocean, their great posterity, and their precious land, all as prophesied in Genesis 49:22–26 and Deuteronomy 33:13–16?⁸¹

The answer, for Callister, is clearly in the Book of Mormon. If Lehi and his posterity were indeed descendants of Joseph (1 Nephi 5:14), and if Genesis 49:22 indeed supports the Book of Mormon, then the Book of Mormon fulfills this prophecy. If the prophecy is indeed fulfilled by the Book of Mormon, then other religions who recognize the Bible has holy scripture are left wanting as to the unique and exclusive knowledge that the Book of Mormon offers them regarding this prophecy as well as the light, hope, and knowledge proffered by the Restoration regarding the deepest questions of the human heart.