Preliminary Reflections on the Sealed Portion of the Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon Notes - Wednesday, May 8, 2024, Ether 4 (Part 1)
It would be easy to assume that the record of the brother of Jared in Ether’s record has been revealed or unsealed through Moroni’s abridgment that the Prophet Joseph Smith translated by the gift and power of God. But remember that Moroni provided an abridgment of this record, holding back the greater portion according to the Lord’s will to test our faith. The greater portion of the brother of Jared’s record is still sealed:
And the Lord said unto him: Write these things and aseal them up; and I will show them in mine own due time unto the children of men.
And it came to pass that the Lord commanded him that he should seal up the two astones which he had received, and show them not, until the Lord should show them unto the children of bmen. (Ether 3:27-28)
Moroni abridges and comments upon the brother of Jared’s experience, but the full record has yet to be revealed. What is in the full record, the greater portion? Remember Nephi’s vision and prophesy:
And it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall bring forth unto you the words of a book, and they shall be the words of them which have slumbered.
And behold the book shall be sealed; and in the book shall be a revelation from God, from the beginning of the world to the ending thereof.
Wherefore, because of the things which are sealed up, the things which are sealed shall not be delivered in the day of the wickedness and abominations of the people. Wherefore the book shall be kept from them.
But the book shall be delivered unto a man, and he shall deliver the words of the book, which are the words of those who have slumbered in the dust, and he shall deliver these words unto another;
But the words which are sealed he shall not deliver, neither shall he deliver the book. For the book shall be sealed by the power of God, and the revelation which was sealed shall be kept in the book until the own due time of the Lord, that they may come forth; for behold, they reveal all things from the foundation of the world unto the end thereof.
And the day cometh that the words of the book which were sealed shall be read upon the house tops; and they shall be read by the power of Christ; and all things shall be revealed unto the children of men which ever have been among the children of men, and which ever will be even unto the end of the earth.
Wherefore, at that day when the book shall be delivered unto the man of whom I have spoken, the book shall be hid from the eyes of the world, that the eyes of none shall behold it save it be that three witnesses shall behold it, by the power of God, besides him to whom the book shall be delivered; and they shall testify to the truth of the book and the things therein.
And there is none other which shall view it, save it be a few according to the will of God, to bear testimony of his word unto the children of men; for the Lord God hath said that the words of the faithful should speak as if it were from the dead.
Wherefore, the Lord God will proceed to bring forth the words of the book; and in the mouth of as many witnesses as seemeth him good will he establish his word; and wo be unto him that rejecteth the word of God!
But behold, it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall say unto him to whom he shall deliver the book: Take these words which are not sealed and deliver them to another, that he may show them unto the learned, saying: Read this, I pray thee. And the learned shall say: Bring hither the book, and I will read them.
And now, because of the glory of the world and to get gain will they say this, and not for the glory of God.
And the man shall say: I cannot bring the book, for it is sealed.
Then shall the learned say: I cannot read it.
Wherefore it shall come to pass, that the Lord God will deliver again the book and the words thereof to him that is not learned; and the man that is not learned shall say: I am not learned.
Then shall the Lord God say unto him: The learned shall not read them, for they have rejected them, and I am able to do mine own work; wherefore thou shalt read the words which I shall give unto thee.
Touch not the things which are sealed, for I will bring them forth in mine own due time; for I will show unto the children of men that I am able to do mine own work.
Wherefore, when thou hast read the words which I have commanded thee, and obtained the witnesses which I have promised unto thee, then shalt thou seal up the book again, and hide it up unto me, that I may preserve the words which thou hast not read, until I shall see fit in mine own wisdom to reveal all things unto the children of men.
For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith. (2 Nephi 27:6-23)
As we consider the nature of what has yet to be revealed from the greater and sealed portion of the Book of Mormon, including the full record of the brother of Jared, we must also acknowledge that, as Elder W. Mark Bassett taught not long ago, “The mysteries of God are unfolded unto us only according to His will and by the power of the Holy Ghost.” Elder Bassett encouraged his audience to develop greater faith in Jesus Christ and to follow Nephi’s method of seeking truth:
Nephi’s example of seeking knowledge included (1) a sincere desire, (2) humility, (3) prayer, (4) trust in the prophet, and an exercise of (5) faith, (6) diligence, and (7) obedience. This method of seeking is in great contrast to my “prying at the plates,” or trying to force an understanding of things meant to be revealed according to the Lord’s timetable and through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Elder Bassett counseled against “prying at the plates” and looking beyond the mark:
In this modern age, we have come to expect that knowledge can and should be obtained immediately; when information is not easily known or accessible, it is often dismissed or mistrusted. Because of the abundance of information, some unwittingly give more credibility to available sources with an unknown origin rather than relying on the Lord’s established pattern for receiving personal revelation. Jacob could have been describing our time when he said: “But behold, [they] were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness … and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore, because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark, they must needs fall; for God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it.”8
Elder Bassett also reiterated and recommended the counsel of two apostles:
In contrast is President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s counsel. He spoke of missionaries, but his words are equally applicable to all seekers of spiritual truth. “When … missionaries have faith in Jesus Christ,” he said, “they will trust the Lord enough to follow His commandments—even when they do not completely understand the reasons for them. Their faith will be manifest through diligence and through work.”9
During last April’s general conference, Elder Dallin H. Oaks explained: “The Church is making great efforts to be transparent with the records we have, but after all we can publish, our members are sometimes left with basic questions that cannot be resolved by study. … Some things can be learned only by faith.”10
The Lord is able to do His own work. The Lord will reveal the contents of the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon according to His own wisdom and Divine timetable. Because of the wickedness and abominations of the people, this sealed portion of the Book of Mormon has been kept from us for a time. It is also held back until the Gentiles repent of their iniquity, become clean and sanctified before the Lord, and exercise faith in Christ like the brother of Jared.
With this wisdom and counsel in mind, we can still exercise faith in Jesus Christ, look forward to the greater portion of the Book of Mormon, and understand what it contains and when the Lord will reveal it.
What is the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon? What is contained in the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon? (see also here and here) Without “prying at the plates,” we can keep these questions in mind as we continue our study of what the Lord has already revealed.
Interestingly, there is a man who claims to have already translated the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon. The real sealed portion of the Book of Mormon was about as thick or perhaps thicker than the unsealed portion, and although we don’t yet know what is contained upon the plates of the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon, that has not stopped people from making educated, and less educated guesses. Of the sealed portion, Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote:
When, during the Millennium, the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon is translated, it will give an account of life in the premortal existence; of the creation of all things; of the Fall and the Atonement and the Second Coming; of temple ordinances, in their fulness; of the ministry and mission of translated beings; of life in the spirit world, in both paradise and hell; of the kingdoms of glory to be inhabited by resurrected beings; and many such like things.
As of now, the world is not ready to receive these truths. [5]
I don’t know where the Lord revealed that the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon will be translated during the Millennium. That may be, but it sounds like McConkie’s educated guess. What we do know is that the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon will only be revealed in the “own due time” of the Lord, when the Gentiles repent of their iniquity, become clean and sanctified before the Lord, and exercise faith in Christ, even as the brother of Jared did. (see Ether 4:6-7)
I found one blogger’s (Scott S. Mitchell) speculations helpful for thinking about the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon and the Jaredite record:
A puzzling feature of the description of the gold-colored metal plates, on which the Book of Mormon text was written, was the thickness of the sealed portion. The unsealed plates could be turned like the pages of a book, but the sealed plates were bound together by some means (which was never actually described by witnesses) whereby the individual leaves could not be separated from each other and read. David Whitmer, one of the witnesses privileged to actually see the plates, estimated the sealed portion to constitute about one half of the total number of leaves, while Orson Pratt, who did not personally see the plates but wrote about what eyewitnesses had told him, estimated the sealed portion to be two thirds of the total. The overall thickness of the sealed and unsealed portions together was estimated as ranging from four (Martin Harris’ version) to six inches (Orson Pratt’s version). The unsealed portion produced what is now 531 pages of text in the Book of Mormon, so presumably, the sealed portion, if translated, would produce approximately that same amount or more.
And,
Considerable mystery surrounds the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon plates. Several well-known LDS (i.e., members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) scholars have mistakenly taught that the full account of the vision shown by the Lord to the Brother of Jared was contained within the 24 plates which were found by the people of King Limhi and later translated by the Nephite king Mosiah. This is clearly not the case. The full account of the brother of Jared’s vision was written and sealed up by him with the interpreters (two stones attached at either end of two rims of a bow, and referred to as the Urim and Thummim by LDS church members) separately from the overall history subsequently written by Jaredite record keepers on the 24 plates. Consequently, when the 24 plates were found along with the ruins and corpses of the Jaredite civilization, the interpreters were not found with them; they’d been kept apart with the sacred vision (presumably on other plates, though we’re not told specifically which writing surface was used). (See Ether 3:22-24, 28.) The interpreters were already possessed by the second King Mosiah at the time Limhi’s group found the plates, and it’s apparent they had been handed down to him by his grandfather and father. It’s also apparent he had already received the sealed full account of the vision of the Brother of Jared through the same means (see Mosiah 8:4-19, 21:25-28 and Ether 4:1). A well-reasoned article has been written on this subject in 2002 by the scholar Valentin Arts, entitled “A Third Jaredite Record: the Sealed Portion of the Gold Plates,” which can be read free of charge on the bookofmormoncentral.org website. According to Ether 1:1-5, Moroni abridged the 24 plates, and from them, produced the Book of Mormon’s Book of Ether, which contained, in current chapters 3 and 4, only a short and nonspecific description of the brother of Jared’s vision.
In summary, what we know from Nephi’s vision and prophesy and Moroni’s abridgment of the Jaredite record, the Book of Ether, is that the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon contains:
The words of a book, the words of them which have slumbered
A revelation from God, from the beginning of the world to the ending thereof
They reveal all things from the foundation of the world unto the end thereof
All things which ever have been among the children of men, and which ever will be even unto the end of the earth (or at least, all these things will be revealed when the sealed portion is revealed)
The words of the faithful
Moroni’s complete record and translation of the things that the brother of Jared saw, a complete record and translation of the brother of Jared’s vision of all the inhabitants of the earth, which had been and would be
Moroni’s record of the very things which the brother of Jared saw, and there never were bgreater things made manifest than those which were made manifest unto the brother of Jared
And we know that the Lord’s purposes for the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon are:
The things which are sealed up shall not be delivered in the day of the wickedness and abominations of the people
The revelation which was sealed shall be kept in the book until the own due time of the Lord
The entire Book of Mormon, including the sealed portion, was delivered unto Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith did not deliver the sealed portion or the rest of the Book of Mormon to another
The words of the book which were sealed shall eventually be read upon the housetops
The words of the book which were sealed shall be read by the power of Christ
No one shall behold the sealed portion except for Joseph Smith and the three witnesses, who behold it by the power of God, and testify of its truth
No one else shall view the book save it be a few according to the will of God, to bear testimony of His word unto the children of men
The Lord commanded Joseph Smith not to touch the things which are sealed, because He will bring them forth in His own due time
The Lord commanded Joseph Smith to seal up the book again after he read (and translated) and obtained the witnesses that the Lord promised unto him, and the Lord commanded Joseph Smith to hide up the book unto the Lord so that He could preserve the words which Joseph Smith did not read, until the Lord sees fit in His own wisdom to reveal all things unto the children of men
King Mosiah and other prophets kept the record hidden until after Christ manifested Himself unto His people
After Christ manifested Himself and was lifted up upon the Cross, and after He had shown Himself unto His people, He commanded that the record of the brother of Jared should be made manifest
The Lord commanded Moroni to hide them up again in the earth
The Lord commanded Moroni to seal up the interpreters together with his record
It seems to me that the Lord commanded Moroni to seal up the original record of the brother of Jared (in the Jaredite language), or the original twenty four gold plates of the Ether (or both), along with the interpreters, and along with his (Moroni’s) translation of the Jaredite record (into reformed Egyptian). Perhaps Mosiah’s translation of the twenty-four gold plates and his translation of the inscriptions upon the large stone are also among the plates of the sealed portion. There may be other things written in the sealed portion as well. Essentially, the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon reveals everything. That’s a lot. For an excellent discussion of the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon, I recommend this video.
Immediately after his great theophany and panoramic vision, the Lord commanded the brother of Jared to write the things that he had seen. The brother of Jared obeyed, and his writings, as Moroni tells us, were powerful:
And thou hast made us that we could write but little, because of the awkwardness of our hands. Behold, thou hast not made us mighty in writing like unto the brother of Jared, for thou madest him that the things which he wrote were mighty even as thou art, unto the overpowering of man to read them. (Ether 12:24)
Why did the Lord forbid that the brother of Jared’s record come forth cuntil after that He should be lifted up upon the cross, and after that He should glorify His name in the flesh? (see Ether 3:21 and Ether 4:1) There are certainly many good reasons. For example, the Lord knew what His earthly mission would be, and it wouldn’t make sense to reveal everything about His pre-mortal identity as Jehovah until after He had completed his mortal mission. Nevertheless, King Benjamin (not King Mosiah… that was a mistake introduced by someone other than the Prophet Joseph Smith) kept the record, meaning that someone, perhaps King Mosiah his father, had already received and perhaps translated the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon before the 24 gold plates of Ether were found. King Benjamin handed down this record, along with the sacred Nephite objects, which probably also included the sacred Jaredite objects - including the interpreters or the brother of Jared’s two stones. How did the Nephites discover this sacred record and the interpreters? In the video that I mentioned earlier, the young man suggests that the Liahona may have led them to the place where the brother of Jared, or Ether hid up the records and the interpreters. Thus King Benjamin knew many things, but kept them secret, and commanded that they be kept hidden until after Jesus Christ completed his earthly mission. King Benjamin may have received the translation of the sealed portion of the brother of Jared’s record or at least read it without knowing of the Lord’s commandment that the record should not go forth until after He glorified His name and was lifted up upon the Cross. I don’t know. Maybe the Lord instructed King Mosiah, Benjamin’s father, to obtain and translate the record of the brother of Jared without allowing it to be shared widely with the people.
After Christ truly had shown Himself unto His people, He commanded that the record of the brother of Jared be made manifest. This may be part of the events in Third Nephi that have been held back or reserved for a future time to test our faith. There are also many things that were written on the 116 lost plates that may give us clues. I imagine that during Christ’s ministry among the Nephites, He commanded Nephi to share, or possibly to translate, the record of the brother of Jared. But it seems that King Benjamin already had a Nephite translation - perhaps from the language of the brother of Jared into reformed Egyptian - of the brother of Jared’s experiences in Mount Shelem.
Despite these miraculous revelations, the Nephites eventually degenerated into wickedness and were destroyed, and Moroni was alone with the records:
And now, after that, they have all dwindled in unbelief; and there is anone save it be the Lamanites, and they have rejected the gospel of Christ; therefore I am commanded that I should bhide them up again in the earth. (Ether 4:3)
Notice that Moroni was commanded to hide the record again in the earth. The young man in the aforementioned video suggests that Moroni refers to Ether’s hiding of the plates (or maybe he said the brother of Jared… I don’t recall), but I thought that Moroni referred to the plates that were already hid up by Ammaron. I don’t know. Whatever the case, the Lord commanded Moroni to hide up the record of the brother of Jared again in the earth.
But Moroni didn’t just read the record of the brother of Jared and abridge the twenty-four gold plates. Moroni wrote the full account of the brother of Jared’s experiences and sealed them up in the sealed portion of the plates:
Behold, I have written upon these plates the avery things which the brother of Jared saw; and there never were bgreater things made manifest than those which were made manifest unto the brother of Jared.
Wherefore the Lord hath commanded me to write them; and I have written them. And he commanded me that I should aseal them up; and he also hath commanded that I should seal up the interpretation thereof; wherefore I have sealed up the binterpreters, according to the commandment of the Lord. (Ether 4:4-5)
When Moroni informs us that there never were greater things made manifest than those which were made manifest unto the brother of Jared, this may be the reason why Nephi referred to the writings of his forefather Joseph in Egypt in the following manner:
And now, I, Nephi, speak concerning the prophecies of which my father hath spoken, concerning aJoseph, who was carried into Egypt.
For behold, he truly prophesied concerning all his seed. And the aprophecies which he wrote, there are not many greater. And he prophesied concerning us, and our future generations; and they are written upon the bplates of brass. (2 Nephi 4:1-2)
Why would Nephi write that there were not many greater prophesies than the prophesies of Joseph in Egypt unless he knew of greater prophecies? What greater prophesies could there be? Perhaps Nephi referred to his own greater prophecies or to those of John the Beloved. Perhaps he referred to the prophesies of Isaiah. I wonder, however, if Nephi already knew of and had access to the records of the brother of Jared. The brother of Jared’s prophesies were indisputably greater, even greater than the prophecies of Joseph in Egypt, because Moroni, who lived at the end of Nephite history, and who knew of all the prophesies, including the prophecies of Joseph in Egypt and Nephi, described the brother of Jared’s prophecies as the greatest: “there never were bgreater things made manifest than those which were made manifest unto the brother of Jared.”
In fact, it makes sense that Nephi already knew about the writings and prophecies of the brother of Jared because of Nephi’s own prophesies about a forthcoming book in 2 Nephi 27. Furthermore, Isaiah had already prophesied of these things. We often interpret Isaiah’s prophesy as pertaining specifically to the translation of the Book of Mormon the we are now reading. But clearly Isaiah prophesied of a “book that is sealed.” Perhaps Nephi discovered the brother of Jared’s record, along with the interpreters, by using the Liahona. If so, perhaps the lost 116 plates contain an account of this story.
Whatever the case, the entire Book of Mormon builds up to the climactic story of the brother of Jared upon the Mount Shelem, the lighting of the stones, the panoramic vision, and the greater things. The Book of Mormon, therefore, is a preparatory work, a book to test our faith to see if we will prepare ourselves to receive the greater things, the things that the brother of Jared, and Moroni, recorded.
There are at least three Jaredite sources that we know of, and Moroni must have had access to all three of them. There was the brother of Jared’s own record with the interpreters or two stones. There was Ether’s record on the twenty-four gold plates. And there was Coriantumr’s record that was engraved upon the large stone. But the record that we read in the Book of Mormon, the Book of Ether, is Moroni’s abridgment of the twenty-four gold plates. This was Ether’s record, and it contained many things about the brother of Jared.
However, Moroni’s commentary must have been informed by more than just Ether’s twenty-four plates. Whether Moroni used the two stones or interpreters to read directly from the brother of Jared’s record, and from Ether’s record in order to write his own record in reformed Egyptian, I don’t know. But Moroni, living at the end of the Nephite civilization that followed the Jaredite civilization, had a unique perspective on the past as well as a unique prophetic perspective on the future. With the two stones and an understanding of the greater things that were shown to the brother of Jared, Moroni’s abridgment of the Book of Ether, and Moroni’s own book are filled with extraordinary wisdom and knowledge. And the Prophet Joseph Smith was tutored directly by this same extraordinary prophet. With all of this incredible wisdom and knowledge, it is particularly instructive that Moroni focuses so much of his abridgment and his own record on Jesus Christ, the basics of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and especially the attribute and the gift of charity.
Moroni’s study, writing, and abridging (and perhaps translating) process seems to follow closely in the footsteps of his father Mormon, and all of the Book of Mormon prophets write and abridge in a tradition that probably goes back to the beginning of the brass plates, probably to Joseph in Egypt. The pattern that I see is of a prophet who studies the prophesies of those who have gone before them, reading and feasting upon the words of Christ as recorded by his predecessors, and then writing the record of his father and / or of the things that transpired during his own life, then writing a large account of the style that it mentioned about the large plates of Nephi, followed by an abridged account, or shorter account, like the small plates of Nephi, followed by a book by the author himself, a capstone to everything. By the time we read the Book of Mormon within the Book of Mormon, or the Book of Moroni within the Book of Mormon, we realize that we are reading the work of an experienced author whose understanding and character has been refined. The Book of Ether is like that too, especially because Ether wrote at the end of the Jaredite civilization and because he knew the great things that were revealed to the brother of Jared.
If I understand correctly, the Lord commanded Moroni to write in reformed Egyptian the things that the brother of Jared wrote in the Jaredite language. If I’m not mistaken, this is one of the reasons why Moroni later expressed his concerns to the Lord about his weakness in writing. The process of translating from the powerful Jaredite language into reformed Egyptian must have been difficult for Moroni. As I understand, Moroni’s record of the brother of Jared’s experiences is at least part of the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon. I don’t know if the brother of Jared’s original writings have been kept separate. But it seems that the Lord commanded the brother of Jared to seal them together - the original Jaredite record and Moroni’s record in reformed Egyptian:
Behold, I have written upon these plates the avery things which the brother of Jared saw; and there never were bgreater things made manifest than those which were made manifest unto the brother of Jared.
Wherefore the Lord hath commanded me to write them; and I have written them. And he commanded me that I should aseal them up; and he also hath commanded that I should seal up the interpretation thereof; wherefore I have sealed up the binterpreters, according to the commandment of the Lord. (Ether 4:4-5)
The original Jaredite record may be separate, but the interpreters would be needed for the English speaking Joseph Smith anyhow.