Episode 196: D&C 93 – Sections 122 and 123
Joseph instructs his followers to gather evidence of how bad bad bad the Missourians were to the saints, such that eventually he can take those grievances to the president.
Polygamy is happening, just on the sly. Wife #3, Lucinda Harris has entered the timeline (probably).
Drink count – 0
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My Book of Mormon 
February 24, 2018 at 4:12 pm
Sections 121, 122 and 123 are excerpted from two letters written from Liberty Jail. It is interesting to read them in the original, as the parts included in the Doctrine and Covenants are at times pulled out piecemeal from larger sections of text and then strung together (concatenated?) to sound consistent, without the casual reader realizing that text is missing.
It is understandable why Orson Pratt and others, when editing the 1876 edition of the D&C, would want to pull together every conceivable revelation from Joseph Smith to make the most complete collection possible, and therefore would excerpt the revelation-sounding bits from these otherwise secular epistles. But for historical context, the original versions make for fascinating reading.
The first letter, containing most of Section 121 (through verse 33), can be found here:
http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letter-to-the-church-and-edward-partridge-20-march-1839/1
The second letter, containing the rest of 121 along with 122 and 123, can be found here:
http://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/letter-to-edward-partridge-and-the-church-circa-22-march-1839/1
It should be noted that in the second letter there is no break between the end of 121 and the beginning of 122. While 121 starts out humble (pleading to God), it ends triumphant, so it probably made sense for the editors to break it there, before moving into the more humble 122, where Joseph is told why he’s had to suffer (to give him life experience) and then receives a rather stinging rebuke: Jesus suffered more than you, so get over yourself and stop complaining — you aren’t greater than he is.
Speaking of historical context, some interesting background, focusing largely on the experience of fellow inmate Caleb Baldwin, can be found here:
https://history.lds.org/article/doctrine-and-covenants-liberty-jail?lang=eng