Some may wonder why God used Joseph Smith,
an uneducated man, to bring forth the Book of Mormon?
While Joseph did receive some basic education
before translating the Book of Mormon,
his friends, family, associates, and even critics
all described him as relatively unlearned.
His wife, Emma, for example, explained that
at the time of the translation,
he “could neither write nor dictate a coherent and      well-worded letter.”
Martin Harris similarly declared that Joseph was “a poor writer,
and could not even draw up a note of hand as his education was so limited.”
Samples of Joseph’s early writings,
including their lack of punctuation
and frequently misspelled words,
help confirm these descriptions.
For example, Joseph himself stated that he
was “deprived of the bennifit of an education”
and was “mearly instructtid in reading writing
and the ground rules of Arithmatic.”
It’s also noteworthy that the destitute circumstances of the Smith family
required long hours of “continuous labor” from all who were capable of work.
With this in mind, one literary scholar has argued
that Joseph simply wouldn’t have had the time “to read broadly, undertake research,
construct various drafts,
and work out the plot, characters, settings, various
points of view, and multiple rhetorical styles
that constitute the five-hundred-plus page
narrative of the Book of Mormon.”
Even if he did have the time,
he clearly lacked the educational opportunities and literary development
that the great writers of his
day all seem to have had.
Yet despite these limitations,
Joseph Smith,
unlike other notable 19th century authors,
produced a literary and scriptural masterpiece at the beginning,
rather than the conclusion, of his development as a writer.
Numerous studies have shown that the Book
of Mormon is far more complex, sophisticated,
and historically authentic than many people realize.
And yet, somehow, it was brought to the world
by an unlearned 23-year-old farmer,
who dictated its lengthy text in no more than 74 working days
without notes or reference materials,
and without any substantive revisions.
Joseph Smith’s lack of education and experience
strongly emphasize the miraculous and divine nature of the Book of Mormon’s translation.
They also meaningfully fulfill Nephi’s prophecy
that the Book of Mormon would be brought forth
by a “man that is not learned.”
And now you know why.
