theplains Posted May 26, 2018 Posted May 26, 2018 Regarding chapter 3 and 4 https://lds.org/languages/eng/content/history/saints-v1/03-plates-of-goldhttps://lds.org/languages/eng/content/history/saints-v1/04-be-watchful The original 7 volume set of LDS Church History makes no reference to a lockbox obtained for the purpose of securing the plates Joseph supposedly retrieved from the hill (none that I could find), but the modern version of LDS history mentions it three times. 1] But he still needed to find a way to protect the plates once he got them. After most of the family had gone to bed, he quietly asked his mother if she had a lockbox. Lucy did not have one and got worried. 2] Joseph also sent his youngest brother, Don Carlos, to get a lockbox from Hyrum, who lived down the road with his wife, Jerusha, and their newborn daughter. 3] Hyrum arrived soon after, and once the plates were securely in the box, Joseph collapsed onto a nearby bed and started telling his family about the men in the woods. https://www.lds.org/ensign/1992/01/moroni-joseph-smiths-tutor?lang=eng says, "Moroni appeared and reminded him that he had not done as he had been commanded. Joseph had been told in a former revelation, according to his mother’s account, “not to lay the plates down, or put them for a moment out of his hands, until he got into the house and deposited them in a chest or trunk, having a good lock and key.” https://www.lds.org/ensign/2018/07/chapter-5-all-is-lost?lang=eng says, "After Joseph brought the gold plates home, treasure seekers tried for weeks to steal them. To keep the record safe, he had to move it from place to place, hiding the plates under the hearth, beneath the floor of his father’s shop, and in piles of grain. He could never let his guard down." Was this some very special lockbox that only Joseph Smith could get into while all the other people (with hammers/crowbars/etc available to them) could not? Or did Moroni (or Joseph/or someone else) finally realize that moving the lockbox around to avoid discovery was more practical than having a good lock and key after all? Thanks, Jim
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