Confirmatory Evidences of "Mormonism": Writing on Metal Plates in the Old World

CONFIRMATORY EVIDENCES OF “MORMONISM”

Elder Franklin S. Harris, Jr.

Writing on Metal Plates in the Old World

THE early inhabitants of America, as they are portrayed in the Book of Mormon, were a God-fearing people. Though they went through periods of religious doubt and unbelief, and even rank apostacy, yet their subsequent returns to a righteous and Christlike way of life is strong evidence that, from some source, they had access to a standard of belief and conduct which exercised a powerful stabilizing influence in their history. They knew of God and of His commandments. They knew of His promises to His chosen people, of whom they were a part. How? Nephi tells us that His people brought with them, on their journey from the Old World to America, a record of the Jews and a genealogy of their forefathers—on plates of brass.

It is interesting to study the attempts which have been made, throughout the course of human history, to preserve important information, treaties, sacred knowledge, history, etc. Parchment, wood, clay and stone were used by scribes of old as a means by which great thoughts and events might be preserved. But something more durable and practicable than these was used to chronicle those things historians did not want to forget—metal plates.

In the British Museum there are 25 silver plates, approximately 18 by 2 inches, bound together by thongs, a Pali manuscript in the Sinhalese characters, containing, according to the legend, Buddha’s first sermon preached at Benares, India. These plates are beautifully engraved. Also on display, just next to the silver plates, is a thin gold plate, approximately 2 by 9½   inches. It is inscribed on both sides in Javanese characters, probably a letter from one of the native princes.

Back in time, many centuries before Christ, the Hittites, whose land was just north of Palestine, contended with Egypt. After a long war, a treaty was finally concluded between the two peoples, about 1254 B.C., by Rameses II of Egypt and Khattu-sil, king of the Hittites. A translation of the Egyptian copy of the treaty begins:

This is a copy of the contents of the silver tablet, which the great king of the Hittites, Khattu-sil, had caused to be made, and which was presented to the Pharoah by the hand of his ambassador Tal-tesub and his ambassador Ra-mes, to propose friendship with the king Ramessu-Miamun (Rameses II.)1

This was not an unusual thing at that time for, according to Sayce, the famous scholar, “We may gather that the oldest writing material of the Hittites consisted of plates of metal, on the surface of which the characters were hammered out from behind.”2

From time immemorial legal documents in general, as well as treaties, have been inscribed on tablets such as of brass.3 J Polybius mentions (III. 26) that the treaties between Rome and Carthage were, in his time, still preserved in Rome.4

The Greeks, too, wrote on metal. The oldest Greek records are inscriptions carved in stone or engraved on metal surfaces and treaties between Greek states were frequently engraved on bronze plates and attached to walls of temples.5

But most interesting of all, in the light of our knowledge of the plates of Laban, are the references in Hebrew history to records and inscriptions on metal. In Exodus 39:30, we read:

And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, like to the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD.

And Jeremiah 17:1, exclaims:

The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond; it is graven upon the table of their heart.

Referring to these two passages Elder J. M. Sjodahl concludes:

That proves beyond a question that the Israelites were familiar with engraved tablets, for other-wise the words of the prophet would have been unintelligible to them.6

Isaiah, in recording instructions which the Lord gave to him, says (8:1-2):

Then said the Lord to me, Take a great tablet, and write upon it in easily legible characters, Speeding to the spoil, hastening to the prey. And get me reliable witnesses to attest the writing, Uriah the Priest, and Zechariah, the son of Jeberechiah. (Smith and Goodspeed’s translation.)

On this passage Dr. Adam Clarke in his Commentary states:

I have a metalline mirror found in Herculaneum which is not above three inches square. The prophet is commanded to take a mirror, or brazen polished tablet, not like these little hand mirrors, but a large one; large enough for him to engrave upon it in deep and lasting characters. … with a workman’s graving tool, the prophecy he was to deliver.

The Book of Maccabees (8: 22) in the Apocrypha relates that tablets of brass were used: “And this is a copy of the writing which they (the Roman Senate) wrote back again on tables of brass, and sent to Jerusalem, that it might be with them for a memorial of peace and confederacy.” Later, in chapter 14, verses 16 to 18, it is recorded that the Spartans wrote to Simon, on tables of brass, to renew the friendship which they had had with Judas and Jonathan his brethren.

Richard Watson, in his Bible and Theological Dictionary, in the article on writing, says: “The Hebrews went so far as to write their sacred books in gold, as we may learn from Josephus compared with Pliny.” According to John Kitto lead plates were also used.7

With an understanding of these things, we read with new light Nephi’s brief statement that he took to America Laban’s record of the Jews and the genealogy of his fathers that were engraved oil plates of brass. We understand better the bond that helped to hold the people to the fundamental Gospel principles. We see in the added evidence that ancient peoples used just such metal plates to preserve records, one more witness of the authenticity and accuracy of the Book of Mormon, and one more confirmatory evidence of “Mormonism.”

• 1. A. H. Sayce, The Hittites, 1925, p. 41.
• 2. Sayce, The Hittites, p. 170.
• 3. Julius Pollus VIII, 128, quoted Cambridge Bible, note on 1 Maccabees 8:22.
• 4. Cambridge Bible, note on 1 Maccabees 8:22.
• 5. Chambers Encyclopedia, 1927, vol. 10, pp. 755, 756.
• 6. Introduction to the Study of the Book of Mormon, p. 46.
• 7. Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature, article on "lead."