3 Nephi 4 & 5

Mountain Bandit Culture

This past week (April  14-20) was one of the most tragic weeks in recent memory.  I think I speak for most United States citizens when I saw we are exhausted from all that has gone on this week.  Monday, April 15 was the Boston Marathon.  Two explosions from home-made bombs (ball-bearings and nails with explosives inside a pressure cooker) went off at the close of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and dismembering and injuring about 200.  The search for the suspects began.  Because the bombings were in a major city with lots of people, pictures of the events were captured by many, many people.  Soon the police and FBI knew who they should be looking for.  Then the manhunt began Thursday April 18 ... it turns out the suspects were two Chechen refugees who have been in the US for over 10 years.  Another person (an MIT police officer) was killed Thursday night / early Friday morning.  The two were pursued and cornered and the older of the two brothers was killed.  The younger of the two continued to flee.  All day Friday, the entire city of Boston was on lock-down while law enforcement searched.  They finally found him hiding in a land-parked boat in someone's back-yard.  Thankfully they were able to capture him alive so as to be able to question him to see if he and his brother had outside help.

To add to the point about this being such a tragic week ... on Wednesday April 17, a fertilizer plant exploded in the city of West, Texas.  At this time, 14 people have been confirmed dead, but that number may go up significantly.  The nation is trying to recover its collective strength after this week.

Anyway - with that background of this week, there were lots of blog posts about the bombings.  But one post really caught my attention due to the fact that I've blogged about how today's terrorists are modern-day Gadianton Robbers.

One of the hallmarks of the Gadianton Robbers is that they hide in the hills and wilderness.  3 Nephi 4:1 reads: "And it came to pass that in the latter end of the eighteenth year those armies of robbers had prepared for battle, and began to come down and to sally forth from the hills, and out of the mountains, and the wilderness, and their strongholds, and their secret places, and began to take possession of the lands, both which were in the land south and which were in the land north, and began to take possession of all the lands which had been deserted by the Nephites, and the cities which had been left desolate."

Then there is this blog post "NYT: Let's not forget the Real Victims: Chechen refugees" in which the author cites this NY Time article (Beslan Meets Columbine) and discusses the restlessness and "mountain bandit culture" of Chechens.  Specifically he says, "All over the world, it's common for people who live in highly defensible positions, such as mountains, to raid their neighbors, then beat it back to their geographically complex and daunting home turf."  He goes on to note several mountain bandit cultures.

April 20, 2013

Summary of the Great Battle

To summarize the last few chapters on a timeline, we can read in chapter 2 verse 11 that the GR had become numerous and were killing a lot of people. This was in the year 13 (since the sign of Christ's birth). In year 16, Lachoneus is governor of the Nephites and the GR leader is Giddianhi. Giddianhi sends an epistle to Lachoneus and demands that the Nephites surrender themselves and their land to the GR. Lachoneus does not surrender, but exhorts the people to repentance. He also instructs the people, in year 17, to gather together in one place. In year 18, the GR begin to come out of their hiding places. In year 19, the final battle begins (chapter 4 verse 5), and this is where I begin with this commentary.

The Nephites have enough food to last seven years. They are all gathered together in one place and their armies are placed around the body of people. When the GR finally come to the battle, they are dressed so as to appear frightful to the Nephites. The Nephites prayed earnestly when they saw the GR armies advancing. The Nephites had truly been humbled and had repented of their sins. The Lord was with them. The battle that ensued was the greatest battle since the days of Lehi – which means it was the greatest battle ever as far as the number of people who were killed. The Nephites beat them and then pursued the GR. Giddianhi was killed.

Next, the GR laid siege, but it will prove fruitless. Finally, the GR decide to head to the northern parts of the land. The Nephites are aware of the GR's plans and they cut them off. The new GR leader was Zemnarihah. When the Nephites captured Zemnarihah and the GR, they took Zemnarihah and hung him to death and then cut the tree. It was a great victory for the Nephites. Once again, we learn the valuable lesson that when a people put their trust in God, God will deliver them – God will fight and win their battles.

Gadianton Robbers Taught the Gospel

The people were very happy that the GR were finally defeated. They took the remainder of the GR and tossed them in prison and taught them the gospel (3 Nephi 5:4). If they repented, they were set free. If they did not repent, they were executed. Finally, the majority of the people were living in righteousness.

Mormon's Commentary

The rest of chapter 5 is comprised of comments by Mormon. He tells us that he is named after the place of Mormon where Alma the Sr. taught the people and baptized them. I find it interesting to note what he says in verse 12. He writes, "… Alma did establish the church among the people, yea the first church which was established among them after their transgression." I imagine that he was referring to the transgression of the Nephites in the Land of Nephi under the kingship of King Noah. But it is also interesting to note that when Alma and his followers rejoined the Nephites in Zarahemla and King Mosiah, Alma was appointed head of the church! Wouldn't there have been a church leader already established in Zarahemla? Perhaps King Mosiah was also the church leader and delegated these responsibilities to Alma knowing that shortly thereafter, he (King Mosiah) would be dissolving the line of Kings and establishing a council of judges. Of course when this happened, Alma was chosen to be the Chief Judge too. We may never know all the motives behind the decisions made, but at least this much we know – that Alma the Senior was a great prophet and man. His faith was incredible as he changed his life (and the history of the Nephites for that matter!) after listening to the mighty words of Abinadi.

The other comments Mormon made were regarding the gathering of Israel. I don't have anything to say at this time regarding those comments.

August 22, 2007

Helaman 11

July 31, 2007 - Original Post

Famine and Fasting

Nephi pleads with the Lord that the people don’t die by the sword rather that they die by hunger. In essence, Nephi is forcing the people to collectively fast. Whenever I truly fast, I am greatly humbled. I have found that I am more passive and willing to submit myself to the will of God when I fast. Not only am I more submissive, but I grow closer to the Spirit. My mind is quieter.

As we fast and grow closer to the Savior, we must strive to always remember His sacrifice. After spiritual experiences, we must be wary of temptations. We must avoid what the Nephites did time and time again. They humbled themselves and then studied the scriptures, only to fall away again. Why did they fall away? They fell because they did not follow the counsels of the prophets.

Contentions Concerning Doctrine

In Helaman 11:22, it says they contended over some points of the doctrine which had been laid down by the prophets.

What does this mean? It means that at some point in time before, the prophets clarified some points of the doctrine. Even today we will hear prophets counsel us again and again about points of the doctrine. Many times they are explicit about what we are to understand. They explain to us how we are to interpret the doctrine. They are the living oracles who see further and clearer than we.

The prophets then, as the prophet today, can settle contentions because they receive revelation. During this time in the Nephite history, the prophets were "having many revelations daily." (Helaman 11:23)

How different the Book of Mormon would have been if the Nephites would have followed the prophets!

Regarding contention, Elder Dallin H. Oaks said this, "It is noteworthy that the Savior did not limit his teaching about disputations and contention to those who had wrong ideas about doctrine or procedure. He forbade disputations and contention by everyone. The commandment to avoid contention applies to those who are right as well as to those who are wrong.” (Book of Mormon Symposium Series, 4 Nephi – Moroni, p. 177)

The Nephite Cycle in a Chapter

One time while reading this chapter, I noted what went on in the Nephite history in one decade. Chapter 11 is a perfect example of the Nephite cycle in one decade. The chapter begins in the Nephite year 72.

In year 73, Nephi asks the Lord to bring a famine to the land. Note that it only took one verse for Nephi to ask this of the Lord. Then for the next two years the Nephites suffer. Finally in year 75 the people ask Nephi to ask the Lord to stop the famine. This time, it takes Nephi seven verses to ask the Lord to stop the famine. In year 76, the famine ends.

For four years, the Nephites prosper and have peace. Then in year 80 the dissentions begin again and the GR are reborn. Basically, the GRs are terrorists as verse 32 points out. The Nephites and Lamanites send their armies to destroy the GRs twice, but fail both times. The chapter ends in year 85 with the people “ripening again for destruction.”
So in the space of 13 years (from year 72 to year 85) we see in this one chapter the Nephites go from being wicked, to being humbled, to having prosperity and peace, to dissentions, to war and finally to wickedness again. It took the Nephites thirteen years for one complete cycle.

September 13, 2012 - Addition

A curious thought crossed my mind this morning while reading Helaman 11:10.

The person speaking is Nephi - a prophet of God.  A few years earlier, he was granted the sealing power of the priesthood - whatever he sealed on earth would be sealed in heaven.  He then used that power, after seeing the desctruction of the war, to plead with God to not let the people be destroyed by war, but by famine.  The famine came; the people repented.

In Helaman 10:10, Nephi begins his plea to God to save them from the famine.  He tells God that the band of Gadianton has been swept away and has become extinct.  This is crucial - there are no Gadianton robbers anymore - they have been wiped out ... as verse 10 states, "they have become extinct."  Now comes the curious statement: "they have concealed their secret plans in the earth."  Nephi knows they (the people who wiped out the Gadianton robbers) concealed the robbers' plans.  But my question is: why did the people or Nephi allow the secret plans to be buried?  Why not destroy the plans too?

As we find out in Helman 11:26, the band of robbers is resurrected and then goes on to "search out all the secret plans of Gadianton."