In an early revelation (March 1829), the possibility of Joseph Smith being assassinated is explicated in D&C 5:22:
And that you be firm in keeping
the commandments wherewith I have commanded you; and if you do this, behold I
grant unto you eternal life, even if you should be slain.
That Joseph Smith predicted his assassination close to June 27,
1844, is recounted by Lyman Wight (via Wilford Woodruff) and Stephen Markham.
In his journal entry for July
28, 1844, Wilford Woodruff recorded a reminiscence of a prophecy by Joseph
Smith by Lyman
Wight:
He informed me that Joseph told
him while they were in Jeal that he should not live to see forty years but told
him not to reveal it untill he was dead. Br Wight as well as the rest of us
feels his death deeply
While it is second-hand, it should not be dismissed flippantly as
(1) Lyman Wight was personally associated with Joseph; (2) Woodruff, a personal
friend of Joseph’s, did not cast aspersions on this and (3) it is not late
(only a month after Joseph’s death).
Another account of Joseph Smith prophesying his death comes from
Stephen Markham in a
letter dated June 20, 1856, to Wilford Woodruff:
Fort
Supply June 20, 1856
Bro W. woodruff
Sir according to your request I
Proceed to give you an account of the Conversation I had with Bro Joseph Smith
previous to his Massacre, the first conversation I had with the Prophet On the
following subject was the Night; the Guard come in to take him with a Rit
[writ] we walked together towards the River & sat down I asked him How this
thing was going to come out. he replied if the Brethren would Let him Manage
the Business; there should be no blood shed, but if not it would be the hardest
Blow the Church ever had or would receive, that if he & Hyrum were ever
taken again the[y] Would be Massacred or he was not a Prophet of God, he said
he wanted to save Hyrum to avenge his Blood. he said that Hyrum was determined
Not to Leave him but die with him.
Again, while not a primary source, Markham was a close friend of
Joseph’s, and this source is not very late, so again, while nowhere as strong
as a primary source, it does show that there was an uncontested tradition in
the 1840s and 1850s that Joseph prophesied his death not too long before being
murdered in Carthage.
Some might argue we do have a primary source in Joseph’s journal
for June 22, 1844. In the History of the Church 6:546, we read the following:
I told Stephen Markham that if I
and Hyrum were ever taken again we should be massacred, or I was not a prophet
of God. I want Hyrum to live to avenge my blood, but he is determined not to
leave me. (italics in original)
However, Joseph’s
journal entry does not contain this entry and comes from later sources. It
does appear later in History,
1838–1856, volume F-1 [1 May 1844–8 August 1844], p. 146, a document
created April 7-June 7, 1856 and August 20 1856-November 6, 1856:
I told Stephen Markham that if I
and Hyrum were ever taken again, we should be massacred, or I was not a prophet
of God; “I want Hyrum to live to avenge my blood, b<ut> he is determined
not to leave me.”
Further Reading
