Captain Moroni’s Revelation

Authors

Duane Boyce

Keywords

revelation, BYU Studies, Moroni

Abstract

Moroni reports receiving a revelation in which the Lord told him, “If those whom ye have appointed your governors do not repent of their sins and iniquities, ye shall go up to battle against them” (Alma 60:33). Moroni reports this revelation straightforwardly, but because Pahoran, the chief governor of the Nephites at the time, turns out to be innocent of the charges contained in Moroni’s subsequent epistle and in the revelation itself (see Alma 61), it is easy to think that Moroni’s revelation (or at least his report of it) is mistaken in some way. Indeed, this conclusion would seem to be the general default reading of this passage.1 The logical implication of this conclusion is that Moroni must have some defect. Even though he presents the message as a quotation from the Lord, either he did not actually receive a revelation, or he misunderstood the revelation he did receive, or, at a minimum, he recorded his revelation inaccurately.

Recommended Citation

Boyce, Duane (2019) "Captain Moroni’s Revelation," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 58: Iss. 4, Article 6.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol58/iss4/6