Helaman 9
9:1-5 - After Nephi's announcement of the murder of the chief judge five "men who were among them ran to the judgment seat." They were going to check things out and they had an ulterior motive, they wanted to "know of a surety whether this man be a prophet and God hath commanded him to prophesy such marvelous things unto us." They were going to use this opportunity to either prove or disprove Nephi as a prophet. With the later accusations against Nephi that he was conspiring with the murderer so that he could "prophesy" the murder of the chief judge, then make himself a "great man" over the people, I wondered why this prophesy was such a big deal, but then I thought back to the communications that the ancient peoples had and I also read something in Hugh Nibley's "Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 3, Lecture 78" that discusses the announcement of the murder of the chief judge he says "The only thing here that takes inspiration is timing. You can almost be sure it would happen. After all, I suppose about eighty percent of the Roman emperors were bumped off by their successors. you could always count on it happening; the only question is when. Well, he was inspired to say it had already happened; otherwise, it would have been a perfectly safe guess. He could have said, sooner or later you can go to the judgment-seat and (find) your judge lying in his blood, murdered by his brother." So it wasn't so much the fact that the chief judge had been murdered, but it was incredible because he said it happened exactly when it did. In order to coordinate the murder so that he brother could pull it off and Nephi could predict it so that it appeared to be inspiration would be quite difficult, especially when there were no phones, no texting, nothing like that. There are so many things that could have gone wrong at the murder, there were many things that he had to pull off so as to not get caught, then added on top of that the need to be precisely timed with someone on the other side of the town who is preaching to people, that would make it very difficult indeed, not to mention the fact that Nephi didn't call to the people who were hearing him, to came to him, they sought him out. He would have had to design it so that the people assembled themselves together at his garden, without his encouragement, at the precise time that the murder had to be flawlessly executed, it's not impossible, it's just highly improbable that it all could have gone smoothly and the intentions achieved in such a manner. So I think it's reasonable to say that if Nephi predicted the murder of the chief judge, it would be considered good evidence to these 5 men of his prophet status. They run as fast as they can to the judgment seat and sure enough, there was the chief judge, dead, lying in his own blood, and "when they saw this they were astonished exceedingly, insomuch that they fell to the earth." Hugh Nibley is actually quite funny because he teaches "Now this falling to the earth is a thing to notice in the Book of Mormon. Every time you're afraid do you fall flat on your face? Does fear have that effect on you? I've remained standing when I've been scared stiff. How comes these people all fall down when they're afraid? Well, this is routine. They have to do this particular thing. This is a very interesting arrangement we have here- what the Egyptians call sh t3, your nose on the ground. Remember (they lived) in a religious world, a sacral state. And it's true that we're surrounded with these powers, these marvelous things around us all the time. They're real. So if something unexpected absolutely bowls you over, what happens? You're in the presence of some great or divine influence. You don't know whether it's good or bad, but you know it's powerful. It's more powerful than you are, so what do you do? You play safe. You take the position of complete submission. You fall on your face, and it becomes quite automatic. Women, children, everybody does it, because int he presence of someone who can smite you or anything else, that's a defensive position. You go flat on your face and you stay there until it's safe for you to move, until everything is in order." I thought that that was funny, yet pretty insightful when it comes to Nephite culture.
9:6-18 - Here's another aspect that Nephi and the murderer would have had to have gotten just right in order to pull that off, as soon as the chief judge was murdered, "the servants ran and told the people, raising the cry of murder among them." The chief judge wasn't alone and surely it was possible that the murderer could have been dealt with like the servant of Helaman dealt with Kishkumen when he came to murder Helaman. So many people came to the judgment seat "and behold, to their astonishment they saw those five men who had fallen to the earth." They said "hey here are these people who have fallen to the ground, struck by God so they couldn't escape, these must be the murderers." Not a really thorough justice system they have there, and I find it ironic that they assume God would smite the murderers of the chief judge who served Satan, and because they didn't know about the other group gathered with Nephi, they had no idea about the prophesy. So the next day when "the people did assemble themselves together to mourn and to fast, at the burial of the great chief judge who had been slain," the judges who were in the group listening to Nephi asked about the 5 men whom they had sent. The people answered "concerning this five whom ye say ye have sent, we know not' but there are five who are the murderers, whom we have cast into prison." They ask to have the 5 brought out and sure enough it's the five they sent. The five tell their story and it happened exactly like Nephi said. Naturally, the judges didn't like that so they came up with the conspiracy that we talked about earlier where they said that Nephi must have planned with the true murderer to make this big show so that he could make himself appear amazing. Interestingly, I'm curious what this plan gives the actual murderer who does all the work and takes all the risk, if this really were the case, it seems that Nephi would benefit from it, but not the person who is the actual killer, and most pacts don't work like that I would imagine. Now, interestingly, it's the five who were sent who came to Nephi's defense, "And it came to pass that the five were liberated on the day of the burial. Nevertheless, they did rebuke the judges in the words which they had spoken against Nephi, and did contend with them one by one, insomuch that they did confound them." After having experienced first hand the prophesies of a servant of God, I can imagine them sitting in prison still on shock, reflecting and perhaps praying about what had happened and I believe that they were converted while in prison.
9:19-41 - The judges have Nephi "bound and brought before the multitude, and the began to question him in divers ways that they might cross him, that they might accuse him to death." Kind of extreme isn't it, to tie him up to bring him in for questioning. I think it's interesting, Nephi's proposal for them, instead of him confessing like they want to, he suggests that they go to the house of the dead chief judge's brother Seantum and ask him "Has Nephi, the pretended prophet, who doth prophesy so much evil concerning this people, agreed with thee, in the which ye have murdered Seezoram, who is your brother?" I like Nephi's self depreciation here, I thought about why he would do that, instead of just telling them to ask him is he was agreed with Nephi, a regular guy to murder your brother? I didn't really come up with anything except that maybe by giving their opinion of Nephi before he makes his confession, he wouldn't go back and claim that Nephi was in on it all, just a thought. So they go and sure enough, it happens the way that Nephi said it would, and interestingly "there were some among the people, who said that Nephi was a prophet." I read that and was like "only SOME?!" Just like L&L wouldn't repent even after all the miracles and angelic visitations and close calls with destruction, some of these people just wouldn't repent no matter what. There are some who even say that he is a god, the IM teaches that "Upon seeing Nephi's knowledge of secret and hidden things, there were those who wanted to proclaim him to be a God. This is understandable given the universal acknowledgment of certain characteristics of God. Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught that omniscience is one of the characteristics of God: 'The Lord in a revelation for John Whitmer spoke of that which in the latter's heart, which only the Lord and John Whitmer knew, witnessing that God was omniscient concerning the needs of that individual. Paul said to the saints at Corinth, 'And again, the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.' In the period just before the flood God saw now only the wickedness of man in the earth, but he saw also 'every imagination of the thoughts of men's hearts. He knows 'the things that come into your mind.' Jesus himself said before we pray, 'Your father knoweth what things ye have need of.' Indeed, as Nephi said, 'God... knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows.' Hence omniscience is one of the characteristics of the living God. As we read in Helaman 9:41, 'except he was a God he could not know of all things.' 'And now, behold, you have received a witness; for if I have told you things which no man knoweth have you not received a witness?'" God is all knowing, so someone who seems to have this trait can be confused for God, but Nephi knew somethings, he didn't know all things, just like we don't know all things, even though I sometimes think I do. Just another little tidbit here is a tie that Hugh Nibley makes with the name Seezoram to the ancient Egyptian language that was used in the ancient americas. He says that, "The judge's name was Seezoram, and we had a Zeezrom before. That is the Egyptian word zsr, a very popular name, founded the third dynasty of Egypt. The name means holy, sacred. Our word deseret comes from that. The land of Egypt, 'the holy land, the red land' is called Deseret. And, of course, the symbol of the lowland is the bee. This is the Deseret name, the Zeezrom name. It pops up throughout the Book of Mormon." I thought that that was incredibly insightful. Nephi tells us that he "makes a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians." Surely, if Nephi was the one who came out of Jerusalem, he was the one who brought the culture and language with him to his children, and we also know that they had the brass plates and one of the purposes for that was to that their language would remain intact. So it makes total sense that many of those ancient Hebrew and Egyptian cultures and language would have been maintained throughout the Nephite and Lamanite generations.
9:6-18 - Here's another aspect that Nephi and the murderer would have had to have gotten just right in order to pull that off, as soon as the chief judge was murdered, "the servants ran and told the people, raising the cry of murder among them." The chief judge wasn't alone and surely it was possible that the murderer could have been dealt with like the servant of Helaman dealt with Kishkumen when he came to murder Helaman. So many people came to the judgment seat "and behold, to their astonishment they saw those five men who had fallen to the earth." They said "hey here are these people who have fallen to the ground, struck by God so they couldn't escape, these must be the murderers." Not a really thorough justice system they have there, and I find it ironic that they assume God would smite the murderers of the chief judge who served Satan, and because they didn't know about the other group gathered with Nephi, they had no idea about the prophesy. So the next day when "the people did assemble themselves together to mourn and to fast, at the burial of the great chief judge who had been slain," the judges who were in the group listening to Nephi asked about the 5 men whom they had sent. The people answered "concerning this five whom ye say ye have sent, we know not' but there are five who are the murderers, whom we have cast into prison." They ask to have the 5 brought out and sure enough it's the five they sent. The five tell their story and it happened exactly like Nephi said. Naturally, the judges didn't like that so they came up with the conspiracy that we talked about earlier where they said that Nephi must have planned with the true murderer to make this big show so that he could make himself appear amazing. Interestingly, I'm curious what this plan gives the actual murderer who does all the work and takes all the risk, if this really were the case, it seems that Nephi would benefit from it, but not the person who is the actual killer, and most pacts don't work like that I would imagine. Now, interestingly, it's the five who were sent who came to Nephi's defense, "And it came to pass that the five were liberated on the day of the burial. Nevertheless, they did rebuke the judges in the words which they had spoken against Nephi, and did contend with them one by one, insomuch that they did confound them." After having experienced first hand the prophesies of a servant of God, I can imagine them sitting in prison still on shock, reflecting and perhaps praying about what had happened and I believe that they were converted while in prison.
9:19-41 - The judges have Nephi "bound and brought before the multitude, and the began to question him in divers ways that they might cross him, that they might accuse him to death." Kind of extreme isn't it, to tie him up to bring him in for questioning. I think it's interesting, Nephi's proposal for them, instead of him confessing like they want to, he suggests that they go to the house of the dead chief judge's brother Seantum and ask him "Has Nephi, the pretended prophet, who doth prophesy so much evil concerning this people, agreed with thee, in the which ye have murdered Seezoram, who is your brother?" I like Nephi's self depreciation here, I thought about why he would do that, instead of just telling them to ask him is he was agreed with Nephi, a regular guy to murder your brother? I didn't really come up with anything except that maybe by giving their opinion of Nephi before he makes his confession, he wouldn't go back and claim that Nephi was in on it all, just a thought. So they go and sure enough, it happens the way that Nephi said it would, and interestingly "there were some among the people, who said that Nephi was a prophet." I read that and was like "only SOME?!" Just like L&L wouldn't repent even after all the miracles and angelic visitations and close calls with destruction, some of these people just wouldn't repent no matter what. There are some who even say that he is a god, the IM teaches that "Upon seeing Nephi's knowledge of secret and hidden things, there were those who wanted to proclaim him to be a God. This is understandable given the universal acknowledgment of certain characteristics of God. Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught that omniscience is one of the characteristics of God: 'The Lord in a revelation for John Whitmer spoke of that which in the latter's heart, which only the Lord and John Whitmer knew, witnessing that God was omniscient concerning the needs of that individual. Paul said to the saints at Corinth, 'And again, the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.' In the period just before the flood God saw now only the wickedness of man in the earth, but he saw also 'every imagination of the thoughts of men's hearts. He knows 'the things that come into your mind.' Jesus himself said before we pray, 'Your father knoweth what things ye have need of.' Indeed, as Nephi said, 'God... knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows.' Hence omniscience is one of the characteristics of the living God. As we read in Helaman 9:41, 'except he was a God he could not know of all things.' 'And now, behold, you have received a witness; for if I have told you things which no man knoweth have you not received a witness?'" God is all knowing, so someone who seems to have this trait can be confused for God, but Nephi knew somethings, he didn't know all things, just like we don't know all things, even though I sometimes think I do. Just another little tidbit here is a tie that Hugh Nibley makes with the name Seezoram to the ancient Egyptian language that was used in the ancient americas. He says that, "The judge's name was Seezoram, and we had a Zeezrom before. That is the Egyptian word zsr, a very popular name, founded the third dynasty of Egypt. The name means holy, sacred. Our word deseret comes from that. The land of Egypt, 'the holy land, the red land' is called Deseret. And, of course, the symbol of the lowland is the bee. This is the Deseret name, the Zeezrom name. It pops up throughout the Book of Mormon." I thought that that was incredibly insightful. Nephi tells us that he "makes a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians." Surely, if Nephi was the one who came out of Jerusalem, he was the one who brought the culture and language with him to his children, and we also know that they had the brass plates and one of the purposes for that was to that their language would remain intact. So it makes total sense that many of those ancient Hebrew and Egyptian cultures and language would have been maintained throughout the Nephite and Lamanite generations.
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