The Book of Mormon mentions a “choice seer” two times, found in the following prophecy:
6 For Joseph truly testified, saying: A SEER shall the Lord my God raise up, who shall be A CHOICE SEER unto the fruit of my loins.
7 Yea, Joseph truly said: Thus saith the Lord unto me: A CHOICE SEER will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and he shall be esteemed highly among the fruit of thy loins. And unto him will I give commandment that he shall do a work for the fruit of thy loins, his brethren, which shall be of great worth unto them, even to the bringing of them to the knowledge of the covenants which I have made with thy fathers.
8 And I will give unto him a commandment that he shall do none other work, save the work which I shall command him. And I will make him great in mine eyes; for he shall do my work.
9 And he shall be great like unto Moses, whom I have said I would raise up unto you, to deliver my people, O house of Israel.
10 And Moses will I raise up, to deliver thy people out of the land of Egypt.
11 But A SEER will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and unto him will I give power to bring forth my word unto the seed of thy loins—and not to the bringing forth my word only, saith the Lord, but to the convincing them of my word, which shall have already gone forth among them.
12 Wherefore, the fruit of thy loins shall write; and the fruit of the loins of Judah shall write; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah, shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, and bringing them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also to the knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord.
13 And out of weakness he shall be made strong, in that day when my work shall commence among all my people, unto the restoring thee, O house of Israel, saith the Lord.
14 And thus prophesied Joseph, saying: Behold, THAT SEER will the Lord bless; and they that seek to destroy him shall be confounded; for this promise, which I have obtained of the Lord, of the fruit of my loins, shall be fulfilled. Behold, I am sure of the fulfilling of this promise;
15 And his name shall be called after me; and it shall be after the name of his father. And he shall be like unto me; for the thing, which the Lord shall bring forth by his hand, by the power of the Lord shall bring my people unto salvation.
16 Yea, thus prophesied Joseph: I am sure of this thing, even as I am sure of the promise of Moses; for the Lord hath said unto me, I will preserve thy seed forever. (2 Nephi 3)
That Choice Seer was presumed to have been Joseph Smith Jr., but Book of Mormon Witness David Whitmer said otherwise. The following snippets are from Chapter 10 in his book, An Address to All Believers in Christ by a Witness to the Divine Authenticity of The Book of Mormon, 1887.
“The ‘CHOICE SEER’ spoken of in the Book of Mormon is NOT Brother Joseph.”
“The man who is ‘NOT LEARNED’ refers to Brother Joseph (2Ne.27:19), but the ‘Choice Seer’ is ANOTHER MAN.”
“Now I hope you understand me. I am not persecuting Brother Joseph and never did persecute him. Because he erred is no reason why I should not love him. God called him to translate his sacred word by the power and gift of God; BUT HE WAS NOT CALLED TO SET UP AND ESTABLISH THE CHURCH any more than any of us Elders were.”
And:
“We see that Brother Joseph was not this Choice Seer for the following reasons:
- He is to come from the seed of Lehi, and Joseph Smith is not of that seed.
- He is to convince the Lamanites in person; Joseph Smith did not convince them.
- His tongue will not be loosed that he can speak much, and the Lord is to raise up a spokesman for him; Joseph Smith‘s tongue was loosed to speak, he being a good speaker.
- Those who seek to destroy this Seer will be confounded; this does not agree as being Brother Joseph, because he was destroyed.
- The Choice Seer will be faithful and do strictly according to the command of God; Brother Joseph broke the commands of God from the beginning.
“So we see that Brother Joseph was not this Choice Seer.”
From the Bible, we read:
9 (Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the SEER: for he that is NOW CALLED A PROPHET was BEFORETIME CALLED A SEER.) (1 Samuel 9:9)
“This verse is clearly an addition to the original narrative to explain the term ‘seer’ which had become obsolete when the book was compiled in its present form, It is inserted here and not after 1 Samuel 9:11 where the term first occurs, to avoid interrupting the narrative.” (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges)
11 For when David was up in the morning, the word of the Lord came unto the PROPHET Gad, David’s SEER (2 Samuel 24)
Other Seers from the Bible:
- David and Samuel the seer did ordain, 1 Chr. 9:22
- Heman the king’s seer, 1 Chr. 25:5
- Gad the seer 1 Chr. 29:29)
- visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam, 2 Chr. 9:29
- Hanani the seer, 2 Chr. 16:7 (19:2)
- Asaph the seer, 2 Chr. 29:30
- Jeduthun the king’s seer, 2 Chr. 35:15
- Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, Amos 7:12
From the Book of Mormon:
13 The things are called INTERPRETERS, and no man can look in them except he be commanded, lest he should look for that he ought not and he should perish. And whosoever is commanded to look in them, the same is called SEER. (Mosiah 8)
16 And Ammon said that a SEER is a REVELATOR and a PROPHET ALSO; (Mosiah 8)
17 But a SEER can know of things which are PAST, and also of things which are to COME, and by them shall ALL THINGS be REVEALED, or, rather, shall secret things be made manifest, and hidden things shall come to light, and things which are not known shall be made known by them, and also things shall be made known by them which otherwise could not be known.(Mosiah 8)
13 And now he translated them by the means of those two STONES which were fastened into the two rims of a bow.
14 Now these things were prepared from the beginning, and were handed down from generation to generation, for the purpose of INTERPRETING LANGUAGES;
15 And they have been kept and preserved by the hand of the Lord, that he should discover to every creature who should possess the land THE INIQUITIES and ABOMINATIONS of his people;
16 And whosoever has these things is called SEER, after the manner of old times. (Mosiah 28)
Summary
If David Whitmer is correct, there will come, not just “another” seer, but a “choice Seer,” and according to the above definitions, will be a revelator and a prophet, who may, interpret languages, reveal secret things, past or future things, and go among the Lamanites with a spokesman.
By using God’s power, he (and the spokesman) will successfully convince and gather them into a new New Jerusalem (see Key Concepts – New Jerusalem) on ancient Book of Mormon lands (western NY).