Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
Did David Whitmer heft the golden plates?

Did David Whitmer heft the golden plates?

Last updated on: September 27, 2020 at 11:24 am by Dan Peterson

Did David Whitmer heft the golden plates? 2020-09-27T11:24:55-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

From left to right, in a still photo by James Jordan from the set of the Interpreter Foundation “Witnesses” film project, currently nearing completion: Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Joseph Smith, who has the plates of the Book of Mormon in a box.

Ronald E. Romig, Eighth Witness: The Biography of John Whitmer (Independence, MO: John Whitmer Books, 2014), cites one of the earliest newspaper reports about the experience of the Book of Mormon witnesses. It appeared — perhaps republished from elsewhere — in the Painesville (Ohio) Telegraph on 29 March 1831. The editor of the Telegraph and the author of the article was Eber D. Howe, who would go on to publish the very first anti-Mormon book, Mormonism Unvailed, in 1834. The account reads as follows:

[David] Whitmar [sic] . . . [has] been of late permitted, not only to see and handle it [the plates], but to examine the contents. Whitmar relates that he was led by Smith into an open field, on his [Whitmer’s] father’s farm near Waterloo, when they found the book lying on the ground; Smith took it up and requested him to examine it, which he did for the space of half an hour or more, when he returned it to Smith, who placed it in its former position, alleging that the book was in the custody of another, intimating that some divine agent would have it in safe keeping. This witness describes the book as being something like eight inches square, the leaves were plates of metal of a whitish yellow color, and of the thickness of tin plate — the back was secured with three small rings of the same metal, passing through each leaf in succession. (cited at page 54, italics in original)

Although the description of the plates and their connecting rings is fairly accurate here, there is nothing miraculous in this account, no angel, no voice of God, and nobody else present. Moreover, it puts the discovery of the plates near the Whitmer farm in Waterloo rather than near the Smith farm adjacent to Palmyra (and more than twenty-five miles from Waterloo). It seems to be a very loose second- or third-account report, possibly based on garbled rumor. (Painesville was roughly twelve miles from Kirtland. The Latter-day Saints were just beginning to be noticed in the Kirtland area. Joseph Smith himself would move from to Ohio from New York only during the next month.) But the official statement of the Three Witnesses — with its explicit mention of the angel and the divine voice, and signed not only by David Whitmer but also by Martin Harris and Oliver Cowdery — had already been in print for nearly a year.

Romig continues in his own voice:

Of course, Whitmer witnessed about his angelic encounter in numerous interviews. Whether he physically handled the plates is a more interesting question. In at least two interviews, David seems to suggest that he did. J. W. Chatburn reported Whitmer saying, “These hands handled the plates, these eyes saw the angel, and these ears heard his voice.” And James H. Moyle recalled David saying “that he did see and handle the plates; that he did see and hear the angel and heard the declaration that the plates had been translated correctly.” (54)

On the whole, I’m inclined to think that the Three Witnesses — at least in the experience to which they testify in the printed Book of Mormon itself — did not handle the plates. Certainly, in their formal statement, they don’t claim to have done so. However, Martin Harris held the plates on his lap on at least one occasion, while they were in a box, before his experience with the angel. (He commented on their remarkable weight.). So, perhaps too, did his wife, Lucy Harris. And it’s not impossible that David Whitmer had experienced them in similar fashion. However, the Eight Witnesses emphatically did claim a direct encounter with the physical plates, “hefting” them and turning their pages.

Uncategorized

Book of Mormon

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Shannon Caldwell Montez

Previous Post

September 26, 2020

"God is a mathematician of a very high order"

Next Post

September 27, 2020 Revision 5.14 “What the West Owes the East” (Medicine and Other Sciences)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who saw the vision of the valley of dry bones?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Ezekiel Daniel Isaiah Jeremiah