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Book Delivered to Him Not Learned - Joseph Smith’s Education
It is known that the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith’s New Translation of the Bible expand upon and conceptually reappropriate prophecy contained in Isaiah 29 (see #26 A VOICE ‘FROM OUT OF THE GROUND’). 2 Nephi 27:19–20 reads:
Wherefore it shall come to pass, that the Lord God will deliver again the book and the words thereof to him that is not learned; and the man that is not learned shall say: I am not learned. Then shall the Lord God say unto him: The learned shall not read them,for they have rejected them, and I am able to do mine own work; wherefore thou shalt read the words which I shall give unto thee.
The man that is “not learned” is understood to be Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith’s education has been one of the most often-cited pieces of evidence in favor of the Book of Mormon’s authenticity. Latter-day Saints are very familiar with the quote from Emma Smith in which she affirms: “Joseph Smith could neither write nor dictate a coherent and well-worded letter; let alone dictating a book like the Book of Mormon.”70 Research has continued to demonstrate that Joseph Smith had about two to three years of former schooling.71 Even the most generous estimate to critics of Joseph Smith gives him seven years of formal schooling.72 “Yet,” as Scripture Central writes, “even if he could possibly have attended that many years of school (the calculation is only an estimate), it is impossible to demonstrate whether or not he actually did attend during those years. Several historical reports indicate that Joseph was involved in activities that conflicted with his schooling.”73 Even assuming that Joseph Smith did take advantage of all of his educational opportunities, it is doubtful that these would have proffered him all of the skills necessary to dictate a book like the Book of Mormon.74
Joseph Smith’s education is a fulfillment of prophecy as contained in the Book of Mormon. He was, decidedly, not learned–even if granting our critics’ estimates of his education. His limited education continues to support the idea that the Book of Mormon really was translated by the gift and power of God.
70"The Last Testimony of Sister Emma," The Saints' Herald 26, no. 19 (October 1, 1879): 2, https://mormonr.org/qnas/MggWf/joseph_smiths_pre_1830_education/research#re-2wubdc-0uZP5h.
71Brian C. Hales, “Joseph Smith’s Education and Intellect As Described in Documentary Sources,” Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 59 (2023): 1–32, https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/joseph-smiths-education-and-intellect-as-described-in-documentary-sources/; “Joseph Smith’s Pre-1030 Education,” Mormonr, accessed February 7, 2025, https://mormonr.org/qnas/MggWf/joseph_smiths_pre_1830_education.
72William Davis, “Reassessing Joseph Smith, Jr.’s Formal Education,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 49, no. 4 (2016): 46, https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V49N04_112.pdf.
73Scripture Central, “Book of Mormon Evidence: Joseph Smith’s Education,” Scripture Central, September 19, 2020, https://scripturecentral.org/evidence/book-of-mormon-evidence-joseph-smith-s-education. Their footnote for the last sentence reads as follows: Pomery Tucker, for example, claimed that “instead of going to school like other boys” Joseph led his family members in endeavors such as “hunting and fishing, trapping muskrats, … digging out woodchucks from their holes and idly lounging around the stores and shops in the village.” Pomeroy Tucker, Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism (New York: NY: D.Appleton and Co., 1867), 14–15. Perry Benjamin Pierce similarly remembered, “The boys grew up without desire for education; if they were sent to school, their days were passed in the woods with guns and dogs.” Perry Benjamin Pierce, “The Origin of the ‘Book of Mormon,’” American Anthropologist 1 (1899): 677. Pierce also remarked that a local farmer he had talked to said, “None of them Smith boys ever went to school when they could get out of it” (p. 680). Joseph’s own recollection ascribes his lack of education to the fact that his family was both large and poor: “it required the exertions of all that were able to render any assistance for the support of the Family therefore we were deprived of the bennifit of an education.” Letterbook 1, p. 1, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed August 17, 2020, online at josephsmithpapers.org; original spelling retained. Whether Joseph’s non-educational activities were due to his engaging in work or play, or perhaps some of both, there is good reason to suspect that he did not always utilize the academic opportunities that were available to him.
74Brian C. Hales, “What Can Artificial Intelligence Tell Us About the Literary Skills Needed to Dictate the Book of Mormon?” Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 63 (2025): 257–96, https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/what-can-artificial-intelligence-tell-us-about-the-literary-skills-needed-to-dictate-a-text-like-the-book-of-mormon/.
