Helaman 12
Mormon Reflects upon Humankind’s Corruption
Helaman 12:1
1 And thus we can behold how false, and also the unsteadiness of the hearts of the children of men; yea, we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in him.
Comments
All of Helaman 12 is Mormon’s comment on the state of the Nephite people that he described at the end of Helaman 11. It is useful to remember two of the last verses:
And in the eighty and second year they began again to forget the Lord their God. And in the eighty and third year they began to wax strong in iniquity. And in the eighty and fourth year they did not mend their ways. And it came to pass in the eighty and fifth year they did wax stronger and stronger in their pride, and in their wickedness; and thus they were ripening again for destruction. (Helaman 11:36–37)
This “wax[ing] stronger and stronger in their pride, and in their wickedness,” came after Mormon’s descriptions of the power of Nephi2 and Lehi3 as missionaries, and after the conversion of the Lamanites. It came after Nephi2 had returned to a wicked and Gadianton-led Nephite government, and, particularly, after Nephi2 miraculously, publicly, and accurately prophesies. It came after they had humbled themselves and Nephi2 to ease the drought and famine, which was lifted only after Nephi2 prayed.
After all those witnesses, they nevertheless began to return to ways that led them away from Yahweh’s covenants rather than toward them. Although Mormon has been giving his readers a selected history, it was not a dispassionate task. These events might have been around four hundred years before his time, but he saw the same attitude of turning against God’s signs among his own people, and writing about it stirred him.
This chapter has Mormon interjecting his own moralistic commentary on the sad faithfulness of the Nephites about whom he is writing.
Helaman 12:2
2 Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One—yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity.
Comments
More than once, Mormon has described what Hugh Nibley termed the “pride cycle” among the Nephites. They obey the commandments, and they therefore prosper because the promise of the land was that they will prosper if they keep the commandments. However, prosperity leads to other temptations. In their world, it put them in contact with other peoples and cultures, and the definitions of prosperity began to be seen in the context of what other people had or did.
Other cultures modeled how to display wealth, and the Nephites seemed to follow. Other cultures displayed how to establish social hierarchies, and the Nephites followed. Mormon never condemns prosperity. He condemns things that become associated with it, such as neglecting the poor and thinking that one person might be better than another. Those were the issues that destroyed the Nephite ideal society.
Note that in verse 2 Mormon suggests how prosperity should have been defined. It is desirable but should lead to “doing all things for the welfare and happiness of [God’s] people.” All his people, not only those who accumulate more than others, either in wealth or because of political power.
Helaman 12:3–5
3 And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him.
4 O how foolish, and how vain, and how evil, and devilish, and how quick to do iniquity, and how slow to do good, are the children of men; yea, how quick to hearken unto the words of the evil one, and to set their hearts upon the vain things of the world!
5 Yea, how quick to be lifted up in pride; yea, how quick to boast, and do all manner of that which is iniquity; and how slow are they to remember the Lord their God, and to give ear unto his counsels, yea, how slow to walk in wisdom’s paths!
Comments
The negative aspect of the promise of the land is that the people would lose God’s protection if they did not keep their part of the covenant. Thus, Mormon declares that God “doth chasten his people with many afflictions.” The saddest part of the declaration is that even though the Nephites might suffer all kinds of afflictions, “they will not remember him.” Wars have caused them to repent, but only for a time, and often not for a very long time. Famine caused them to repent, but not for very many years. The Nephites, at least as Mormon writes about them, seldom repent for longer than a handful of years before the temptations of prosperity overtake them again.
In verses 4 and 5, Mormon notes that very fact, that the Nephites are “quick to be lifted up in pride.”
Helaman 12:6
6 Behold, they do not desire that the Lord their God, who hath created them, should rule and reign over them; notwithstanding his great goodness and his mercy towards them, they do set at naught his counsels, and they will not that he should be their guide.
Comments
Mormon notes the irony of a people who prosper based on the promise of the land, and then when they become prosperous, quickly turn from the principles upon which they gained their prosperity. The implication of Mormon’s statement that “they do not desire that the Lord their God, who created them, should rule and reign over them” is that they have selected something else to rule and reign over them. They turn from the principles and laws of God that have produced their prosperity and narrow their vision to the more worldly processes that have led them there. They believe that they have become prosperous on their own and therefore, do not need the God, whom they cannot directly see, but who was behind their prosperity. Prosperity becomes their god.
Helaman 12:7–17
7 O how great is the nothingness of the children of men; yea, even they are less than the dust of the earth.
8 For behold, the dust of the earth moveth hither and thither, to the dividing asunder, at the command of our great and everlasting God.
9 Yea, behold at his voice do the hills and the mountains tremble and quake.
10 And by the power of his voice they are broken up, and become smooth, yea, even like unto a valley.
11 Yea, by the power of his voice doth the whole earth shake;
12 Yea, by the power of his voice, do the foundations rock, even to the very center.
13 Yea, and if he say unto the earth—Move—it is moved.
14 Yea, if he say unto the earth—Thou shalt go back, that it lengthen out the day for many hours—it is done;
15 And thus, according to his word the earth goeth back, and it appeareth unto man that the sun standeth still; yea, and behold, this is so; for surely it is the earth that moveth and not the sun.
16 And behold, also, if he say unto the waters of the great deep—Be thou dried up—it is done.
17 Behold, if he say unto this mountain—Be thou raised up, and come over and fall upon that city, that it be buried up—behold it is done.
Comments
Verses 9 through 17 depend upon the argument introduced in verses 7 and 8. There, Mormon declares “how great is the nothingness of the children of men.” He has previously intimated that the Nephites have exalted themselves, but, in doing so, no longer obey God. He contrasts that with the elements, which do not have the advantages of humanity, but nevertheless, obey God.
Verses 9–17 repeat, for emphasis, certain elements that obey God. The large number of the elements that obey God are meant to be contrasted to the Nephites who so quickly forget to obey that same God.
Helaman 12:18–22
18 And behold, if a man hide up a treasure in the earth, and the Lord shall say—Let it be accursed, because of the iniquity of him who hath hid it up—behold, it shall be accursed.
19 And if the Lord shall say—Be thou accursed, that no man shall find thee from this time henceforth and forever—behold, no man getteth it henceforth and forever.
20 And behold, if the Lord shall say unto a man—Because of thine iniquities, thou shalt be accursed forever—it shall be done.
21 And if the Lord shall say—Because of thine iniquities thou shalt be cut off from my presence—he will cause that it shall be so.
22 And wo unto him to whom he shall say this, for it shall be unto him that will do iniquity, and he cannot be saved; therefore, for this cause, that men might be saved, hath repentance been declared.
Comments
Mormon transitions from speaking of the elements to speaking of humankind. He does this by speaking of an action that humans would do, but where the elements might respond to God and override the human’s action. He is specifically referring to the burying of treasure in the earth. A person may bury treasure, but if God says that it is accursed, it is accursed, and it might never be found.
This allows Mormon to shift from the elements, which are faithful, to the humans who are not. If the treasure was accursed, and not to be found, if a person is unfaithful, “because of [his] iniquities, [he] shalt be accursed forever.”
In spite of this gloomy message, Mormon does not leave us without hope. It is precisely because of these consequences to our unfaithfulness that “repentance [has] been declared.”
Helaman 12:23–26
23 Therefore, blessed are they who will repent and hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; for these are they that shall be saved.
24 And may God grant, in his great fulness, that men might be brought unto repentance and good works, that they might be restored unto grace for grace, according to their works.
25 And I would that all men might be saved. But we read that in the great and last day there are some who shall be cast out, yea, who shall be cast off from the presence of the Lord;
26 Yea, who shall be consigned to a state of endless misery, fulfilling the words which say: They that have done good shall have everlasting life; and they that have done evil shall have everlasting damnation. And thus it is. Amen.
Comments
The end of Mormon’s inserted homily is that the bleak picture of the Nephites falling into pride, and of their dismissal of God’s commandments, need not be permanent. For all of his modern readers, Mormon reiterates that “blessed they who will repent and hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; for these are they that shall be saved.” Mormon makes no distinction between those theoretical people who never sin and those who sin and repent. All those who repent are included in those who “have done good [and] shall have everlasting life.”
Mormon ends this section with the testificatory amen, which is the seal upon his testimony of what he has written. It also signals the end of a chapter in the 1830 edition.
