Gramps,

Why did Joseph Smith need “seer stones” to translate the Book of Mormon if he had the Urim and Thummim?

Brenda

Dear Brenda,

Actually, although there was such an instrument as a seer stone in the possession of Joseph Smith, there is no evidence that he used such an object in his translation o the Book of Mormon. President Joseph Fielding Smith has made the following statement in this regard—

“While the statement has been made by some writers that the Prophet Joseph Smith used a seer stone part of the time in his translating of the record, and information points to the fact that he did have in his possession such a stone, yet there is no authentic statement in the history of the Church which states that the use of such a stone was made in that translation. The information is all hearsay, and personally, I do not believe that this stone was used for this purpose. The reason I give for this conclusion is found in the statement of the Lord to the Brother of Jared as recorded in Ether 3:22-24″ (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, edited by Bruce R. McConkie, 3:, p.225).

The statement referred to in the Book of Ether was—

And behold, when ye shall come unto me, ye shall write them and shall seal them up, that no one can interpret them; for ye shall write them in a language that they cannot be read. And behold, these two stones will I give unto thee, and ye shall seal them up also with the things which ye shall write. For behold, the language which ye shall write I have confounded; wherefore I will cause in my own due time that these stones shall magnify to the eyes of men these things which ye shall write.

When Joseph Smith concluded his translation of the Book of Mormon he returned the plates from which it was translated, together with the Urim and Thummim, to the Angel Moroni.

The Urim and Thummim is an ancient instrument, first mentioned in the scriptures to be in the hands of (Abraham 3:1). It was prepared by the Lord for the purpose of translating from unknown languages. The Urim and Thummim is mentioned only once in the Old Testament, Nehemiah 7:65, which says,

And the Tirshatha (governor) said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim.

The Book of Nehemiah is reported to have been written in 446 BC, but as the passage indicates, the Urim and Thummim is spoken of as having existed earlier, but apparently was lost. It was reported to be associated with the robes that Aaron wore when he served in the tabernacle and was located in the breast plate that was worn over the ephod. The ephod was a “shoulder dress” or vest, to which was attached the breast plate that held the Urim and Thummim.

Gramps