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Mormonism and Wikipedia/Golden plates/Finding
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An analysis of the Wikipedia article "Golden plates" Updated 9/21/2011
Reviews of previous revisions of this section
December 2009
Summary: A review of this section as it appeared in Wikipedia in December 2009.Section review
Finding the plates
From the Wikipedia article:
According to Smith, he found the plates after he was directed to them by a heavenly messenger
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith referred to the visitor as an "angel of the Lord" at least as early as 1832 Smith (1832) , p. 4, and possibly as early as 1829 (Early Mormon Documents 1:151-152). Some early accounts related by non-Mormons described this angel as a "spirit" (Hadley (1829) ; Harris (1833) , p. 253; Chase (1833) , p. 242) or a "ghost" Burnett (1831) ; see also Lewis (Lewis) , p. 1 (a later-published account using the "ghost" terminology). In 1838, however, Smith later said that the "angel" was a man who had been "dead, and raised again therefrom" Smith (1838b) , pp. 42–43.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
whom he later identified as the angel Moroni.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (Cowdery) , p. 180; Smith (1838b) , pp. 42–43. In distinction from his other accounts, Smith's 1838 autobiography said that the angel's name was Nephi Smith (1838a) , p. 4; nevertheless, modern historians and Latter Day Saints generally refer to the angel as Moroni.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
According to the story, the angel first visited Smith's bedroom late at night, on September 22
Wikipedia footnotes:
- September 22 was listed in a local almanac as the autumnal equinox, which has led D. Michael Quinn to argue that the date had astrological significance in Smith's worldview (Quinn (1998) , p. 144; however, this ostensible astrological significance is never mentioned by Smith or his contemporaries.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
in 1822 or 1823.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith's first mention of the angel in later histories is an appearance on the eve of September 22, 1823 Smith (1838a) , p. 4; however, other accounts say or imply that the angel may have appeared a year earlier in 1822. Smith's first history in 1832 said the angel's first visit was on September 22, 1822, although he also said he was "seventeen years of age" Smith (1832) , p. 3, which would have made the year 1823 (he turned 17 in December 1822). In 1835, after Oliver Cowdery initially dated the angel's visit to the "15th year of our brother J. Smith Jr's, age", Cowdery changed the statement to read the 17th year of his age (16 years old, or 1822)—but he said this visit in Smith's "17th year" occurred in 1823 Cowdery (1835a) , p. 78. Smith's father is quoted by an inquirer who visited his house in 1830 as saying that the first visit by the angel took place in 1822 but that he did not learn about it until 1823 Lapham (1870) , p. 305. A Smith neighbor who said Smith told him the story in 1823 said the angel appeared "a year or two before" the death of Joseph's brother Alvin in November 1823.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
Moroni told Smith that the plates could be found buried in a prominent hill near his home, later called Cumorah, a name taken from the Book of Mormon.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1838a) , p. 4 (identifying the hill, but not referring to it by a name); Cowdery (1835b) , p. 196 (referring to the hill as Cumorah).
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
Before dawn, Moroni reappeared two more times and repeated the information.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1832) , p. 7; Smith (1842) , p. 707.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
But the angel would not allow Smith to take the plates until he obeyed certain "commandments".
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1838a) , p. 6 (saying the angel told him to obey his charge concerning the plates, "otherwise I could not get them"); Clark (1842) , pp. 225–26 (the angel "told him that he must follow implicitly the divine direction, or he would draw down upon him the wrath of heaven"); Smith (1853) , p. 83 (characterizing the angel's requirements as "commandments of God", and saying Smith could receive the plates "not only until he was willing, but able" to keep those commandments).
FAIR's analysis:
Wikipedia footnotes:
- See, e.g., Quinn (1998) .
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
Smith's writings say that the angel required at least the following: (1) that he have no thought of using the plates for monetary gain,
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1832) , p. 5 (saying he was commanded to "have an eye single to the glory of God"); Smith (1838a) , p. 6 (saying the angel commanded him to "have no other object in view in getting the plates but to glorify God".)
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
(2) that he tell his father about the vision,
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith's mother Lucy Mack Smith said he was commanded to tell his father during the third vision Smith (1853) , p. 81, but he disobeyed because he didn't think his father would believe him, and the angel appeared a fourth time to rebuke him and reiterate the commandment (82). Joseph Smith and his sister Katharine said the angel gave him the commandment in his fourth visit, but did not say whether he had received the commandment earlier that night (Smith (1838a) , p. 7; Salisbury (1895) , p. 12). Smith's father is quoted by a skeptical interviewer to say that in 1830, Smith delayed telling his father about the vision for about a year Lapham (1870) , p. 305. Smith's brother William, who was 11 at the time, said the angel commanded him to tell his entire family Smith (1883) , p. 9, although he may have been remembering Smith tell the story that night after he visited the hill, according to their mother's recollection Smith (1853) , p. 83.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
and (3) that he never show the plates to any unauthorized person.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Hadley (1829) ; Smith (1838a) , p. 6.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
Smith's contemporaries who heard the story—both sympathetic and unsympathetic—generally agreed that Smith mentioned the following additional commandments: (4) that Smith take the plates and leave the site where they had been buried without looking back,
Wikipedia footnotes:
- This commandment is described in the account of Joseph Knight, Sr., a loyal Latter Day Saint friend of Smith's Knight (1833) , p. 2, and Willard Chase, an associate of Smith's in Palmyra during the 1820s Chase (1833) , p. 242. Both Knight and Chase were treasure seekers, but while Knight remained a loyal follower until his death, Chase was a critic of Smith's by the early 1830s.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
and (5) that the plates never directly touch the ground until safe at home in a locked chest.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- There is agreement on this commandment by Smith's mother Smith (1853) , pp. 85–86 and sister Salisbury (1895) , p. 14 and by two non-Mormons (Chase (1833) , p. 242; Lapham (1870) , p. 305).
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
Some unsympathetic listeners who heard the story from Smith or his father recalled that Smith had said the angel required him (6) to wear "black clothes" to the place where the plates were buried,
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Chase (1833) , p. 242 (an affidavit of Willard Chase, a non-Latter Day Saint treasure seeker who believed Smith wrongly appropriated his seer stone). Chase said he heard the story from Smith's father in 1827. Fayette Lapham, who traveled to Palmyra in 1830 to inquire about the Latter Day Saint movement and heard the story from Joseph Smith, Sr., said Smith was told to wear an "old-fashioned suit of clothes, of the same color as those worn by the angel", but Lapham did not specify what color of clothing the angel was wearing Lapham (1870) , p. 305.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
(7) to ride a "black horse with a switchtail",
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Chase (1833) , p. 242 (affidavit of Willard Chase, relating story heard from Smith's father in 1827). A friendly but non-believing Palmyra neighbor, Lorenzo Saunders, heard the story in 1823 from Joseph Smith, Jr., and also said Smith was to required to ride a black horse to the hill Saunders (1884b) .
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
(8) to call for the plates by a certain name,
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Chase (1833) , p. 242 (affidavit of the skeptical Willard Chase).
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
and (9) to "give thanks to God."
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Saunders (1893) (statement of Orson Saunders of Palmyra, who heard the story from Benjamin Saunders, who heard the story from Joseph Smith).
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
In the morning, Smith began work as usual and did not mention the visions to his father
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1838a) , p. 7
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
because, he said, he did not think his father would believe him.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1853) , p. 82; Salisbury (1895) , p. 12 (stating that Smith told the angel during the fourth visit that he was afraid his Father would not believe him).
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
Smith said he then fainted because he had been awake all night, and while unconscious, the angel appeared a fourth time and chastised him for failing to tell the visions to his father.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1853) , p. 82; Smith (1838a) , p. 6.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
When Smith then told all to his father, he believed his son and encouraged him to obey the angel's commands.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1853) , p. 82; Smith (1838a) , p. 7. Smith's brother William, who was 11 at the time, said he also told the rest of his family that day prior to visiting the hill Smith:1883 , pp. 9–10, although he may have been remembering Smith tell the story the night after he visited the hill, according to their mother's recollection Smith (1853) , p. 83. Smith's sister Katharine said that Joseph told his father and the two oldest brothers Alvin and Hyrum the morning prior to visiting the hill, but Katharine was too young (10 years old) to understand what they were talking about Salisbury (1895) , p. 13.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
Smith then set off to visit the hill, later stating that he used his seer stone to locate the place where the plates were buried
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Harris (1833) , p. 252 (statement by Henry Harris, a non-Mormon Palmyra resident); Harris (1859) , p. 163 (statement by Martin Harris, a Latter Day Saint who became one of the Three Witnesses of the Golden Plates). According to one hearer of the account, Smith used the seer stone to follow a sequence of landmarks by horse and on foot until he arrived at the place the plates were buried.Lapham (1870) , p. 305.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
but that he "knew the place the instant that [he] arrived there."
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1838a) , pp. 6–7.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
Smith said he saw a large stone covering a box made of stone (or possibly iron).
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Most accounts, including those written by Smith, say the plates were found in a stone box (Cowdery (1835b) , p. 196; Smith (1838a) , pp. 15–16; Whitmer (1875) , calling it a "stone casket", and stating that Smith had to dig down for the box "two and a half or three feet"); according to two non-believing witnesses, however, Smith said they were buried in an iron box (Bennett (1831) , p. 7; Lewis (Lewis) , p. 1).
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
Using a stick to remove dirt from the edges of the stone cover, and prying it up with a lever,
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Salisbury (1895) , p. 13
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
Smith saw the plates inside the box, together with other artifacts.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1838a) , pp. 15–16. According to various accounts, these artifacts may have included a breastplate (Cowdery (1835b) , p. 196; Smith (1838a) , p. 16; Salisbury (1895) , p. 13, saying it was the "breast-plate of Laban"), a set of large spectacles made of seer stones (Chase (1833) , p. 243; Smith (1838a) , p. 16; Salisbury (1895) , p. 13), the Liahona, the sword of Laban (Lapham (1870) , pp. 306, 308; Salisbury (1895) , p. 13), the brass plates of Laban Salisbury (1895) , p. 13, the vessel in which the gold was melted, a rolling machine for gold plates, and three balls of gold as large as a fist Harris (1833) , p. 253.
FAIR's analysis:
== Notes ==
- [note] Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 7 volumes, edited by Brigham H. Roberts, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1957), 1:11–12, footnote 2. Volume 1 link
- [note] Eber Dudley Howe, Mormonism Unvailed (Painesville, Ohio: Telegraph Press, 1834), 277.
References
| Wikipedia references for "Golden Plates" |
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Further reading
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