Conflicts between the Nephites and the Lamanites
[Open Rebellion Against God Leads to Extermination]
[Wickedness of the Nephites]
[Mormon Gives Up On His Own People]
[Public Killing of Innocent People]
197 Mormon 2:13 From now on we really plunge into the depths. We’re on Mormon 2:13, and what a powerful statement this is: “My joy was vain.” Remember, he thought they would become righteous again because they were sorrowing, but that didn’t work at all. “Their sorrowing was not unto repentance, because of the goodness of God; but it was rather the sorrowing of the damned, because the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin.”
197 Mormon 2:14 In the next verse we have another psychological note, you’ll notice: “They did curse God, and wish to die. Nevertheless they would struggle with the sword for their lives.” There’s another one, you see. “ We have the choice of a terrible end or a terror without end. That’s the situation they live with; they’ll go on struggling to the last ditch. But, they got both. They got both the terrible ending and the terror without end. The reason was that they were beyond repentance, as we read in the next verse. This is even more horrible. Notice the mounting despair here.
197 Mormon 2:15 This is the question we have to ask as we read the Book of Mormon here. Does this have to be? We see it’s happening, but does it have to happen with us? Remember, this comes to you, O you Gentiles, that you may be wiser than we have been. Now these things are happening just exactly in the grim declension in which we see them occurring today. This horrible thing is said here now, that the Lord should ever withdraw his grace; “I saw that the day of grace was passed with them.
198 Mormon 2:15 “For I saw thousands of them hewn down in open rebellion against their God, and heaped up as dung upon the face of the land.” This mass destruction [is evident]. We’ve mentioned the age of extermination we live in—how many thousands of acres are being destroyed of the world every minute and how many hundreds of species are disappearing every week, etc. We’re ringing down the curtain now; everything is folding up. This is an age of extermination. There have been such things, and nothing makes this clearer than the Book of Mormon (we get this when we get to the Jaredites very soon) and the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. That’s what they emphasize. We’ve been through this cycle before. It’s not a single cycle, as everybody used to suppose, on the old linear evolutionary line. We just evolve and progress—oh, no, you don’t. You periodically collapse, and then you go through the misery all over again because we all have to be tested by the same tests. But, they were “heaped up as dung.” Well, the nearest thing to that would be a nuclear situation. It had to be mass slaughter, but they did go crazy. They were wild about this.
198 Mormon 2:16 Then another terrible thing happens. The Nephites try to disengage. You feel it here in these fateful words. We’ve been asking the question all along—where is it all leading? Well, this is the answer. The day of grace is passed. A very interesting thing is going to happen. They began “to flee before the Lamanites ... to the land of Jashon.” They’ve had enough of fighting the Lamanites just because they’re Lamanites, or fighting the Nephites just because they are Nephites. The game of good guys and bad guys doesn’t make sense anymore. The withdrawal becomes a rout here.
198,199 Mormon 2:17,18 Now they go to the city in the north where Ammaron had deposited the records, the city of Shim. They went to the hill Shim to the city Shim. They’re falling back toward the north, and this is what we read in the dictionary. I think this interruption is worth it because these little veristic touches in the Book of Mormon are really something. SAM, which is related to SHIM, means the northern region. The point is they go to the hill Shim, which was to the north quite a ways. They’ve been falling back, always toward the north and east. That’s their western frontier anyway. They go to the place where Ammaron hid the records, which he said was in the hill Shim up in the north. Verse 17: “And behold I had gone according to the word of Ammaron, and taken the plates of Nephi.” Fifteen years had passed. He was now around 24 years old. Verse 18: “And upon the plates of Nephi I did make a full account of all the wickedness and abominations [Where are these plates? We don’t have them.]; but upon these plates I did forbear to make a full account.” This is why he’s not going to harrow up our souls here with giving us the whole story after they disengage. A full description of the plates would be overdoing it and would just make us sick. This is another powerful statement here. I mean they just ring like successive strokes of doom, don’t they.
199 Mormon 2:18,19 This one now, “I did forbear to make a full account of their wickedness and abominations [because], for behold, a continual scene of wickedness and abominations has been before mine eyes ever since I have been sufficient to behold the ways of man.” What a powerful statement, and how powerfully put, too. The interesting thing is, this used to sound like a very fanciful and climactic statement, like the guy had some imagination. The Book of Mormon is something, isn’t it. So his [Mormon’s] heart is “filled with sorrow because of their wickedness.” He has not had a happy life. As I said, many people of twenty-four can make the same statement today.
199 Mormon 2:24-26 Notice they’re hunted and driven—it’s a rout. You’d be surprised that they are going to come back and win the whole thing back again. Are they in for a happy surprise. It’s never too late, you might say. They make a big stand in the northern city of Shem, and then Mormon turns the tide in verses 24-26. “And my words did arouse them somewhat to vigor, insomuch that they did not flee from before the Lamanites.” Their great leader was able to turn the tide (and this has happened before), but he’s without hope. The interesting thing is that the military situation is not desperate; it’s very much in their favor. They’re going to win three big victories in a row now. They’re going to take everything back, including the land Desolation. They had no need for despair militarily, but that’s not the problem, is it? We’re properly armed and ready and marshalled for war; we’ve made our Cold War preparations on and on and on. That’s not the problem at all; that’s not going to solve a thing. That wasn’t the issue [in the Book of Mormon either].
200 Mormon 2:27 Notice in verse 27 that they actually conquer everything. “We did go forth against the Lamanites and the robbers of Gadianton, until we had again taken possession of the lands of our inheritance”—the whole works. This certainly makes Mormon the greatest general in the Book of Mormon because of the things he’s able to do. The Lamanites and the Gadiantons, the bad guys, were willing to accept a treaty which was good for eight years, it says here. They were willing to accept terms in a treaty. “We did get the lands of our inheritance divided.” This was the agreement in verse 29—a settlement that the lands to the north of the narrow pass were to belong to the Nephites. They fled up there, so now that they’re there they’re going to keep that. And what divides them is a narrow pass. Now the Isthmus of Panama is not a narrow pass; it’s 20 miles wide. We’re talking about the great narrow passes which allow either side to control them, you see. The Nephites could stop the Lamanites there, and the Lamanites could stop the Nephites there. This was the ideal place to make the boundary for the treaty here. There are narrow passes that control history, and the Isthmus of Panama is not one of them. Let’s not get into Book of Mormon geography. There was a pass somewhere where they control it. The narrow passage was the one that the Nephites or Lamanites could hold. Of course, that’s the best possible place to secure by treaty, which we learn at the beginning of the next chapter here. So the land south belongs to the Lamanites, the land north belongs to the Nephites, and there’s a pass between them, which can be controlled by both, like Khyber Pass.
200 Mormon 3:2-4 Then in the next chapter [they have] ten years* of preparation and cold war now. After a victory like that they have good chances, but [it is] without repentance. We’ll get them this time, we say in a cold war. “. . . preparing their lands and their arms against the time of battle.” Cold war—that’s what we do. We get more missiles than they get. We’re preparing the big thing, you know. Then the king of the Lamanites sends his challenge. He sends a formal challenge in verse 4. Well, what goes on? The thing is, you should use the time repenting, but they had no intention of doing that. Verse 2: “Cry unto this people—Repent ye, and come unto me, and be ye baptized, and build up again my church, and ye shall be spared.” It’s never too late here. He had withdrawn his spirit. [Mormon] thought the day of grace was passed with them, but still the Lord holds out his hand to them. But “it was in vain.” They wouldn’t listen. He gave them a chance for repentance. That’s what he calls it, “a chance for repentance. And behold they did harden their hearts.” They didn’t take it. Because of the victory they thought they could do it themselves. They thought it was a military problem, as we do today.
200 Mormon 3:4 “The king of the Lamanites sent an epistle unto me, which gave unto me to know that they were preparing to come again to battle against us.” Now that’s the chivalric manner of war which was throughout the ancient world. You’ll notice it especially in the book of Ether. But here it is all strictly according to form.
200,201 Mormon 3:4 The Lamanite king sends them terms. Throughout this, you notice, the Nephites always are given a choice—they’re given a chance. Can’t we talk about this? Can’t we do something about this? The Lord is lengthening it out as long as he can. He’s giving them as much rope as possible, and they’re going to hang themselves on it just as sure as anything.
201 Mormon 3:5 Notice in verse 5 the narrow pass, “And it came to pass that I did cause my people that they should gather themselves together at the land Desolation, to a city which was in the borders, by the narrow pass.” Well, Desolation goes with it. It’s a place of battle, a place of war. It’s a place not being farmed or densely occupied. A good defense zone is what it is, you see. But land Desolation— that’s the old word HORBA or HOREB. Muslims divide the world into the DAR AL-ISLAM, the pacified world, and the DAR AL-HARB, the people who are dedicated to war and destruction. That’s what they do when they conquer. So you get a very good picture. See, here’s the pass and the desolate country around there. They’d fought lots of wars there. It was the natural place for battle. There are such places in Europe, as you know. I mentioned those passes, every one of which has been the scene of many battles.
201 Mormon 3:7 The Lamanite king sent an epistle that they were preparing to come to battle again. Well, Mormon’s people gathered themselves in Desolation and fortified themselves with all their force and beat them. That was sensible because they were on the defensive. Clausewitz’ first rule of war is always be on the defensive. The defensive always has the stronger side. That’s a general rule. You might find some exceptions to that, but not with Clausewitz. He says you always have the advantage. Mormon will tell us what happened there and why they lost later on.
201 Mormon 3:8,9 Well, they beat them, and in verse 8 they beat them again. A great victory now. They slew a great number of them. Here are two victories in a row; the Nephites were doing all right. Mormon was wrong all along here [it appears]. They decided they were unbeatable because of this great thing, and revenge becomes the motive. Verse 9: “And now, because of this great thing ... they began to boast in their own strength, and began to swear before the heavens that they would avenge themselves of the blood of their brethren who had been slain by their enemies.
201 Mormon 3:10 Well, how about this noble motive of avenging the blood of your brethren—the private eye plot, the police officer whose pal gets shot, etc.? Is not avenging the blood of your brethren an ideal? Isn’t it an obligation? When they started winning, they made it a big thing. That’s what they were going to do. “And they did swear by the heavens [you know they’re very religious about this—for God and country. “Kill a Gook for God,” [as we used to say], and also by the throne of God, that they would go up to battle against their enemies, and would cut them off from the face of the land.” Finally they’re going to settle the Lamanite question once and for all with a big battle, because they’ve got them on the run now. But they shouldn’t have done that.
201 Mormon 3:11 And from that time on, Mormon says, I was through. Now here was their greatest general, the great hero, the one who had won the battles, etc. This was the ultimate folly, the last straw. The leader renounced his commission. The [Nephites] were still wicked, but wicked men can never be on the right side, including ourselves. He became a conscientious objector, you see. It’s not the side you’re on at all.. Notice, he’s said it twice about the Lamanites and Nephites—nothing to choose between them. They were equally bad.
202 Mormon 3:12 He said, “Behold, I had led them, notwithstanding their wickedness I had led them many times to battle.” The great-hearted Mormon. Why? Because I loved them, he said; I had to do it, “according to the love of God which was in me, with all my heart; and my soul had been poured out in prayer unto my God all the day long for them; nevertheless, it was without faith, because of the hardness of their hearts.” They’re not going to do anything without faith. Mormon was the true hero. He was the true patriot, but he would not say, “my country, right or wrong.” My country may not always be right, but my country right or wrong. He wouldn’t say that. As soon as they were wrong, he said, I laid down my commission. I became a conscientious objector, an idle onlooker. I wouldn’t have any part of it, he said. He went all out to make it right, but what can you do without faith? He says he had no faith here. (What other wisdom have I written down here?)
202 Mormon 3:13-15 He gave them three chances. “And thrice have I delivered them out of the hands of their enemies, and they have repented not of their sins.” They didn’t get the point at all. But then when they reached the point that they swore “by all that had been forbidden them by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that they would go up unto their enemies to battle, and avenge themselves of the blood of their brethren.” I repeat, what could be a loftier, more noble ideal than avenging yourselves in the manner of Rambo for the blood of your brethren? That’s the theme we’re all wrapped up in today, and this, he says, is going to wipe them out. This is what they should never have done, because it has been forbidden. “Vengeance is mine [the Lord says], and I will repay.” And from that time, Mormon says, “I utterly refused to go up against mine enemies.” He wouldn’t fight at all. Well, well. It’s very serious when the general won’t fight.
202 Mormon 3:16,17 He becomes the conscientious objector here. And what does he do? He becomes an idle witness. He becomes a reporter now. He’s going to report the whole thing for our benefit, so it must somehow apply if this is the work he does. Verse 16: “I did stand as an idle witness to manifest unto the world the things which I saw and heard [by idle he means he’s busy taking notes, but he’s not fighting], according to the manifestations of the Spirit which had testified of things to come. Therefore I write unto you, Gentiles [ah hah! It is addressed to us; we’re the Gentiles on the land], and also unto you, house of Israel, when the work shall commence, that ye shall be about to prepare to return to the land of your inheritance.”
202 Mormon 3:17-20 Remember how the house of Israel shall be judged. This is what the issue is; it has nothing to do with all this fighting back and forth, such as you find in Israel today. He writes for all of Israel in the last days. You do not divide into armies as good people and bad people. There is no dark side and bright side. Read these verses 17 to 19 very carefully here where it says [verse 20]: “And these things doth the Spirit manifest unto me.” Well, what’s the end of it all? What’s it all getting to, and why is he telling us? This is it, you see. The issue is something totally different from all this. All this is just a distraction. This is Satan’s way of engaging ourselves and getting ourselves committed here, because this is the thing you must be thinking about. “Ye must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ.” Every soul—back to the old individualism that’s so strong in 3 Nephi. Every individual for himself. “Every soul who belongs to the whole human family of Adam; and ye must stand to be judged of your works, whether they be good or evil.” Every individual, and that’s the real issue, not which side is winning and all this glory, flag-waving, drum beating, etc.
202 Mormon 3:21 “And also that ye may believe the gospel of Jesus Christ” and also that the Jews shall have another witness. According to these verses, you cannot claim a reward for being on one side or the other. Well, we say, we need an enemy. America needs an enemy, and he has to be the embodiment of evil so that we can go on being the good guys without having to repent. No one mentions that word REPENT; that’s a naughty word. You’ll lose any election if you mention it— believe me.
202,203 Mormon 4:1-3 So we come to the next sad chapter, and the Nephites take the offensive now. Things are going to turn up now, you’ll see. They hadn’t stopped winning yet. “And now it came to pass that in the three hundred and sixty and third year the Nephites did go up with their armies to battle against the Lamanites, out of the land Desolation [the Nephites were driven back]. And while they were yet weary, a fresh army of the Lamanites did come upon them.” The Lamanites took the city Desolation back again. So here’s this see-saw war. They’re winning it back again. So what the Nephites do is consolidate, naturally. “And the remainder did flee and join the inhabitants of the city Teancum.” Now they’re using a silly system of check dams, so to speak. You have a check dam which doesn’t need to hold back much water, but it will hold back enough, and then another check dam, etc. The only thing is if you have an exceptional rain, one check dam breaks, and that compounds a rush of water on the next which was not built to contain that. So that’s overrun. Once the top check dam or any of them breaks, the whole thing is wiped out. This is what happens here. They started checking things this way. They’d dig in; “the remainder did flee and join the inhabitants of the city Teancum” so that when Teancum fell, it was a bigger calamity than ever. And here’s the fable for our time. I say this is the number one principle of our good friend Clausewitz here. Never, never do the foolish thing of going up [to war] if you don’t have to, absolutely. Deuteronomy 2:5-17 is very good about aggressors.
203 Mormon 4:4 “And it was because the armies of the Nephites went up unto the Lamanites that they began to be smitten; for were it not for that, the Lamanites could have had no power over them.” But they took the aggression and went over. They had to punish the [Lamanites]. We were halfway through the Korean War and there was peace in the air when one of our generals said, “We have not punished them enough. We must continue the war so we can punish them.” Well, the Lord says here, “But, behold, the judgments of God will overtake the wicked; and it is by the wicked that the wicked are punished.” They’ll be punished all right, but pray that you won’t be the punisher of anyone, because it’s by the wicked that the wicked are punished. “For it is the wicked that stir up the hearts of the children of men unto bloodshed.”
203 Mormon 4:8 In verse 8 we get a third victory for the Nephites. They take possession of the city of Teancum. “And it came to pass that they were repulsed and driven back by the Nephites. And when the Nephites saw that they had driven the Lamanites they did again boast of their own strength; and then went forth . . . and took possession again of the city Desolation.” They’ve got it back again. Back and forth it goes.
203 Mormon 4:8-10 And so they took everything back and “took possession again of the city Desolation.” And the Lamanites came again against them, back and forth, “and yet the Nephites repented not of the evil they had done, but persisted in their wickedness continually. And it is impossible for the tongue to describe, or for man to write a perfect description of the horrible scene of the blood and carnage which was among the people. . . . Every heart was hardened, so that they delighted in the shedding of blood continually.”
203 Mormon 4:12-14 “And there never had been so great wickedness among all the children of Lehi”—war as the supreme wickedness here. Ah, but the Lamanites start taking it back now, in verse 13: “The Lamanites did take possession of the city Desolation [how many times had Desolation changed hands now? There are many cities like that].. . . And they did also march forward against the city Teancum, and did drive the inhabitants forth out of her, and did take many prisoners [of war] both women and children, and did offer them up as sacrifices unto their idol gods.”
203,204 Mormon 4:14,15 We mentioned their religion. We’re getting into the Mesoamerican Mayan, and especially Aztec, practice of mass sacrifice of prisoners on a tremendous scale. They did it to the point where it reduced the population so much. There are some very interesting studies made of that recently. At the drop of a hat, prisoners had to be sacrificed. It was not just a sacrifice that was symbolic once in a while; then it became an orgy of blood. That’s what they used their sacred towers for after that [development]—sacrifices unto their idol gods. That’s what they did. We’re already moving into the Mesoamerican horrors there. Well, this was a real outrage. The Nephites certainly have a righteous rage here in verse 15. They had a right to be mad at this. The Nephites win again, and they have eight years of peace, after all that. Well, this goes on and on. See, they could repent any time here.
204 Mormon 4:18 This is another one of those statements in which the Book of Mormon, as epic writing, achieves real height with lofty expressions. The four conditions that Matthew Arnold said are found only in Homer you find in writings in the Book of Mormon here—the nobility, the speed, the loftiness, the simplicity, and the directness of language. He said you find that only in Homer, but you find it in the Book of Mormon, too. For example, [Mormon] says “And from this time forth did the Nephites gain no power over the Lamanites, but began to be swept off by them even as a dew before the sun.”
204 Mormon 4:19,21 Well, again the Lamanites come and beat the Nephites in verse 19, and they fled again to the city of Boaz. Verse 21: “And when they had come the second time, the Nephites were driven and slaughtered with an exceeding great slaughter; their women and their children were again sacrificed unto idols.” Now the sacrifice. What will we do with these people? Well, we’ll sacrifice them and make a virtue of it, and that’s what they did.
204 Mormon 4:22 “And it came to pass that the Nephites did again flee from before them, taking all the inhabitants with them, both in towns and villages.” So the migration has become a rout, and everybody has joined in it.
204,205 Mormon 4:23 Notice where they’re going: “And now I, Mormon ... did go to the hill Shim, and did take up all the records which Ammaron had hid up unto the Lord.” Hiding the records was a sign that things were over. Now it’s time to move them and hide them. He’s going to move them to Cumorah— that’s where they’re going to end up, I’m sure. This is far up in the north here.
205 Mormon 5:1,2 Well, here’s a remarkable thing about Mormon. After all that the great heart of Mormon [becomes evident]. A truly tragic figure, he’s larger than life here. He says [Mormon 5:1], “I did go forth among the Nephites, and did repent of the oath.” He had taken an oath that he’d never go and fight again because the Lord had forbidden them to seek revenge. He said he took an oath, but he broke it because his love for his people was so great—talk about a hero. “... and did repent of the oath which I had made that I would no more assist them; and they gave me command again of their armies.” He’s the last man they trust. Here’s a man we can finally trust. Mormon will solve it. He’s pulled us out before; he’ll get us out again, [they said] a la Napoleon. The French rallied to him again and again, and he pulled them out more than once. “For they looked upon me as though I could deliver them from their afflictions [as though I were the one who could save them—it’s very flattering]. “But behold, I was without hope.”
Notice again, here is the essence of tragedy—the fact that there is no hope here. He does the heroic thing, but he’s devoted to a lost cause. He dies for the cause. He knows it’s not going to do any good, and yet he does it for the people—the truly heroic figure. “But behold, I was without hope, for I knew the judgments of the Lord which should come upon them; for they repented not of their iniquities [at the last minute they could have repented, but they wouldn’t repent. As I said, repent is a dirty word in our language; we don’t use it at all], but did struggle for their lives without calling upon that Being who created them.” As I said before, you tend not to.
205 Mormon 5:3,4 So they flee to the city of Jordan, “driven back that they did not take the city at that time.” He sets up a defense in depth that worked so very well for Moroni. He invented the defense in depth, which was very effective. “And it came to pass that they came against us again, and we did maintain the city. And there were also other cities which were maintained by the Nephites, which strongholds did cut them off .” We won’t go into the strategy of that, but it was invented by Moroni. It was very effective, and it was the only thing that could stop a blitzkrieg in World War II.
205 Mormon 5:5 “And it came to pass that whatsoever lands we had passed by, and the inhabitants thereof were not gathered in, were destroyed by the Lamanites.”
205 Mormon 5:6,7 “And it came to pass that in the three hundred and eightieth year the Lamanites did come against us to battle, and we did stand against them boldly; but it was all in vain, for so great were their numbers that they did tread the people of the Nephites under their feet.” They are hopelessly outnumbered here. So all they could do was run again. They took to flight. The person who can go fastest is the only one that will be saved; it’s every man for himself now. “Those whose flight was swifter than the Lamanites’ did escape.” That was it. You had only one object—every man for himself. Get out as fast as you can—just run. Well, they’re not going to win any wars anymore. They’re not going to check them anymore. “And those whose flight did not exceed the Lamanites’ were swept down and destroyed.”
206 Mormon 5:8,9 “And now behold, I, Mormon, do not desire to harrow up the souls of men in ... such an awful scene of blood and carnage [anymore—this is enough. Haven’t I told you enough?],. .. but I, knowing that these things must surely be made known,” or you’re doomed to repeat them. The main point is this: if we ignore the lessons of history, we’re doomed to repeat them. These things must be made known. Why should these awful things be made known, and be made known unto us? As Brother Benson says, it’s particularly for us in our time. Well, that must be very, very relevant, so we must pay very close attention here. What can we do about it? He’s going to tell us what we can do about it. “. . . and also that a knowledge of these things must come unto the remnant of these people, and also unto the Gentiles [now we come to an amazing passage here, and this is what the Gentiles are going to do], who the Lord hath said should scatter this people, and this people should be counted as naught among them.” [This describes how the United States] treated the Indians, and this is what happened. The Indians were very strong. They were half the inhabitants of the continent in Joseph Smith’s day. But this is what was going to happen. ‘Therefore I write a small abridgment, daring not to give a full account of the things which I have seen, because of the commandment which I have received, and also that ye might not have too great sorrow because of the wickedness of this people.” If I told you the whole thing, it would cripple you. It would weaken your hands, as the Lachish Letters say at the time of Lehi. The prophet telling the people too many things weakens their hands. They become slack and helpless. It has a paralyzing effect. I don’t want to tell you too much, he says, “that ye