“The Lord Caused Stones to Shine in Darkness”

Brant Gardner

The story of the sixteen stones ends here; but Moroni’s purpose in telling it was not to relate the miraculous solution to the problem of light. Yahweh could have solved that problem in any number of ways. Rather, the purpose was Yahweh’s revelation as a personal being. That is where the narrative is most detailed; and when the story is completed, Moroni reports the stones’ installation rather cursorily. It could have been a dramatic story, but it is not. There is no suspense about whether they will work or curiosity about how they work. They simply do their job. For Moroni, the story was not about stones, but about faith and the finger of God.

Second Witness: Analytical & Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 6

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