Latest / Scripture Central / Alma 53–63 | Aug 19–25:| John W. Welch and Lynne Hilton Wilson | Come Follow Me Book of Mormon

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Alma 53–63 | Aug 19–25:| John W. Welch and Lynne Hilton Wilson | Come Follow Me Book of Mormon · Scripture Central

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Hello, Welcome back to Scripture Central.
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I'm Lynn Hilton Wilson. I'm Jack Welch and welcome.
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We're glad you're with us. We're here to talk about
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chapters 51 to 62. These are the seven years of the
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Amalekayat War. They range from the 25th year of
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the reign of the judges. It's been a very short period of
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time since Mosiah said let's no longer have kings.
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And yet much of these problems over the seven-year war occur
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because there are people who still want to be kings, and the
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person who wants to be the king right now of both the Lamanites
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and the Nephites is Amalekaya. And we've got a new chief judge
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relatively Pahoran is now the chief judge.
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And so we have a weak state more or less in the central
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government as we mentioned last time.
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So that's a a motivating factor here.
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We want to also, as we go through this, realize that these
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wars are largely personal wars that people are fighting over
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things that they feel very strongly about or they're
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offended that they didn't get something.
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And a lot of these personal motivations, even though it
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involves the nation and a lot of people, a lot can happen by a
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leader who goes in the wrong direction.
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And when you get someone like. Amalekaya.
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Amalekaya and all these a named people, right?
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They're a type people and they're very aggressive.
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And I I think to step back and realize what's going on here.
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Most of the people are good people, and many of them are
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related. But we have some wicked leaders
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who are really causing some horrific effects.
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I think it's interesting. Not only do these names start
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with an A, but a malachia also has the MLK, which would the
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Hebrew word for king. So it's going to sound kind of
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like Mulik and Mulikites and so on.
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So there's a lot of posturing and identification.
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I think the names are ancient names.
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I think we see a lot of a names in some of the old.
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You've seen those charts of all the ancient names.
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They're fascinating to see how many of the names in the Book of
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Mormon we find elsewhere in the ancient texts.
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Now we've suggested a few things like using a map that you might
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want to just keep track of where people are, a timeline.
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One other thing that you know, we we might as well mention
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right now is I think that a good way to get through the book of
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Alma is to make a biographical listing, just a list of names of
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the people who are involved. The generals under Moroni, The
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generals under Amlikaya. And what you'll find, and I know
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this is confusing because so many of the names like you
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mentioned, Lynn, begin with a how many of them are there?
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I don't know, I never counted them.
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I've put down a few on my list, but it helps to keep these
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people straight. Of course, it begins with Alma
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and Amulet, and we have the city of Antionum, and then Ammoniah
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we have Ammon. We have Amalekites and Ammonites
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and Amalekaya and then his brother Ameron.
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And there's Antipara and Antipas and.
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Yeah, I know. I don't know why they have a
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dominance of beginning with a but.
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It's confusing to the reader who's not familiar with them, so
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this has to be studied in order to really find some clarity.
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But I it happens, you can clarify this.
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It's it's not that complicated of a story.
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And it, it may, may be easier for them than it is for us.
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The, the word AM in Hebrew, AM means the people.
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So that is kind of a name that you, you do get Ammon, the
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people, Mon of the people or whatever the name might work out
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to be. There are good sources that you
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can go to to study the etymology of these names.
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And it helps me to keep them straight, to kind of think who
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they are and what they're doing and what their names.
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Meant, and one of those that I really appreciate is Hugh
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Nibley's work on the names. One of his great works is called
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Since Kimora. This was actually used as a
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Sunday school manual years and years ago, and now it's
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available on our archive. So this is one of the great
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books that you can read alongside your scriptures this
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year to help have this text come to life.
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One of the chapters in since Kimora is specifically about the
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military history and the chapter is called The real background of
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the Book of Mormon, a rigorous test military history.
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And as we mentioned last time, and as many people know, Brother
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Nibley served throughout World War 2IN Army intelligence.
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And his job was to try to understand war and what's going
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on, and especially to try to think what's going to happen
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next and to analyze the the different dimensions of tactical
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and strategic and supply and putting it all together so he
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knows what he's talking about from a a real life and
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historical perspective. So I'm very glad, like you say,
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Lynn, this has not been available electronically in our
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archive until just recently. Many things here would help
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people as they read through to make good sense of what's
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happening. Here, let's dive into the text.
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Chapter 51, this 25th year of the reign of the judges.
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It's the second Amakaya war. Does it start though, with the
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Lamanites? It starts with contention
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amongst the knee fights and as the power struggle happens, the
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people who want a king come back in.
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And that's the first few verses of chapter 51.
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And then Amlikaya, who wants to be this king, has a little
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battle of skirmish, fails and we move forward.
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Some of these king men will refuse to fight for Moroni.
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I mean it was an obligation of every able bodied man to serve
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in the military, and so for them to refuse to fight was in and of
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itself an act of defiance and rebellion.
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We'll see that as we go through the whole chapter because verses
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3 through 7 talk about how these king men want to change the law.
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They want to vote and but unfortunately they lose the
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vote. And this is written as I
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mentioned in Heilemann's writing.
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We don't get the same chiastic structure, but he does do a nice
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parallel here, verses 5 and six. Those who were decirious of
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Pahoran should be dethroned from the judgment seat, were called
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King Men, and the law should be altered to overthrow the free
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government to establish a king. And he repeats this, but in the
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opposite. And those desirous of Pahoran
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should remain as the chief judge over the land took on the name
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Free Men, and thus was the division, among them, the
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Freeman Covenant, to maintain free government.
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But unfortunately, as Amlikaya is coming up from the South with
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the Lamanites, there's these problems with the government up
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north. And so Moroni is trying to bring
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the dissenters in control. And as Jack said, they even had
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to have bloodshed in these verses 13 to 21 and.
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It and it does say also in verse 14 of chapter 51 that Moroni was
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angry. Yes.
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And I can imagine that he would be quite impatient with this.
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Remember that there had been a good period of peace and
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prosperity. New cities were being built.
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Economic growth and expansion and that may be why the King men
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think that we don't want to go to war.
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We, we'll settle with whatever these people are, we'll give up
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whatever we need because it's about the economy, stupid.
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And let's, let's just stay with the economic success that we've,
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we've had. And Moroni says, no, it's not
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about the economy, It's about these values.
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And if we cave in, we know what's going to happen.
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And of course, the king men, once you put a king in place,
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there may be a good king there for a while, but then you run
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into the problem of a, a wicked king.
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And they knew that from King Noah and those experiences.
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So while Moroni is trying to bring the people who are
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dissenting back in order, that's when the Lehmanite army comes in
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and starts taking the cities. Once again, a moment of weakness
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is the time to attack, and so Malachias says.
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And of course, he's been preparing as well and waiting
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for this. And they come with a fury.
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And they come to these brand new cities.
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They've only been there for during this five year period of
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time right on the East Coast. He starts in Moroni and Nephiah.
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And Lehi and Omner and Gid and Mulik.
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Well, those go up up the coast. He's just on the east side and
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they're the new cities and so they don't have the same old
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fortifications. They're not established.
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They probably don't have a lot of people.
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But during one of those battles up toward the northern coast, so
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it's just a a few days journey up from Moroni, they're it says
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they're hot, they're exhausted. Everyone crashes to sleep and
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the battle stops at at sunset except for Tiankum.
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And Tiankum slips out during the night into the Lamanite
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territory and kills the sleeping.
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And he's able to get out quickly.
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Says he went to the tent so. Chances are they don't have
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walled fortification. They've set up their tent.
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Maybe the king only had a tent. Most people wouldn't have had
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tents. And so Tiankum, he knows where
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to go, he slips in and is able to kill the king.
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And you know, there was something special about the
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timing of this. And because on the morning, the
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next morning, when they wake up, as it begins at Chapter 52, we
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know that the death of Amalekaya was on the first day of the
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first month. It's New Year's Day.
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Now, what is special about New Year's?
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Under most ancient societies, it's whatever the New Year is,
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whenever it falls, it's the beginning of a new cycle, the
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the ending of the old, the beginning of the new.
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And many ancient cultures actually had a year rite
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festival. On their new year.
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That Hugh Nibley wrote his doctoral dissertation about.
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They would ceremonially kill the king.
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Yeah. So the king would not die.
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But the old king is put to death in a way, and then the new king
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rises with the new, the new year.
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And so it's very important for the new king to now come forth
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on New Year's Day at the renewal of his reign as king.
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Well, it's interesting because this is one of those exact dates
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we were talking about. South.
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It must have some significance, you would think.
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Definitely think it does they found and Lakaya was dead in his
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own tent, and they also saw that Tiankum was ready to give them
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battle on that day and now when the Lamanites saw this, they
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were frightened, and they abandoned their design in
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marching to the land northward this was very strategically.
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They are ready for battle. And why aren't the Lamanites
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ready? Well, New Year's Day was a day
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of celebration, and it's so in Chinese culture.
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Every culture, yeah. And so it would be a time when
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you would expect them not to have gotten up early in the
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morning and not be prepared. And Tianqum says we're going to
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be right there. But I think it's also
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significant that we can identify when this first month is because
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of our ten exact dates in the Book of Mormon, one of them is
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the death of the Lord, and that tells us it's the first month,
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so we know it's in the springtime.
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The first month would have been a springtime.
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That's right on their calendar. In the ancient calendar, yes,
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Passover. The Levitical law is very clear
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that Passover would be the first month, 14th day actually, and
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Jesus death is occurring at a Passover.
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So I have a chart here of some of these exact dates and
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specifically those that deal with warfare.
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Alma 52 right here, 56 both in this early, early spring, the
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second month. Alma 16 and 56, we have warfare
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going on. Then in the early spring, in the
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sixth month in 3rd Nephi, they describe warfare going on in the
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now, the early fall. We don't have anything between
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the late spring and the early fall.
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And then the seven months is their fall time.
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Alma 56, another war and then finally the end of the year.
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And most of the battles that I've kept track of, all these
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battles are in the end of the year and the first part of the
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year. Yeah, it's a little hard to
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follow when we say first and second month, who, who's on
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whose calendar are we talking, but.
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Well, this is the Levite. Yeah, this is the.
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Law of Moses. The Law of Moses calendar, which
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we think they would have been still using, because it's very
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important that those festivals be celebrated on the specific
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days when the law required them to to be celebrated.
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And So what we do get is a, a gap that there are basically the
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late spring and summer months. We have no warfare going on in
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those years, in those months. I think that's because that's
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when the soldiers had to be home, tending the flocks,
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harvesting the crops if you don't have food.
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And it's too hot then faint if they're running days and days on
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end it sounds like. And in other times of the year,
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it's too wet. And so it's interesting that
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that is the the time when we have these wars.
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As the Lamanites have come around the east side of the
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Nephite lands, Tiankum is chasing them, and Moroni is in
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another area where the Lamanites are on the West.
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And so in chapter 52 verses one through 19, we're now in this
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26th year and we've got armies on both the east and the West.
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After the death of Amalekhaya, his brother Amaran is made the
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king and he is is equally willing to fight this battle.
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Moroni and they meet up. They decide to have a conference
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of war and I thought this was interesting.
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And Tiankum has now made the the town of Bountiful kind of his
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Alamo. He's going to make that as
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strong as he can, and he doesn't want the Lamanites going any
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farther in that direction. And so he does create now a
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decoy where he's going to try to get these Lamanites to be drawn
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out. And it works.
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They're successful. As Lehigh, go One Direction and
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they're able to get the Lamanites out in the field so
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that they can engage them in open battle.
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Because Bountiful isn't a heavily fortified town anyway.
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It will be later though. It will be later, not.
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Quite yet, not quite yet. I want to read from verses 28 to
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31 here in chapter 52 because it's it's as I mentioned,
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Helaman is not the chiastic writer that his dad was, but we
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do see a small little chiasm here.
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That's not as tight as some of Alma's, but it's it's still very
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good. Well, the Lamanites are weary
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because of their March, but Lee Heisman are fresh.
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Moroni had been in their rear and the Lamanites did not know
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it yet with his army. And and so all they're fearing
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is is Lehigh. But the center is that Lehigh
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was desirous not to overtake them till they should meet
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Moroni's army. So we're getting the the crux of
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their decoy. You know, this is their strategy
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right here. But then as you come out of the
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Chiasman in verse 31, the Lamanites retreat.
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They're surrounded now by the Nephites, and the men of Moroni
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are on one hand, and before the Moroni were mentioned up in
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verse 29. And then, of course, Lehigh's
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men are fresh again and the Lamanites are weary because of
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their long March. So it's just showing us what the
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plan of attack was in a literary fashion.
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I think there's also a little clever use of this because
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Lehigh is saying, you know, we came at them from 2 directions
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and they were in the middle and in the chiasm you have the two
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directional language that. Good for you, Dad.
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Got that. Got it, got it, got it.
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The bottom line is there's a lot of prisoners of war because the
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Lamanites realized they cannot fight this way and they are
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taken. They're in fact, it says there
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are in verse 40, there are more prisoners of war than were slain
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on both sides. So the the PO WS become a major
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part of the rest of this Amicayat war that lasts now for
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five more years as we continue on in Chapter 53.
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And there's a brief mention here of a another Zoramite leader
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whose name was Jacob. And although most of the
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Lamanites fall back, Jacob charges again and he is defeated
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in chapter 52 verse 35 S War is messy.
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And even though they're all falling back and you'd think the
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Lamanites would all just follow the Zoramite leaders and so on.
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Well, here's Azoramite who thinks the Lamanites aren't
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being quite as aggressive and loyal as they should be.
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And he strikes out with whatever he he can gather and he himself
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is killed. We have that little note as
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well. At that point, the chief
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captains and the the Lamanites surrender and there's an actual
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surrender. And, and that's when they're
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taken into captivity. And then we get the the question
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of, of what to do with all these captives.
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I would like to point out this, this little decoy where Lehigh
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and Moroni figure out how they're going to, in a kind of
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pincer move, trap the Lamanites. We'll see this also with the.
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Sons of him. And in just a couple chapters,
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we'll be right there again. They will be used as a decoy and
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other things. So the, the Nephites do have
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some tools, some military strategies worked out and they,
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you know, this doesn't just happen by accident.
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Then do you think there's something we can learn from this
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idea of the? Decoy.
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Decoy and the pincer movement. I only know.
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What do you think? Well.
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I think that in our life, we need to have help from other
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people. We divide and conquer.
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Just slamming up against something, some problem that
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we're facing, isn't always the best way to solve our personal
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issues. We need friends.
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And that's why we're a ward, that's why we're churches.
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We're there to help each other. I love it.
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Or roommates or family or whoever we are.
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Well, we finally get to the place where they start
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fortifying Bountiful. So this is the town that will
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become the place where they build another temple.
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This is the town that's right next to the narrow neck of land.
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So geographically, we don't know where this is.
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We're not told it's a few days journey north of Zarahemwa, but
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we do know that the prisoners of war are taken there.
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And they are put to work. In fact, verse five says this
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city became an exceeding stronghold ever after.
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And indeed it did. And this will be of course, the
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same city of Bountiful that Jesus will appear at.
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Bountiful, however, had survived the destructions at the time of
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the death of Jesus, enough that there was still a temple there.
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Well, in part because it's so well fortified, and it was
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fortified by their prisoners of war.
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It says they did guard the prisoners of the Lamanites.
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Yeah, even within the wall which they had caused them to build
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with their own hands. Now Moro and I was compelled to
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cause the Lamanites to labor because it was easy to guard
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them while they were. Of course, the Lamanites are not
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armed at that point either. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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None of the none of the none of the prisoners of war would be
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armed. Yeah.
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So it makes it makes good sense. And then in verse six, Moroni
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thus gained a victory over one of the greatest of the armies of
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the Lamanites, and it obtained possession of the city of Mulik,
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which was one of the strongest holds of the Lamanites in the
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land of Nephi. And thus he had also built a
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stronghold to retain his prisoners.
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Although I'm fascinated in verse 7 Jack that they take this break
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to feed their families, which makes me so happy.
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No more attempted battle In that year.
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Moroni employed his men in preparing for war and also
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delivering their women and children from famine.
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And I think this is also another indication of seasonality of.
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Their warfare. So although the Lamanites are
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being used and have their motives, the real problem comes
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internally. It's tragic how many times this
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becomes a problem. I'll start in verse eight.
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They cause dissensions among them.
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So even though the Lamanites have gained ground over the
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Nephites and they had obtained these possessions because of the
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iniquity among themselves, meaning among the Nephites
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because of their dissensions, he says again.
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He repeats the words intrigue among themselves.
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They were placed. It's in a very dangerous
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situation. When you think of this internal
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dissension, no organization, whether it's the church or a
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political organization or a corporation or whatever, can
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really succeed if, if they aren't mission oriented, if the,
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you know, how can you really succeed if at home you aren't
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unified? And I and I think the world
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today is driving a lot of people apart and there are
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controversies and dissension and arguments and and people have a
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hard time compromising or balancing.
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We've lost the art of mediation. Yeah.
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And I think that the the default here that they haven't learned
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about mediation, I guess very much at this point in Nephite
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history. But what they think is the way
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to get your point across is to dissent, to argue, to object, to
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rebel. And that's a a formula for
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disaster on both sides. In the middle of this war, the
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second war, which now is being run by his brother, the poor
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people of Ammon who have buried their weapons of war realize the
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excruciating danger. And so these people of Ammon are
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considering any way that they can help.
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It says that when they these were the Ammonites, saw the
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danger and many afflictions and tribulations which the Nephites
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bore for them. They were moved with compassion
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and were desirous to take up arms.
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They were even willing to do that in defense of their
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country, even though they had sworn that they would never
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again let their swords be stained with blood.
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So Helaman comes in, the prophet says don't you dare break your
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covenant, Yeah. And that's how important
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covenant keeping was. It's been about 14 or 15 years
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when I went back and checked to see when they made the covenant.
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It's been a few years and but Helaman is just adamant.
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Verse 15, he says, lest by so doing they should lose their
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soul. I mean, he's worried about their
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eternal welfare, not just their physical welfare.
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And So what happens? That's when we get the
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enlistment of the 2000 young or they call them stripling
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warriors. Have you ever heard the word
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stripling before in scriptures? Well, you told me that it does
24:30
appear once, but it's in the Old Testament and referring to King
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David as a young man as he goes out to fight against Goliath.
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They were exceedingly valiant, we're told in verse 20, for
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courage and strength and activity.
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But behold, this was not all. They were men who were true at
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all times, and whatsoever thing they were entrusted for, they
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had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk
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uprightly before them. That's ending in verse 21 there.
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Look at those things though. It's a purity code, Jack.
25:00
They're just beautiful. It's it's also a loyalty code.
25:04
They were true. They were they were true to
25:07
their covenants, and they were taught to keep the commandments
25:12
and walk uprightly before God and.
25:13
Of course they'd choose the Prophet then to be their leader.
25:16
I mean, I think you can see someone's allegiance to see who
25:19
their leaders are. At the end of chapter 55, there
25:23
is an interesting little exchange where the Lamanites
25:26
want to get their captives back. And of course there's a captive
25:30
exchange that has worked out but the eventually.
25:35
But at first, Moroni pulls another escape kind of strategy
25:41
where he gets He waits until the Lamanites are all drunk.
25:44
It reminds us of the. But doesn't he plan the drunk?
25:47
I mean, he plans the whole thing.
25:48
He provides the wine through one of their little servants named
25:52
Layman, who runs over and pretends he's one of them.
25:54
That's right. And and then the Nephite
25:57
prisoners are all freed, and the city of Gid was retaken without
26:03
any bloodshed. Now, in chapter 56 to 58, this
26:11
is the letter that's Hileman is writing to Captain Moroni, and
26:18
it covers a three-year spirit of time and it talks about these
26:22
Hileman's experience with these young men and.
26:25
Who do you think would have taught them?
26:27
Three times they say that they were taught by their mothers and
26:31
that their faith was received then.
26:33
But as you read chapter 56, verse one, it gives us another
26:37
exact date. You know, he opens the letter on
26:40
the exact date and he also opens the letter by quoting Lehigh,
26:45
which is fascinating to me. They called him in verse three,
26:48
our father. I thought this was interesting
26:51
and I realized that that phrase is only used for Lehigh when in
26:56
the New Testament, of course, the Lord refers to his, his own
26:59
God, heavenly Father. But in the Book of Mormon, our
27:04
Father is referring to Lehigh. Here you have Alma.
27:11
He is a Nephite. His son is Helaman, and he now
27:17
is in charge of Lamanite boys. They come through the lineage of
27:22
Layman and Alma through the lineage of Nephi.
27:25
And hence he says our. Father, because they have that
27:29
in common. Oh, Jack, that's perfect.
27:32
Well, it, it is, and I think it, it's, it's a touching thing, but
27:35
it's more than that. We need to seek commonality with
27:38
people to wherever the common ground is that we can find.
27:43
Sometimes in conversations, we might find commonality and oh,
27:46
we served in the same mission together, or we went to the same
27:50
school together or whatever. You knew friends that you had
27:54
teachers that you had jobs that you've had in common.
27:57
Finding commonality, of course, is a good social skill, but it
28:02
just helps, you know. But more than that, in a
28:05
religious sense, we are unified by our knowledge that we are
28:12
children of God. He is our Heavenly Father
28:16
through his Son Jesus Christ and in the Church through his
28:21
prophet Joseph Smith who brought all of this together, which
28:26
unifies us. So I think that little phrase,
28:31
our Father Lehigh is so often you just push a little on the
28:39
scriptures and outcome a flood of interesting thoughts.
28:43
Oh, I love it. And that's why we don't just
28:46
read the scriptures. We study them, read them slowly
28:50
with a pencil in hand. And for me, the map really
28:55
helps. And here in verse nine is
28:56
another one of those places, the town of Judea, which is South of
29:00
Sarah Hemla becomes the home base for Helaman and his 2000
29:04
stripling warriors. And they the rest of the battles
29:07
this year will be coming and going from this home base.
29:10
So in chapter 56, verse 30, we have this first battle that the
29:17
sons of Ammon are going to have to participate in, and they
29:21
choose to use the decoy again, Jack, just like you were saying
29:24
before. And these young men are very
29:28
strong and begin a decoy. The Lamerite already want to
29:32
chase them and they are able to outrun them.
29:34
But in the middle of the decoy, they realize that the Lamerites
29:38
have stopped chasing them and there's probably a battle that's
29:42
ensuing. And so Alma asks in verse 44,
29:45
will you go against them to battle?
29:47
And these wonderful sons call the prophet Father, which I
29:51
think is so endearing. They say, Father, behold, our
29:54
God is with us and he will not suffer that we should fall.
29:58
Then let us go, lest they should overpower the army of Antipus,
30:02
which is the the Nephite army that they had already planned to
30:05
make this decoy with. And in verse 47 it reads, Now
30:08
they had never fought, yet they did not fear death, and they did
30:14
think more upon the liberty of their fathers, upon their lives.
30:17
They had been taught by their mothers that if they did not
30:21
doubt, God would deliver them. And may all of us, mothers,
30:26
fathers, aunts, uncles, primary teachers, and seminary teachers
30:32
instill faith in our youth that they will not doubt.
30:37
But for me, so much of this battle is a miraculous timing as
30:42
we look at the end of chapter 56, starting in like verse 51.
30:46
So the Lamanites have killed Antipus and they they're just
30:50
about to retreat right when they 2000 stripling warriors come in.
30:55
And we're told in verse 56 that they fought as if it were the
30:59
strength of God and they did frighten the Lamanites.
31:04
Every one of them are injured and every one of them are saved.
31:10
And Captain Moroni receives this letter.
31:13
And that's we when we start chapter 57.
31:16
He's still writing the letter. And Antapara has just fallen
31:20
into their hands. And he receives 60 more of these
31:24
young stripling men from the people of Ammon.
31:28
And with this extra strength and the extra provisions, they're
31:31
able to surround the city of Qmani.
31:34
So Helaman Center base is just South of Zarahemla.
31:38
Two or three days journey and that's where they're fighting.
31:41
They're in a different place than Tiankum, you know, there's
31:43
a different area, but they are able to do such a powerful job
31:48
with the strength of the Lord and the faith of these young men
31:51
that they are again able to keep conquering city by city as they
31:54
go in this area. In his letter, Helaman then
31:57
says, But behold, my little band 2060 fought most desperately.
32:03
Yeah, they were firm before the Lamanites, and did administer
32:07
death unto all who opposed them. And then as the remainder of the
32:11
Nephite army came up, they were able to hold out.
32:14
And these youth, the young soldiers were firm and
32:18
undaunted. And why in verse 21 it tells us
32:24
that they did obey and observe to perform every word of command
32:29
with exactness. Yeah, even according to their
32:32
faith it was done unto them. And I did remember the words
32:35
which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them.
32:39
That's the third time Helium has repeated that in the letter.
32:41
To to fulfill the word with exactness.
32:44
Isn't that what Section 76 says? That we have to obey with
32:49
exactness and have valiancy in our testimony of Jesus Christ.
32:53
That's right. We, we, we aren't asked to be
32:57
slothful servants. And to be exact, it means to be
33:02
precise, it means to be conscious of what's happening,
33:07
to be responsive to needs as they arise exactly and
33:12
immediately. And what, what a great word that
33:16
is to you know, you, you want to be exact.
33:21
But it's exact in trust in in God.
33:24
It's exact in their faith is what it says.
33:26
That's verse 26 and 27. It's their faith that carried
33:29
them through. And that's how they are all
33:30
alive is because God had promised them and then they held
33:34
to that promise. And I think they were exact in
33:36
their timing as well. Yes, yes, that they were there
33:39
and held out exactly to the end. So that's a great lesson we can
33:45
all draw from. That I love verse 36 where
33:48
Helaman is then testifying I Helaman was filled with
33:51
exceeding joy because of the goodness of God in preserving
33:54
us. You know, he had grown to love
33:56
his these 2060 young men under his leadership and he was so
34:01
grateful for God's miraculous hand in healing them.
34:06
But they were desperately now in need of more provisions.
34:10
And chapter 58 in this letter just is begging Moroni to go
34:15
figure out what's happening in the government.
34:17
They aren't that far from Sarah Hemla.
34:19
Why have the provision stopped? He said, we we can't even
34:23
respond. The government's we can't fight.
34:26
We can't do anything. We're just trying to stay safe
34:28
here in this little town of Judea that we've been fortifying
34:32
because there's not enough provisions to stay alive.
34:36
So as their provisions are running low and their needs are
34:39
great, what did they do? You know when you're desperate,
34:44
you fall. On your.
34:46
Knees. You fall, on your knees you do.
34:48
And sometimes it takes this before we will actually finally
34:52
turn to the Lord. We have to be at our wit's end,
34:55
and often we want to do as much as we can.
34:59
But what they did here, they knew they were in straits that
35:03
they couldn't get out of. And it says we did pour out our
35:07
souls in prayer to God, that he would strengthen us and deliver
35:10
us. The Lord our God did visit us
35:12
with assurances. He did speak peace to our souls
35:16
and did grant unto us great faith and did 'cause that we
35:20
should hope for our deliverance in him.
35:23
Notice in this explanation, we begin, it's kind of a, a
35:28
progression, a sequence here. You know, we'll talk about the
35:33
pride cycle, but you know, there's also a faith cycle.
35:37
Faith develops. And I think we see the kernel of
35:41
what Moroni will eventually talk about in much more detail.
35:46
But I think Helaman, first of all, recognizes that faith
35:50
begins by prayer. You have to ask for faith.
35:54
And secondly, you, you don't get an immediate answer, but you get
35:58
assurances. You, you know that God has heard
36:00
you. You know that little things
36:02
start to fall in place, and then you actually will have
36:06
communications of peace. You know it's going to be all
36:09
right. Then after that, we are granted
36:11
great faith. We had a little faith before.
36:15
And like the Alma talking about the seed that you plant and you
36:19
nurture. This is Alba's son telling them
36:23
how this faith works in a a very interesting and beautiful sense.
36:27
And with the faith then he causes that they should have
36:32
hope. Remember that faith and with
36:36
faith you then hope for things. And hope is more than just
36:40
wishful thinking. Oh no.
36:41
It's hope in Jesus Christ. It's trusting God.
36:44
And with that, hope you then have the opportunity for
36:51
deliverance. As we continue on in the
36:54
account, I appreciate Brother Nibbles commentary in his book
36:58
on Since Kimora and I'd like to read a little portion of this.
37:01
These kids introduced a new dimension into the war.
37:05
They were inspired. Their strange spirit, devoid of
37:08
hatred and utterly free of fear or hesitation, began to frighten
37:13
the seasoned Lamanite troopers who had never seen anything like
37:17
it. And it's good just to use the
37:20
word kids for them. You know, Stripling Warriors
37:23
makes them sound a little bit older than they were.
37:25
But I think these are late teens.
37:27
When the church filmed this episode over in Hawaii, they got
37:33
all of the young men in our stakes there in La EA and Kahuku
37:39
and and they had them actually go out into the the tropical
37:44
jungle for a whole day. And they said, OK, we want you
37:48
to really go at it. A lot of our boys came home with
37:53
with wounds, I mean, beat up a little bit.
37:56
Oh dear. I mean, it was they put their
38:00
hearts and souls and bodies into it.
38:03
So as you watch that, it's a great a great production.
38:07
And I just like to read these three beautiful verses 3740 and
38:11
41. We trust God will deliver us
38:14
notwithstanding our weakness. They're the lesser in number.
38:18
They have fewer provisions and so skipping down to verse 40, it
38:22
says they stand fast in the liberty wherein God has made
38:26
them free. And they are strict to remember
38:29
the Lord their God from day-to-day.
38:31
And then he closes his epistle and we're we're now caught up
38:35
back to the period of history where we were before the letter
38:38
began. We usually read the story of the
38:41
Stripling warriors just by talking about the initial
38:45
promise that they are given and the covenant that they make and
38:49
the fact that they are faithful. But, you know, they're involved
38:53
in a lot of different encounters here and they travel around and
38:57
they obey and they, I think to read all three of these chapters
39:02
with our young men and young women is, is a valuable
39:07
experience and to show them that there's a lot of depth in these.
39:11
It's different challenges that come up, different problems that
39:15
you have to face solutions. They even use spies at one
39:19
point, you know. Let's stick back to the text,
39:21
Chapter 59. Well, in Chapter 59 and 60,
39:30
these two chapters are one letter that Captain Moroni will
39:35
now write back to Pahoran, who is the chief Judge holding down
39:40
the Ford in Zarahemwah. He jumps to a lot of conclusions
39:43
in this letter. Isn't it true that sometimes we
39:45
get frustrated? We think we're out there doing
39:47
all the work and nobody's helping us and and we can pop a
39:53
cork, you might say. That's exactly what happens in
39:55
this letter. He still is just not getting
39:57
help from Zara Hemla. Now he doesn't realize.
40:01
Well, Zara Hemla has got its own set of problems.
40:03
Horpa Horan is not even in Zara Hemla.
40:05
He has to. Whoever takes the letter has to
40:07
find him over in Gid, which is across the Sidon.
40:11
Yeah, he's been kicked out of his his position as the chief
40:13
judge. But Pohorin doesn't get angry.
40:15
That's the amazing thing about the next chapter is Pohorin.
40:18
Is able to. Receive it saying I trust your
40:20
heart was good. This is amazing to me that he
40:23
could not be defensive. He didn't say, you idiot.
40:26
Pohorin has had his own set of problems.
40:28
There he is, the chief judge. Was he's been kicked out?
40:34
That's correct, But he does know what it means to be a good
40:39
administrator, and he also, I think, knows how desperate his
40:45
situation is. And he doesn't know how to act.
40:48
And that's why he's so grateful for this letter is because it
40:50
says we need to clean out the inner vessel first.
40:54
And when he talks about you clean the inner vessel first
40:58
because the outer vessel is going to be cleaned second.
41:04
Pot impurity was a significant problem for ancient people.
41:08
Well, especially in the Law of Moses, if it's a clay pot, it's
41:12
not even clean. You have to put your water in
41:14
stone pots for temple work at least.
41:17
For temple work, that's correct, but there were ways to clean
41:20
impurity, even if it was a clay pot.
41:24
So it's grown some mildew or something?
41:26
Actually, there are certain instructions that tell you that
41:29
you need to begin by cleaning the inside, because if you clean
41:33
the outside first, you're then going to have to touch the
41:36
outside while you clean the inside, and then you're going to
41:40
contaminate the outside. And so you clean the inside.
41:44
It makes sense, and you purify it with whatever process
41:48
washing. Sometimes with oil, if it's
41:51
certain kinds of impurity, you have to throw the pot away.
41:56
So they they had a lot of rules about this.
41:58
But when he says we need, I realize we need to clean the
42:03
inner vessel first. We need to clean the capital
42:07
city here. Then we can worry about the
42:10
outside. There's a nice metaphor there
42:13
that he's drawing upon that has has some good logic to it, but
42:19
also would have had more impact and him saying, I'm here obeying
42:29
the law, I'm doing everything I can and I'm being kind Moroni.
42:33
And Moroni is going to say, OK, I get it and and he's sorry
42:37
about it. He comes to Zarahemla quickly.
42:39
Moroni does. They both do.
42:41
They both meet. And which is interesting because
42:43
now Pahoran joins Moroni in the military ranks to defeat those
42:50
Kingman who had been trying to take over the seat again of the
42:53
government. Yeah.
42:53
And then chapter 61, Pahoran's response, you know, verse nine,
43:01
I love the line where he says, I am not angry at that point.
43:07
He he just says in verse 15, come, I welcome you.
43:13
I think that's wonderful. And then Chapter 62 begins with
43:17
Moroni marching up to reinstate Pahoran.
43:20
And we're also told that it's now the 30th year of the reign
43:23
of the judges. And I think this constant
43:26
reminder of the date goes back to what you had mentioned last
43:29
week. One of the reasons why the Book
43:31
of Alma is organized this way is to show that the reign of the
43:34
judges was able to be sustained. And this story, verses six one
43:40
through 11 of chapter 62 is a good example of that.
43:43
Yeah. And in fact, if you just look at
43:45
reign of the judges, it almost goes year by year by year, every
43:49
single one, we are being told this.
43:52
This is the reign of the judges. We're reminded of that.
43:55
As Moroni goes up to help a horn, he once again raises the
43:59
title of liberty, and it says that thousands flock to him in
44:03
verse 5. And I'm fascinated with this
44:06
recruitment in the book. You were mentioning earlier,
44:09
Jack, about the warfare in the Book of Mormon.
44:11
I found this one a public expression of private covenant,
44:16
and I thought, how many times have we recruited for either a
44:18
mission or a calling or a position in our communities or
44:22
at work? Continuing on, it says that the
44:24
covenant of allegiance was not to a man or an office, but
44:28
directly to God, whom they were personally responsible,
44:33
personally accountable for. And this is the beauty of these
44:36
war chapters, is that Moroni is fighting as a disciple of God,
44:43
not as seeking his own power. So the usurpers of Pegas are
44:48
killed, and whosoever was found denying their freedom, it says
44:52
in verse 8 to 10, they were speedily killed.
44:57
And they killed those people that would not bow down to the
45:01
law of a Republic or a democracy.
45:04
They they do say on other occasions that they're put in
45:06
prison and they're held for trial.
45:08
But now things are so desperate and this is a a matter of
45:12
martial law, that in some cases when in ancient law, when the
45:18
problems are so difficult, the normal Civil Procedure is is
45:23
then held in abeyance. Yeah.
45:25
And, and it does say, I think it was pretty clear that if they
45:28
were willing, if they wanted to fight against it, they were
45:32
killed. But if they were willing to
45:34
allow the others to come in, then they just had to be wait
45:38
for their court date and then they would be tried.
45:40
So that it was different between actually attacking physically
45:44
and saying I was in the wrong. I will wait for my court trial
45:48
as Pahoran now joins Moroni. Working together, they both go
45:53
out to the East Coast where the battlefield is very challenging.
45:57
There, and it says in verse 15, they took their March with a
46:00
large body of men toward the land of Nephi ha.
46:04
And they come along some Lamanite skirmishes.
46:07
But right there during these skirmishes, the Lamanites are
46:11
willing to give up their armor. And these Lamanites choose
46:16
instead of death, to go join the people of Ammon.
46:19
They want to bury their weapons of war.
46:21
And this turns into a great time of peace.
46:23
I think this is the best outcome.
46:26
And it they're just in route to a battle and the Lamanites say,
46:30
you know what? If you can give us a way out,
46:33
we'd like become people of peace.
46:34
And you can appreciate also that as Lamanites, as they join with
46:40
the people of Ammon who have been moved now to Malik, maybe
46:45
some of them were cousins or or relatives, you know, all those
46:51
people. It's only been 15 to 20 years.
46:55
It's. Yeah.
46:55
And so that they would be willing to go and unite with
46:58
those people and perhaps also with their covenant of treaty,
47:05
throw away any further warfare. We you know that that.
47:10
They become people of peace. I will not fight.
47:13
That's of course the outcome of conflict like this that you
47:16
always hope. For so they ended the POW
47:19
problem that way on that one. But they do get to Nephi Ha and
47:23
he does have to have a battle because the Lamanites there are
47:26
holding it as a strong bet. With the help of God, Moroni and
47:31
Pohorin and their men are able to join with Tianqom's men and
47:34
they're able to retake Nephi Ha and Lehi as they go up the East
47:39
Coast. And it says that they don't even
47:43
have to have a battle or a loss of life because of the strength.
47:47
But there's one story that is emphasized where they use some
47:52
interesting techniques to regain their prisoners of war.
47:56
In the night time. Moroni climbs up onto the wall
47:59
to see where are the Lamanite armies encamped.
48:02
And they're just at the opening. They were embankments everywhere
48:05
else. And so through the use of ropes
48:09
and some kind of a ladder, whether they're sticks or
48:11
whatever they're using to climb up, the Nephite army is able to
48:16
get within the walls of this city during the night time.
48:21
And they bring in so many swords that they're able to also give
48:25
swords to the people that are there.
48:27
And they're able to be do this all in the night time.
48:32
It says in verse 21 that they do use very hastily.
48:37
They set this up real quickly. So this is a blitzkrieg and they
48:42
come with strong cords and ladders and they and are able to
48:48
climb the outside of the wall. And then when they go down on
48:50
the inside, verse 23, then they are let down by strong cords and
48:57
ladders. So they're switching them over.
48:59
So we don't know what these ladders would have looked like
49:02
and they might have been sticks that had little steps worked on
49:06
to them or they might have been ropes that they had tied circles
49:11
in so that they put the knots in so they can come up and down.
49:14
But once again, Moroni is making use of new technology here.
49:20
He's he's clever. And I think he's being inspired
49:23
by God. They they win and it's a great
49:26
success for them. So in verse 27, now it came to
49:29
pass that the Lamanites that we're prisoners, we're desires
49:33
to join the people of Ammon and become a free people.
49:35
So again we have this wonderful blessing of the prisoners of war
49:41
are because signing a covenant agreeing that they will bury
49:44
their weapons of war. Brother Nibley said about this
49:46
very event, these very verses Here.
49:48
There was a new spirit in the air.
49:51
Moroni's patience and humanity in dealing with the defeated was
49:56
beginning to bear fruit. For instead of making prisoners
49:59
of the beaten Lamanites, Moroni permitted them to settle
50:02
peaceably among the people of Ammon if they would accept this
50:06
covenant. And you know, Moroni has been
50:08
saying this now for the seven years of this war and the
50:11
previous wars as well, but they didn't apply it.
50:15
And now they're applying it, and it's turning out to be able to
50:18
be a blessing. Well, that night, after this
50:21
victory, the Ancombe, who has had success on two previous
50:28
occasions, yes, decides that this leader Amaron, the brother
50:37
of Amalekaya, Yep, has been trouble enough and that we
50:44
really have to eliminate him somehow.
50:48
We've got to take him captive. Capturing the king, it would be
50:52
extremely difficult because he's got his his guard, his elite
50:56
soldiers. And Tiankum is angry.
51:01
It says he's really mad at this situation.
51:04
And we have again this word in verse 36 came to pass.
51:08
The Tiankum in his anger went forth into the camp of the
51:14
Lamanites and it let himself down over the walls.
51:17
He knows how to do this now, and he went forth with a cord from
51:23
place to place, and he cast a javelin at the king.
51:31
But it doesn't kill him. Is servants awake before he
51:35
dies? He it does kill him, but he
51:37
screams and so the servants are able to kill Tianqum.
51:41
It's interesting here I think that although this was
51:45
beneficial, it certainly helped to settle the war and without
51:52
the the leadership of Ameron and the Zoramites, the Lamanites are
51:59
now able to become much more peaceful.
52:01
What I see here is Tiadkum trying to do the right thing and
52:06
probably for the right reason. But why does it say that he went
52:11
in in his anger? You know when you are angry,
52:16
That is something that can disqualify you under the Law of
52:21
Moses from an inadvertent accidental slaying.
52:28
But if you are already hating the person that gets killed by
52:33
an axe head flying off the axe, you cannot flee to a city of
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refuge. Your hate disqualifies you for
52:40
that. The chapter goes on and talking
52:43
about peace and becoming people of peace because of the prayers
52:46
of the righteous. They were spared, but many had
52:49
become hardened and skipping down a little bit and many were
52:53
softened because of their afflictions in so much that they
52:56
did humble themselves before God.
52:58
So I look at this chapter 62 verse 4041 as saying don't blame
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your circumstances. You know, don't blame if
53:08
something's been hard. You know, I've been through
53:10
PTSD, I've been a victim. I can be no you can either
53:16
become it can take you to your knees or it can take you to the
53:21
adversary. May all of our trials takes us
53:25
to our knees. I just so appreciate the council
53:27
that was given to Joseph Smith in section 122.
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All these things will be for thy experience, or all these
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experiences will be for thy good, that we need to use all of
53:39
them to come to our knees and draw closer to our God.
53:47
Then in chapter 63, we come to the end of the book of Alma, and
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it is here that we have a lot of people dying.
53:55
Yeah. In fact, in 62, Heilemann
53:57
finishes his three-year mission and he dies in verse 52, we're
54:01
told, and it's just 16 years after his father.
54:04
And we don't know why he dies. Says it says earlier that
54:07
there's many diseases and during certain seasons of the year, so
54:12
it's a time where he's older and he's possibly been wounded
54:16
himself and he dies. And this must have been a
54:18
natural aftermath of a war like this that had torn up the
54:22
countryside. You have had lots of wounds,
54:26
infections. And it's now three or four years
54:28
later and they have now carried their toll possibly.
54:32
So we have helium and die. That's the son of Alma.
54:34
And then in chapter 63, Moroni. Three, Moroni dies, then in
54:38
verse 10 Shiblan dies Coriantin and also verse 10 he goes to
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another country. So all three of Alma's sons,
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Helium and Shiblan Coriantin. Yes, but before Shiblon dies he
54:51
gets the records. He gets the records.
54:53
So we have a little bit of his writing in chapter 63.
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Heilman's on his deathbed and says, Shiblon, these are yours.
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Shiblon was then able to give them to Heilman's son.
55:04
I'm guessing that when Heilman said, Shiblon, here you take
55:08
these records. My son Heilman is too young.
55:12
Yeah, he gives him three years. He has them three years before.
55:14
And when he's prepared, you give them to him because it should go
55:17
through the first born son lineage and wants to stay with
55:21
that. But the main message for me in
55:23
this Chapter 63 is all the migrations and missionary work.
55:29
It's just amazing. It says that they count the men,
55:33
5400 men plus women and children.
55:37
So we've got at least 10,000 people, probably far more than
55:40
that, that migrate north and they also go West.
55:46
It's describing them as going in boats with Hagoth.
55:51
And it sounds like at least three of these sailing trips
55:55
were very successful. But it says there were many
55:59
boats built. We just don't know because they
56:00
didn't come back to talk about it.
56:02
So they don't know where they went.
56:04
But Hagoth became another in. It's interesting, as you said,
56:08
yes, yes. And I, I believe that the Lord
56:14
is scattering Israel at this time and that these people who
56:18
have been firm in their faith are being led to other places.
56:23
And one of them was Corianthen, as you mentioned.
56:25
Hagoth is on one of his trips takes Corianthen, the son of
56:29
Helen. And many of the Polynesian
56:30
people can trace their ancestry back many, many generations. 30
56:36
generations is what was required in the Maori culture in order
56:41
for a person to become a Maori king.
56:44
Now, that's a long time, a lot of years.
56:47
And they can recite. How accurate it is, we don't
56:50
know. But they can recite these and
56:53
share with each other and make connections based on genealogy.
56:58
And we do see here in the Book of Mormon the importance of
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genealogy too, because this genealogy of Alma will continue
57:08
on down from Helaman to his son and Helaman's son Nephi.
57:15
And then that will be the father of the Nephi who will be there
57:19
to welcome the birth of Jesus in 3rd Nephi.
57:24
And then there will be another Nephi, which is 4th Nephi.
57:27
But looking ahead all the way down to the end of 4th Nephi,
57:32
when Mormon is finally given the records, it's the lineage of
57:39
Alma all the way, father to son to the end of the Nephite world.
57:46
So this, this importance of genealogy, of course, we
57:50
understand the importance of genealogy for many reasons.
57:54
It's also an ancient concern. Kings in antiquity needed to
57:59
know who their ancestors were because they needed to compete
58:04
with other claims for who will be the king or not.
58:09
And it's interesting that we saw a genealogies of tongue guns
58:15
that trace their genealogy back to Hagoth.
58:19
No. And we again, I'm not sure that
58:23
that was there before then they got the Book of Mormon, but they
58:27
do tie into Hagoth there. Well, as we conclude this
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wonderful week of Scripture study, we hope that it can
58:36
motivate you to enter the text and define meaning in your
58:41
lives. And for me, the verse on taking
58:45
the circumstances of life and helping them to soften our heart
58:50
and to draw closer to Christ is the verse that means the most to
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me. But I hope you can find a verse
58:56
that can draw you to Christ, that can draw you to becoming a
58:59
better disciple as we strive to serve each other is our prayer
59:04
today. In the name of our Savior and
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Redeemer Jesus Christ, Amen. Amen.