Alma 63
Alma 63:1–3
1 And it came to pass in the commencement of the thirty and sixth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi, that Shiblon took possession of those sacred things which had been delivered unto Helaman by Alma.
2 And he was a just man, and he did walk uprightly before God; and he did observe to do good continually, to keep the commandments of the Lord his God; and also did his brother.
3 And it came to pass that Moroni died also. And thus ended the thirty and sixth year of the reign of the judges.
The previous wars had ceased in the thirty-first year of the Reign of the Judges (Alma 62:39). Now, in the thirty-fifth year, both Helaman1 and Moroni, two of the great leaders during those war years, have died. We do not know how old they were, or whether there were injuries that they had sustained in the battles that might have complicated their health. We only know that they died in the same year.
Rather than giving the job of record keeping to his son, Helaman1 designates his brother, Shiblon, as the record keeper. Helaman1 does have a son, but we are not told why he does not get the records at this time.
Alma 63:4–9
4 And it came to pass that in the thirty and seventh year of the reign of the judges, there was a large company of men, even to the amount of five thousand and four hundred men, with their wives and their children, departed out of the land of Zarahemla into the land which was northward.
5 And it came to pass that Hagoth, he being an exceedingly curious man, therefore he went forth and built him an exceedingly large ship, on the borders of the land Bountiful, by the land Desolation, and launched it forth into the west sea, by the narrow neck which led into the land northward.
6 And behold, there were many of the Nephites who did enter therein and did sail forth with much provisions, and also many women and children; and they took their course northward. And thus ended the thirty and seventh year.
7 And in the thirty and eighth year, this man built other ships. And the first ship did also return, and many more people did enter into it; and they also took much provisions, and set out again to the land northward.
8 And it came to pass that they were never heard of more. And we suppose that they were drowned in the depths of the sea. And it came to pass that one other ship also did sail forth; and whither she did go we know not. 9 And it came to pass that in this year there were many people who went forth into the land northward. And thus ended the thirty and eighth year.
9 And it came to pass that in this year there were many people who went forth into the land northward. And thus ended the thirty and eighth year.
Mormon has been paying more attention to the north, and he continues that trend in these verses. Without giving much information, other than the brief notice here, he notes that “five thousand and four hundred men, with their wives and their children” went north. That is a very large number of people. We will see more northward migrations early in the book of Helaman.
Mormon also briefly relates the story of Hagoth. He helps many migrate by sea, rather than by land. Although Mormon doesn’t say where they went, he notes that they launch near the narrow neck leading into the land northward. Perhaps he was hinting that they, as well as the five thousand four hundred men (and their families) had gone north.
For Mormon’s purposes, it is sufficient that he document the movement of people who were Nephites toward the more northern lands. He will be even more explicit, starting in Helaman 3:3.
Alma 63:10–13
10 And it came to pass in the thirty and ninth year of the reign of the judges, Shiblon died also, and Corianton had gone forth to the land northward in a ship, to carry forth provisions unto the people who had gone forth into that land.
11 Therefore it became expedient for Shiblon to confer those sacred things, before his death, upon the son of Helaman, who was called Helaman, being called after the name of his father.
12 Now behold, 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.
13 Nevertheless, these things were to be kept sacred, and handed down from one generation to another; therefore, in this year, they had been conferred upon Helaman, before the death of Shiblon.
Helaman1 was the oldest brother. His next younger brother, Shiblon, does not survive him by many years. Apparently, it was considered that the sacred records, and relics, were to be handed to Corianton, but Corianton was unavailable. Notably, he had gone northward, reinforcing Mormon’s increasing attention to that land.
The story now begins to move to Helaman2, son of Helaman1. He becomes the keeper of the sacred records when Shiblon realized that he was dying.
Alma 63:14–17
14 And it came to pass also in this year that there were some dissenters who had gone forth unto the Lamanites; and they were stirred up again to anger against the Nephites.
15 And also in this same year they came down with a numerous army to war against the people of Moronihah, or against the army of Moronihah, in the which they were beaten and driven back again to their own lands, suffering great loss.
16 And thus ended the thirty and ninth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi.
17 And thus ended the account of Alma, and Helaman his son, and also Shiblon, who was his son.
In addition to people going north, there were some dissenters who went south. The Lamanites are in the south, and as has happened before, the dissenters incite the Lamanites to attack. Moroni’s son, Moronihah, leads the victorious Nephite army, and the Lamanites are beaten back. There are no tactics discussed, and other than simply saying that there was an attempt that was defeated, we know very little about this war, save that it occurred in the thirty-ninth year, and that Moronihah led the Nephite armies.
The “account of Alma, and Helaman1, his son, and also Shiblon, who was his son” ends in the fortieth year. This is an appropriate time to end a record, particularly if Mormon is following Mesoamerican calendrics. Mesoamericans used a base-20 system, and in that system, twenty had the symbolic significance that ten would in a decimal system. In Maya, a twenty-year period was given a name: katun. Thus, the book ends in a very symbolic two-katun year.
This will be more important as we begin the book of Helaman, and as we note why the beginning of the book of Helaman perhaps was more properly the ending of the book of Alma, save for the desire to end on the symbolic forty-year count.
