Joseph Smith's Encounter with the angel Moroni and the Buried Plates

In an attempt to call into question the historicity of Joseph Smith’s experiences with Moroni, an Evangelical apologist wrote:

Joseph claimed that the angel disclosed to him the existence of the gold plates containing the Book of Mormon during the very period when he was engaged in treasure hunting . . . Joseph’s claim that an angel showed him the location of the plates but at first would not allow him to remove them reflects very specific folklore in his culture regarding the use of seer stones to search for buried treasure. (Robert M. Bowman Jr., Jesus’ Resurrection and Joseph’s Visions: Examining the Foundations of Christianity and Mormonism [Tampa, Fla.: DeWard Publishing Company, 2020], 186)

What Bowman will not tell you is that Moroni, according to Joseph, castigated Joseph for such practices, one reason why he was not allowed to receive the plates until 1827. Furthermore, in JS-H 1:46 we read:

By this time, so deep were the impressions made on my mind, that sleep had fled from my eyes, and I lay overwhelmed in astonishment at what I had both seen and heard. But what was my surprise when again I beheld the same messenger at my bedside, and heard him rehearse or repeat over again to me the same things as before; and added a caution to me, telling me that Satan would try to tempt me (in consequence of the indigent circumstances of my father's family), to get the plates for the purpose of getting rich. This he forbade me, saying that I must have no other object in view in getting the plates but to glorify God, and must not be influenced by any other motive than that of building his kingdom; otherwise I could not get them.

Oliver Cowdery wrote the following addressing this:

On attempting to take possession of the record a shock was produced upon his system, by an invisible power which deprived him, in a measure, of his natural strength. He desisted for an instant, and then made another attempt, but was more sensibly shocked than before. What was the occasion of this he knew not there was the pure unsullied record, as had been described -- he had heard of the power of enchantment, and a thousand like stories, which held the hidden treasures of the earth, and supposed that physical exertion and personal strength was only necessary to enable him to yet obtain the object of his wish. He therefore made the third attempt with an increased exertion, when his strength failed him more than at either of the former times, and without premeditating he exclaimed, "Why can I not obtain this book?" "Because you have not kept the commandments of the Lord," answered a voice, within a seeming short distance. He looked, and to his astonishment, there stood the angel who had previously given him the directions concerning this matter. In an instant, all the former instructions, the great intelligence concerning Israel and the last days, were brought to his mind: he thought of the time when his heart was fervently engaged in prayer to the Lord, when his spirit was contrite, and when his holy messenger from the skies unfolded the wonderful things connected with this record. He had come, to be sure, and found the word of the angel fulfilled concerning the reality of the record, but he had failed to remember the great end for which they had been kept, and in consequence could not have power to take them into his possession and bear them away.

At that instant he looked to the Lord in prayer, and as he prayed darkness began to disperse from his mind and his soul was lit up as it was the evening before, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit; and again did the Lord manifest his condescension and mercy: the heavens were opened and the glory of the Lord shone round about and rested upon him. While he thus stood gazing and admiring, the angel said, "Look!" and as he thus spake he beheld the prince of darkness, surrounded by his innumerable train of associates. All this passed before him, and the heavenly messenger said, "All this is shown, the good and the evil, the holy and impure, the glory of God and the power of darkness, that you may know hereafter the two powers and never be influenced or overcome by that wicked one. Behold, whatever entices and leads to good and to do good, is of God, and whatever does not is of that wicked one: It is he that fills the hearts of men with evil, to walk in darkness and blaspheme God; and you may learn from henceforth, that his ways are to destruction, but the way of holiness is peace and rest. You now see why you could not obtain this record; that the commandment was strict, and that if ever these sacred things are obtained they must be by prayer and faithfulness in obeying the Lord. They are not deposited here for the sake of accumulating gain and wealth for the glory of this world: they were sealed by the prayer of faith, and because of the knowledge which they contain they are of no worth among the children of men, only for their knowledge. (The Latter-day Saints' Messenger and Advocate, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 197-99)

Continuing, we read:

. . . the idea of an angel coming from heaven to reveal a scriptural record buried in the ground was not a familiar idea in the Christian religious tradition. (Ibid., 187)

Notwithstanding the common eisegesis of Isa 29 by some Latter-day Saints, that is true. However, that is not a meaningful argument. For instance, the idea of the Bible being formally sufficient was not a familiar idea to any of the biblical authors, including Jesus and the apostles. See the section “Falling at the First Hurdle: Why Sola Scriptura is an exegetical impossibility” in Not By Scripture Alone: A Latter-day Saint Refutation of Sola Scriptura. The whole “’x’ was not known in the Christian religious tradition until ‘x’ arose” is not a good argument. I mean, the idea of the Messiah being a single person with a fully human and fully divine nature and also two distinct wills was not known in the Old Testament tradition even according to Bowman, an avowed Trinitarian.

The best Ashurst-McGee could muster in response to this evidence was to point out that dreams, visions, and threes occur in the Bible as well (as extremely weak point) and to cite the apostle Peter’s vision of unclean animals, which he said was a “thrice-repeated vision” (Ashurst-McGee, “Moroni as Angel and as Treasure Guardian,” 90). However, Peter did not have three visions; Luke states that the voice spoke to Peter three times during the one vision (Acts 10:13-16). Furthermore, Moroni’s appearances were supposedly literal, personal visitations, not visions in a dream or trance state, as Acts 10:10 indicates was Peter’s experience. (Ibid., 187-88)

He is correct that "this" in v. 16 refers to the voice, not the vision, so, contra Ashurst-McGee (whose article can be found online here), Paul had the dream/trance once and the voice spoke three times. However, do note the following problems with the above:

Firstly, pointing to Peter’s experience in Acts 10, which is “a dream or trance state” means that Joseph’s experience with Moroni is presented as more “real” and “genuine” than Peter’s experience; indeed, unlike Joseph, Peter doubted briefly his experience and the interpretation thereof ("Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean . . ." [Acts 10:17]), so, comparing the two, it is Peter’s experience which is “extremely weak” (if Joseph Smith claimed a dream/trance instead of a vision, Bowman would say this is further evidence of fraud and engage in some guilt by association by comparing such with Muhammad’s initial encounter with Gabriel) while Joseph’s fares much better.

Finally, the idea of treasure being buried in the ground and either being found by a prophetic figure or, alternatively, being "slippery" (cf. Helaman 13:35; Mormon 1:18 in the Book of Mormon) is something that is not unique to the 19th-century. LDS scholar, Kevin L. Barney, wrote a short but very insightful article on the antiquity of “slippery treasures” and related themes in antiquity (not just before the time of Joseph Smith, but before Lehi in the Book of Mormon):

"Slippery Treasures" in the Book of Mormon: A Concept from the Ancient World

In calling the Nephites to repentance, Samuel the Lamanite warned that "the time cometh that [the Lord] curseth your riches, that they become slippery, that ye cannot hold them; and in the days of your poverty ye cannot retain them" (Helaman 13:31). In that day the Nephites would lament, "We have hid up our treasures and they have slipped away from us, because of the curse of the land. O that we had repented in the day that the word of the Lord came unto us; for behold the land is cursed, and all things are become slippery, and we cannot hold them" (vv. 35-36).

More than three centuries later, Mormon recorded that, in fulfillment of Samuel's prophecy, the Gadianton robbers "did infest the land, insomuch that the inhabitants thereof began to hide up their treasures in the earth; and they became slippery, because the Lord had cursed the land, that they could not hold them, nor retain them again" (Mormon 1:18).

Some critics have suggested that these passages reflect beliefs prevalent in Joseph Smith's day. One such belief was that guardian demons moved buried treasures to different locations when people dug for them. Because the general idea of slippery treasures appears in the Book of Mormon, critics see it as evidence of the book's supposed 19th-century origin. However, the concept of slippery treasures is found to have existed in the ancient Near East of Lehi's time.

One example comes from the Instructions of Amenemope, an Egyptian text dating to between the 11th and 13th centuries B.C. and believed by many to have been the source for a portion of the biblical book of Proverbs. Proverbs 23:4-5 closely parallels chapter 7 of Amenemope. Compare the first lines of each passage:¹

Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to desist. (Proverbs) 

Do not strain to seek an excess, when thy needs are safe for thee. (Amenemope)

Compare also the end of each passage:

When your eyes light upon it, it is gone; for suddenly it takes wings to itself, flying like an eagle toward heaven. (Proverbs)

(Or) they [riches] have made themselves wings like geese and are flown away to the heavens. (Amenemope)

Even more significantly, the middle section of the Amenemope passage is not paralleled in Proverbs, but it is similar in theme to the "slippery treasures" passages in the Book of Mormon: "If riches are brought to thee by robbery, they will not spend the night with thee; at daybreak they are not in thy house: their places may be seen, but they are not. The ground has opened its mouth . . . that it might swallow them up, and might sink them into the underworld. (Or) they have made themselves a great breach of their (own) size and are sunken down into the underworld."

It seems more than coincidental—yet not surprising—that the concept of slippery, disappearing treasures is found both in an Egyptian text known to the ancient Israelites and in the Book of Mormon, a record with cultural, linguistic, and literary roots in the ancient Near East.

Note

1. The translations of Proverbs and the Instructions of Amenemope are from Karel van der Toorn, "Did Ecclesiastes Copy Gilgamesh?" Bible Review, February 2000, 28.

Bowman's new book, instead of being a work of scholarship, is very selective in the sources it uses and interacts with. Furthermore, it is no scholarship and more "boundary maintenance." Informed Latter-day Saints will not be swayed by this book.