The approximate timing of Mormon’s letter to Moroni (recorded in Moroni 9) may be identified through triangulation with other data from Mormon’s writings, comparing it with the description of the same events in Mormon chapters 4, 5, and 6. The historical accuracy of what we have here shines through quite magnificently.
Comparing the contents of Mormon 4–6 and Moroni 9 provides an opportunity to triangulate the events that Mormon described there with details that he covers in greater detail in this personal letter. Indeed, in his historical account, Mormon gave a general story about what was happening, and his letter elucidates those events and clarifies why the events in his narrative record were happening.
It is very unlikely that Joseph Smith, after he had encountered the narrative in Mormon 4–6, then continued to translate, finished Mormon 7–9, went on through the whole story of the Jaredites in Ether 1–15, and then finished most of the book of Moroni in chapters 1–8, only at that point finally included this letter that fit right into a previous historical moment mentioned briefly much earlier. Those who witnessed his translating never even suggested that Joseph ever went back to consult previously translated passages or to check back on details.
Scholars generally, but not always, concur that Moroni 9 was probably written at the end of the hiatus between the years AD 367 to 375 (see Mormon 4:15–16), right before that last big invasion in 375, when the Nephites were on the run for ten years. For a chart comparing nine details found in Mormon 4 with specific statements found in Moroni 9, see my previous Notes on Mormon 1–6, pp. 1059–1060, and the discussions below. See also a similar chart by Robert F. Smith, “Epistolary Form,” pp. 131–132. As a rule, I favor the idea that Moroni 7, 8, and 9 were written in the same order in which Moroni gives them to us. Without giving some indication of a “flashback,” Mormon and Moroni use a strict chronological framework for their introduction of documents into the finished record. This would mean that Moroni 9 comes last of these three, and not in the earlier 345–350 AD time frame, which would be the only other possible time period. (Since it is not likely that Moroni 8 was written before 345–350 AD, when Moroni was too young to have been called to the ministry, and also since the speech in Moroni 7 would have to have been given even earlier, at a time before Mormon would have had worked extensively on abridging 3 Nephi, I would suggest that that earlier time frame for Moroni 9 seems improbable.)
There are several beautiful pearls among the descriptions of the horrendous sufferings and trials in Moroni 9. Perhaps they are things that one may want to remember, and maybe they are all the more memorable, because they come out of this crucible of intensity. If Mormon could say such poignant things when he was in the midst of horrific struggles, readers may gain great strength from them, especially during times of their own intense trials and disappointments. Below, are some of those pearls. As a reader, you may find many more!
John W. Welch, “Mormon 1–6,” in John W. Welch Notes (Springville, UT: Book of Mormon Central, 2020), 1037–1068.
Book of Mormon Central, “
Joseph M. Spencer, “On the Dating of Moroni 8–9,” Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 22 (2016): 131–148.
Robert F. Smith, “Epistolary Form in the Book of Mormon,” FARMS Review 22, no. 2 (2010): 125–135, dates Moroni 9 to ca. AD 366 AD.
Alan C. Miner, “A Chronological Setting for the Epistles of Mormon to Moroni,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 3, no 2. (1994): 94–113.