Mary Whitmer: Witness of the Book of Mormon

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Mary Whitmer "'was about to order them out of her home.'” Thus Moroni’s intervention was perhaps more purposeful than we might have previously thought"

The most interesting aspect of this story is that Mary Whitmer’s difficulty with the household situation was more than just being tired from all the extra work. She was irritated by Joseph and Oliver’s indifference to all the work she was doing, with their not helping out and instead skipping rocks for relaxation, so “she was about to order them out of her home.” Thus Moroni’s intervention was perhaps more purposeful than we might have previously thought. Undoubtedly, many others exerted much effort on behalf of providing help to Joseph and Oliver (such as Emma Smith had just done in Harmony, Pennsylvania, for the previous three months). Here, however, Moroni needed to deal with a more difficult situation, one that could have forced Joseph to find another place – and a secure one – to do the translating. Moroni (and the Lord) weren’t in the habit of just showing the plates to people to encourage them to act as a support team for the work of the translation.^[1]

Notes

1. ↑ Royal Skousen, "Another Account of Mary Whitmer’s Viewing of the Golden Plates," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 10:35-44 (2014).