I have never read an account of the Golden Plates being taken back to heaven.

I'm sure it's out there. In Joseph Smith's Journal, in one of the history of the Church books.

But it just occurred to me that I don't know how it all went down.

I don't know if it was an appointment with Angel Moroni when Joseph expected to give the plates back

or whether Moroni showed up one morning and said "you've got an overdue library book, I need it back, and Joseph was like "wait, what? but now no-one will believe me!"

or whether Joseph woke up one morning and the plates were gone, but there was a trail of glitter leading to an open window...

I am very well read in Church history, so I have kinda surprised myself at the realization that I don't think I've ever actually read the account in question.

Is it just me? Or is this hole in historical knowledge a common thing?

Any have a handy link to an account?

It's not just you. There were nothing but vague descriptions, conflicting claims, and "visions." Quite the difference between the detailed (though much later than the supposed events themselves) blow-by-blow accounts of *getting* them in the first place.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_plates#Returning_the_plates

Follow the references in that section, and it will lead you to some sources.

From Wikipedia (of course...)

Returning the plates[edit]

A 21st-century artistic representation of the Golden plates, Urim and Thummim, Sword of Laban, and Liahona

After translation was complete, Smith said he returned the plates to the angel, although he did not elaborate about this experience.[130]

According to accounts by several early Mormons, a group of Mormon leaders including Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and possibly others[131] accompanied Smith and returned the plates to a cave inside the Hill Cumorah.[132] There, Smith is said to have placed the plates on a table near "many wagon loads" of other ancient records, and the Sword of Laban hanging on the cave wall.[133]

According to Brigham Young's understanding, which he said he gained from Cowdery, on a later visit to the cave, the Sword of Laban was said to be unsheathed and placed over the plates, and inscribed with the words "This sword will never be sheathed again until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our God and his Christ."[134]

Smith taught that part of the golden plates were "sealed".[135] This "sealed" portion is said to contain "a revelation from God, from the beginning of the world to the ending thereof".[136] Many Latter Day Saints believe that the plates will be kept hidden until a future time when the sealed part will be translated[137] and, according to one early Mormon leader, transferred from the hill to one of the Mormon temples.[138]

David Whitmer is quoted as stating that he saw just the untranslated portion of the plates sitting on the table with the sword (and also a breastplate).[139] Apparently, Whitmer was aware of expeditions at Cumorah to locate the sealed portion of the plates through "science and mineral rods," which he said "testify that they are there".

- - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_plates#Returning_the_plates

One reason, and maybe the only reason, the plates were written in Reformed Egyptian, was that it was a more compact language. It was supposed to be Hebrew written using Egyptian hieroglyphics; a shorthand for Hebrew...

There's no indication that the brass plates of Laban were written in Reformed Egyptian.

Which brings to mind this question, How did Nephi know that the record he was starting was going to become so voluminous that a 'shorthand' language was immediately required?

Of course a handy answer is that Gen. Mormon prepared the 'short hand version' used by JS. And it would definitely have to be an extreme shorthand, given JS's description of the plates:

"These records were engraven on plates which had the appearance of gold, each plate was six inches wide and eight inches long, and not quite so thick as common tin. They were filled with engravings, in Egyptian characters, and bound together in a volume as the leaves of a book, with three rings running through the whole. The volume was something near six inches in thickness, a part of which was sealed. The characters on the unsealed part were small, and beautifully engraved. The whole book exhibited many marks of antiquity in its construction, and much skill in the art of engraving."
- - (History of the Church, 4:537)

If you're wondering if there is any record of a book of golden plates, the Neal Maxwell (Smart) Institute was delighted by this:

Etruscan Gold Book

"This is believed to be the oldest complete multiple page book found in the world. It is made of six plates of gold, each 5 x 4.5 cm, and bound with two rings. It dates to 600 BC.

"It was unearthed from a tomb some 60-70 years ago, along the Strouma River in southwestern Bulgaria. It was donated to the Bulgarian National Museum of History in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 2003. The plates contain text in Etruscan characters, and was likely a type of prayer book made for the funeral of an aristocrat.

"This discovery is especially interesting to Latter-day Saints because the date places it at the same time as when Lehi and his family left Jerusalem, indicating that this form of bookmaking and bookbinding was practiced in the Mediterranean region at the time. It is similar to the description that Joseph Smith gave of the gold plates of the Book of Mormon.

- - http://www.templestudy.com/2011/04/07/authentic-ancient-metal-plates/


But c'mon! six gold pages, essentially 2 inches by 2 inches! There's a photo at the linked site...

The part that BY mentions that they go into a cave and deposit the plates is in the JoD.

As far as my memory recalls from reading it (this was a good 10 years ago), JS and OC are permitted to enter a section of the Hill Cumorah into an alcove of some sort, or cave. In the opening in the hill, there are thousands and thousands of records that line the walls. I dont remember if he mentions if the records are plates or parchment, but i believe he says they are plates. The sword of Laben is also there with the writing as mentioned above. JS and OC then drop off the plates there.

I believe this is in JoD #3 if memory serves me right.

Why the plates werent there to begin with, I have no clue.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/2015 03:24PM by sonofabish.

To your astute question why the plates weren't in this magical cave in the first place:

Because compulsive liars never know when to stop. JS's initial story of a small stone box was damn near believable in his day. But, as more and more people buy that story, he gets emboldened to embellish. Soon, that little stone box is a drive-in cave containing wagon loads of treasure.

Which brings me to a question of my own: Why is it always about the treasure with these prophet guys? They preach about heavenly mansions, but always seek earthly ones.

And a follow-up question: WTF would the Nephites be doing dragging around wagons loads of stuff they couldn't use? They only had small deer to haul all of this afterall.

If it didn't provide shelter, food or protection from hostile neighbors, they didn't haul it around. Period.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/2015 05:59PM by iflewover.