What is known about the Book of Mormon, its geographical setting, and other matters? Perhaps that knowledge is missing from lack of attention when reading areas without comprehension. This can occur when ignoring passages that are unknown or not understood. Sometimes additional knowledge or information is needed. Sometimes a slower pace is necessary so that uncommon points can be understood. Below are some of the typical ideas, events, or items that are atypical to our knowledge.
9. Printed copies in Joseph Smith’s lifetime. There were five editions of the Book of Mormon printed during the life of Joseph Smith. The first edition was printed in Palmyra in 1830. The second edition was printed seven years later in Kirtland in1837, with the third edition printed n Nauvoo in 1840. The fourth edition was printed in Liverpool, England, in 1841.
There were five editions printed during Joseph Smith’s lifetime
There were no editions printed for 29 years in America During this time however, there were four editions printed in Liverpool, England (1849, 1852, 1854 and 1866). In addition, were no 3rd and 4th Nephi printed in the first edition of the Book of Mormon–or any other edition of it prior to 1879. There are, however, two books with the titles “The Book of Nephi, The Son of Nephi, Which Was the Son of Helaman” and “The Book of Nephi, Which Was the Son of Nephi, One of the Disciples of Jesus Christ,” in 1879, when Orson Pratt divided the Book of Mormon into what is now our current chapters and verses, “3 Nephi” and “4 Nephi” were added to these titles for clarification. In 1920, they were again revised to “Third Nephi” and “Fourth Nephi.”
The first three editions of the Book of Mormon (1830, 37, 40) placed the “Testimony of “Three Witnesses” and also the “Testimony of Eight Witnesses” at the end of the book—following the book of Moroni. The 1841 Liverpool edition was the first edition to move the “witness” page to the front.
In 1851 the first foreign language edition of the Book of Mormon was printed in Danish. The French, German and Italian editions soon followed in 1852. The first Spanish edition didn’t appear until 1886. The first edition Book of Mormon shows “Joseph Smith, Jr.” as the “Author and Proprietor,” while all subsequent editions from 1837 to the present show Joseph Smith as the translator. The 1852 Book of Mormon (third European edition) was the first to number verses and include paragraphs. In 1879, Orson Pratt divided the Book of Mormon into smaller chapters and verses. These are the same chapters and verses used in the current editions of the Book of Mormon.
10. Emma and Joseph receive the plates. In 1826, the angel Moroni told Joseph that he could obtain the plates the following year if he brought “the right person” to the hill and that, when the time came, he would know who that person would be. When the time had come for Joseph to receive the plates, he took his wife Emma and borrowed a horse and carriage belonging to Joseph Knight, Sr., and went to the hill now known as the Hill Cumorah, where the plates were buried—he received a set of golden plates—he also received the Urim and Thumim and a breastplate, which were tools to help with the translation of the gold plates.
The following year, Joseph and Emma decided to move to Harmony, Pennsylvania, where they reconciled—to some extent—with Emma's parents.
Inset three witnesses; background the eight witnesses
11. Witnesses. The Apostle Paul taught, “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established” (2 Corinthians 13:1). When the Lord teaches an important principle, He sends another source to confirm it. The Book of Mormon is a second witness to the testament of Jesus Christ given by the Bible. This combined witness—in the mouth of two or three witnesses—of both books of scripture can broaden and deepen our understanding and testimony of the Savior, Jesus Christ.
It should also be noted that the Book of Mormon had its own witnesses—there were the first three: Oliver Cowdery, David Witmer, and Martin Harris; and a second group consisting of eight witnesses. The first group satisfies Paul’s “In the mouth of two or three witnesses,” in an individual manner, and the second group satisfies the directive in a different interpretation of Paul’s statement.
12. Killing Fevers. At one point Mormon, abridging Alma’s record, discusses the only weather condition in the Land of Promise. As is stated: “There were some who died with fevers, which at some seasons of the year were very frequent in the land—but not so much so with fevers, because of the excellent qualities of the many plants and roots which God had prepared to remove the cause of diseases, to which men were subject by the nature of the climate” (Alma 46:40, emphasis added).
Note that God had prepared, because of the nature of the climate, plants and roots to counter the effect of killing fevers. Now since killing fevers are by far malaria, there was only one cure for such prior to the 1600s, and that was quinine—and in all the world, quinine was found only in one place—Andean Peru of South America
13. The translation of the plates. David Whitmer said, regarding Joseph Smith's translation of the Book of Mormon: “Joseph put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine.”
The photo of the seer stone, which was released by the Church recently
In the hat was a “seer stone,” found and used by Joseph, who looked into the hat to lessen the glare and see the words better. The seer stone was used to draw the images across it so Joseph could read them off to the scribe—thus, words appeared on the stone which Joseph interpreted. He then told the scribe the words or meanings who then wrote them down. If they were written correctly the ones on the seer stone in the hat would disappear and were replaced by new ones—if not, they would remain on the stone until corrected (Lloyd, R. Scott, “Church releases Book of Mormon printer’s manuscript” Deseret News, Salt Lake, August 5, 2015; “Mormons publish photos of ‘seer stone’ used by Joseph Smith,” New York Post, Associated Press, August 4, 2015).
14. Moroni and the Gold Plates. It should be noted that Moroni did not bury the plates in the hill Cumorah—in fact, we do not know where he buried them! There is no specific place known that Moroni deposited the plates in the ground. He merely said prior to 400 BC (Mormon 8:6) “Therefore I will write and hide up the records in the earth; and whither I go it mattereth not” (Mormon 8:4). As can be seen, there is no mention of where territorially he deposited them in the ground. More than 21 years later, 421 AD, Moroni wrote the final words and deposited the plates in the ground—where he was at the time is unknown, but certainly not around the hill Cumorah, which would have been while on the run from the Lamanites.
Fifteen years later, Moroni writes a heartbreakingly lonely addendum, saying only that he will "hide up the records in the earth", without specifying any further location. About twenty years later, he recovers the plates (at least the Nephite abridgment of his father with his own abridgment of the Jaredite record) and adds the final book of Moroni. Again, he mentions no specific location.
When reading the scriptural record it is necessary at times to pause over a word or phrase and make sure the meaning and depths of the words are understand. Sometimes doing so brings greater enjoyment, enlightenment, and understanding to what has been read.
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