Was Joseph Really a Martyr...Or Just a Gunslinger

In D&C 135:4 the Prophet Joseph Smith is quoted as having said “I am going like a lamb to the slaughter”. The critic claims that this is a knock on a scripture in Isaiah that refers to Christ: “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb…”(Isa 53:7).

The critics claim that this phrase is an insult for Joseph to use to describe himself. They claim that since Joseph used a gun to defend himself against a mob, that he could in no way be likened as “a lamb to the slaughter”!

First, let’s address the weapon used when Joseph was killed. In Christ’s final hours he met with his apostles and tried to prepare them for his arrest and eventual death.  In the last meeting he would have with them before he was taken, Christ instructs “And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said Nothing. Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one…And they said, Lord, behold here are two swords, And he said unto them, It is enough.”(Luke 22:35-36,38)

Here the Lord instructs his apostles not only to take a sword, but if none can be found they should “sell (their) garment, and buy one.” Looks like the critics have a problem here.  Like Joseph and his companions were armed before his death, Christ and his companions were also armed! Of course, I am sure that the apostles of Christ never used those weapons like Joseph and his companions did…..right!?! Actually, if you read further in the same chapter of Luke 22 in verses 48-50 it says, “But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the son of man with a kiss? When they which were about him saw what would follow, they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword? And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear.”

So it seems from the scriptures that Jesus who was going as a Lamb to the slaughter also armed his companions, much like Joseph. Now it is true that in the next verse Jesus picks up the ear and heals the servant of the high priest, but this doesn’t negate the fact that the Lord instructed them to get armed.

As for the critic who says it was wrong for Joseph to liken himself to Christ with the phase “as a lamb to the slaughter”, I would redirect them to the scriptures. In Ps 44:22 it says “Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.” This chapter tells us of the persecution of the saints and the psalmist makes it clear that “we are counted as sheep for the slaughter” for his sake.

The apostle Paul quotes this same scripture when he talks about the persecution of the saints in Rom 8:35-36 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

According to these scriptures above the Prophet Joseph Smith was not wrong in his usage of the phrase “going as a lamb to the slaughter.” For his religious beliefs he was martyred by a mob! Joseph’s martyrdom wasn’t lessened by the fact that he was armed anymore than Christ’s was lessened when he instructed his servants to arm themselves! The fact is that the critic will take any cheap shots against Joseph Smith in hopes of keeping people from believing the truth….even if the scriptures prove otherwise!