Helaman 4

Helaman 4

Lamanites Take Over Nearly All the Nephite Lands

Helaman 4:1–2

1 And it came to pass in the fifty and fourth year there were many dissensions in the church, and there was also a contention among the people, insomuch that there was much bloodshed.

2 And the rebellious part were slain and driven out of the land, and they did go unto the king of the Lamanites.

Comments

In Helaman 3, Mormon focused on the movement of Nephite dissenters, as well as some of the Ammonites, into the land northward. In Helaman 4, he notes that there was also dissension in the church and that “the rebellious part” were either killed or went south to the Lamanites.

The Nephite nation is being put under increasing pressure, pressure that will build between now and the time of Christ’s appearance. One of the important aspects of this pressure is that there are again “many dissensions in the church.” That phrase typically has meant that there are those in the church who have accepted the desires for social hierarchy. For some, the top of that hierarchy was a monarch, but from a historical perspective it was probably driven by the influence of surrounding cultures. Those cultures had wealth, and the wealthy had power. Monarchy or not, there was a social stratification.

While not stated, it would not be surprising that one of the dissensions in the church was once again the denial of the coming Messiah. That is, perhaps, the most consistent Nephite religious apostasy.

Helaman 4:3–5

3 And it came to pass that they did endeavor to stir up the Lamanites to war against the Nephites; but behold, the Lamanites were exceedingly afraid, insomuch that they would not hearken to the words of those dissenters.

4 But it came to pass in the fifty and sixth year of the reign of the judges, there were dissenters who went up from the Nephites unto the Lamanites; and they succeeded with those others in stirring them up to anger against the Nephites; and they were all that year preparing for war.

5 And in the fifty and seventh year they did come down against the Nephites to battle, and they did commence the work of death; yea, insomuch that in the fifty and eighth year of the reign of the judges they succeeded in obtaining possession of the land of Zarahemla; yea, and also all the lands, even unto the land which was near the land Bountiful.

Comments

Mormon spent a lot of time describing the war that Chief Captain Moroni fought against the apostate-led Lamanite armies. That war ended before the end of the thirty-fifth year of the reign of the judges (Alma 62:42). This new war began twenty-one years later; it was not the only war since the end of the previous war twenty-one years ago, but it was the one that was even more costly in the loss of Nephite territory than the previous one had been. In the earlier war, the Nephites lost territory on the west and east borders, but the center mostly remained.

In this new war, Mormon gives no details except that the Nephites lost almost all their lands. The discussion of Nephite lands in Alma 22 had the northernmost border as the land of Bountiful, near the narrow neck of land (see Alma 22:30). In this war, the Lamanite armies pushed the Nephites off all the lands south of the land of Bountiful.

Helaman 4:6–8

6 And the Nephites and the armies of Moronihah were driven even into the land of Bountiful;

7 And there they did fortify against the Lamanites, from the west sea, even unto the east; it being a day’s journey for a Nephite, on the line which they had fortified and stationed their armies to defend their north country.

8 And thus those dissenters of the Nephites, with the help of a numerous army of the Lamanites, had obtained all the possession of the Nephites which was in the land southward. And all this was done in the fifty and eighth and ninth years of the reign of the judges.

Comments

When the Nephites are driven out of almost all their lands, they are concentrated in the land Bountiful. That land provided a better defensive position because it was narrower, and therefore an enemy would be less able to flank the Nephite positions to get around behind them. It was a defensible line both in being narrower and being protected by the west sea and the sea to the east.

Moronihah therefore concentrates on improving the defenses along that line, perhaps with an eye to moving his own population more to the north while keeping a tight grip on the new southern border.

Nephites Regain Half Their Territory

Helaman 4:9–10

9 And it came to pass in the sixtieth year of the reign of the judges, Moronihah did succeed with his armies in obtaining many parts of the land; yea, they regained many cities which had fallen into the hands of the Lamanites.

10 And it came to pass in the sixty and first year of the reign of the judges they succeeded in regaining even the half of all their possessions.

Comments

When Mormon wrote of the war in which Chief Captain Moroni and Helaman₁ fought to regain lost territory, Mormon listed the cities taken, and the strategies used to retake them. Whatever interest he had in that type of detail, it was confined to the time when those two men were fighting for the Nephite nation.

Even with the more devastating loss in this new war, we get virtually no details. In what was certainly fierce fighting to regain “even the half of all their possessions,” we get no such details. The previous war focuses on the traits of leaders and appeared to emphasize times when victory could be accomplished with little loss of blood.

Mormon seems to have included all he cared to of that lesson. This new war had to have been more devastating, but Mormon gives us virtually no details.

Helaman 4:11–13

11 Now this great loss of the Nephites, and the great slaughter which was among them, would not have happened had it not been for their wickedness and their abomination which was among them; yea, and it was among those also who professed to belong to the church of God.

12 And it was because of the pride of their hearts, because of their exceeding riches, yea, it was because of their oppression to the poor, withholding their food from the hungry, withholding their clothing from the naked, and smiting their humble brethren upon the cheek, making a mock of that which was sacred, denying the spirit of prophecy and of revelation, murdering, plundering, lying, stealing, committing adultery, rising up in great contentions, and deserting away into the land of Nephi, among the Lamanites—

13 And because of this their great wickedness, and their boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength; therefore they did not prosper, but were afflicted and smitten, and driven before the Lamanites, until they had lost possession of almost all their lands.

Comments

Even without the details of the wars or the people involved, Mormon does have a reason for telling his readers about this war, and he makes sure that they understand it in verses 11–13. It “would not have happened had it not been for their wickedness and their abomination which was among them; yea, and it was among those also who professed to belong to the church of God.”

The promise of the land is that the people will prosper on the land if they are righteous. Alma₂ gave his son, Shiblon, the clear example of the two parts of the promise: “Inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the land; and inasmuch as ye will not keep the commandments of God ye shall be cut off from his presence” (Alma 38:1).

The cause of the destruction might be war, but the cause of the dissensions, and therefore the war, was “because of the pride of their hearts, because of their exceeding riches, ye, it was because of their oppression to the poor, withholding their food from the hungry, withholding their clothing from the naked, and smiting their humble brethren.” This is the antithesis of Nephite religion. It is also the hallmark of Nephite society when they succumb to the temptations of attempting to be too much like their powerful surrounding cultures.

Helaman 4:14–17

14 But behold, Moronihah did preach many things unto the people because of their iniquity, and also Nephi and Lehi, who were the sons of Helaman, did preach many things unto the people, yea, and did prophesy many things unto them concerning their iniquities, and what should come unto them if they did not repent of their sins.

15 And it came to pass that they did repent, and inasmuch as they did repent they did begin to prosper.

16 For when Moronihah saw that they did repent he did venture to lead them forth from place to place, and from city to city, even until they had regained the one-half of their property and the one-half of all their lands.

17 And thus ended the sixty and first year of the reign of the judges.

Comments

Mormon attributed the loss of so much of the Nephite lands to the general departure of most of the Nephites from the principles of the gospel. In their dire straits, Moronihah “did preach many things unto the people.” Helaman₂’s sons, Nephi₂ and Lehi₃, also preach repentance. Things were bad enough that the people “did repent.” As a direct result, and immediately after saying that “they did repent,” Mormon adds that “they did begin to prosper.”

That prospering was defined as being able to regain half of their property. Mormon had mentioned that Moronihah had regained half of the lost lands in Helaman 4:10. Verses 11–13 of this chapter were Mormon’s inserted moral, and he uses repetitive resumption to bring his readers back to the timeline and the story by repeating the recapture of one-half of their property in the sixty-first year (verses 16 and 17).

Nephites Spiritually Reawaken

Helaman 4:18–20

18 And it came to pass in the sixty and second year of the reign of the judges, that Moronihah could obtain no more possessions over the Lamanites.

19 Therefore they did abandon their design to obtain the remainder of their lands, for so numerous were the Lamanites that it became impossible for the Nephites to obtain more power over them; therefore Moronihah did employ all his armies in maintaining those parts which he had taken.

20 And it came to pass, because of the greatness of the number of the Lamanites the Nephites were in great fear, lest they should be overpowered, and trodden down, and slain, and destroyed.

Comments

Mormon always has two important things to cover in his story of the Nephites. One is the basic history, but the other is the lesson to be learned from Nephite history. In these three verses, Mormon simply deals with the first of those purposes. He notes that Moronihah had been somewhat successful but hits a stalemate. He has to stop and consolidate his gains.

These three verses cover the history, but Mormon will set up his lesson to be learned by including stories of this war.

Helaman 4:21–26

21 Yea, they began to remember the prophecies of Alma, and also the words of Mosiah; and they saw that they had been a stiffnecked people, and that they had set at naught the commandments of God;

22 And that they had altered and trampled under their feet the laws of Mosiah, or that which the Lord commanded him to give unto the people; and they saw that their laws had become corrupted, and that they had become a wicked people, insomuch that they were wicked even like unto the Lamanites.

23 And because of their iniquity the church had begun to dwindle; and they began to disbelieve in the spirit of prophecy and in the spirit of revelation; and the judgments of God did stare them in the face.

24 And they saw that they had become weak, like unto their brethren, the Lamanites, and that the Spirit of the Lord did no more preserve them; yea, it had withdrawn from them because the Spirit of the Lord doth not dwell in unholy temples—

25 Therefore the Lord did cease to preserve them by his miraculous and matchless power, for they had fallen into a state of unbelief and awful wickedness; and they saw that the Lamanites were exceedingly more numerous than they, and except they should cleave unto the Lord their God they must unavoidably perish.

26 For behold, they saw that the strength of the Lamanites was as great as their strength, even man for man. And thus had they fallen into this great transgression; yea, thus had they become weak, because of their transgression, in the space of not many years.

Comments

Mormon reiterates his moral from verses 11–13 of this chapter by noting that the Nephites were still too unrepentant to deserve further victories. They had fallen so far that they had lost almost all their lands, but their occasional repentance allowed for some to be regained. Nevertheless, their iniquities were such that “they had become weak, like unto their brethren, the Lamanites, and . . . the Spirit of the Lord did no more preserve them.”

The covenant of the land had a positive promise, but it also had a curse if it was not upheld. Mormon declares that the Nephites, at that time, were still under that curse, even if they had some success regaining some of their lands.

This is not the end of a chapter in the 1830 edition.