Moroni has a charge to finish a record, and to hide up the plates. The phrase “whither I go it mattereth not,” is a fascinating one. In the context of the hiding and the recovery of the plates, one would think that where Moroni went might make quite a bit of difference. There are two ways in which we might read this statement, and neither presents itself as the compelling reading:
Moroni hides the plates, and after that it does not matter where he goes.
It doesn’t matter where Moroni goes, and hides the plates. The presumption is that the Lord will make sure they are in the right place at the right time. Certainly if Moroni as an angel could take them away, he could also deposit them close by to Joseph Smith at the appropriate time.
Of course we still have the personal meaning behind his statement that it does not matter where he goes. Moroni is now a man bereft of family and any other connections. He is alone, and as a man without kin ties, is suspect in any community he might enter. As an unattached man, he is always more susceptible to violence, for he has no kin group to deter such violence. He is alone, and whichever way he turns it will be the same. It really doesn’t matter where he goes. The conditions will be the same.