Who Said What, and What Did They Mean? – Part I

It is amazing how many theorists defend their opinion and point of view in light of so much scriptural and factual opposition. As an example, Heartland and Great Lakes theorists are so critical of a two hill Cumorah statement they come unglued—“there cannot be two Cumorahs!” they claim.

Perhaps these same people would claim there cannot be two Bountifuls, or two Mantis, or two Nephis, or that there cannot be two Jerusalems, two Jordans, or two Judeas—but of course, there are!

Joseph had seen in a vision while Moroni instructed him about the plates and he later went to the place he had seen

 

Another amazing point is the argument over where the plates Joseph obtained were initially hidden in the earth by Moroni. Many of these same theorists claim Moroni buried the plates in the Hill Cumorah—with many claiming that is what Moroni stated. However, Moroni never said that, nor even inferred that; and we do not know where he initially buried the plates.

We only know where they were hidden when Joseph obtained them—an area referred to by the angel Moroni “that the plates and the urim and thummim were buried nearby.” And by Joseph Smith who said that Moroni told him: ”The golden plates were now concealed in a nearby hill with these seer stones” (Karen Lynn Davidson, David J. Whittaker, Mark Ashurst-McGee, Richard L. Jensen, eds,, Joseph Smith Histories, 1832–1844, vol. 1 of the Histories series of The Joseph Smith Papers, Vol.1, pp13–14). Joseph also said that “he retrieved the plates from a hillside in upstate New York in 1827.”

This hill was known simply to the Smiths as “a hill of considerable size.” Oliver Cowdery said the hill was the largest in the area, thus suggesting a size in relationship to a generally flat landscape. Even Joseph’s father did not refer to the hill by any name: “go to the place where the angel said the plates had been concealed” (J. Christopher Conkling, A Joseph Smith Chronology, Deseret Book Company, 1979). In fact, Joseph typically referred to the location as “the hill.” Neither he nor Moroni called the hill in Manchester, near Joseph’s home, “Cumorah.”

In addition, a Church website reprinted Chapter 3, “Plates of Gold,” from the four-volume narrative history of the Church, in which the story of Joseph Smith entitled Saints, in describing the events involved in Joseph Smith being told by Moroni about the hidden plates, the word “hill” is used with no mention of Cumorah, 12 times—the only time the word Cumorah appears is twice in the added picture inscriptions, which were not part of the original statements by Joseph Smith article (Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days, vol.1, “The Standard of Truth, 1815–1846, ch.3 “Plates of Gold,” published by the Church, 2018).

Moroni told Joseph the plates were hidden in “a hill nearby,” and simply “nearby”

 

Yet, as they say in the printing world, the claim “has feet.” That is, the belief in Moroni and Joseph calling the hill “Cumorah has a life of its own. This, even though the scriptural record does not say where he would hide the records. What he said was: “Therefore I will write and hide up the records in the earth; and whither I go it mattereth not” (Mormon 8:4).

Comment: “In the real world, it would be up to the resurrected Moroni to tell Joseph where the plates were buried—which he did.”

Response: What Moroni told Joseph was where the plates were at the time he appeared to Joseph, not “where they were buried”

Comment: “He also made the connection Cumorah, which, if Joseph and Cowdery and Brigham Young are to be believed, he also did.”

Response: As mentioned above, the idea that Moroni connected the term “Cumorah” with the hill in New York is ill-founded.   

As is the claim that Joseph Smith made a connection between the hill Cumorah in the scriptural record and the hill in New York “where the plates were hidden-up,” but there is no written proof of this or anything to substantiate it. It is also not supportable that Moroni told Joseph Smith the two Cumorah’s were the same hill, nor do we know that Moroni ever called the New York hill by the name of Cumorah.

Many theorists quote the incident where David Whitmer recounted to Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith in 1878, the story he claimed was about Moroni telling him, Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith that he, Moroni, was going to Cumorah.

It is 31 miles from Fayette, New York to the Hill Cumorah. From Harmony to Fayette is 295 miles, and from Harmony to the Hill Cumorqh is 277 (by a different route from the mid-point) 

 

Joseph F. Smith wrote a journal entry for April 25, 1918, apparently based on his interview with Whitmer in 1878, “When they started for New York, Joseph and Emma were on the hind seat (of the wagon) and Oliver and David on the front seat. In the middle of the prairie, all of the sudden, there appeared a man walking along the road, and David said he raised his hat and rubbed his brow as if he were a little warm, and said good morning to them and they said good morning. Oliver and David looked at each other and began to marvel and wonder: Where did he come from, and what does this mean? And Joseph said, ‘Ask him to ride.’ So David, who was teamster, asked him if he would get in and ride with them. He said, ‘No, I’m just going over to Cumorah.’ David said, ‘Cumorah? Cumorah? What does that mean?’ He had never heard of Cumorah, and he said, ‘I thought I knew this country all around here, but I never heard of Cumorah,’ and he inquired about it. While he was looking around and trying to ascertain what the mystery was, the man was gone, and when he looked back he did not see him anymore. Then he demanded, ‘What does it mean?’ Joseph informed him that the man was Moroni, and that the bundle on his back contained plates which Joseph had delivered to him before they departed from Harmony, Susquehanna County, and that he was taking them for safety, and would return them when he (Joseph) reached father Whitmer’s home. There was a long talk about this” (emphasis added).

It should be noted that Moroni did not tell them he was going to the Hill Cumurah—only that he was going to Cumorah. Since we do not know what the word Cumorah might signify to Moroni, we cannot speculate on what he meant. Even if he was referring to the hill in Manchester, the latter part of the road to Fayette is not directly to the hill in Manchester. In addition, since he was carrying the plates, evidently to protect them, and would deliver them back to Joseph in Fayette, why would he be going to the hill in Manchester?

Certainly if Joseph knew he was going to the hill in Manchester, or that the hill was called Cumorah, or that Moroni had told him so, he would have said something, but neither Joseph nor Oliver Cowdery said as much in this perfect opportunity to say so. Nor can we infer that Joseph thought of the hill as Cumorah or, again, he would likely said so when Peter Whitmer asked for an explanation. 

(See the next post, “Who Said What, and What Did They Mean? – Part II,” for more of the comments made by theorists regarding their interpretation of the meaning)