“Thus the Lord Caused Stones to Shine in Darkness”

Brant Gardner

This is the ending of the story of the sixteen stones. It is not, however, the purpose of the story of the stones. The problem of light is an interesting one, but the reason for telling the story is not for the miracle of the stones, for God could have used any other miracle to light the vessels. The purpose was in the miracle of the revelation of the personal God. That is where the story spends time, and when that true miracle is ended, Moroni can be rather mundane about the installation of the shining stones in the vessels. This terse account is therefore interesting for what is not here. There is no acclamation over the miraculous stones. There is no wonder by Jared that they should work. They simply do their job. For Moroni, this was not a story of stones, but of the finger of God and the great faith of the brother of Jared.

Multidimensional Commentary on the Book of Mormon

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