The Book of Mormon

Week 28: Moroni₂’s commentary on the Jaredites & the Nephites

Mormon 8–9, Ether 4–5 & 12, Moroni 1–6

16 May 2024

• Sidney B. Sperry, professor of religion at BYU (1932–1971), conjectured that Moroni₂ wrote his material in the Book of Mormon in several stages, composing the Title Page in between. See “Moroni the Lonely: The Story of the Writing of the Title-Page to the Book of Mormon,” Improvement Era 47, no. 2 (February 1944): 83, 116, 118.

• Moroni₂ informed us that the script he and other Nephite writers used was called, by them, “the reformed Egyptian” (Mormon 9:32). There are numerous examples of Egyptian writing being modified and used by other cultures; see William J. Hamblin, “Reformed Egyptian,” FARMS Review 19, no. 1 (2007): 31–35.

• Both Moroni 4:2 and D&C 20:76 instruct the entire congregation to kneel when the sacrament prayers are offered. This practice was observed in the restored Church during the nineteenth century, but slowly fell into disuse in the early twentieth century. In 1902 Church President Joseph F. Smith wrote an editorial instructing that this practice “may be regulated by the presiding authority, according to local surroundings, circumstances, and conditions.” Joseph F. Smith, “Questions and Answers: On Administering the Sacrament,” Improvement Era 5, no. 6 (April 1902): 473–74.