Doctrine and Covenants 24 was received during a time of intense persecution. At the time, the Church was organized around three locations, the Smith family in Palmyra, the Whitmer family in Fayette, and the Knight family in Colesville. During this time, persecution was intensifying around Colesville and near the childhood home of the prophet’s wife, Emma Smith. In the latter part of June 1830, meetings were held in Colesville, where a number of people, including Emma Smith, were received through baptism into the Church. Opponents of the Church in the area attempted to thwart the prophet’s aims by tearing down a small dam constructed in a local stream to facilitate the baptisms. Before Joseph was able to confirm the new members of the Church, he was approached by a constable who “arrested by him on a warrant, on charge of being a disorderly person; of setting the country in an uproar by preaching the Book of Mormon.” (JS, History, vol. A-1, 44, JSP).

Joseph later recorded, “The constable informed me, soon after I had been arrested, that the plan of those who had got out the warrant was to get me into the hands of the mob, who were now lying in ambush for me; but that he was determined to save me from them, as he had found me to be a different sort of person from what I had been represented to him.” On their way to the Knight home, the wagon was surrounded by a mob. The crowd hesitated upon seeing the constable with Joseph, and the constable was able to drive the wagon away from the mob. Traveling at high speed, one of the wheels fell off the wagon, though Joseph and the constable managed to put the wheel back on the wagon and again narrowly escape from the mob. The constable drove on to South Bainbridge, where he and Joseph stayed for the night. According to Joseph, the constable “slept during the night with his feet against the door, and a loaded musket by his side, whilst I occupied a bed which was in the room, he having declared that if we were interrupted unlawfully, that he would fight for me, and defend me as far as in his power.”

In the meantime, Joseph Knight began gathering witnesses to speak on Joseph’s behalf at the trial. Josiah Stowell, Joseph’s former employer; Stowell’s daughters; and several citizens from Colesville spoke on Joseph’s behalf. Joseph later wrote that Josiah Stowell’s daughters, “both bore such testimony in my favor, as left my enemies without a pretext on their account.” Acquitted and on the cusp of being freed, Joseph was suddenly served with a different warrant sworn out by enemies in nearby Broom County. Joseph was taken into custody by a second constable, this one much more hostile toward the Saints and their cause.

Joseph later wrote that the constable, “took me to a tavern, and gathered in a number of men, who used every means to abuse, ridicule, and insult me. They spit upon me, pointed their fingers at me, saying prophesy, prophesy, and thus did they imitate those who crucified the Savior of mankind, not knowing what they did.” The constable refused to let Joseph spend the night at home and refused to give him any more than just a few crusts of bread and water to eat. When it came time to sleep, the constable “made [Joseph] lie next [to] the wall; He then laid himself down by me, and put his arm around me; and upon my moving in the least, would clench me fast, fearing that I intended to escape from him: And in this disagreeable manner did we pass the night.”

The next day Joseph was brought to trial before the magistrate in Broom County. Several of Joseph’s friends stood before the court to testify on his behalf, including Newell Knight, from whom Joseph had recently cast out the devil through use of the priesthood. Joseph later wrote that those who testified on his behalf “spoke like men inspired of God, whilst those who were arrayed against me, trembled under the sound of their voices, and quailed before them like criminals before a bar of justice.” Joseph was acquitted, and afterward the constable who had abused him the night before apologized for his behavior and asked for forgiveness.

In the company of Oliver Cowdery, Joseph returned to Colesville to perform the confirmations of those who had been baptized. Soon rumors began to circulate that another mob was gathering to capture Joseph and Oliver. Joseph and Oliver departed just in time to escape the mob. “Our enemies pursued us, and it was oftentimes as much as we could do to elude them; however we managed to get home, after having travelled all night, except a short time,” Joseph later recorded, “during which we were forced to rest ourselves under a large tree by the way side, sleeping and watching alternately. And thus were we persecuted on account of our religious faith—in a country, the constitution of which, guarantees to every man the indefeasible right, to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience; and by men too, who were professors.”

A few days after their escape, Joseph and Oliver reflected on this sudden storm of persecution. Joseph recorded that though they “were forced to seek safety from our enemies by flight, yet did we feel confidence that eventually we should come off victorious, if we only continued faithful to Him who had called us forth from darkness, into the marvelous light of the Everlasting Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (JS, History, vol. A-1, 44–47, JSP).

See Historical Introduction, “Revelation, July 1830–A [D&C 24],” p. 32, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed November 5, 2020, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/revelation-july-1830-a-dc-24/1