Mormon 4
4:1-13 - Now we a back and forth between the Nephites and the Lamanites, where one wins a battle and then the other wins a battle, there’s death and blood and craziness all around. There’s not a whole lot in the IM about this chapter, so we’ll see. Here we see that the Nephites are the aggressors, “And now it came to pass that in the three hundred and sixty and third year the Nephites did go up with their armies to battle against the Lamanites, our of the land of Desolation. And it came to pass that the armies of the Nephites were drive back again to the land of Desolation. And while they were yet weary, a fresh army of the Lamanites did come upon them.” This is bad for the Nephites, and there’s a military lesson from Mormon here, “And it was because the armies of the Nephites went up unto the Lamanites that they began to be smitten; for were it not for that, the Lamanites could have had no power over them.” Again, in line with the Lord’s teaching that preemptive war is not allowed, you can’t be guilty of the first offense or the second offense, before you to go war against the aggressors. I think it’s interesting as I look back throughout the Book of Mormon, at the military commentary that I now see if attributed to Mormon, and I can see that it makes sense that HN calls him the greatest military commander in the Book of Mormon, of course he doesn’t call himself that. Another strategy, “But, behold, the judgments of God will overtake the wicked; and it is by the wicked that the wicked are punished; for it is the wicked that stir up the hearts of the children of men unto bloodshed.” In comparison to the wars during the time of CM, we can see that the wicked (Ammoron and Amalickiah) were the ones who stirred up the Lamanites to all that war. As we learned then, the Lamanites, as a people unto themselves, even though they didn’t have the gospel, they didn’t come to war against the Nephites, it was only after Nephite dissenters came and stirred them up to anger that wars commenced. Comparing those more righteous Nephites to the Nephites now, the Lord was with them, there were still losses but nothing to the point of extinction, and in fact there were many miracles, including the divine protection of the Stripling Warriors, that happened on behalf of the righteous Nephites. I was talking to my kids about this today as we were studying the scriptures, the concept that the Lord doesn’t have to destroy the wicked, because Satan already wants that, when the people reject the gospel, then the Lord doesn’t have to do any punishing, Satan will do it for him. Typically, the righteous don’t punished the wicked, because it’s God’s job to judge, but when left on their own, without the Spirit, then humanity devolves into Satan’s playground, which usually consists of blood, horror, and death. Now the Lamanites are the aggressors and they “did come against the city of Teancum, that they might take possession of the city Teancum also. And it came to pass that they were repulsed and driven back by the Nephites. And when the Nephites saw that they had driven the Lamanites they did again boast of their own strength.” Did the Nephites maintain their lands because they were so awesome and smart and strong? No, as Mormon pointed out, it was only because the Lamanites came out as the aggressors, they were at a strategic disadvantage, that’s why they won, and maybe they just got lucky, but it definitely wasn’t because they were so amazing. The Nephites also take back the land of Desolation, “And now all these things had been done, and there had been thousands slain on both sides, both the Nephites and the Lamanites… And it is impossible for the tongue to describe, or for man to write a perfect description of the horrible scene of the blood and carnage which was among the people, both of the Nephites and of the Lamanites; and every heart was hardened, so that they delighted in the shedding of blood continually. And there never had been so great wickedness among all the children of Lehi, nor even among all the house of Israel, according to the words of the Lord, as was among this people.” It’s really interesting because we have to remember that this generation of Nephites and Lamanites came AFTER the crucifixion of the Savior, and we remember that he said that, at the time, any other people would have seen the things that He did among the Jews and they would have recognized his as their God and worshiped him, not murder him, and now he says that these people are more wicked then even the Jews in Jerusalem during the time of the Savior? That’s pretty intense, I hadn’t considered that it was that bad, very interesting.
4:14-23 - As the war intensifies, the Lamanites “did take many prisoners both women and children, and did offer them up as sacrifices unto their idol gods. And it came to pass that in the three hundred and sixty and seventh year, the Nephites being angry because the Lamanites had sacrificed their women and their children, that they did go against the Lamanites with exceedingly great anger, insomuch that they did beat again the Lamanites, and drive them out of their lands.” This is a very intense concept for me as a mother, I couldn’t imagine standing in line, waiting to be sacrificed, murdered in a most horrific fashion, with my children beside me. I could only imagine the screaming and terror that filled those people at that time, I couldn’t imagine what it was like for those mothers to watch their children murdered in front of them, to watch them suffer, in pain, horrific pain, and then I think, but the Savior felt all their pain too, he endured their suffering, their terror, only he has a perfect knowledge of what it was like for them. It’s really kind of humbling and inspiring to think that Jesus felt all the feelings, both physical and emotional, of these people, these terrified mothers and children, and it’s hard to know that he did that for them, but it only happened because they refused to repent and be saved. HN talks about sacrificing to idols when he says, “We’re getting into the Mesoamerican Mayan, and especially Aztec, practice of mass sacrifice of prisoners on a tremendous scale. They did it to the point where it reduced the population so much. There are some very interesting studies made of that recently. At the drop of a hat, prisoners had to be sacrificed. It was not just a sacrifice that was symbolic once in a while; then it became an orgy of blood. That’s what they used their sacred towers for after that (development)- sacrifices unto their idol gods. That’s what they did. We’re already moving into the Mesoamerican horrors there. Well, this was a real outrage. The Nephites certainly have a righteous rage here in verse 15. They had a right to be mad at this. The Nephites win again, and they have eight years of peace, after all that. Well, this goes on and on. See, they could repent any time here.” Joseph Smith sure had to know a lot about ancient South American culture at the age of 23 to have made all this stuff up. In a tribute to the literary talent of Mormon, HN continues, “This is another one of those statements in which the Book of Mormon, as epic writing, achieves real height with lofty expressions. The four conditions that Matthew Arnold said are found only in Homer you find in writings in the Book of Mormon here- the nobility, the speed, the loftiness, the simplicity, and the directness of language. He said you find that only in Homer, but you find it in the Book of Mormon, too. For example, (Mormon) says ‘And from this time forth did the Nephites gain no power over the Lamanites, but began to be swept off by them even as a dew before the sun.’” It’s really interesting to consider the Book of Mormon as a piece of literature in addition to Holy Scripture. So there is just slaughter and sacrifice and all types of craziness, and people just running around crazy, and I’m still just marveling at the fact these Nephites and Lamanites were more wicked, apparently, then the Jews at Jerusalem at the time of Jesus. With continuous blood and carnage, “the Nephites were driven and slaughtered with an exceedingly great slaughter; their women and their children were again sacrificed unto idols. And it came to pass that the Nephites did again flee from before them, taking all the inhabitants with them, both in towns and villages. And now I, Mormon, seeing that the Lamanites were about to overthrow the land, therefore I did go to the hill Shim, and did take up all the records with Ammaron had hid up unto the Lord.” It’s the final scenes playing out here. The IM commented on Mormon’s movement of the plates as saying, “Ammaron told Mormon to take the large plates of Nephi from the Hill Shim and add to them. Mormon was to leave the rest of the plates (plates of brass, small plates of Nephi, and plates of Ether) in the Hill Shim. Mormon removed the large plates, wrote a full account of the activities of his people on them, and used a selected portion to them to create his own condensed and abridged history of his people. Later Mormon returned to the Hill Shim and removed all of the plates (plates of brass, small plates of Nephi, plates of Ether, and all other plates) from the hill. Fearing that the Lamanites might destroy the records, Mormon hid the plates again- except his abridgement and the small plates of Nephi (the gold plates) in the Hill Cumorah. These gold plates Mormon gave to his son Moroni.” That’s kind of confusing to me, lots of plates and movement, and times. I guess Moroni had to know where the hiding place in Cumorah was, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to abridge the plates of Ether later on. This whole thing is so depressing, like watching a crazy movie that you know only ends badly, honestly, I don’t really like it. Not that there’s not stuff to learn, that’s not what I’m saying, but it’s very dark, very depressing.
4:14-23 - As the war intensifies, the Lamanites “did take many prisoners both women and children, and did offer them up as sacrifices unto their idol gods. And it came to pass that in the three hundred and sixty and seventh year, the Nephites being angry because the Lamanites had sacrificed their women and their children, that they did go against the Lamanites with exceedingly great anger, insomuch that they did beat again the Lamanites, and drive them out of their lands.” This is a very intense concept for me as a mother, I couldn’t imagine standing in line, waiting to be sacrificed, murdered in a most horrific fashion, with my children beside me. I could only imagine the screaming and terror that filled those people at that time, I couldn’t imagine what it was like for those mothers to watch their children murdered in front of them, to watch them suffer, in pain, horrific pain, and then I think, but the Savior felt all their pain too, he endured their suffering, their terror, only he has a perfect knowledge of what it was like for them. It’s really kind of humbling and inspiring to think that Jesus felt all the feelings, both physical and emotional, of these people, these terrified mothers and children, and it’s hard to know that he did that for them, but it only happened because they refused to repent and be saved. HN talks about sacrificing to idols when he says, “We’re getting into the Mesoamerican Mayan, and especially Aztec, practice of mass sacrifice of prisoners on a tremendous scale. They did it to the point where it reduced the population so much. There are some very interesting studies made of that recently. At the drop of a hat, prisoners had to be sacrificed. It was not just a sacrifice that was symbolic once in a while; then it became an orgy of blood. That’s what they used their sacred towers for after that (development)- sacrifices unto their idol gods. That’s what they did. We’re already moving into the Mesoamerican horrors there. Well, this was a real outrage. The Nephites certainly have a righteous rage here in verse 15. They had a right to be mad at this. The Nephites win again, and they have eight years of peace, after all that. Well, this goes on and on. See, they could repent any time here.” Joseph Smith sure had to know a lot about ancient South American culture at the age of 23 to have made all this stuff up. In a tribute to the literary talent of Mormon, HN continues, “This is another one of those statements in which the Book of Mormon, as epic writing, achieves real height with lofty expressions. The four conditions that Matthew Arnold said are found only in Homer you find in writings in the Book of Mormon here- the nobility, the speed, the loftiness, the simplicity, and the directness of language. He said you find that only in Homer, but you find it in the Book of Mormon, too. For example, (Mormon) says ‘And from this time forth did the Nephites gain no power over the Lamanites, but began to be swept off by them even as a dew before the sun.’” It’s really interesting to consider the Book of Mormon as a piece of literature in addition to Holy Scripture. So there is just slaughter and sacrifice and all types of craziness, and people just running around crazy, and I’m still just marveling at the fact these Nephites and Lamanites were more wicked, apparently, then the Jews at Jerusalem at the time of Jesus. With continuous blood and carnage, “the Nephites were driven and slaughtered with an exceedingly great slaughter; their women and their children were again sacrificed unto idols. And it came to pass that the Nephites did again flee from before them, taking all the inhabitants with them, both in towns and villages. And now I, Mormon, seeing that the Lamanites were about to overthrow the land, therefore I did go to the hill Shim, and did take up all the records with Ammaron had hid up unto the Lord.” It’s the final scenes playing out here. The IM commented on Mormon’s movement of the plates as saying, “Ammaron told Mormon to take the large plates of Nephi from the Hill Shim and add to them. Mormon was to leave the rest of the plates (plates of brass, small plates of Nephi, and plates of Ether) in the Hill Shim. Mormon removed the large plates, wrote a full account of the activities of his people on them, and used a selected portion to them to create his own condensed and abridged history of his people. Later Mormon returned to the Hill Shim and removed all of the plates (plates of brass, small plates of Nephi, plates of Ether, and all other plates) from the hill. Fearing that the Lamanites might destroy the records, Mormon hid the plates again- except his abridgement and the small plates of Nephi (the gold plates) in the Hill Cumorah. These gold plates Mormon gave to his son Moroni.” That’s kind of confusing to me, lots of plates and movement, and times. I guess Moroni had to know where the hiding place in Cumorah was, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to abridge the plates of Ether later on. This whole thing is so depressing, like watching a crazy movie that you know only ends badly, honestly, I don’t really like it. Not that there’s not stuff to learn, that’s not what I’m saying, but it’s very dark, very depressing.
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