Eighteen (1823)strengthen the shoulders upon which the yoke of this work is bound. Those
are your shoulders, Joseph. Hold the yoke strong,^45 and if you stumble, they
shall be at your side that you shall not fall.Joseph removed the stone by himself. There was not really anything to see that
seemed spectacular. He saw a lot of dust covering what appeared to him to be ancient
artifacts. When he bent down to get a closer look and brush away the dust^46 inside the hole,
Moroni stopped him and told him not to disturb anything at that time. He was told to
replace the stone and sit with him and the other men. Joseph, by struggling to replace the
stone and exert himself without the aid of others, was now beginning to learn that he could
call on his own inner strength when necessary—exactly what Moroni expected him to learn.
Moroni explained that the five of them would meet at the stone each year for the
next four years until Joseph was ready to take possession of the plates and begin the
translation. During the next four years, Joseph was instructed continuously by the Three
Nephites and John (hereafter referred to as “the Brothers”), although Moroni is the only one
Joseph mentioned in his published account. Moroni was the only advanced human (i.e., angel)
that he met during this period; and he appeared annually on September 22nd.
The Importance of “the Brothers”
To fulfill his role, Joseph needed a lot of training to understand how to perform it
properly. He had to accomplish his mission, first, without revealing his true identity (or in
other words, without divulging the real truth) and, second, without taking away the free
will of others. The Brothers had been alive upon earth for hundreds of years. They knew all
there was to know about religion, politics, and how the human race had developed over
time in all parts of the world. Their mortal experience was a necessary part of Joseph’s
training and development. Their support was vital to his emotional stability and to his
resolve to do what no other mortal upon earth could do. The Brothers would be there when
he needed them. They would not leave the immediate area for the next four years. Joseph
had the most mortally experienced mentors in this solar system.
Although Joseph would one day be able utilize the Urim and Thummim for help and
instruction about anything he needed, the advanced humans on the other end of the
“device” did not have the same mortal experience upon this earth and in this solar system
that “the Brothers” had. To ensure that Joseph would allow the Brothers to teach him, the
advanced monitors of Joseph’s work kept the Urim and Thummim from him until it was
needed to translate the gold plates. Once Joseph received the stones and learned how to use
them, the Brother’s role in his life diminished somewhat, allowing them to go to other parts
of the world that needed their kind of intervention.
Timothy (the sole Nephite) stayed near Joseph until towards the end of Joseph’s
mortal mission. Mathoni and Mathonihah (the two Lamanites) parted from Joseph earlier
and traveled to Europe, particularly in and around Great Britain and other English
speaking nations. There, the “Injun” brothers intermingled with the poor of that area,
preparing the hearts and minds of the people to be more flexible for the day when the
early LDS missionaries would bring the Book of Mormon amongst them. Although the
missionaries were part of a false church and religion, this was part of an advanced, well-
conceived plan for the LDS/Mormon experiment.