The Next Witness: Prophet-Editors of The Book of Mormon

By Nathan E. Lambert

This book is written primarily to the experienced, but also to those who are new to the study of The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ. It is a viewing of the underlying themes that initially inspired the ancient prophet-editors of that scripture and the lens through which they determined content.
By highlighting this skeletal-structure, we gain 1) A greater understanding of the intentions of the work, 2) A perception of the purpose of the irregular cadence of the history, and 3) A greater awareness of the reasons for inclusion of otherwise anomalous elements.
This road map from the prospective of the prophet-editors will forever enhance your ability to understand the varied and multi-layered messages that God prepared for us through the genius of their writing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Oct 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667854564

Book preview

In the Rough

For some, this might uncover additional insight into a book of scripture, the study of which has been a life-long passion, while for others, this will be the first glimpse of what can become a beautiful friendship. In either case and for anyone in between, I ask your permission to take you on what will at first seem to be an outing into the tall grass but assure you that it is a tour of the fairway. In other words, once you see it, you will not un-see it.

This message will enhance your understanding of some of the basic tenants that you may already hold close: Joseph Smith is the prophet through whom the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored in this dispensation. The Restoration is ongoing through living prophets today. The Book of Mormon is true, plays a role in the restoration of the gospel, and strengthens our ability to receive and to understand the will of God.

Mormon, his son Moroni, and Nephi(1) were not only the primary abridgers of the record we know as The Book of Mormon, but that they were also editors: They each specifically compiled this record from the originally written history to produce a manual to teach a seer—who would translate this work—to be a prophet of God.

Most of us read The Book of Mormon as a chronicle of events, sifting its annals for the precious gems of doctrine and of example. In so doing, we often bump up against or skip over certain anomalies that don’t fit our idea of proper history. For example, Nephi including two visions of Lehi in the first 15 verses of his small plates, which were hearsay via Nephi and most certainly already contained in the lost 116 pages of manuscript referred to as the book of Lehi. We will recognize that items from the original historical record were hand-picked for use in the text and that those and many of the other anomalies are not inconsistencies at all, but that they verify that it is primarily a precisely-edited manual that is secondarily a history.

We will cover a lot of ground to demonstrate this. Here are a few of the highlights:

The purpose of the inclusion of the Isaiah chapters will be manifest. As I have come to understand why Nephi appreciated them, they have become some of my favorite studies.

We will discuss Brigham Young’s testimony in the presence of Joseph Smith that modern revelation was even more important than the scriptures that the saints had received. In other words, as important as The Book of Mormon and The Bible are, modern revelation surpasses them both. As an example: were this not the case, Mormon might have followed the precedent of Ether by hiding and protecting the records instead of rejoining and leading the doomed Nephite army.

We note biblical precedence for the preparation of Joseph Smith by the prophet-editors of The Book of Mormon: That the prophet Samuel called Saul to prophesy among the prophets.

1 Samuel 10:5-7, 9-11

5…when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy:

6 And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.

7 And let it be, when these signs are come unto thee, that thou do as occasion serve thee; for God is with thee.

9 And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day.

10 And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.

11 And it came to pass, when all that knew him before time saw that, behold, he prophesied among the prophets, then the people said one to another, What is this that is come unto the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?

How was Joseph Smith called to be a prophet of God? The several accounts of the First Vision (1832 account, 1835 account, 1838 account which was canonized and now contained in The Pearl of Great Price), 1842 account and five known second-hand accounts do not mention specifically that Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet. The records state simply that he was called of God.

Joseph Smith-History 1:28

28 …In making this confession, no one need suppose me guilty of any great or malignant sins. A disposition to commit such was never in my nature. But I was guilty of levity, and sometimes associated with jovial company, etc., not consistent with that character which ought to be maintained by one who was called of God as I had been….

When Moroni appears to him (several times) a few years later, he is called specifically to be a seer:

Joseph Smith-History 1:33

33 He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people.

Moroni then immediately specified his work as seer:

Joseph Smith-History 1:34-35

34 He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the fulness of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants;

35 Also, that there were two stones in silver bows—and these stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted what is called the Urim and Thummin—deposited with the plates; and the possession and use of these stones were what constituted seers in ancient or former times; and that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book.

There were, however, some hints dropped about him becoming a prophet: From the record of the First Vision we read:

Joseph Smith –History 1:20

20…and many other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time…

And also, from the visitation(s) of Moroni:

Joseph Smith –History 1:41

41 He also quoted the second chapter of Joel, from the twenty-eighth verse to the last.

Which is not quoted in Joseph Smith’s History but reads in part:

Joel 2:28-29

28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

(Now continuing Joseph Smith-History, v. 41:)

He also said that this was not yet fulfilled but was soon to be….

There are two ways to see this: The first way is that Joseph Smith was called as a prophet of God during the first vision, or during those first visitations of Moroni, and that this fact was either omitted from the records, or Joseph Smith was forbidden to mention it at that time. This alternative is suspect because Joseph Smith-History was recorded retrospectively in 1838 by the Prophet Joseph Smith, with—-especially then as prophet—no reason to withhold such an elemental detail.

The second is that Joseph Smith was formally extended the call as seer by the prophet Moroni, and that the calling of prophet was—if not received, at least recognized—later when Joseph Smith took up…the mantle (2 Kings 2:13) and acted as a prophet.

We will explore details that will indicate when this occurred.

The order of translation of The Book of Mormon is significant because this is the order in which particular concepts of receiving revelation were taught to Joseph Smith as he translated by the power of revelation. (See Doctrine and Covenants 8 & 9.) It is generally understood that Mosiah was translated first, then on through Moroni, then the small plates of Nephi were translated, ending with The Words of Mormon. This is noteworthy because of how they build on one another and how Joseph Smith responded to the later lessons. Also, the fact that the theme of the small plates of Nephi parallels the theme of Mormon’s abridgment sheds additional light on the reason that he found the things on those small plates pleasing to him and therefore included them at the end. (See Words of Mormon 1:3-7)

If it had not been clear to him before, Joseph Smith was taught early on that a seer is a revelator and also, a prophet.

Mosiah 8:16

16 And Ammon said that a seer is a revelator and a prophet also; and a gift which is greater can no man have, except he should possess the power of God, which no man can; yet a man may have great power given him from God.

One can only imagine how this news may have overwhelmed him—perhaps even as his he was in the process of changing to a new scribe. Later, during the course of translating, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery would learn that great miracles were and are, in fact, accomplished through revelation.

Doctrine and Covenants 8:3

3 Now, behold, this is the spirit of revelation; behold, this is the spirit by which Moses brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea on dry ground.

Mormon continued his careful edit of the history to teach the value and utility of a prophet of God in practical matters of guiding the children of God. He then provided a master class on how to learn from The Master. He showed us that Christ teaches to the level of the listeners:

There is a noteworthy difference in the Sermon on the Mount as given to the people near Capernaum vs. the people at the temple in Bountiful. The latter being a literate people and the former not so much. (See 3 Nephi 12 :21,27,31,33,38,43 as compared to the original sermon found in Matt 5: 21,27,31,33,38,43.) We can rest assured that Joseph Smith would have compared them.

Instead of Christ using all new words, as recorded in 3 Nephi 22, He quotes Isaiah’s words—which of course originated from Him—but he uses Isaiah’s writings because they are already familiar with the people.

We learn a particular methodology which the Lord employs to teach his people.

3 Nephi 17:2-3

2 I perceive that ye are weak, that ye cannot understand all my words which I am commanded of the Father to speak unto you at this time.

3 Therefore, go ye unto your homes, and ponder upon the things which I have said, and ask of the Father, in my name, that ye may understand, and prepare your minds for the morrow, and I come unto you again.

Christ did not say that they looked tired and should go home. He said in essence: You need to take some time to ponder and pray in order to prepare to fully understand even the words from my own lips. It is not God’s will that they should be forced upon you.

The prophet Moroni, abridging the history from the plates of Ether, particularly edited them to begin with a poignant description of the brother of Jared losing sight of his commission as a prophet: The brother of Jared called upon the name of the Lord that the language of their family should not be confounded; he called upon the name of the Lord that the language of their friends not be confounded. He called upon the name of the Lord when they felt that He would lead them out of the land and to a Promised Land. Then, when they migrated as far as the beach (perhaps life was pretty good at that point?), the brother of Jared left off asking about the next steps. For this, he was chastened, not for simply not praying. From this and from the subsequent exertions of the brother of Jared, Joseph Smith learned the extraordinary and ongoing effort that the Lord requires of his prophets.

Moroni taught why The Book of Mormon is not as powerful and plain-spoken as is the record of the brother of Jared. This is another look at the method of Christ’s teaching as listed above. Namely that we will need to ponder and pray in order to come to know the things of God through the spirit.

Then the record of Nephi(1). We will discuss how the small plates of Nephi were written with and according to a theme. We will discuss how each story follows the theme. We will discuss why certain things were included that at first may not seem to fit with the history because of this theme.

As soon as the record stopped its retrospection, Nephi turned over the plates to his primary student. The prophet Jacob was asked to include a few chapters according to the theme, using the words of Isaiah as a starting point, and to prophesy with the prophets.

In translating these small plates by revelation, Joseph Smith understood at this point that he too was called to prophesy with the prophets. We will discuss many of the evidence that Joseph Smith added what we know as 2 Nephi chapters 27-29. Whenever the calling was formally extended, Joseph Smith knew at this point that he was a prophet because he too did prophesy with the prophets. After the training through translation, this was the act that mirrored when Elisha took up the mantle of Elijah and with it smote the waters of the Jordan. (2 Kings 2:13-14)

Why is this important?

Firstly: Great faith and the capacity to receive revelation both fall under the general heading of intelligence—which means we can take it with us:

Doctrine and Covenants 130:18-19

18 Whatever principle of intelligence attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.

For now, the level of faith required of us is …faith unto salvation… (1 Peter 1:5) which is generally understood as enough faith to be obedient to the will of God. As celestial beings, we will grow to be able to create worlds, which means that we will, at some point, not only need to develop the faith to move mountains but to do even more. Since it is possible, it stands to reason that even in this life, we should strive to reach even beyond faith unto salvation if only to assure that we indeed have that requisite minimum requirement, that His grace may be sufficient for us.

Moses 1:39

39 For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

Since our immortality and eternal life are God’s work and His glory, it also stands to reason that as celestial beings, our actions will be to His glory. We will not work by faith alone. We will direct our actions as we develop the ability to understand His will, which will be revealed to us.

Secondly: The capacity to receive revelation is closely connected to faith, and both are useful tools in this life. With the manual in hand that the prophet Joseph Smith learned from, we can enhance our aptitude to obtain the will of God. We will not all be called as prophets and apostles, but as children of God, each of us can cultivate the capability to receive revelation and thereby—and through our choices—help direct and accomplish His work in our part of the vineyard.

We pray thy kingdom come. If the children of God could individually and collectively know truth and know the will of God, wouldn’t that bind the power of Satan for perhaps 1000 years? It would appear that in that day, there will be many who will have the gifts of prophesy and revelation. Not just the leaders but also those who are led. Having much more universal access can only bring greater peace among all earth dwellers.

I can state with certainty that when one heightens his awareness of The Book of Mormon as the revelation training manual that it was designed to be, The Book of Mormon will become an extremely useful tool for the saints to prepare themselves for the Millennium.

And once you see it….you will also see that The Book of Mormon deserves exploration via the prospective of its three prophet-editors.

Chapter 2

Editors of The Book of Mormon

Years ago my father-in-law worked as a research nuclear physicist at a large company. This company had a local primary campus known as The Plant. In one of the buildings there was a row of the offices of the seven local physicists, six of whom were coincidently named Bob. Each of the offices was the same size, each had glass on the upper half of the wall facing the hallway, and each of the first six doors had a simple sign designation with only the name of the occupant: Bob— followed by his last name. All had a modest placard except for the last door. Though perhaps the most junior in age, she was not inferior in her education. In a vocation that was at the time dominated by men, and tiring from requests of others thinking that she was secretary to the other six offices, she intentionally included a second placard with a complete listing of her degrees.

We should begin our study by recognizing some titles pertaining specifically to the creation of The Book of Mormon. As we will examine in this work, the bearers of these titles would humbly not include them on their office doors, but there is some learning that can come from understanding them.

Mormon abridged the majority of The Book of Mormon.

The Book of Mormon, Title Page

Wherefore, it is an abridgment of the record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites…

To abridge means to shorten by the omission of words without the sacrifice of sense. Mormon was an abridger. Moroni was an abridger:

The Book of Mormon, Title Page

An abridgment taken from the Book of Ether also…

And Nephi (1) was an abridger:

2 Nephi 9:2

2 And now, as I have spoken concerning these plates, behold they are not the plates upon which I make a full account of the history of my people; for the plates upon which I make a full account of my people I have given the name of Nephi; wherefore, they are called the plates of Nephi, after mine own name; and these plates also are called the plates of Nephi.

We accept that The Book of Mormon was abridged by Mormon and Moroni, and also Nephi, but we do not often see them as editors also. Editing is a critical task in the abridging work as it determines the criteria of acceptance of various parts of the record into the final draft of the manuscript and fits the pieces together so that they are accurate, make sense, and teach the desired concepts to the target audiences. For example, Nephi stated in the very next verse:

1 Nephi 9:3

3 Nevertheless, I have received a commandment of the Lord that I should make these plates, for the special purpose that there should be an account engraven of the ministry of my people.

More than just abridging, Nephi explicitly filtered the commonplace from the records and included specific teaching (ministry) to a specific audience (my people.) This is editing, not in the simplistic, proofreading sense, but in the global sense: Nephi reduces the text to serve a special purpose. We will demonstrate how this is also the case with Mormon and Moroni.

Though editors usually play an invisible role in the production of a book, writer-editors such as these, play a prominent role not only because they lived in that era, but because the narrative, the history, the information, and the doctrine are all filtered through their lenses. The doctrine taught by Abinadi was remembered and written by Alma, and later edited by Mormon into what we have today. A simple abridgement might have excluded this important sermon completely, struck off because it occurred on a parallel timeline and not directly in the nation of the Nephite kings.

The role of an editor of scripture requires a particular set of skills and a special connection with deity. One of these is to be a seer:

Mosiah 8:15-16

15 And the king said that a seer is greater than a prophet.

16 And Ammon said that a seer is a revelator and a prophet also; and a gift which is greater can no man have, except he should possess the power of God, which no man can; yet a man may have great power given him from God.

Not all prophets are seers, but all seers are prophets. While we may not know all of the special skills and requirements, we do know that these three editors, as well as he who would translate The Book of Mormon in this dispensation were called of God to be seers. (1 Nephi 10:7, Words of Mormon 1:9, Moroni 1:1-4, Doctrine and Covenants 21:1)

Recognizing that they held many other important and secular titles as leaders of their people—for this work we will list the following on each of the office doors of Mormon, Moroni, and Nephi: Prophet, Seer, Revelator, Writer, Abridger and Editor.

Chapter 3

White Water

In 1848,Gold was discovered in California at Sutter’s Mill on the South Fork of the American River. Today, that section of the river is also a popular run for white-water rafting, with several Class III+ rapids. And there are at least 20 white-water rafting companies whose business is to make sure you have a thrilling and safe experience on this part of the river. The white-water enthusiasts have worked out a deal with the water-resources board so the out-flow from Chili Bar Dam above, though reduced most of the day, is increased for a few hours in the morning to create a nice ride for the rafts. The window of extra water-flow is listed in a published schedule throughout the rafting season.

Several years ago, I was training with several of my friends to be a river-rafting guide for that segment. The training involved a series of practice runs so we could become acquainted with that particular water. For each run, we would get up early on a Saturday morning, grab breakfast, drive three hours to the river, and get the equipment set up and the boats inflated. We would put in at a park designated for such a purpose, located on the downstream edge of the Marshall Gold-Discovery Park, and take out