In the 1833 A Book of Commandments, we read:
And now, behold, this shall you say unto him:--I the Lord am God, and I have given these things unto my servant Joseph, and I have commanded him that he should stand as a witness of these things, nevertheless I have caused him that he should enter into a covenant with me, that he should not show them except I command him, and he has no power over them except I grant it unto him; and he has a gift to translate the book, and I have commanded him that he shall pretend to no other gift, for I will grant him no other gift. (IV:2)
In the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants, this verse was changed to read:
Behold I say unto you, that as my servant Martin Harris has desired a witness at my hand, that you, my servant Joseph Smith, jr. have got the plates of which you have testified and borne record that you have received of me: and now behold, this shall you say unto him, He who spake unto you said unto you, I the Lord am God, and have given these things unto you, my servant Joseph Smith, jr. and have commanded you that you shall stand as a witness of these things, and I have caused you that you should enter into a covenant with me that you should not show them except to those persons to whom I command you; and you have no power over them except I grant it unto you. And you have a gift to translate the plates; and this is the first gift that I bestowed upon you, and I have commanded that you should pretend to no other gift until my purpose is fulfilled in this; for I will grant unto you no other gift until it is finished. (32:1-2)
In the modern printing of the Doctrine and Covenants the text reads:
And you have a gift to translate the plates; and this is the first gift that I bestowed upon you; and I have commanded that you should pretend to no other gift until my purpose is fulfilled in this; for I will grant unto you no other gift until it is finished. (D&C 5:4)
According to some critics, Joseph was meant to have only one gift only (i.e., the translation of the Book of Mormon), and such changes contradict that, as he decided to have other (spiritual) gifts. Commenting on the changes one finds between the 1833 A Book of Commandments and subsequent versions of this revelation, Jerald and Sandra Tanner wrote:
This is certainly one of the most significant changes in the Doctrine and Covenants. David Whitmer, one of the three witnesses to the Book of Mormon, gave this interesting information:
After the translation of the Book of Mormon was finished, early in the spring of 1830, before April 6th, Joseph gave the stone to Oliver Cowdery and told me as well as the rest that he was through with it, and he did not use the stone anymore. He said he was through the work God had given him to perform, except to preach the gospel. He told us that we would all have to depend on the Holy Ghost hereafter to be guided into truth and obtain the will of the Lord. (An Address to All Believers in Christ, Richmond, Missouri, 1887, p. 32)
The fact that Joseph Smith was not planning on doing any other work besides the Book of Mormon is well verified by the revelation given in March of 1829. This revelation was printed in the Book of Commandments as Chapter 4, Verse 2 reads as follows: “ . . . and he has a gif to translate the book, and I have commanded him that he shall pretend to no other gift, for I will grant him no other gift.”
By the year 1835, when this revelation was reprinted in the Doctrine and Covenants, Joseph Smith had pretended to at least one other gift besides that of translating the Book of Mormon. He had pretended to the gift of rewording the Bible (Inspired Version), and a short time after this he brought forth the Book of Abraham. Certainly this revelation commanding Joseph Smith to pretend to no other gift but to translate the Book of Mormon could not remain in its original uncensored form. The church had decided to go beyond the Book of Mormon and accept Joseph Smith’s other writings as scripture. This change in church policy necessitated a change in the revelation. Therefore, it was changed to read as follows:
And you have a gift to translate the plates; and this is the first gift that I bestowed upon you; and I have commanded that you should pretend to no other gift, until my purpose is fulfilled in this; for I will grant unto you no other gift until it is finished. (Doctrine and Covenants, Section 5, verse 4)
Thus the entire meaning of this revelation was changed, making it appear that the Lord would grant him other gifts besides that of translating the Book of Mormon. At least 22 words were added to this verse to make the change. David Whitmer made this statement about this matter:
. . . he [Joseph Smith] was not called to organize and establish the church anymore than the rest of us Elders . . . as if God had commanded Joseph to pretend to no other gift but to translate the Book of Mormon, that he would “grant him no other gift,” and then afterwards God had changed his mind and concluded to grant him another gift. God does not change and work in this manner. The way the revelation has been changed, twenty-two words being added to it, it would appear that God had broken His word after giving His word in plainness; commanding Brother Joseph to pretend to no other gift but to translate the Book of Mormon, and then the Lord had changed and concluded to grant Joseph the gift of a Seer to the Church . . . May God have mercy on the heads of the church for their translation is my prayer. (An Address to All Believers in Christ, pp. 57-58) (Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Mormonism: Shadow or Reality? [5th ed.; Salt Lake City: Utah Lighthouse Ministry, 1987, 2008], 27)
Firstly, it should be noted that the Tanners, as did David Whitmer, operated under the false a priori assumption that God would never change, or allow to be changed, His inscripturated revelation. The Bible itself evidences many cases of prophets of God changing their revelations and/or the revelations of previous prophets. See my article:
Secondly, both versions of the revelation can be harmonised rather easily in light of the fact that, at the time of the translation of the Book of Mormon, Joseph was expected to be dedicated to that alone, and not to seek after other gifts. At the time of the initial reception of the revelation, he was indeed not to pretend to have other gifts as none would be forthcoming until after he completed the Book of Mormon. The changes to the revelation were made simply to clarify this.
That this is indeed the case can be seen in the Book of Mormon itself and its description of the then-future translator of the volume. Lehi, speaking to his son Jacob repeated the words of Joseph of Egypt and his discussion of the latter-day “Joseph” whom he prophesied of, and of the great work he would do, far beyond translate the Book of Mormon:
But a seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and unto him will I give power to bring forth my word unto the seed of thy loins-- and not to the bringing forth my word only, saith the Lord, but to the convincing them of my word, which shall have already gone forth among them. Wherefore, the fruit of thy loins shall write; and the fruit of the loins of Judah shall write; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah, shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, and bringing them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also to the knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord. And out of weakness he shall be made strong, in that day when my work shall commence among all my people, unto the restoring thee, O house of Israel, saith the Lord. And thus prophesied Joseph, saying: Behold, that seer will the Lord bless; and they that seek to destroy him shall be confounded; for this promise, which I have obtained of the Lord, of the fruit of my loins, shall be fulfilled. Behold, I am sure of the fulfilling of this promise; and his name shall be called after me; and it shall be after the name of his father. And he shall be like unto me; for the thing, which the Lord shall bring forth by his hand, by the power of the Lord shall bring my people unto salvation. Yea, thus prophesied Joseph: I am sure of this thing, even as I am sure of the promise of Moses; for the Lord hath said unto me, I will preserve thy seed forever. And the Lord hath said: I will raise up a Moses; and I will give power unto him in a rod; and I will give judgment unto him in writing. Yet I will not loose his tongue, that he shall speak much, for I will not make him mighty in speaking. But I will write unto him my law, by the finger of mine own hand; and I will make a spokesman for him. And the Lord said unto me also: I will raise up unto the fruit of thy loins; and I will make for him a spokesman. And I, behold, I will give unto him that he shall write the writing of the fruit of thy loins, unto the fruit of thy loins; and the spokesman of thy loins shall declare it. And the words which he shall write shall be the words which are expedient in my wisdom should go forth unto the fruit of thy loins. And it shall be as if the fruit of thy loins had cried unto them from the dust; for I know their faith. And they shall cry from the dust; yea, even repentance unto their brethren, even after many generations have gone by them. And it shall come to pass that their cry shall go, even according to the simpleness of their words. Because of their faith their words shall proceed forth out of my mouth unto their brethren who are the fruit of thy loins; and the weakness of their words will I make strong in their faith, unto the remembering of my covenant which I made unto thy fathers. (2 Nephi 3:10-21)
Related to this is Mosiah 8:13-17 which refutes Whitmer’s claim that it was only after the Book of Mormon that Joseph claimed to be a “Seer,” not a translator merely:
Now Ammon said unto him: I can assuredly tell thee, O king, of a man that can translate the records; for he has wherewith that he can look, and translate all records that are of ancient date; and it is a gift from God. And the things are called interpreters, and no man can look in them except he be commanded, lest he should look for that he ought not and he should perish. And whosoever is commanded to look in them, the same is called seer. And behold, the king of the people who are in the land of Zarahemla is the man that is commanded to do these things, and who has this high gift from God. And the king said that a seer is greater than a prophet. 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. But a seer can know of things which are past, and also of things which are to come, and by them shall all things be revealed, or, rather, shall secret things be made manifest, and hidden things shall come to light, and things which are not known shall be made known by them, and also things shall be made known by them which otherwise could not be known.
In this pericope, one who has been gifted the ability to translate by the power of God is also a "seer," and that "a seer is greater than a prophet." Commenting on vv. 16-17 and the function of a seer, Brant Gardner wrote:
The evidence from the Book of Mormon is all the more significant as Whitmer viewed the Book of Mormon as a rather exhaustive treatise on ecclesiology in his 1887 monograph, and would often critique Joseph Smith (whom he viewed as a fallen prophet) and the "Brighamites" for going beyond the Book of Mormon (on this, see D&C 128:18 and its description of "The Dispensation of the Fulness of Times").
There is no merit to the claim, advanced by Whitmer and the Tanners, that Joseph Smith claimed to be more than a translator of the Book of Mormon in his early prophetic career.
Ammon expands the definition of the seer. The seer has two different kinds of connection to the power of the Spirit. A seer is both a revelator and a prophet. What is the difference between these two? The prophet is one who sees the future. A revelatory makes understandable aspects of the Lord’s will which are hidden from others. In this particular case, Ammon and Limhi apparently assume that the revelatory applies to the patterns of the past that teach about the future. The will of the Lord—past, present, and future—would become known as the revelatory reveals the contents of that which is hidden—in this case in an unreadable text.
We now have three terms: prophet, seer, and revelator. The seer, according to Ammon’s definition, is one who possesses the interpreters, aids not only to translation but to revealing the hidden: “He has wherewith that he can look, and translate all records that are of ancient date; and it is a gift from God. And the things are called interpreters, and no man can look in them except he be commanded, lest he should look for that he ought not and he should perish. And whosoever is commanded to look in them, the same is called seer” (Mosiah 8:13).
Although Ammon concludes with a simple functional definition of the seer as the possessor of the interpreters, his description of the interpreters is more complex. They aid in “translat[ing] all records that are of ancient date,” but are so powerful that they cannot be used except by Yahweh’s direct commandment, since otherwise, one might “look for that he ought not.” Obviously this function goes beyond the translation of ancient languages. Why would a linguist’s soul be jeopardized by translating, for example, a Hittite grocery list? Clearly, the power of the interpreters is not simply in translation, but rather in revelation. One acting without the Spirit might use the interpreters to find information that he would be tempted to use unrighteously, to understand knowledge that is forbidden for good reason, and apply the lessons of the past to exploit the future. (Brant A. Gardner, Second Witness: Analytical and Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 6 vols. [Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2007], 3:222-23)
There is no merit to the claim, advanced by Whitmer and the Tanners, that Joseph Smith claimed to be more than a translator of the Book of Mormon in his early prophetic career.
For a previous refutation of Whitmer on another change in the revelations, this time those in D&C 18, see: