If Joseph Smith were motivated by money, fame, or power, why did he never publish or profit from the Book of Moses during his lifetime?
Dear CES Letter,
Your critique repeatedly assumes that Joseph Smith’s religious production was driven by self-interest. Whether framed as deception, manipulation, or gradual consolidation of authority, the underlying claim is the same: Joseph benefited from what he created.
That assumption runs into a serious problem when confronted with the Book of Moses.
Because Joseph Smith never used it.
Writing Books Is How People Gain Money and Fame
People who invent religious texts for gain tend to do the same things.
They publish them.
They circulate them.
They point to them as evidence of authority.
They sell them.
Books are leverage. Books are proof. Books are income.
Joseph Smith dictated the Book of Moses in 1830.
And then he did none of those things.
Produced Early, Withheld Completely
The Book of Moses was revealed shortly after the Church was organized, at a time when Joseph Smith had the most to gain from demonstrating prophetic authority.
Yet it was not published.
Not as a book.
Not as a pamphlet.
Not as missionary material.
For more than two decades, the text remained largely unknown to the public.
This is not how a fraud operates.
No Attempt to Profit, Ever
There is no record of Joseph Smith attempting to sell the Book of Moses.
He did not market it.
He did not promote it.
He did not use it to draw crowds or collect money.
He didn’t use it to prove himself as a revelator able to expand on scripture.
If the purpose of writing books is to gain money or fame, Joseph Smith consistently refused to do so with one of the most expansive texts he ever dictated.
That silence demands explanation.
Limited Publication in 1842, and Only in Context
In 1842, portions of the Book of Moses were published in Nauvoo newspapers.
Specifically, the Vision of Enoch material, now Moses chapters 6–7, appeared in serialized form.
This partial release coincided with the introduction of temple endowment teachings in Nauvoo. The Enoch material directly overlaps with that theological context, addressing premortal councils, covenant structures, creation, the Fall, and Satan’s role.
The text appears when it becomes doctrinally relevant, not when it would generate profit or publicity.
Even then, it is not published as a book. It is not sold. It is not used as a recruiting tool.
The remainder of the Book of Moses is still withheld.
Full Publication Only After Joseph’s Death
The most striking fact is this.
The complete Book of Moses was not published until 1851, after Joseph Smith was dead.
It was published in England, not America.
It was overseen by a mission president, not Joseph Smith.
Joseph gained nothing from it.
No money.
No influence.
No authority.
If the Book of Moses were written for gain, it failed completely at accomplishing that goal.
And Joseph Smith never tried to make it succeed.
Why Not Use the Book of Enoch to Gain Followers?
If Joseph Smith were inventing scripture, the Enoch material should have been invaluable.
It expands Genesis.
It introduces sweeping cosmology.
It claims access to lost primeval revelation.
Why was it never used as evidence to win converts?
Why was it never presented as proof of prophetic authority?
Why was it not leveraged at all?
The 116 Pages Problem Revisited
There is another possibility the CES Letter does not consider.
By the time the Book of Moses was revealed, Joseph Smith had already lost the first 116 pages of the Book of Mormon. He had been warned not to retranslate them, because altered copies could be produced to accuse him of fraud.
This was not theoretical.
Those pages represented the earliest portion of the Nephite record, including the Book of Lehi. That record was known to contain material drawn from the Brass Plates, which the Book of Mormon itself describes as preserving lost biblical and primeval traditions.
This raises a serious question.
Was the reason Joseph Smith never released these Book of Moses revelations because the same material already existed in the lost manuscript?
Was the Book of Moses restoring ancient content that overlapped with what had been stolen?
If so, public release would have handed critics exactly what they wanted: material they could claim Joseph was copying from altered documents.
Whether or not this explanation is correct, it fits the historical constraints far better than a fraud model.
A Pattern of Restraint, Not Exploitation
The handling of the Book of Moses follows a consistent pattern:
- Revealed early
- Not published
- Not monetized
- Not used to gain followers
- Partially released only in a narrow doctrinal context
- Fully published only after Joseph’s death, far from early antagonists
This is not how someone seeking gain behaves.
The Question That Remains
If Joseph Smith were a fraudster writing scripture for money, fame, or power, why did he never publish, sell, or leverage the Book of Moses when it could have benefited him most?