In a letter to Brigham Young, dated May 6, 1867, Phelps mentioned that he believed that Smith's prophecy refers to Adam and his future arrival at Adam-ondi-Ahman.
In 1876, the excerpt from the Smith–Phelps letter was included as Section 85 in the church's edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, a work of sacred canon for believers in the faith's scripture.
It was while these conditions of rebellion, jealousy, pride, unbelief and hardness of heart prevailed among the brethren in Zion—Jackson county, Missouri—in all of which Bishop Partridge participated, that the words of the revelation taken from the letter to William W. Phelps, of the 27th of November, 1832, were written.
And inasmuch as through his repentance and sacrifices and suffering, Bishop Edward Partridge undoubtedly obtained a mitigation of the threatened judgment against him of falling "by the shaft of death, like as a tree that is smitten by the vivid shaft of lightning," so the occasion for sending another to fill his station—"one mighty and strong to set in order the house of God, and to arrange by lot the inheritances of the Saints"—may also be considered as having passed away and the whole incident of the prophecy closed.
He will hold the same high and exalted station that Edward Partridge held; for the latter was called to do just this kind of work—that is, to set in order the house of God pertaining to settling the Saints upon their inheritances.
Since the end of the 19th century, a number of individuals have proposed a third interpretation of the prophecy: that Smith predicted the coming of "One Mighty and Strong" and that such a person has been identified.