The Small Plates

From time to time you will hear someone say that they would love to have the contents of the 116 pages of manuscript that were lost when Joseph Smith allowed Martin Harris to take them to show to his wife. Of course, we mourn the loss of the writings of a prophet like Mormon. But, it may be that we got exactly what the Lord wanted us to have. Consider these three passages of scripture from Nephi, Mormon and Joseph Smith (the three prophets involved in the first part of the Book of Mormon.

About 30 years after leaving Jerusalem, Nephi created a record of the ministry among his people. Unlike the larger plates that included a more comprehensive history, these plates contained the more sacred portions of Nephi’s experience and teaching. He creates them because he is commanded of the Lord to do so, as described in 1 Nephi 9:

  4 Upon the other plates should be engraven an account of the reign of the kings, and the wars and contentions of my people; wherefore these plates are for the more part of the ministry; and the other plates are for the more part of the reign of the kings and the wars and contentions of my people.
  5 Wherefore, the Lord hath commanded me to make these plates for a wise purpose in him, which purpose I know not.
  6 But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men; for behold, he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words.

These plates passed on through Nephi’s family until they were delivered to King Benjamin and then kept with the other records of the Nephite people.

Now, fast forward to Mormon. He was commanded to create an abridgement of the large plates (the more complete historical record of his people). About the time that he got to King Benjamin in his abridgement, he rummaged around in the records and found the small plates of Nephi. This is described in the Words of Mormon:

  3 And now, I speak somewhat concerning that which I have written; for after I had made an abridgment from the plates of Nephi, down to the reign of this king Benjamin, of whom Amaleki spake, I searched among the records which had been delivered into my hands, and I found these plates, which contained this small account of the prophets, from Jacob down to the reign of this king Benjamin, and also many of the words of Nephi.
  4 And the things which are upon these plates pleasing me, because of the prophecies of the coming of Christ; and my fathers knowing that many of them have been fulfilled; yea, and I also know that as many things as have been prophesied concerning us down to this day have been fulfilled, and as many as go beyond this day must surely come to pass—
  5 Wherefore, I chose these things, to finish my record upon them, which remainder of my record I shall take from the plates of Nephi; and I cannot write the hundredth part of the things of my people.
  6 But behold, I shall take these plates, which contain these prophesyings and revelations, and put them with the remainder of my record, for they are choice unto me; and I know they will be choice unto my brethren.
  7 And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will.

Having found these small plates of Nephi he discovers that they contain precious prophecies of his people. And, he finds that all of the prophecies up to his time have been fulfilled. Mormon is thrilled to realize how much his distant fathers knew of God’s dealings with his people. So, Mormon decides to include the small plates, verbatim, in his record and to base the rest of his record upon them. As he said in verse 5, he “chose these things, to finish my record upon them.” He seems to say that he will use the rest of his record to, among other things, show the fulfillment of the prophecies of Nephi, Jacob and others, up to Mormon’s day. He does this so that we will have confidence that the rest of their prophecies will be fulfilled.

As with Nephi, Mormon does this for a “wise purpose” that he does not know. But, once again, the Lord makes sure that what He wants us to know is written by Nephi and being included and expanded upon by Mormon.

Now we jump to Joseph Smith’s day. Joseph lost 116 pages of Book of Mormon manuscript. He lost everything up to the time of King Benjamin. But, the Lord has provided the solution. The small plates of Nephi cover the same timeline and they include a more particular account of what the Lord wants us to know. Joseph is taught about this, by the Lord, in D&C 10:

  38 And now, verily I say unto you, that an account of those things that you have written, which have gone out of your hands, is engraven upon the plates of Nephi;
  39 Yea, and you remember it was said in those writings that a more particular account was given of these things upon the plates of Nephi.
  40 And now, because the account which is engraven upon the plates of Nephi is more particular concerning the things which, in my wisdom, I would bring to the knowledge of the people in this account—
  41 Therefore, you shall translate the engravings which are on the plates of Nephi, down even till you come to the reign of king Benjamin, or until you come to that which you have translated, which you have retained;
  42 And behold, you shall publish it as the record of Nephi; and thus I will confound those who have altered my words.

Verse 40 is quite clear. The small plates of Nephi are a better telling of what the Lord wants us to know than were the large plates or Mormon’s abridgement from the large plates.

Nephi wrote what the Lord wanted us to know on the small plates. Mormon found the small plates and completed his record based upon those. Neither knew why this was important, but they were inspired to do what they did. Finally, Joseph was told that this is a better version of what the Lord wanted us to know than what Joseph had lost. I may be wrong, but it appears that the first 116 pages that Joseph translated may have been practice for Mormon as an abridger and practice for Joseph as a translator. And, we have received just what the Lord wants us to know. I am amazed by the power and wisdom of God and grateful for the Book of Mormon.

Birth, Rebirth, and Priesthood

We are immortal spirit beings. We lived in the presence of God, our Eternal Father, before we were born into mortality. Birth into mortality was also a spiritual death because we were separated from God by a veil and the fall. While we do not remember living in His presence, we are still spiritual beings and we still feel the influence of the spirit here in mortality. The Lord taught these ideas to Enoch when He said in Moses 6:

  59 That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the spirit, which I have made, and so became of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of eternal life in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal glory;
  60 For by the water ye keep the commandment; by the Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are sanctified;

The fall brought about our spiritual death when we left God's presence to live in mortality. The fall brought about another death in that our mortal bodies die and our spirit returns home to God. Both birth and rebirth are described relative to three elements: water, blood, and spirit. Our mortal body grows in the water (amniotic fluid) of the womb, nourished by the blood of our mother (through an umbilical cord), so that an eternal spirit being can enter that body and live in mortality. These details of our mortal birth show the way back to our Father's presence. We must be born again of water (baptism in obedience to the Father), the spirit (the Holy Ghost) and blood (the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ).

Consider the parallels between the roles of women and men. Women and men each play a selfless role in our birth and rebirth. While a man and a woman are both needed to create a physical body, women have the ability to give birth to children. In an incredible act of love, women carry the growing physical body of an eternal spirit. That soul, a united body and spirit, is born and has the opportunity to experience mortality. Similarly, mothers and fathers help their children prepare for, and make, sacred covenants through the ordinances of the priesthood. Here, men also play a loving and selfless role. Men are given the opportunity to perform the ordinances that make spiritual rebirth available to God's children.

An analogy may be helpful here. If you think about the role of the referee, or official, in a basketball game you see that the one who officiates is not one of the players in the game. Rather, officiating in a basketball game involves observing the players in the game to be sure that they obey the rules of the game. When the referee officiates well, the players will observe the rules of the game.

When properly understood, men have absolutely no power or influence simply by virtue of holding the priesthood. After all, no power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood (I have written more about priesthood, power and influence here). Rather, power and influence for good are exerted through officiating in the priesthood. That is, when mothers and fathers see to it that their children are raised in righteousness and receive all of the necessary ordinances of the priesthood then they are both "officiating" in such a way that the children "play by the rules of the game" successfully. Thus, women and men alike can help others, including their children, receive blessings through priesthood ordinances. And, men and women alike are benefited by the priesthood to the extent that we receive the ordinances offered through priesthood authority. Those ordinances represent our path of rebirth back into our Eternal Father's presence.

To be clear, I am distinguishing between holding the priesthood and receiving ordinances through the priesthood. Women play a critical role in the mortal birth of God's children. Men play a critical role in the ordinances that are involved in the rebirth of God's children. Yet both women and men must go through the same process of birth and rebirth in our progress back to God's presence. And, both women and men learn about God through playing their roles in birth and rebirth in a loving and selfless manner. Life, both mortal and spiritual, is God's to give. We are blessed to be partners with God in His work.

This is important for our youth to understand. Consider a young man who holds the Aaronic priesthood. While the Aaronic priesthood is called the lesser priesthood, its importance is seen in that it holds "the key of the ministering of angels and the preparatory gospel (D&C 84:26)." The Aaronic priesthood holds the keys of the preparatory gospel. That is, it is essential to preparation to be reunited with our Father in Heaven. Through repentance, baptism, and the sacrament every one of us prepares for the higher blessings available through the ordinances of the Melchizedek Priesthood on our way back to our Father's presence. Notice the parallel to our mortal birth. By water (baptism) and blood (symbolized by the bread and wine, or water, of the sacrament) we become spiritually alive.

Our spiritual life involves the other part of the keys of the Aaronic priesthood, the ministering of Angels. Because, "by the ministering of angels, and by every word which proceeded forth out of the mouth of God, men began to exercise faith in Christ; and thus by faith, they did lay hold upon every good thing (Moroni 7: 25)." Notice the important role of angels in this process. "Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ (2 Nephi 32:3)." This blessing is available to all of us including men, women and children. As Alma said, "He imparteth his word by angels unto men, yea, not only men but women also. Now this is not all; little children do have words given unto them many times, which confound the wise and the learned. (Alma 32:23)."

But, we must be clean and pure to be guided through the voice of the spirit, whether it involves the voice of angels, the Holy Ghost, Jesus Christ or God the Father. And the Aaronic priesthood holds the keys of repentance and the ordinances that allow us to become clean and pure and enjoy the blessing of guidance through the spirit. Thus, the Aaronic priesthood holds the key of the ministering of angels because it holds the key of becoming clean and pure enough to hear their voice (I have written more about the ministering of angels here).

Our youth need to understand that they are critical partners to God in providing the blessings of mortality and eternal life to God's children. Young women are learning to play their part in "officiating" in such a way that God's children "play by the rules" and receive essential saving ordinances. They are learning to work in presidencies, to teach the gospel, to serve selflessly, and to encourage others to live the gospel and receive priesthood ordinances. And, they are also looking forward to their critical role in creating bodies for eternal spirit children of God. Likewise, young men are learning to serve in the priesthood by administering in ordinances under the Aaronic priesthood keys of the ministering of angels and the preparatory gospel. They, too, are learning to play their part in "officiating" in such a way that God's children "play by the rules" and receive essential saving ordinances. They are serving in presidencies, teaching the gospel and encouraging others to receive priesthood ordinances. If our youth can realize their critical current and future roles in God's plan they will have a greater desire to receive priesthood ordinances in order to be clean an pure and to enjoy the guidance of the spirit in their lives. And, they will be ready, when the time comes, to enter into the temple to make and keep the higher ordinances of the Melchizedek priesthood.