Gold plates

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Model of the gold plates, as described by Joseph Smith.

The gold plates (often referred to as the golden Bible in 19th century literature ) are the source from which Joseph Smith claims to have translated the Book of Mormon . Some witnesses described the plates as weighing 14 to 27 kg, consisting of thin gold-colored metal sides, written on both sides and connected with three D-shaped rings. Smith said he found the plates on September 22, 1823 on a hill near his childhood home in Manchester , New York , after an angel led him to a buried stone container. Smith said that the angel first forbade him to take the plates and directed him to return in a year. In September 1827, on his fourth attempt to get at the plates, Smith returned with a heavy object wrapped in a cloth and placed in a box. Although Smith allowed others to touch it, he forbade them (as he said “according to the will of the angel”) to look at the gold plates until he had translated the text from Reformed Egyptian into English. For this he claims to have used two seer stones, called Urim and Thummim .

Smith presented the testimonies of eleven men believed to have seen the gold plates. These are called " Book of Mormon Witnesses ." After the translation is said to be finished, Joseph Smith claims to have returned the plates to the angel. Therefore, they could no longer be examined now.

origin

A transcript of Reformed Egyptian letters copied from Smith's gold plates in 1828. The letters are not known in any language.

While most historians question the real existence of the gold plates, they are considered a fact in Mormon circles. The plates are said to have not been shown to anyone but a few of Smith's companions. The Book of Mormon presents the plates as a historical object on which the prophets Mormon and Moroni are said to have written in Reformed Egyptian . This script is unknown to linguists and Egyptologists .

Historically, Mormon churches have taught that the history of the gold plates is correct. The fellowship of Christ today no longer has an official position on this, although it accepts the Book of Mormon as scripture. Even in the more conservative Latter-day Saint Church of Jesus Christ, there are members who no longer believe the Book of Mormon was translated from gold plates but still accept it as scripture.

history

An engraving from 1893 showing Joseph Smith receiving the plates from the angel Moroni.

The history of the gold plates tells how Smith claims to have found the plates, received them and claims to have them returned. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has canonized this in part in its Pearl of Great Price.

“He called me by name and said to me that he was a messenger, sent to me from the presence of God, and his name was Moroni; God have work for me to do; and my name will be valid for good and bad with all nations, families and tongues; yea, good and bad will be spoken of him among all people. He said there was a book kept, written on gold plates, in it there was an account of the former inhabitants of this continent and their origins. He said it contained the fulness of the everlasting gospel as the Savior brought the residents of ancient times. Two stones are also kept in silver brackets with the plates - and these stones, attached to a breastplate, form the so-called Urim and Thummim - and the possession and use of these stones used to have someone as a “seer " made; and God prepared them so that the book could be translated. "

- Joseph Smith History verses 33-35 in The Pearl of Great Price

description

An artist's rendering of the Gold Plates, Urim and Thummim , and Liahona

Martin Harris described the alleged appearance as follows: “The gold plates were connected on one side with rings. They were 18 cm wide and 20 cm long and were as thick as sheet metal. When they were all folded, they were about 10 cm thick. "

David Whitmer , another of the three witnesses, added: “The thickness of sheet metal; secured on the back with three rings ... which allow the sheets to be turned over. "

Smith did not publish his own description of the plates until 1842. In it he said: “Each plate was six inches wide and eight inches long, and not as thick as ordinary sheet metal; the plates were bound together like in a book; with three rings that went through; the panels were almost 15 cm thick when folded. "

The plates were described as "golden" and in 1827 they were called the "golden Bible". When the book was published in 1830, the eight Witnesses described the plates as "golden looking". The Book of Mormon teaches that the plates were made of "ore." Smith's first description was that the plates "looked like gold," and Smith said that the angel Moroni called them "golden." In 1831, David Whitmer described the color of the plates as pale yellow and stated that the rings were made of the same metal. This was all in a newspaper interview.

literature

  • Martin Harris : Mormonism, No. II. In: Tiffany's Monthly. Volume 5, 1859, pp. 163-170 ( Wikisource ).
  • Dan Vogel : Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet . Signature Books, Salt Lake City 2004.
  • Richard Bushman : Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling . Alfred A. Knopf, New York 2005, ISBN 1-4000-4270-4 .
  • Abner Cole: Gold Bible, No. 6 . In: The [Palmyra] Reflector . tape II , no. March 16 , 19, 1831 ( sidneyrigdon.com ).
  • Joseph Smith: Church History [Wentworth Letter] . In: Times and Seasons . tape 3 , no. 9 , March 1, 1842, p. 906-936 ( centerplace.org ).

Notes and evidence

  1. ↑ In Mormon publications the term "gold plates" is commonly used, cf. mormon.org/deu/buch-mormon Book of Mormon or Mormon press page .
  2. ↑ The use of the terms golden Bible and gold Bible by believers and non-believers dates back to the late 1820s.
  3. ↑ Vogel estimates that solid gold plates with the same dimensions would weigh about 64 kg.
  4. ↑ a b Book of Mormon (introduction with testimonies).
  5. ^ Richard N. Ostling, Joan K. Ostling: Mormon America: The Power and the Promise (HarperSanFrancisco, 1999) beginning of a chapter called "The Gold Bible" (pp. 259-277).
  6. ^ Jan Shipps: Mormonism: The Story of a New Religious Tradition. University of Illinois Press, p. 23.
  7. ↑ “They 'Shall Blossom as the Rose': Native Americans and the Dream of Zion” ( Memento from August 17, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ "In the early 20th century, BH Roberts , General Authority and historian for the LDS Church, believed that Smith was able to make the Book of Mormon himself" (Osling 1999, 264).
  9. ^ Joseph Smith - History 1 ( lds.org ).
  10. ↑ Martin Harris : Mormonism, No. II. In: Tiffany's Monthly. Volume 5, 1859, pp. 163-170 ( Wikisource ).
  11. ↑ a b Abner Cole: Gold Bible, No. 6 . In: The [Palmyra] Reflector . II, No. 16, March 19, 1831.
  12. Jump up ↑ Joseph Smith, Church History [Wentworth Letter] . In: Times and Seasons . 3, No. 9, March 1, 1842, pp. 906-936.
  13. Jump up ↑ Pearl of Great Price: Joseph Smith – History 1:34.