In July 1830, Joseph Smith receives a commandment instructing him to swiftly depart “after thou hast sowed thy fields” and visit three towns to collect funds. The revelation assures him that “they shall support thee” and that his “temporal labors” are to cease.

“The authority of a commandment, will easily untie the purse-strings, of those whose consciences are under their control; and they find it much easier, and better suited to their dispositions, to write commandments, than to gain a livelihood by the sweat of their brow; and indeed, [Joseph] Smith has commanded himself not to labor, and by his mandate, has enjoined it upon the Church to support him.”

Ezra Booth to Reverend Ira Eddy of the Methodist Church, 1831 Letters – VI (Nelson Township, OH: Self-Published, 14 November 1831).

“[A]fter thou hast sowed thy fields and secured them, go speedily unto the church which is in Colesville, Fayette, and Manchester, and they shall support thee;”

Joseph Smith (to himself), Doctrine and Covenants – Section 24, verse 3 (Harmony PA: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, July 1830), 43.

“The Bishop, when we were in Missouri, intimated, that he [Joseph] and others were too much inclined to indolence. He [Joseph] replied, “I am commanded not to labor.”

Ezra Booth to Reverend Ira Eddy of the Methodist Church, 1831 Letters – VI (Nelson Township, OH: Self-Published, 14 November 1831).

“And in temporal labors thou shalt not have strength, for this is not thy calling. Attend to thy calling and thou shalt have wherewith … ”

Joseph Smith (to himself), Doctrine and Covenants – Section 24, verse 39 (Harmony PA: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, July 1830), 43.

Less than a year later, he scolds those who will not work hard:

“Wo unto you … who will not labor with your own hands!”

Joseph Smith, Doctrine and Covenants – Section 56, verse 17 (Kirtland, OH: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 15 June 1831), 101-102.