The Simple Miracle That Helped the Whitmers Further the Book of Mormon

In 1829, when Joseph Smith was in the middle of translating the Book of Mormon, he and his family began to experience some serious problems.¹ Some people in Harmony, Pennsylvania were becoming increasingly aggressive towards them.² Threats were becoming more and more common, and Emma’s family seems to have been the only thing keeping the Smiths from being injured or killed.³

During this difficult time, Oliver Cowdery wrote a letter to his friend David Whitmer, asking for help.4 He told David about what he and Joseph were doing. He then asked him to bring his team of horses and his wagon to Harmony to help Oliver, Joseph, and Emma move to a safer place: the Whitmer home in Fayette, New York.⁵ Knowing this would be a burden on his family, David discussed this possibility with his parents and siblings, who decided that, despite the sacrifice, letting the Smiths and Oliver stay with them was the right thing to do.⁶

However, David couldn’t just pack up and leave right away. It was the time of year when the wheat the family depended on for survival needed to be planted, and David’s father reminded him that he still needed to plow and fertilize his fields before he left.⁷ His father also told him that he should pray to know whether or not he should leave immediately to get Oliver and the Smiths.⁸ David did so, and got the impression from the Spirit that he should finish his work before making the trip to Harmony.⁹

But then something miraculous happened. David later recalled, “I was pressed with my work. I had some 20 acres to plow, and so I concluded I would finish plowing, and then go.”¹⁰ He said that the next day, “on going to the field I found between 5 and 7 acres of my ground had been plowed during the night. I don’t know who did it, but it was done, just as I would have done it myself, and the plow was left standing in the furrow.”¹¹

Although it is impossible to know for sure who plowed David’s fields, Lucy Mack Smith later recalled that three men that the Whitmers did not know came and worked the fields. According to Lucy, they had not been invited to do so, and never explained who they were and why they were there. They left without asking for payment.¹²

When David’s father heard what had happened, he was amazed.¹³ He told his son, that “there must be an overruling hand in this,” and encouraged him to leave as soon as he had finished plowing and fertilizing the rest of his fields.¹⁴ David quickly finished his work, got his wagon and team together, and left for Harmony far earlier than he had expected.¹⁵ This allowed him to get Joseph, Emma, and Oliver to his parent’s house in Fayette, New York by June 4th.¹⁶

Once the Smiths were finally out of harm’s way, the Book of Mormon translation was able to continue at a rapid pace. 1 Nephi through Words of Mormon, the last books of the Book of Mormon to be rendered into English, were translated at the Whitmer home between June 5th and June 30th, 1829.¹⁷