The Know

Beginning in the book of Helaman, readers are introduced to a new social, political, and perhaps even religious organization that, Mormon notes, “did prove the overthrow, yea, almost the entire destruction of the people of Nephi” (Helaman 2:13). This secret society was a “band of robbers and secret murderers” initially started by the murderer Kishkumen but eventually led and named after the master conspirator Gadianton (Helaman 2:10). It was noted for its continual threat to the Nephite religion and system of government. These robbers appear in some capacity throughout the books of Helaman, 3 Nephi, 4 Nephi, and Mormon.

Throughout these books, Mormon makes clear that the robbers practiced secret combinations linked to murder, intrigue, and initiation into their group. According to Mormon, “they did have their signs, yea, their secret signs, and their secret words; and this that they might distinguish a brother who had entered into the covenant,” and anyone who revealed them to the world would be punished by the robbers (Helaman 6:22; see also verse 24).

While Mormon provides the historical beginnings for this band in the first two chapters of Helaman, he places the origin of these secret oaths and combinations much further back into antiquity. Mormon states these oaths “were put into the heart of Gadianton by that same being who did entice our first parents to partake of the forbidden fruit—yea, that same being who did plot with Cain. … And behold, it is he who is the author of all sin” (Helaman 6:26–27, 30). Mormon also states that these oaths—whose dissemination among the Nephites Alma tried to prevent—were had among the Jaredites, as seen in the book of Ether (see Helaman 6:25, 28).

Moroni includes the historical introduction of these secret oaths and combinations among the Jaredites in the book of Ether. However, like his father he does not elaborate on them: “And now I, Moroni, do not write the manner of their oaths and combinations, for … whatsoever nation shall uphold such secret combinations, to get power and gain, until they shall spread over the nation, behold, they shall be destroyed” (Ether 8:20, 22).

According to the Jaredite record, these oaths and combinations were introduced in an attempt to regain the throne. As the wicked Jared “became exceedingly sorrowful because of the loss of the kingdom” after being ousted by his siblings, his daughter asked him, “Behold, is there not an account concerning them of old, that they by their secret plans did obtain kingdoms and great glory?” Thus, they sent for Akish, who had his coconspirators swear oaths to him (see Ether 8:4–19). As Matthew L. Bowen has noted, this entire episode appears to derive from an ancient version of the account in Moses 5, in which Cain swore an oath to Satan and began spreading similar works of darkness.1 Unfortunately for Jared, Akish would betray him and seek the throne for himself, leading to the spread of these secret oaths and warfare throughout the land.

As Bowen and Daniel L. Belnap have observed, the oaths of Akish, Kishkumen, and even the oath of Cain in the book of Moses are comparable: each involves certain oaths and forms of punishment for those who betray them, and each is built upon getting gain.2 Bowen especially notes a wordplay between the name of Cain and the Hebrew word for gain, which underly many of the passages relating to these oaths and combinations and recall Cain’s act of murder to better his own position in life.3

These oaths appear to have been a twisted perversion of temple worship as it was known among the Nephites and likely among the Jaredites as well.4 The robbers are variously recorded as wearing clothing that mocked sacred temple clothing, incorporating “secret signs, and … secret words” to get gain and prevent one another from being victims of their own schemes, and potentially even giving themselves new names, as Cain did (Helaman 6:22; Moses 5:31).5

Furthermore, the Gadiantons reemerged shortly before Mormon was born following years of peace (4 Nephi 1:46). Book of Mormon scholar Brant A. Gardner has noted that the timing of this reemergence also mirrors the appearance of a secret society in Teotihuacan that began “exerting its influence from the Central Mexican Basin over nearly all of Mesoamerica.”6 This is not unlike Mormon’s description that “the robbers of Gadianton did spread over all the face of the land” and continued to be a problem for the Nephites until the very end (4 Nephi 1:46).

Those in this group were called nonotzaleque, and they continued to appear in the historical record off and on from Mormon’s day until the Spanish conquest. The term nonotzaleque is variously translated as “conspirators,” “assassins,” or “conjurers,” and those known by the term are said to be “guardians of tradition, debasers of people.” They wore jaguar skins to keep their identity hidden and “were apparently organized into a group whose goal was disrupting the government.”7

Moreover, it is likely they worshipped a god of war prominent in Teotihuacan, as Teotihuacan exercised its militarism and robbed goods from conquered lands to store in their capital.8 Keeping stolen goods in a central repository and even practicing “sorceries, and witchcrafts, and magics” through “the power of the evil one,” perhaps in idolatrous ceremonies, are also features of the Gadianton culture in the Book of Mormon (4 Nephi 1:46; Mormon 1:19). As such, Mormon’s description of the Gadianton robbers closely matches real organizations shrouded in secrecy in pre-Columbian America that proved to be dangerous to any who opposed them.9

All of this proved to be cause for concern among the Nephite prophets and underscores why they felt these secret oaths and combinations were so dangerous to both the Nephite faith and polity. The evil nature of these oaths and combinations as practiced by the Jaredites likely had a profound effect on Mosiah’s decision to enact a new system of government.10 Similarly, one reason Alma may have told his son Helaman to keep portions of the Jaredite record secret was that he had seen firsthand the dangers of wicked Nephites seeking the destruction of the people and may have “feared there were [still] factions among the Nephites that could lead to the formation of such societies” should they learn about these oaths.11

The Why

According to Mormon and Moroni, these secret oaths and combinations not only led to the destruction of the Jaredites but also were almost entirely responsible for Nephite destruction (Helaman 2:13). In short, just as secret oaths and combinations repeat appearances, so too did their disastrous consequences on entire nations.

To help modern readers avoid the fate of the Jaredites and Nephites, Moroni warned his future audience, “It is wisdom in God that these things should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you,” lest “the sword of the justice of the Eternal God shall fall upon you, to your overthrow and destruction if ye shall suffer these things to be” (Ether 8:23).

Moroni hoped that if his future audience would reject these oaths and combinations, “evil may be done away, and that the time may come that Satan may have no power upon the hearts of the children of men, but that they may be persuaded to do good continually, that they may come unto the fountain of all righteousness and be saved” (Ether 8:26).

The reoccurrence of these secret oaths and combinations is one of the key themes that Gregory Steven Dundas identified in the Book of Mormon, providing a clear message of the dangers of pride, vanity, and cruelty. However, Dundas notes, this is not all it teaches: “When regarded from a historical point of view … one might say that the ultimate meaning of the book is the basic need for repentance.”12 When the Nephites continued to repent, the secret combinations of the wicked could not overcome them, as evidenced in 3 Nephi 3–5. Only when they stopped repenting was their situation so dire so that the secret combinations of the Gadiantons gained power over the people.

Thus, Bowen observes, “Evil will be done away and humanity saved as soon as—and to the degree that—the Gentiles and all the house of Israel give heed to their words of warning.”13 Dundas similarly concludes, “[Repentance], in a nutshell, is the historical message of Mormon’s record. Whether we choose to give heed to it is another question.”14

• 1. See Matthew L. Bowen, “Getting Cain and Getting Gain,” Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 15 (2015): 134–137. As noted by Noel B. Reynolds, “The Brass Plates Version of Genesis,” in By Study and Also By Faith: Essays in Honor of Hugh W. Nibley, 2 vols., ed. John M. Lundquist and Stephen D. Ricks (Provo, UT: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies [FARMS]; Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 1990), 2:136–173, it is possible that the Nephites had a version of Genesis that more closely matched the Joseph Smith Translation, or book of Moses, than the received text of Genesis. If this is the case, it is possible that either the Jaredites also had a similar version of the Creation and life of Adam and Eve and their children found in their scriptures or Moroni (aware of the Nephite scriptural tradition) on his own accord incorporated some of the wordplay Bowen observed. While Daniel L. Belnap, “‘They Are of Ancient Date’: Jaredite Traditions and the Politics of Gadianton’s Dissent,” in Illuminating the Jaredite Records, ed. Daniel L. Belnap (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 2020), 5–16, suggests the daughter of Jared and Akish may have had a text authored by Cain himself, this need not be the case when comparable material from the book of Moses is found, as Bowen observes.
• 2. See Belnap, “‘They Are of Ancient Date,’” 20–22; Bowen, “Getting Cain and Getting Gain,” 125–139.
• 3. See generally Bowen, “Getting Cain and Getting Gain,” 115–141.
• 4. For a more complete discussion on this, see Stephen O. Smoot, “Gadiantonism as a Counterfeit Temple Priesthood,” Ploni Almoni Mormon (blog), July 25, 2017.
• 5.  See Book of Mormon Central, “Why Did the Gadianton Robbers Wear a Lamb Skin? (3 Nephi 4:7),” KnoWhy 191 (September 20, 2016); Bowen, “Getting Cain and Getting Gain,” 119n14.
• 6. Brant Gardner, Traditions of the Fathers: The Book of Mormon as History (Salt Lake City, UT: Greg Kofford Books, 2015), 328. Gardner also proposes that the northward migration recorded in Helaman 3:4–7 took the Nephites to the area where Teotihuacan was located, as it the only area in Mesoamerica that fits the description of a northern land with many waters, few trees, and cement buildings from 100 BC to AD 600. This, Gardner views, is significant because Mormon 2:20 notes that the Nephites were driven northward in their battles against the Lamanites and the Gadianton robbers. As such, the northward migrations served as a link by which the Nephites would have been closer to the heart of Gadianton power and control, meriting the group’s increased activity in the text.
• 7. See Gardner, Traditions of the Fathers, 332–334, as well as his notes.
• 8. See Gardner, Traditions of the Fathers, 335–336.
• 9. Additional organizations are present throughout Mesoamerican history that, among other crimes, reportedly killed kings and city leaders on behalf of a corrupt sibling. See Scripture Central, “Book of Mormon Evidence: Secret Combinations,” Evidence 234, September 7, 2021.
• 10. See Scripture Central, “What Do the Jaredites Have to Do With the Reign of the Judges? (Mosiah 28:17),” KnoWhy 106 (May 24, 2016); Belnap, “‘They Are of Ancient Date,’” 7.
• 11. Belnap, “‘They Are of Ancient Date,’” 11.
• 12. Gregory Steven Dundas, Mormon’s Record: The Historical Message of the Book of Mormon (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 2024), 405.
• 13. Bowen, “Getting Cain and Getting Gain,” 141.
• 14. Dundas, Mormon’s Record, 409.