TEREZA - How did Joseph Smith translate the Book of Mormon? - I
want to know, if he was behind some drape or he was
just sitting behind his table, and If Oliver Cowdery could
see him and golden plates when thay were translating
this book.
JOEL - Little is known about the translation process itself.
Few details can be gleaned from comments made by
Joseph's scribes and close associates. Only Joseph
Smith knew the actual process, and he declined to
describe it in public. At a Church conference in 1831,
Hyrum Smith invited the Prophet to explain more fully
how the Book of Mormon came forth. Joseph Smith
responded that "it was not intended to tell the world
all the particulars of the coming forth of the Book of
Mormon; and…it was not expedient for him to relate
these things" (HC 1:220).
As far as we know the only ones who were allowed to
see the plates were the 11 witnesses and possibly Emma
Smith and a few others.
There are conflicting reports about whether a curtain was
placed between Joseph and his scribe. There may have
been one while Martin Harris was recording the first 116 pages if Joseph had the plates next to himself while translating. (Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origens. Noel B. Reynolds).
But David Whitmer, only mentions that a curtain partitioned off an area to
keep the scribe and Joseph out of sight of visitors
(see David Whitmer Interviews: A Restoration Witness,
ed. Lyndon W. Cook, 1991, p. 173, as cited by Neal
Maxwell, Ensign, Jan. 1997, p. 40).
Oliver Cowdery's wife said that "Joseph never had a
curtain drawn between him and his scribe" and Joseph's
wife also said that there was no barrier between her
and Joseph when she acted as scribe (as cited by Neal
Maxwell, Ensign, Jan. 1997, p. 40).
If there was not a curtain between them there might
have been some other way that the scribes were prevented
from seeing the plates, since at that time no one was
permitted to see them. Emma reports that the plates
were wrapped up and not directly used during translation,
which may have been the case with Whitmer, Cowdery, and Emma, but not Harris.
It is possible the common image of a curtain hanging between the Prophet
and his scribes, sometimes seen in illustrations in
the story of the Book of Mormon, may be based on
a misunderstanding. (Cook, David Whitmer Interviews,
173, 233-234, 249.10)
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