Happy Book of Mormon Day! It was on Sept. 22, 1823 that Joseph Smith first saw the gold plates, and then he met Moroni annually on the same date for the next four years until he was finally allowed to take possession of the plates on Sept. 22, 1827
This is a continuation of an article responding to the October special issue of the Ensign devoted to the Book of Mormon, suggesting resources for further information and study.
Joseph Smith’s Relationship to the Book of Mormon
The October Ensign includes a feature titled “The Prophet Joseph Smith: Translator of the Book of Mormon,” which consists of a series of images illustrating nine stages in his calling as a prophet and in the translation process. It is a lovely overview, but there is so much more that could have been said in an article about Joseph’s relationship with that sacred text that space may not have allowed for.
I like the fact that although he first saw the plates in 1823, he was not allowed to take them home until after he had married Emma (she may have been a stabilizing influence in his life, and in fact, she accompanied him to the Hill Cumorah the night he finally took possession of the plates). The story of Martin Harris’ loss of the 116 pages, at a time when Joseph and Emma had just lost their first child, is heartbreaking. (It is perhaps best told in Lucy Mack Smith’s autobiography, which Maurine and Scot Proctor have edited with numerous illustrations in an enlarged and enhanced version
You may have noticed when we studied the Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith manual in Priesthood and Relief Society that Joseph hardly ever quoted the Book of Mormon or referred to its prophets or its narratives in his preaching. Instead, he almost always taught from the Bible. This may seem a bit odd, especially in contrast to the way that more recent church leaders use the Book of Mormon, but it seems to me like evidence that the scripture did not originate with Joseph Smith (as an author myself, if I had ever written anything half so clever as the Book of Mormon, I would be quoting from it for the rest of my life). He did, however, work hard to spread the Book of Mormon more widely through two additional editions during his lifetime (1837 and 1840), and most tellingly, in his final evening on this earth, while in Carthage Jail, he read from the Book of Mormon with his brother Hyrum and bore testimony of its truthfulness.
You may have noticed when we studied the Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith manual in Priesthood and Relief Society that Joseph hardly ever quoted the Book of Mormon or referred to its prophets or its narratives in his preaching. Instead, he almost always taught from the Bible. This may seem a bit odd, especially in contrast to the way that more recent church leaders use the Book of Mormon, but it seems to me like evidence that the scripture did not originate with Joseph Smith (as an author myself, if I had ever written anything half so clever as the Book of Mormon, I would be quoting from it for the rest of my life). He did, however, work hard to spread the Book of Mormon more widely through two additional editions during his lifetime (1837 and 1840), and most tellingly, in his final evening on this earth, while in Carthage Jail, he read from the Book of Mormon with his brother Hyrum and bore testimony of its truthfulness.
You may recall that Elder Holland told a similar story from the Prophet’s last days (recounted in D&C 134:4-5) in his general conference address of October 2009 (a talk that is cited on p. 77 of the October Ensign).
There are many fine articles about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon available online from the Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture You should take some time to look over what they have published in the last few years. A couple of my favorites include "All My Endeavors to Preserve Them": Protecting the Plates in Palmyra, 22 September—December 1827” by Andrew H. Hedges and “For the Sum of Three Thousand Dollars” by Susan Easton Black and Larry C. Porter.
In addition there is a new book by Richard Turley and William Slaughter, How We Got the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2011) that presents the latest scholarship on the origins and various editions of the Book of Mormon in a readable and visually appealing way.
Illustrations
A variety of colorful illustrations enrich the October Ensign and I was delighted to see several newer depictions of Book of Mormon events in addition to the Arnold Friberg paintings that I grew up with. (I particularly like the work of Walter Rane, which you can see on pp. 16, 17, and 18.) There is certainly room for artistic license, but in recent years there seems to have been a conscious attempt by many painters to include more accurate historical details. It is less common now to see Nephite warriors looking like Roman legionnaires, and sometimes they are even portrayed without the wristbands that Friberg taught us to associate with Book of Mormon culture. There is much more that could be done along these lines, however, as can be seen in John L. Sorenson’s Images of Ancient America: Visualizing Book of Mormon Life (Provo: FARMS, 1998).
The images from the life of Joseph Smith are also sometimes less than historically reliable. The familiar Tom Lovell painting of the angel Moroni appearing in Joseph’s room (October Ensign, pp. 8, 19, and 23) makes much less sense if you’ve ever visited the reconstructed log house in Palmyra where the Smith family lived in 1823. The family was rather large, the cabin was tiny, and there is no way that Joseph would have had his own bedroom. More than likely, there were several other children sleeping in the same bed when Moroni appeared to Joseph (as in this picture by Michael Malm, at the Church’s josephsmith.net website).
Similarly, there are illustrations on the inside cover and on pages 9, 19, and 23 all showing Joseph Smith looking pensively at the golden plates. There may have been times when he did this, particularly when he was copying some of the reformed Egyptian characters for Martin Harris to take to Charles Anthon in New York, but these images do not show him translating. As far as we know, Joseph always translated with the help of either the Nephite interpreters—described by Joseph as “two stones in silver bows” (JS-History 1:35)—or with a seer stone (both devices were later referred to with the biblical term Urim and Thummim, though that identification only came several years after the Book of Mormon was translated).
The eyewitnesses to the translation are all in agreement that Joseph would place the seer stone in a hat and then put the hat over his face (presumably to exclude extraneous light) so that he could see the stone clearly enough to dictate the words of the Book of Mormon.
This somewhat cumbersome physical process also explains why he always needed scribes to write for him. For example, if the quotation from Emma Smith that appears on pp. 8-9 had started a couple paragraphs earlier, it would have included this description of the mechanics of the translation: “In writing for your father I frequently wrote day after day, often sitting at the table close by him, he sitting with his face buried in his hat, with the stone in it, and dictating hour and hour with nothing between us.” There are many such accounts. Or as Richard Turley and William Slaughter explain in their recent How We Got the Book of Mormon (published by Deseret Book): "Several people . . . said he looked into the interpreters or another seer stone, blocking out external light, such as by placing the interpreters in his hat and putting his face down into it."
This method of translation may seem a bit strange, but it’s not a secret. (If you have teenagers, there’s a good chance they already know about it because they have heard of how it was portrayed in an episode of the animated TV show South Park.) And perhaps translation by seer stone is ultimately no stranger than an angel appearing in one’s bedroom. But if this is how God chose to communicate with his prophet, then I don’t think that we need to be evasive or embarrassed by it. It would be wonderful if a faithful LDS artist someday painted an accurate picture of Joseph Smith translating, or at least of Joseph and Oliver taking a break from their labors with a hat lying on the table between them.
There has been a fair amount of scholarly discussion concerning the translation process in recent years. I would recommend three articles in particular that have been posted at the Maxwell Institute (formerly FARMS) website: one by Stephen Ricks another by Royal Skousen and a third by Daniel Peterson
Historical Evidence
In answer to the question, “Is there physical evidence that the Book of Mormon is true?” (Ensign, p. 78), the editors very briefly mention writing on metal plates and Hebraisms, and then they quickly point out that “these kinds of evidences are not what convince us of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. It is a matter of faith and personal revelation.” Quite true, and such an answer is entirely appropriate given the spiritual focus of the Ensign. But where would readers turn if they wanted to know more about the “linguistic, historical, and archaeological evidence” that the editors allude to? The obvious place is website of the Maxwell Institute at BYU, though the abundance of material there may be overwhelming. In addition to the electronic versions of several important journals that can be found there, the site also includes full books posted online, and I would recommend three in particular to people who are new to the field of Book of Mormon evidences, or who simply want an overview of what LDS scholars have discovered in the last few decades:
1. Noel B. Reynolds, Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origins (Provo: FARMS, 1997), with chapters on the translation of the Book of Mormon, chiasmus, wordprints, Lehi’s journey through Arabia, and a Mesoamerican historical context. Many of these articles were written by the preeminent researcher in the field.
2. John W. Welch, Donald W. Parry, and Daniel C. Peterson, eds., Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon (Provo: FARMS, 2002), which summarizes the main arguments and findings of Book of Mormon research since Hugh Nibley.
3. Of course, one of the key questions is “Where in the Americas did Book of Mormon history take place?” and an excellent, authoritative, brief analysis of the evidence is provided in John L. Sorenson, Mormon’s Map (Provo: FARMS, 2000). (Unfortunately, the online versions of these books are in HTML form, so they don’t include illustrations or maps. I hope that the Maxwell Institute will soon replace them with PDF files. This is particularly a problem with Mormon’s Map.)
Translations
In his article, Elder Andersen refers to the fact that the Book of Mormon has now been translated into over one hundred languages (p. 39), and an essay later in the issue tells a little about scriptural translations in general and the impact that the Slovenian and Kekchi versions had for native speakers who finally could read the Book of Mormon in their own language (pp. 72-75).
This is a fascinating subject with tremendous significance now that most Latter-day Saints live outside the United States. And there are some wonderful, detailed accounts available online of the challenges and miracles of translating the Book of Mormon into specific languages such as German, French, Italian, Welsh, and Japanese. I am not aware of any scholarly articles on the Spanish translation of the Book of Mormon, though there are some preliminary studies here and here . What a great project that would be for some enterprising graduate student, and what a blessing to document that history for the millions of Spanish-speaking members of the Church!
I hope that the October Ensign on the Book of Mormon will encourage Latter-day Saints to read the Book of Mormon again, to share it with their friends, and to study its teachings and narratives. Obviously, there is much more that could have been said. (If I were to change just one thing in the magazine, I would have added a reference to the online version of To All the World: The Book of Mormon Articles from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism edited by S. Kent Brown, Daniel H. Ludlow, and John W. Welch.
This volume, produced by BYU scholars, offers 130 concise and authoritative articles on the major characters, themes, and issues from the Book of Mormon—it’s a resource that every Latter-day Saint should have access to and be familiar with.) Nevertheless, the October issue is not the end of the line; it’s the beginning of a full year of articles about the Book of Mormon as we study that sacred text again in Gospel Doctrine in 2012. And as Joseph Smith once wrote (in a quotation that I only learned from reading the Priesthood/Relief Society manual devoted to the Prophet): “He that can mark the power of Omnipotence, inscribed upon the heavens, can also see God’s own handwriting in the sacred volume: and he who reads it oftenest will like it best” (Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, p. 66). Outside resources can greatly enrich our understanding of the Book of Mormon, but in the end, “he who reads it oftenest will like it best."
Grant Hardy is the editor of The Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Edition (University of Illinois Press, 2003) and the author of Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Guide (Oxford University Press, 2010).
His most recent publications include the Oxford History of Historical Writing, Vol. 1 and Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition, a 36-lecture cd/dvd course produced by the Great Courses. Hardy is a professor of History and Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina—Asheville.
Happy Book of Mormon Day! It was on Sept. 22, 1823 that Joseph Smith first saw the gold plates, and then he met Moroni annually on the same date for the next four years until he was finally allowed to take possession of the plates on Sept. 22, 1827
This is a continuation of an article responding to the October special issue of the Ensign devoted to the Book of Mormon, suggesting resources for further information and study.
Joseph Smith’s Relationship to the Book of Mormon
The October Ensign includes a feature titled “The Prophet Joseph Smith: Translator of the Book of Mormon,” which consists of a series of images illustrating nine stages in his calling as a prophet and in the translation process. It is a lovely overview, but there is so much more that could have been said in an article about Joseph’s relationship with that sacred text that space may not have allowed for.
I like the fact that although he first saw the plates in 1823, he was not allowed to take them home until after he had married Emma (she may have been a stabilizing influence in his life, and in fact, she accompanied him to the Hill Cumorah the night he finally took possession of the plates). The story of Martin Harris’ loss of the 116 pages, at a time when Joseph and Emma had just lost their first child, is heartbreaking. (It is perhaps best told in Lucy Mack Smith’s autobiography, which Maurine and Scot Proctor have edited with numerous illustrations in an enlarged and enhanced version
You may have noticed when we studied the Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith manual in Priesthood and Relief Society that Joseph hardly ever quoted the Book of Mormon or referred to its prophets or its narratives in his preaching. Instead, he almost always taught from the Bible. This may seem a bit odd, especially in contrast to the way that more recent church leaders use the Book of Mormon, but it seems to me like evidence that the scripture did not originate with Joseph Smith (as an author myself, if I had ever written anything half so clever as the Book of Mormon, I would be quoting from it for the rest of my life). He did, however, work hard to spread the Book of Mormon more widely through two additional editions during his lifetime (1837 and 1840), and most tellingly, in his final evening on this earth, while in Carthage Jail, he read from the Book of Mormon with his brother Hyrum and bore testimony of its truthfulness.
You may have noticed when we studied the Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith manual in Priesthood and Relief Society that Joseph hardly ever quoted the Book of Mormon or referred to its prophets or its narratives in his preaching. Instead, he almost always taught from the Bible. This may seem a bit odd, especially in contrast to the way that more recent church leaders use the Book of Mormon, but it seems to me like evidence that the scripture did not originate with Joseph Smith (as an author myself, if I had ever written anything half so clever as the Book of Mormon, I would be quoting from it for the rest of my life). He did, however, work hard to spread the Book of Mormon more widely through two additional editions during his lifetime (1837 and 1840), and most tellingly, in his final evening on this earth, while in Carthage Jail, he read from the Book of Mormon with his brother Hyrum and bore testimony of its truthfulness.
You may recall that Elder Holland told a similar story from the Prophet’s last days (recounted in D&C 134:4-5) in his general conference address of October 2009 (a talk that is cited on p. 77 of the October Ensign).
There are many fine articles about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon available online from the Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture You should take some time to look over what they have published in the last few years. A couple of my favorites include "All My Endeavors to Preserve Them": Protecting the Plates in Palmyra, 22 September—December 1827” by Andrew H. Hedges and “For the Sum of Three Thousand Dollars” by Susan Easton Black and Larry C. Porter.
In addition there is a new book by Richard Turley and William Slaughter, How We Got the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2011) that presents the latest scholarship on the origins and various editions of the Book of Mormon in a readable and visually appealing way.
Illustrations
A variety of colorful illustrations enrich the October Ensign and I was delighted to see several newer depictions of Book of Mormon events in addition to the Arnold Friberg paintings that I grew up with. (I particularly like the work of Walter Rane, which you can see on pp. 16, 17, and 18.) There is certainly room for artistic license, but in recent years there seems to have been a conscious attempt by many painters to include more accurate historical details. It is less common now to see Nephite warriors looking like Roman legionnaires, and sometimes they are even portrayed without the wristbands that Friberg taught us to associate with Book of Mormon culture. There is much more that could be done along these lines, however, as can be seen in John L. Sorenson’s Images of Ancient America: Visualizing Book of Mormon Life (Provo: FARMS, 1998).
The images from the life of Joseph Smith are also sometimes less than historically reliable. The familiar Tom Lovell painting of the angel Moroni appearing in Joseph’s room (October Ensign, pp. 8, 19, and 23) makes much less sense if you’ve ever visited the reconstructed log house in Palmyra where the Smith family lived in 1823. The family was rather large, the cabin was tiny, and there is no way that Joseph would have had his own bedroom. More than likely, there were several other children sleeping in the same bed when Moroni appeared to Joseph (as in this picture by Michael Malm, at the Church’s josephsmith.net website).
Similarly, there are illustrations on the inside cover and on pages 9, 19, and 23 all showing Joseph Smith looking pensively at the golden plates. There may have been times when he did this, particularly when he was copying some of the reformed Egyptian characters for Martin Harris to take to Charles Anthon in New York, but these images do not show him translating. As far as we know, Joseph always translated with the help of either the Nephite interpreters—described by Joseph as “two stones in silver bows” (JS-History 1:35)—or with a seer stone (both devices were later referred to with the biblical term Urim and Thummim, though that identification only came several years after the Book of Mormon was translated).
The eyewitnesses to the translation are all in agreement that Joseph would place the seer stone in a hat and then put the hat over his face (presumably to exclude extraneous light) so that he could see the stone clearly enough to dictate the words of the Book of Mormon.
This somewhat cumbersome physical process also explains why he always needed scribes to write for him. For example, if the quotation from Emma Smith that appears on pp. 8-9 had started a couple paragraphs earlier, it would have included this description of the mechanics of the translation: “In writing for your father I frequently wrote day after day, often sitting at the table close by him, he sitting with his face buried in his hat, with the stone in it, and dictating hour and hour with nothing between us.” There are many such accounts. Or as Richard Turley and William Slaughter explain in their recent How We Got the Book of Mormon (published by Deseret Book): "Several people . . . said he looked into the interpreters or another seer stone, blocking out external light, such as by placing the interpreters in his hat and putting his face down into it."
This method of translation may seem a bit strange, but it’s not a secret. (If you have teenagers, there’s a good chance they already know about it because they have heard of how it was portrayed in an episode of the animated TV show South Park.) And perhaps translation by seer stone is ultimately no stranger than an angel appearing in one’s bedroom. But if this is how God chose to communicate with his prophet, then I don’t think that we need to be evasive or embarrassed by it. It would be wonderful if a faithful LDS artist someday painted an accurate picture of Joseph Smith translating, or at least of Joseph and Oliver taking a break from their labors with a hat lying on the table between them.
There has been a fair amount of scholarly discussion concerning the translation process in recent years. I would recommend three articles in particular that have been posted at the Maxwell Institute (formerly FARMS) website: one by Stephen Ricks another by Royal Skousen and a third by Daniel Peterson
Historical Evidence
In answer to the question, “Is there physical evidence that the Book of Mormon is true?” (Ensign, p. 78), the editors very briefly mention writing on metal plates and Hebraisms, and then they quickly point out that “these kinds of evidences are not what convince us of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. It is a matter of faith and personal revelation.” Quite true, and such an answer is entirely appropriate given the spiritual focus of the Ensign. But where would readers turn if they wanted to know more about the “linguistic, historical, and archaeological evidence” that the editors allude to? The obvious place is website of the Maxwell Institute at BYU, though the abundance of material there may be overwhelming. In addition to the electronic versions of several important journals that can be found there, the site also includes full books posted online, and I would recommend three in particular to people who are new to the field of Book of Mormon evidences, or who simply want an overview of what LDS scholars have discovered in the last few decades:
1. Noel B. Reynolds, Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origins (Provo: FARMS, 1997), with chapters on the translation of the Book of Mormon, chiasmus, wordprints, Lehi’s journey through Arabia, and a Mesoamerican historical context. Many of these articles were written by the preeminent researcher in the field.
2. John W. Welch, Donald W. Parry, and Daniel C. Peterson, eds., Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon (Provo: FARMS, 2002), which summarizes the main arguments and findings of Book of Mormon research since Hugh Nibley.
3. Of course, one of the key questions is “Where in the Americas did Book of Mormon history take place?” and an excellent, authoritative, brief analysis of the evidence is provided in John L. Sorenson, Mormon’s Map (Provo: FARMS, 2000). (Unfortunately, the online versions of these books are in HTML form, so they don’t include illustrations or maps. I hope that the Maxwell Institute will soon replace them with PDF files. This is particularly a problem with Mormon’s Map.)
Translations
In his article, Elder Andersen refers to the fact that the Book of Mormon has now been translated into over one hundred languages (p. 39), and an essay later in the issue tells a little about scriptural translations in general and the impact that the Slovenian and Kekchi versions had for native speakers who finally could read the Book of Mormon in their own language (pp. 72-75).
This is a fascinating subject with tremendous significance now that most Latter-day Saints live outside the United States. And there are some wonderful, detailed accounts available online of the challenges and miracles of translating the Book of Mormon into specific languages such as German, French, Italian, Welsh, and Japanese. I am not aware of any scholarly articles on the Spanish translation of the Book of Mormon, though there are some preliminary studies here and here . What a great project that would be for some enterprising graduate student, and what a blessing to document that history for the millions of Spanish-speaking members of the Church!
I hope that the October Ensign on the Book of Mormon will encourage Latter-day Saints to read the Book of Mormon again, to share it with their friends, and to study its teachings and narratives. Obviously, there is much more that could have been said. (If I were to change just one thing in the magazine, I would have added a reference to the online version of To All the World: The Book of Mormon Articles from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism edited by S. Kent Brown, Daniel H. Ludlow, and John W. Welch.
This volume, produced by BYU scholars, offers 130 concise and authoritative articles on the major characters, themes, and issues from the Book of Mormon—it’s a resource that every Latter-day Saint should have access to and be familiar with.) Nevertheless, the October issue is not the end of the line; it’s the beginning of a full year of articles about the Book of Mormon as we study that sacred text again in Gospel Doctrine in 2012. And as Joseph Smith once wrote (in a quotation that I only learned from reading the Priesthood/Relief Society manual devoted to the Prophet): “He that can mark the power of Omnipotence, inscribed upon the heavens, can also see God’s own handwriting in the sacred volume: and he who reads it oftenest will like it best” (Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, p. 66). Outside resources can greatly enrich our understanding of the Book of Mormon, but in the end, “he who reads it oftenest will like it best."
Grant Hardy is the editor of The Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Edition (University of Illinois Press, 2003) and the author of Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader’s Guide (Oxford University Press, 2010).
His most recent publications include the Oxford History of Historical Writing, Vol. 1 and Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition, a 36-lecture cd/dvd course produced by the Great Courses. Hardy is a professor of History and Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina—Asheville.
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Happy Book of Mormon Day! It was on Sept. 22, 1823 that Joseph Smith first saw the gold plates, and then he met Moroni annually on the same date for the next four years until he was finally allowed to take possession of the plates on Sept. 22, 1827
This is a continuation of an article responding to the October special issue of the Ensign devoted to the Book of Mormon, suggesting resources for further information and study.
Joseph Smith’s Relationship to the Book of Mormon
The October Ensign includes a feature titled “The Prophet Joseph Smith: Translator of the Book of Mormon,” which consists of a series of images illustrating nine stages in his calling as a prophet and in the translation process. It is a lovely overview, but there is so much more that could have been said in an article about Joseph’s relationship with that sacred text that space may not have allowed for.
I like the fact that although he first saw the plates in 1823, he was not allowed to take them home until after he had married Emma (she may have been a stabilizing influence in his life, and in fact, she accompanied him to the Hill Cumorah the night he finally took possession of the plates). The story of Martin Harris’ loss of the 116 pages, at a time when Joseph and Emma had just lost their first child, is heartbreaking. (It is perhaps best told in Lucy Mack Smith’s autobiography, which Maurine and Scot Proctor have edited with numerous illustrations in an enlarged and enhanced version
You may have noticed when we studied the Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith manual in Priesthood and Relief Society that Joseph hardly ever quoted the Book of Mormon or referred to its prophets or its narratives in his preaching. Instead, he almost always taught from the Bible. This may seem a bit odd, especially in contrast to the way that more recent church leaders use the Book of Mormon, but it seems to me like evidence that the scripture did not originate with Joseph Smith (as an author myself, if I had ever written anything half so clever as the Book of Mormon, I would be quoting from it for the rest of my life). He did, however, work hard to spread the Book of Mormon more widely through two additional editions during his lifetime (1837 and 1840), and most tellingly, in his final evening on this earth, while in Carthage Jail, he read from the Book of Mormon with his brother Hyrum and bore testimony of its truthfulness.
You may have noticed when we studied the Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith manual in Priesthood and Relief Society that Joseph hardly ever quoted the Book of Mormon or referred to its prophets or its narratives in his preaching. Instead, he almost always taught from the Bible. This may seem a bit odd, especially in contrast to the way that more recent church leaders use the Book of Mormon, but it seems to me like evidence that the scripture did not originate with Joseph Smith (as an author myself, if I had ever written anything half so clever as the Book of Mormon, I would be quoting from it for the rest of my life). He did, however, work hard to spread the Book of Mormon more widely through two additional editions during his lifetime (1837 and 1840), and most tellingly, in his final evening on this earth, while in Carthage Jail, he read from the Book of Mormon with his brother Hyrum and bore testimony of its truthfulness.
You may recall that Elder Holland told a similar story from the Prophet’s last days (recounted in D&C 134:4-5) in his general conference address of October 2009 (a talk that is cited on p. 77 of the October Ensign).
There are many fine articles about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon available online from the Journal of the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture You should take some time to look over what they have published in the last few years. A couple of my favorites include "All My Endeavors to Preserve Them": Protecting the Plates in Palmyra, 22 September—December 1827” by Andrew H. Hedges and “For the Sum of Three Thousand Dollars” by Susan Easton Black and Larry C. Porter.
In addition there is a new book by Richard Turley and William Slaughter, How We Got the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2011) that presents the latest scholarship on the origins and various editions of the Book of Mormon in a readable and visually appealing way.
Illustrations
A variety of colorful illustrations enrich the October Ensign and I was delighted to see several newer depictions of Book of Mormon events in addition to the Arnold Friberg paintings that I grew up with. (I particularly like the work of Walter Rane, which you can see on pp. 16, 17, and 18.) There is certainly room for artistic license, but in recent years there seems to have been a conscious attempt by many painters to include more accurate historical details. It is less common now to see Nephite warriors looking like Roman legionnaires, and sometimes they are even portrayed without the wristbands that Friberg taught us to associate with Book of Mormon culture. There is much more that could be done along these lines, however, as can be seen in John L. Sorenson’s Images of Ancient America: Visualizing Book of Mormon Life (Provo: FARMS, 1998).
The images from the life of Joseph Smith are also sometimes less than historically reliable. The familiar Tom Lovell painting of the angel Moroni appearing in Joseph’s room (October Ensign, pp. 8, 19, and 23) makes much less sense if you’ve ever visited the reconstructed log house in Palmyra where the Smith family lived in 1823. The family was rather large, the cabin was tiny, and there is no way that Joseph would have had his own bedroom. More than
likely, there were several other children sleeping in the same bed when Moroni appeared to Joseph (as in
this picture by Michael Malm, at the Church’s josephsmith.net website).
Similarly, there are illustrations on the inside cover and on pages 9, 19, and 23 all showing Joseph Smith looking pensively at the golden plates. There may have been times when he did this, particularly when he was copying some of the reformed Egyptian characters for Martin Harris to take to Charles Anthon in New York, but these images do not show him translating. As far as we know, Joseph always translated with the help of either the Nephite interpreters—described by Joseph as “two stones in silver bows” (JS-History 1:35)—or with a seer stone (both devices were later referred to with the biblical term Urim and Thummim, though that identification only came several years after the Book of Mormon was translated).
The eyewitnesses to the translation are all in agreement that Joseph would place the seer stone in a hat and then put the hat over his face (presumably to exclude extraneous light) so that he could see the stone clearly enough to dictate the words of the Book of Mormon.
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