Helaman 13:1-23

13:1-3 - Today we are introduced to Samuel the Lamanite, the intro to this chapter in the IM teaches "The gospel of Jesus Christ offers all people the opportunity to change. Throughout much of the Book of Mormon, the Lamanites' 'deeds (had) been evil;' however, 'the preaching of the Nephites' led 'the more part of them' to receive the gospel and experience a mighty change of heart. Here in the book of Helaman is an obvious reversal of roles- a people who had once been taught became the teachers. many Nephites, on the other hand, had become prideful and ignored their own prophets, so the Lord sent a Lamanite prophet to warm them to repent and prepare for the coming of the Lord. Look for the Nephites' collective and individual response to the Lord's Lamanites messenger. Samuel's words were important enough to the Savior that He endorsed then during His personal ministry in the Americans and testified they had all been fulfilled." The Nephites didn't like to have someone that they felt was beneath them telling them that they were wrong. It's interesting because sometimes when the people reject the prophets, and head home, the Lord allows them to continue home, but many times I guess if a people are wicked enough to reject the prophets, they are ripening for destruction and in true Christ like fashion, He needs them to be warned so that they can repent if they choose to before it's too late. Samuel is rejected and heads home "but behold, the voice of the Lord came unto him, that he should return again, and prophesy unto the people whatsoever things should come into his heart." The IM teaches "Samuel, who was a prophet, did not take it upon himself to decide what to preach to the Nephites... President Boyd K. Packer... described how the voice of the Lord often comes: 'Revelation comes as words we feel more than hear. Nephi told his wayward brothers, who were visited by an angel, 'Ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words.' The scriptures are full of such expressions as 'the veil was taken from our minds, and the eyes of our understanding were opened,' or 'I will tell you in your mind and in your heart,' or 'I did enlighten thy mind,' or 'speak the thoughts that I shall put into your hearts.' There are hundreds of verses which teach of revelation." This is definitely something that I struggle with, I think I'm so smart and know so much, but I really just need to just listen. There's a point where you have to be prepared, like surely Samuel was prepared in that he kept the commandments, was worthy of the Spirit, and he had to be more then just a "good man" he had to learn how to receive personal revelation, he had to study and know the scriptures, he had to be prepared, but then he had to listen, receive and preach. And that's what we can do in our own lives, prepare ourselves then be ready, and then act on the revelation that we receive because that's part of the process, getting the information, then showing that we trust God enough to do what he says, even when it doesn't make sense to us.

13:4-16 -But because he wasn't  allowed back into the city "therefore he went and got upon the wall thereof, and stretched forth his hand and cried with a loud voice, and prophesied unto the people whatsoever things the Lord put into the heart." Hugh Nibley says "We have that absurd picture of Arnold Friberg, where he is on a 150-foot wall with a howling wind going, and he is yelling. Of course, nobody could hear a sound from there. The archers are trying to shoot at him at that vast distance. They didn't need walls that high; it's ridiculous. Well, it's dramatic; that sort of thing so good for candy box covers and things like that." I thought that that was kind of a funny analysis. Samuel calls the people to repentance and interestingly says "and four hundred years shall not pass away before I will cause that they shall be smitten... and there shall be those of the fourth generation who shall live, of your enemies, to behold your utter destruction; and this shall surely come except ye repent." As far as I know, this is the first time that this information has been released to the public, I remember reading about it when Alma was preparing Helaman to take over the prophetship but Alma tells Helaman explicitly "but what I prophesy unto thee ye shall not make known; yea, what I prophesy unto thee shall not be made known, even until the prophecy is fulfilled; therefore write the words which I shall say." So Alma tells Helaman about the prophesy of the Nephite destruction but tells him to keep that information quiet, and even in Alma 63 when "all those engravings which were in the possession of Helaman were written and sent forth among the children of men throughout all the land, save it were those parts which had been commanded by Alma should not go forth." So they dispersed the scriptures that they had to all the people, but they kept this part quiet, and that was only about 50 years ago, but now Samuel is telling the people from the top of the wall that they will be destroyed. I'm trying to think of the differing reactions of the people that that information could have. If I was wicked and someone said "hey I in four hundred years your society will be destroyed," I would think, "ehhh... not so bad," because I wouldn't have to deal with it personally. But if I were a righteous person, I think that it would change much of what I would do at all. Personal destruction and my relationship with God would suffer no matter how long it took for the whole society to be destroyed. Demonstrating that destruction can come in many ways and it doesn't necessarily have to wait 400 years, Samuel teaches them that the only reason they are spared now is because of the righteous that live among them. But be warned "that when ye shall cast out the righteous from among you, then shall ye be ripe for destruction." This is similar to Ammonihah, who was wicked but unharmed until they forced out all the righteous men and then murdered their women and children, then the righteous weren't there to protect them anymore and they were destroyed. The IM teaching "There have been times when the wicked were spared from terrible destructions because there were righteous people living among them. The wicked people of Zarahemla had the righteous people to thank for their preservation from destruction, though, of course, the did not know it. In a few years Zarahemla lost this silent and unappreciated protection, and Samuel's words were fulfilled. Even Sodom and Gomorrah would have been spared if only 10 righteous people had lived there. How we live really does make a difference. The personal righteousness of a few can become a great blessing to others, especially to those in our own family and local community." The statement that destruction would come in 400 years, definitely lulled the wicked into a sense of safety because all they saw was that total destruction would come later, but to them personally, destruction came only a few years later. Interestingly Hugh Nibley gives us a modern day example of this principle when he says "When the people in the states cast out the Saints, they were ripe for the Civil War, Brigham Young used to say. And what a destruction that was!" I had never considered the fact that as a people who were wicked enough to enforce slavery and murderous religious discrimination, the righteous kept them from falling into a down ward spiral of self destruction and once they forced them to leave, then there was really nothing stopping Satan from having his way with them. One last note here is that when the Lord says things like "I will turn the hearts of their brethren against them," and things like that I think what might be more accurate, at least in my mind, is that he will allow the hearts of their brethren to be hardened by Satan and will withdraw his Spirit and protection from them because they choose not to have it. They basically tell Him to get out so he does, talk about meekness, that's really interesting. I might be wrong here, but it just doesn't seem accurate to me that God would go and make people want to kill each other, that's not God's way, that's Satan's way.

13:17-23 -  This next concept is really interesting, the curse of the land. Because the people are so materialistic and concerned with their money and status, God puts a curse on the land and on the wealth "that whoso shall hide up treasures in the earth shall find them again no more... save he be a righteous man and shall hide it up unto the Lord." This is kind of interesting, as we learned with the dust analogy, all the elements of the planet obey God, so it would be no big thing for him to command the earth to move and the treasure themselves to be removed and it would happen. But the whole hiding up treasures is weird to me, buried treasure I always assumed to be a pirate thing. This statement though caused to me think a little bit differently "and will hide up their treasures when they shall flee before their enemies." So when they are attacked by their enemies is possibly when they would bury their treasures and Hugh Nibley gives us some insight into that referring to the time in 70, 130, and 135 A.D. when the Jews were captured out of Jerusalem and hid their treasures so that they could get them back when they were freed. He said, "They had to get out and couldn't take their treasures, so they hid them. They hid them up so they could get them back, and this (Copper scroll) tells you where to go if you want your treasures back. But only on one condition. They shall be used only for the temple; you can never use them for yourself again. They have been hidden up unto the Lord; they are his now. You can't get them back. Of course, what the people really had in mind was getting them back for themselves. This is exactly what we are referring to here (in verse 18.) When you hide up treasures with the idea that you will return later, you must hide them up unto the Lord or you will never get them back again. If you get them back and dedicate them to the Lord, that's fine; you get credit. You are expected to do that in Israel anyway, so you are not losing. YOu are hiding up treasure. It's yours, but you are getting it back as you should get it back." I thought that that was some pretty interesting insight on the historical context of this curse on the land. Samuel sets out the reason for the curse "because ye have set your hearts upon them, and have not hearkened unto the words of him who gave them unto you." The IM quotes Elder Dallin H. Oaks as teaching "Materialism, which gives priority to material needs and objects, is obviously the opposite of spirituality... There is nothing inherently evil about money. The Good Samaritan used the same coinage to serve his fellowman that Judas used to betray the Master. It is 'the love of money (which) is the root of all evil.' The critical difference is the degree of spirituality we exercise in viewing, evaluating, and managing the things of this world and our experiences in it. If allowed to become an object of worship or priority, money can make us selfish and prideful, 'puffed up in the vain things of the world.' In contrast, if used for fulfilling our legal obligations and for paying our tithes and offerings, money can demonstrate integrity and develop unselfishness. The spiritually enlightened use of property can help prepare us for the higher law of a celestial glory." I know that I'm getting to caught up in materialism when I thing "oh I want that," whatever it is, a house a car an electronic thing, whenever I think that phrase to myself I know that I'm going off the deep end and truly being ungrateful for what I've so generously been given. Hugh Nibley teaches "you are always thinking of the economy. There have been other societies like ours, I supposed, that have been completely absorbed in the economy. It's not a particular society; it's a stage of development in a society, which we would call ate- the last stage when they think of nothing but the economy, nothing but the stuff they have, nothing but the perishables. They've got to perish; these things can't last, you know." When I heard this, I immediately thought of us in our post industrial age where everyone, even little kids, feel like they deserve ipads and ipods and nice cars and free lunch. As adults we are so obsessed with having the newest thing, and I'm guilty of this as well, trust me, yes, we are very concerned and obsessive with the economy, what we have what we can get and what we want.