Book of Mormon Names
[Moroni vs Evil Brotherhoods]
[War Involves Personal Hatreds]
190 Alma 62:2 The plot thickens now as we get closer and closer to home. We are in Alma 62. Of course, Moroni was very, very glad and relieved to receive Pahoran’s letter. I wonder if he felt cheap or something when he found out he had been completely wrong after all the shouting, raving, and ranting against Pahoran. His heart was filled with exceedingly great joy to find out that he wasn’t a traitor, as he thought he was. He really jumped the gun that time. But at the same time “he did also mourn exceedingly.” Moroni is something of a manic-depressive, isn’t he? He’s an overachiever, he’s a military genius, and he only lives a very short life. He just wears himself out, I think. He’s that sort of person. We get these beautiful character delineations in the Book of Mormon. We learn that things are often wrong with the world, but [we should] be careful how we place the blame. We don’t want to do things like that. After all, who raised Noriega to power?
190 Alma 62:3-5 Here is the sacral state. They had “rebelled against their country and also their God.” You can’t rebel against the country in a sacral state [without rebelling against God]. This is a religious state, like Israel. You don’t divide the state from the church. (In Utah it may be different.) The war isn’t up yet. They are going to have a mopping up operation. Verse 3: “Moroni took a small number of men ... and gave Lehi and Teancum command over the remainder of his army.” He said, I’m leaving them in your trust. I’m going to go out and join Pahoran, and we’ll clean up here. “And [again] he did raise the standard of liberty in whatsoever place he did enter.” This is traditional; the standard attracts people. Notice it says, “And it came to pass that thousands did flock unto his standard.” The standard brings you to the meeting place, and it does here. This was a universal rule in the ancient world.
190 Alma 62:6 So thousands flocked to his standard. They were still observing these things. These things show remarkable uniformity, don’t they? We’ll find that right down to our own times they do. Verse 6: “And uniting his forces with those of Pahoran they became exceedingly strong, even stronger than the men of Pachus.” Pachus is a very interesting name. It’s perfectly good Egyptian and means “he who is praised.” It means a person who is “praised, blessed or favored of God.” Mohammed means the same thing.
190,191 Alma 62:8-13 They went to the land of Zarahemla against the city and met the men of Pachus. “And behold, Pachus was slain and his men were taken prisoners, and Pahoran was restored to his judgment-seat.” And everything was as it was before. Also the king-men were put in their place and “whosoever would not take up arms in the defense of their country, but would fight against it, were put to death.” They were still resorting to arms. It was not because of their political views they were put to death, but they were still resorting to arms. It was speedy execution. Moroni and Pahoran, having restored peace to the land of Zarahemla, were free to send an army of six thousand men and aid to Helaman. It’s interesting that the average army throughout ancient times and the Middle Ages for expeditions was between four and eight thousand men. You notice in the next verse another army of six thousand men. That’s the standard.. “And he also caused that an army of six thousand men, with a sufficient quantity of food, should be sent to the armies of Lehi and Teancum.” So they were being supported everywhere. As I said, this can almost be called mopping up operations.
191 Alma 62:14-17,27 : “Moroni and Pahoran ... took their march with a large body of men towards the land of Nephihah.” Remember, Nephihah was the one [Moroni] wanted to take and then was so disappointed. He was going to roll up the whole front. He got Nephihah, which was their strong point. Then Ammoron ran over it and wiped it out, and other cities along with it. So now they have to get back Nephihah. This is rather typical: As they were marching they ran into a large body of Lamanites. They had a fight and “slew many of them, and took their provisions and their weapons of war.” The rest of them gave in willingly. Notice, the war is over. Everybody is fed up with it. “They caused them to enter into a covenant that they would no more take up their weapons of war against the Nephites [then they trusted them]. And when they had entered into this covenant they sent them to dwell with the people of Ammon,” who were the peaceful people. This pleased them very much. They were fed up; they didn’t want anymore of this. As we see in verse 27, “Many of the Lamanites that were prisoners were desirous to join the people of Ammon and become a free people [that’s the idea of being free; you’re not free if you are in arms all the time]. ... They were in number about four thousand who had not been slain.” This is a nice touch. No hard feelings here. You can see the tension is off now. Nobody is out for blood or anything like that.
191,192 Alma 62:18-20 So Nephihah was the big thing. They pitched their tents near the city of Nephihah. Of course, the Lamanites didn’t come out again. This is the last time they pull a trick. Verse 20: “Moroni went forth in the darkness of the night, and came upon the top of the wall to spy out in what part of the city the Lamanites did camp with their army.” They put grappling irons over the wall and got into the city. “Moroni caused that his men should march forth and come upon the top of the wall, and let themselves down into that part of the city, yea, even on the west.” There’s always an unguarded spot. No matter how well you think you have a place defended, there’s always a weakest spot. There’s a weakest spot in everybody’s armor. There’s a weakest spot in any defense you want. It never fails; you can count on that. This is what happens here; there’s a spot that isn’t watched. That’s what the game of chess is about. [You think] I’ve guarded everything. Everything is taken care of; you can’t touch me. Suddenly, he’s got your king, just like that.
192 Alma 62:27-29 They found this [weak spot] on the west where the Lamanites hadn’t camped (you can’t be everywhere) and let them down by their strong cords, all within the walls of the city. When the Lamanites woke, they found the Nephites were inside the walls. They were only too happy to run away and get out of the walls. They fled by the pass and found themselves surrounded. [The Nephites] took a lot of prisoners; there was no great fighting here. These are the ones that said, please let us go off and join the Ammonites and we’ll be only too happy to do so. “Many of the Lamanites that were prisoners were desirous to join the people of Ammon and become a free people.” So the climate had certainly changed, and the word had spread that Moroni allowed them a way out. It was cheerfully granted to them according to their desires, verse 28 tells us. “Therefore, all the prisoners of the Lamanites did join the people of Ammon [wasn’t that nice? And these were the bad guys?], and did begin to labor exceedingly [they threw their hearts into it; this is the life; they appreciated what they were getting], tilling the ground, raising all manner of grain, and flocks and herds of every kind; and thus were the Nephites . .. relieved from all the prisoners of the Lamanites.” This is exactly what runs through the whole history of the ancient world in any country.
192 Alma 62:30-32 “Therefore Moroni went forth from the land of Nephihah to the land of Lehi.” When the Lamanites saw him, again they became frightened. The tide had turned, and their morale was shaken. “Moroni and his army did pursue them from city to city [it’s a rout now], until they were met by Lehi and Teancum,” those two terrible commanders. Then they gave up—they’d had enough of it. They fled to the land of Moroni and gathered all in one body. This is what they do—the redoubt. You always fall back on a redoubt.. That’s the worst thing you can do, of course, but it’s all you can do. It’s psychological; they get together for support.
192,193 Alma 62:33,34 “Now Ammoron, the king of the Lamanites, was also with them.” The king [was] in the center, You must form a shield wall around the king; he must be the last to go. So the Lamanites were encircled. It was checkmate. The king was checked. He can’t be killed; he has to be checked.
193 Alma 62:35,36 Now it’s back to the personal element. There wouldn’t have been any of this if it hadn’t been for men like Ammoron. Teancum was a hot head, and “he was exceedingly angry with Ammoron [he took it as a personal grudge], insomuch that he considered that Ammoron, and Amalickiah his brother, had been the cause of this great and lasting war.” And they were, actually. If they hadn’t been there to get things organized [it wouldn’t have happened]. Remember, as Liddell Hart tells us, it comes back to individuals, after all. “Teancum in his anger did go forth into the camp of the Lamanites, and did let himself down over the walls of the city. And he went forth with a cord, from place to place, insomuch that he did find the king; and he did cast a javelin at him, which did pierce him near the heart.” But at the same time it cost him his life too. He awakened the servants, and they pursued Teancum and slew him. So now we’ve got checkmate. The war is pretty well over by now. But you have to get to the heart of the nest.
193 Alma 62:38-40 Then Moroni marched forth and drove them out of the land. “And they did flee, even that they did not return at that time against the Nephites.” So they were out now, and Moroni had won. Look at what has been going on at home. Are these the good guys? Verse 40: “And there had been murders, and contentions, and dissensions, and all manner of iniquity among the people of Nephi; nevertheless for the righteous’ sake ... they were spared.” This is a basic principle of the Talmud. The Lord saves the wicked and everybody else. For the sake of the righteous, he lets the show go on because there might be some who will repent. We know the famous story in the Bible of Abraham pleading for Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham said, if there are fifty righteous will you spare it? Yes. Ten? Yes. This was sparing the wicked cities for the sake of the righteous people who are in them. He says that’s the only reason he is holding back his hand today, because there are enough righteous people to justify it. It’s a well-known principle. “Because of the prayers of the righteous, they [the others] were spared.”
193 Alma 62:41 Here is a very interesting psychological note. Who is to blame for our circumstances?. We say, “He’s wicked, he’s hardened, he’s insane because of the war.” But it works both ways, as it tells us here. You can see this a good deal. Verse 41: “But behold, because of the exceedingly great length of the war [you can hold on a lot, but it breaks you down] between the Nephites and the Lamanites many had become hardened [but notice] ... and many were softened because of their afflictions [it had the opposite effect on others; they became softened, so don’t blame the circumstances for how you react], insomuch that they did humble themselves before God.” Those are the two ways you can react. You can become hardened, or you can become softened. Could you say they really won? They had been beaten so many times and suffered so much.
194 Alma 62:42 : “He returned to the city of Zarahemla; and also Helaman returned to the place of his inheritance; and there was once more peace established among the people of Nephi.” They have talked about victory celebrations before in the Book of Mormon, but there is no victory celebration mentioned here. This is very interesting. Here it tells us, “And Moroni yielded up the command of his armies into the hands of his son, whose name was Moronihah; and he retired to his own house that he might spend the remainder of his days in peace.” He could have been dictator. He was the national hero, of course. He could have been king. They had just had a king. The king-men had taken over the city and run things. The people were used to the idea of a king. The judges hadn’t been in forever. This is only forty years of judges, after [nearly] six hundred years in the country. They were perfectly willing to accept a king, but this 39-year-old hero was not a dictator. Remember, he said, “I seek not for power but to pull it down.”[Alma 62:36]. He didn’t like that, and he didn’t like the shedding of blood. So this is truth and not rhetoric when he says it. Moroni was a great man. He was a civilian through and through.
194 Notice that peace was established among the people of Nephi, but it would only last seven years. Imagine that—how sad. The whole thing will break out again on a different level with lots of crime mixed up in it. This reads like the end of a novel. It tells us what happened to the characters and how they ended up. They lived happily ever after. This is the last we see of these. After that seven-year gap it’s going to be a new crowd that emerges.
194 Alma 62:44,46 “It had become expedient that a regulation should be made again in the church.” The church had been considerably shaken up at this time. What had been going on back there? Remember, the king-men had been in control. Their crowd had been running everything. They had driven out Pahoran, the chief judge, and usurped the throne. Everything had been shaken up, which, of course, would include the church. The church had to be practically reorganized here from the ground up. Helaman and his brethren went forth to declare the word of God just like missionaries—from the field to the field. “... unto the convincing of many people of their wickedness [this is the point—to show them that what they had been doing was wrong], which did cause them to repent of their sins and to be baptized unto the Lord their God.” The people were repenting and being baptized all over again, convinced of their sins. It says in verse 46: “They did establish again the church of God, throughout all the land.” They had to refound the church, practically from the ground up. This is what happens after the big shakeup.
194,195 Alma 62:47-49 The government was restored too. They had to choose new judges to replace the old ones that had been put in by the king-men. Verse 47: “And their judges, and their chief judges were chosen. And the people of Nephi began to prosper again in the land [there was a real post-war boom]. And they began to grow exceedingly rich.” Next we come to one of the very favorite passages in the Book of Mormon. People like to quote this a lot to show that you can be rich without being oppressive or any of the things that rich people shouldn’t do, because they weren’t spoiled by being rich. “But notwithstanding their riches, or their strength, or their prosperity, they were not lifted up in the pride of their eyes; neither were they slow to remember the Lord their God; but they did humble themselves exceedingly before him.” The word humble is HUMILIS which means “level with the earth.” They were level, and they were equal. They were rich as a people, but it wasn’t one above another. They were not divided into classes. This comes later, as we soon learn, but not now. That’s fine. We can begin to grow rich as a people, and we should. Brigham Young said, more than once, “I could make this people the richest people on earth.” And he could have. He was certainly our ablest economist, perhaps the best businessman in American history. The way he could manage things, he could build up a personal fortune like that. But he paid no attention to it. He said, “I would not walk across the street to make a business deal with anyone.” But he couldn’t help getting rich.
195 Alma 62:51 Anyway, they weren’t lifted up. You don’t have to be selfish. They were rich because they were humble and they were equal. But they had to work at it, and it’s only going to last four years. “And they did pray unto the Lord their God continually [you have to work at this sort of thing], insomuch that the Lord did bless them, according to his word, so that they did wax strong and prosper in the land.” So they had a post-war boom here.
195 Then this is the new generation. It’s no longer Helaman. It’s Shiblon, which is a good Arabic name. It means young lion. A very popular name in Israel is ARI which means lion. He took possession of the sacred things, and he was a just man. Then the old order changed here. Moroni died at the age of forty-seven, just a few years after he retired. “And thus ended the thirty and sixth year of the reign of the judges.” He died of wounds possibly. He pushed himself too much, I’m afraid.
195 Alma 63:4 What’s the thing to do next? Colonizing, expanding, business, explode—now they have to increase. They really expand. They are not going to just stay there and get rich and prosperous without spreading out in all directions seeking new lands, investments, etc. That’s what they do. Alma 63:4: “And it came to pass that in the thirty and seventh year of the reign of the judges, there was a large company of men ... five thousand and four hundred men, with their wives and their children, departed out of the land of Zarahemla into the land which was northward.” They were settling new lands. They have been moving north all along. [This group] goes as a company. Individuals have been going out.
196 Alma 63:7-9 : “And in the thirty and eighth year, this man built other ships.” The first ship came back with reports saying there were great times up there. They got more people to go with them and set out for the land northward. This boom was going on, and things were opening up in the far north. They went there, and they never heard of them anymore. This is this idea of race scattered everywhere. Don’t be too simple. They are going to mingle with all sorts of people. “And we suppose that they were drowned in the depths of the sea.” We know now from the legends of the people of the islands that they were capable of making these amazingly long sea voyages, navigating with almost perfect accuracy to a spot by the stars, the winds, and the currents. They knew things like that, so they could get along. These people disappeared, and they didn’t know where they went. Verse 9: “And it came to pass that in this year there were many people who went forth into the land northward. [They went by land; this was the frontier]. And thus ended the thirty and eighth year.”
196 Alma 63:10 In the next year Shiblon died also. Then Corianton was the next son, but he didn’t become [high priest] because he had gone away. He was in business. He had gone forth to the land northward in a ship to carry provisions to the people who had gone forth to that land.
197 Alma 63:11-13 “Therefore it became expedient for Shiblon to confer those sacred things, before his death, upon the son of Helaman, who was called Helaman, being called after the name of his father. Now behold, all those engravings which were in the possession of Helaman were written and sent forth among the children of men throughout all the land.” “Nevertheless, these things were to be kept sacred, and handed down from one generation to another.”
197 Alma 63:14 “There were some dissenters who had gone forth unto the Lamanites.” Notice, here we get this racial complication again. Lots of people had gone over to the Lamanites. And they did a silly thing. They stirred them up to anger against the Nephites. There were these hotheads still going. They were able to raise a numerous army against the people of Moronihah, but it didn’t work. They were driven back.
197 Helaman 1:1 Now we come to the book of Helaman where really serious developments take place. After just seven years “there began to be a serious difficulty among the people of the Nephites.” We begin that way, with a serious difficulty. This history is never very happy, is it? No wonder people don’t like reading the Book of Mormon. There’s not much happy talk. Long wars ruin everything. The people are fed up with war, so now they take to organized crime instead. I suppose that explains it. The question is who should have the judgment seat. Pahoran had died. Now who would have the judgment seat? There were three sons of Pahoran named Pahoran, Paanchi, and Pacumeni.
198 Helaman 1:9 This Paanchi doesn’t concede. He was exceedingly wroth. He was going to use flattery again to get the people to rise up in rebellion against their brethren. So there was more civil war after only seven years. He was condemned to death for that. People didn’t want any of that. This was rebellion. But some people were angry and backed him up. They hired a professional hit man to get rid of Pahoran. Verse 9: “They were angry, and behold, they sent forth one Kishkumen, even to the judgment-seat of Pahoran, and murdered Pahoran as he sat upon the judgment-seat.” We are told that he was very expert in this sort of thing. Then, having done this murder, “they all entered into a covenant [here’s another brotherhood, one of those negative brotherhoods], yea, swearing by their everlasting Maker [they are a religious brotherhood], that they would tell no man [they have their oath of secrecy] that Kishkumen had murdered Pahoran. Therefore, Kishkumen was not known among the people of Nephi for he was in disguise at the time he murdered Pahoran.” Kishkumen and his band covenanted together. They covenanted and swore by their Everlasting Maker. It was a solemn bond among themselves, and they were all crooks. Then they mingled themselves very respectably among the people. This is the way to get away with it. Great criminal enterprises are highly respected sometimes at various levels
198 Pacumeni was appointed chief governor over the people. Eight years after the last war, the Lamanites take advantage of this disruption. Then there’s another war. These secret societies become very important in the Book of Mormon
200 Why do they call them sacred brotherhoods? It’s very obvious. To keep from plundering each other. They had to trust each other. You have to trust somebody. The point is they couldn’t trust each other, and they all kill each other. Two of them gang together and say, “We’ll put him out of the picture; then we’ll share it between ourselves.” Immediately, who’s going to get it all? You have to trust somebody if you are going to operate at all, so they would form these sacred oaths, take these vows, and have all this secret stuff so they could trust each other and wouldn’t plunder each other.
201 This is the process they were following. Notice, these people are quite mobile. They form themselves into governments. Religion is the one thing that holds them together, but it is very fragile and brittle and breaks apart. There is always trouble arising within the people themselves. Then this Coriantumr leads to trouble.