What Caused the Famine in the Seventy-Third Year of the Reign of the Judges?

The Know

The Book of Mormon is a history of ancient American peoples spanning centuries. Because they had limited space in their record, the book’s authors by necessity prioritized the most important information, particularly the spiritual aspects of their history. However, they also occasionally mentioned cultural, geographical, ecological, and even geological information that sometimes aligns with the historical and scientific record, thereby providing insight into the Book of Mormon’s historical context. One such piece of information is mention of the famine that occurred in the days of Nephi son of Helaman.1 Readers are told that Nephi used the sealing power to ask God to close the heavens and bring a famine, or drought, upon the land to prevent a violent conflict:

And it came to pass that in this year Nephi did cry unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, do not suffer that this people shall be destroyed by the sword; but O Lord, rather let there be a famine in the land, to stir them up in remembrance of the Lord their God, and perhaps they will repent and turn to thee. (Helaman 11:3–4)

This famine ceased only after the Nephites requested that Nephi pray for it to stop (Helaman 11:8–17). It is also described in language that suggests that it was widespread and severe enough to cause death on a large scale: “And there was a great famine upon the land, among all the people of Nephi . . . and the whole earth was smitten, even among the Lamanites as well as among the Nephites” (Helaman 11:5–6). Because this famine covered a wide region and lasted between three and three-and-a-half years, it was big enough to potentially leave significant traces behind.2

A branch of modern science known as paleoclimatology uses methods like studying stalagmites, tree rings, coral, and ice cores to approximate and reconstruct climate conditions in ancient times.3 Specifically, the rate of growth and the mineral composition of stalagmites are affected by yearly climate conditions, and analyses of these deposits allows modern scientists to determine when droughts occurred anciently.4

In looking for data from the ancient Americas consistent with the Book of Mormon famine described in Helaman 11:3–4, one Latter-day Saint writer, Jim Hawker, has used paleoclimatology to search for drought conditions in Book of Mormon times by analyzing data from stalagmites.5 Hawker first examined details of the Book of Mormon’s chronology to determine when Nephi’s famine may have occurred. The record states that the famine ended in the seventy-sixth year of the reign of the judges, which was sixteen years before the birth of Christ and 585 years after the departure of Lehi.6 However, the dates of both Lehi’s departure and the birth of Christ have been debated in Book of Mormon scholarship, as has the length of a Nephite year.7 Estimates for the date of Christ’s birth range from about 5 to 1 BC, so Hawker proposes 25–20 BC for the beginning of the three-year famine.8

Hawker then compared data from three Mesoamerican stalagmites: two in Belize (Macal Chasm and Yok Balum Cave), and one in southern Mexico (Juxtlahuaca Cave).9 These three locations all have unique rainfall and climate conditions, but aligning dry periods in all three could indicate a large famine across Mesoamerica.10 Remarkably, while determining the exact timing of a drought is not possible, stalagmites in all three areas show signs of drought conditions that could fall within 25–20 BC, based on a 95 percent confidence interval.11

Although the measurements and calculated lengths of the drought events are variable and somewhat imprecise, Hawker notes, “The drought durations . . . indicate a drought sometime between 3.2 and 11.4 years in duration,” with the lower end of that spectrum probably being more reliable. “This compares with the account in Helaman 11 of 3.0 to 3.5 years.”12 Thus, this measurement of a 3.2-year drought that could have occurred within 20–25 BC accords very well with Nephi’s famine.

The Why

If this ancient American drought is indeed the one prophesied by Nephi, then it may be the first known instance in which science has confirmed one of the effects of the sealing power. Famine stories like Nephi’s teach us about the serious consequences of the heavens being sealed, or opened. In antiquity, the sky was seen as a separate domain from the earth, one where the gods dwelled. It was ultimately God’s prerogative to seal or open the heavens so that rain could fall. Thus, individuals like Nephi and Elijah who could seal, or open or loose, the heavens evidently had the power of God to seal and loose things on and beyond earth.13

Jesus gave this same power to Peter in the New Testament: “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:19). These keys were restored to Joseph Smith by Elijah in modern times, and now the most important use of this heavenly sealing ability is binding families together forever.14 If Nephi’s famine truly occurred as Mormon related, it stands as evidence that the power to seal the heavens and to seal anointings and to seal families actually exists.

President Russell M. Nelson recently spoke on the importance of that high priestly power in the modern day: “If I could speak with each husband and wife who have still not been sealed in the temple, I would plead with you to take the necessary steps to receive that crowning, life-changing ordinance. Will it make a difference? Only if you want to progress forever and be together forever. Wishing to be together forever will not make it so. No other ceremony or contract will make it so.”15

The famine Nephi prophesied is also a powerful image of the world’s constant dependence on God, especially since the evidence suggests the famine affected a large region. God “sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust,” and so not all rainfall or good conditions necessarily indicate divine favor.16 However, ancient Israelites were generally promised rainfall for righteousness and famine for wickedness, and they thus depended on rainfall from God for survival.17 Even today when weather forecasting and irrigation technology help reduce the unpredictability of weather, all people are, in fact, still dependent on God, who dispenses rain and blessings through “the windows of heaven.”18

Beyond protection from the danger of physical famines like Nephi’s, humanity is also dependent on God for protection from spiritual famine. Amos prophesied, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.”19 However, scripture also promises the charitable that “the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven” (Doctrine and Covenants 121:45). God, who has power to seal and loose the heavens, will not abandon those who “hunger and thirst after righteousness” (Matthew 5:6).

• 1. The Book of Mormon records one other famine event. See Scripture Central, “Why Did Snakes Infest Jaredite Lands during a Famine? (Ether 9:30),” KnoWhy 243 (December 1, 2016). Jim Hawker notes that other famine events likely occurred during Book of Mormon times, as indicated by the paleoclimatological record, but that this one was mentioned because of its religious significance. Jim Hawker, “Let There Be a Famine in the Land,” Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 30 (2018): 323.
• 2. Hawker, “Let There Be a Famine in the Land,” 306.
• 3. For example, ice core and volcanic tephra findings have been correlated to the volcanic destructions in 3 Nephi. See Scripture Central, “What Caused the Darkness and Destruction in the 34th Year? (3 Nephi 8:20),” KnoWhy 197, August 20, 2020; Book of Mormon Central, “Is There Evidence for Great Destruction in the Land Northward at the Death of Christ? (3 Nephi 9:9),” KnoWhy 530, September 6, 2019.
• 4. For a summary of how these mineral deposits, called speleothems by scientists, form and are analyzed, see Ian J. Fairchild and Andy Baker, Speleothem Science: From Process to Past Environments (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012).
• 5. Hawker, “Let There Be a Famine in the Land,” 305–330.
• 6. Helaman 11:2–5; Hawker, “Let There Be a Famine in the Land,” 306.
• 7. Hawker, “Let There Be a Famine in the Land,” 306–308. For treatments of calendrical systems and the Book of Mormon, see Scripture Central, “Why Did Samuel Make Such Chronologically Precise Prophecies? (Helaman 13:5),” KnoWhy 184 (August 27, 2020); Scripture Central, “How Does the Book of Mormon Help Date the First Christmas? (3 Nephi 1:13),” KnoWhy 255 (August 21, 2019); Scripture Central, “How Does the Book of Mormon Help Date Christ’s Death? (Helaman 14:20),” KnoWhy 300 (September 12, 2020); Scripture Central, “When Did Lehi Leave Jerusalem? (1 Nephi 10:4),” KnoWhy 475 (August 21, 2019); Jerry D. Grover Jr, Calendars and Chronology of the Book of Mormon (Tecumseh, MI: Challex Scientific Publications, 2023).
• 8. The birth of Christ is a better reference point here than Lehi’s departure because Christ’s birth has a shorter range of proposed years and is chronologically a much closer event, so differences in the length of calendrical years would be less significant. Hawker, “Let There Be a Famine in the Land,” 306–308.
• 9. Hawker also analyzed speleothem data from Alabama to accommodate North American geography models, but the findings did not indicate any kind of drought event in that time frame, so the results here focus on Mesoamerica. Hawker, “Let There Be a Famine in the Land,” 327–329.
• 10. Hawker, “Let There Be a Famine in the Land,” 320: “These thresholds are unique to each stalagmite and measurement type and reflect what the corresponding researchers specified as the definition of a drought or what would correspond to average precipitation. Determining the width or duration of a drought is somewhat problematic because each duration depends on the threshold used with a particular data set. And comparing those durations across multiple data sets using different thresholds is somewhat an ‘apples to oranges’ comparison. The best that can be done in this regard is to determine if the various observed droughts are ‘consistent’ with the account in Helaman.”
• 11. See the graphs in Hawker, “Let There Be a Famine in the Land,” 325. For the methodological details like increments of measurement and which characteristics of the stalagmite were measured, see pages 308, 311–319.
• 12. Hawker, “Let There Be a Famine in the Land,” 326. To read about the chronological complications caused by lag time of seeping water, regional rainfall variations, confidence intervals, noisy data, and differing measurements from the same stalagmite, see pages 318–319, 322–326.
• 13. See Helaman 11:4; 1 Kings 17:1; James 5:17.
• 14. Doctrine and Covenants 110:13–16. See Scripture Central, “How Did Nephi Use the Power to Seal on Earth and in Heaven? (Helaman 11:4),” KnoWhy 182 (September 7, 2016); Scripture Central, “Why Is There Temple Imagery in Helaman 10? (Helaman 10:8),” KnoWhy 181 (September 6, 2016).
• 15. Russell M. Nelson, “The Temple and Your Spiritual Foundation,” October 2021 general conference.
• 16. Matthew 5:45. Speaking of the Second Coming, Joseph Smith said, “It is a false idea that the Saints will escape all the judgments, whilst the wicked suffer; for all flesh is subject to suffer, and ‘the righteous shall hardly escape’; still many of the Saints will escape, for the just shall live by faith.” “Discourse, 29 September 1839, as Reported by James Mulholland,” p. 13, The Joseph Smith Papers, https://josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/discourse-29-september-1839-as-reported-by-james-mulholland/2. Mormon notes that the Nephites and Lamanites alike “were smitten that they did perish by thousands in the more wicked parts of the land,” possibly referring to “the more settled parts of the land,” the urban areas where combinations had flourished (Helaman 3:23; 11:6).
• 17. See Deuteronomy 11:10–17; 28:1, 11–12, 15, 23–24. For examples of biblical famines, see Genesis 12:10; 26:1; 41; Ruth 1; 2 Samuel 21:2; 1 Chronicles 21; 1 Kings 17–18; 2 Kings 6:25; 8:1; Acts 11:28. For Book of Mormon drought events, see Helaman 11 and Ether 9:28–35.
• 18. Genesis 7:11; 8:2; Malachi 3:10.
• 19. Amos 8:11; compare 1 Samuel 3:1.