Latest / Scripture Central / Helaman 1–6 | Aug 26–Sept 1 | John W. Welch and Lynne Hilton Wilson | Come Follow Me Book of Mormon

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Helaman 1–6 | Aug 26–Sept 1 | 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 we're
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certainly happy to be able to talk today about the first half
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of the book of Helaman. Chapters one through 6, they
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cover an enormous amount of time.
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We're used to Almagorn so slowly, but we've got 29 years
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to cover in these first 16 years and we have three wars that go
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correspond to the time as well. Before we get to the places
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where the chapters and verses actually start, people have
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probably noticed that at the beginning of the books in the
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Book of Mormon, there's a little description that is found.
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And in this case we have a head note that has been added.
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I I used to wonder before we had all the information that we now
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have about the original manuscript.
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Who added? It it was this added by Joseph
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Smith, by Oliver Cowdrey. Was this something that they
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after they translated, they said, well, we need a little
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introduction to the Book of Hegelman, but no.
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In the original manuscripts that we have, this type of
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introductory material is already there, which means that it was
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probably added by Mormon. As he edits each one, he stops
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and gives a summary. The thing that's so amazing
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about these summaries is that the chapter headings are added
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later. But these headnotes you think
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are from Mormon. I think when you look at this,
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Mormon is telling us what we should get out of the book of
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Helaman. Oh good.
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And notice the emphasis here. It's an account of the Nephites
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and also the prophecies of many holy prophets before the coming
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of Christ according to the records of Helaman and also his
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sons down to the coming of Christ and also many Lamanites
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who are converted. And you get down to the bottom,
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he's going to tell us that there were wickedness problems and
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lots of abominations and things as well, even down to the coming
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of Christ. So three times in this preface
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to the Book of Helaman, we're told what Mormon wants us to
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realize is that everything we're reading here is a prelude to
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leading up to the coming of Christ.
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And this can be found in this wonderful work that Royal
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Skousen has spent a lifetime on. One of the volumes on the
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original manuscript has all of the manuscript typed out so you
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can follow along what those words look like.
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And here they are. And they're also available, I
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think, on the Joe smithpapers.org online.
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The chapter one begins right off the bat with the problem of
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succession. Not long after the ending of the
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Book of Alma, the chief judge Pahoran dies, and he has three
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sons, and all three of their names begin with AP.
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He actually has more than three, but these are the three that are
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vying for the judgement seat, I think.
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The three sons that become controversial here are Pahoran,
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the 2nd Pahanchi, and Pecumeny. And you know, as often happens
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with political controversies, they represent different parties
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and different interests. Starting in verses 7 and eight,
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we get to the heart of this matter, Pyanshi.
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And he was a part of a group of people that desired that he
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should be the governor. But he gets mad.
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And notice again, anger becomes a real problem here.
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Exceedingly wrath, it says. He was about to flatter away
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those people, to rise up in rebellion against their
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brethren. And notice that it says he was
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about to create some kind of rebellion.
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He hasn't actually rebelled yet, but it came to pass that he was
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about to do this. So we have that emphasized.
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He was taken, and he was tried according to the voice of the
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people, and condemned unto death, because he had raised up
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or was raising up a rebellion. Yeah, he was trying to.
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He was trying to destroy the civil peace, but.
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What this brings up is a a a curious legal problem.
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OK. Because under most legal
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systems, but a particularly under the law of Moses, you
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could not be convicted for your beliefs or your speech.
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And in the law of Mosiah, that was also protected.
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So how is it that he can be convicted when he hasn't
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actually done anything yet? He was about to do it.
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He's. Talking about it, He's
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organizing. Uh huh.
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But they catch him and. Well, I'd say that's evidence
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enough if he's organizing. Well, but he hasn't actually
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done anything in the nature of conspiracy.
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And what's interesting here is that in ancient law, they
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recognized that treason against the government.
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You don't have to wait until treason is an actually completed
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crime, because by then the government is defeated or the
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king is dead. Yeah, doesn't work.
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And so there is an exception that is recognized under ancient
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law and conspiracy and treason, high treason.
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Which this is. Was more serious than just
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breaking the law because it's actually abrogating the law and
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the law now couldn't have any effect on anyone.
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So let me mention just a couple. There are actually 3 cases, and
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I deal with this in a chapter in the book on the legal cases in
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the Book of Mormon. We also have in the Old
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Testament two places. One is in First Samuel chapter
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22, where a priest named Ahimelech had unwittingly given
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bread and a sword to David and King Saul.
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Consider that to be treasonous because he is now supporting
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David and what he does because of this apparent beginning of
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some shift of political loyalty or conspiracy.
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He, Ahimelech and 85 priests were executed.
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So anyone even remotely implicated in that conspiracy
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was put to death. And then the third case is in
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Second Chronicles, chapter 33, where we have servants of King
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Amon, who was the son of Manasseh, and he conspired
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against the king and slew him in his own house.
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And here all the people who in any way were involved in that
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conspiracy were killed. So what we see here is what
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we're getting here at the beginning of the book of Helaman
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with these gadiant and robbers conspiracy.
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This is a very serious legal offense and it's handled here
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just as you would expect under the traditional jurisprudence
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and the way the law operated. Laws were seen played out in the
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Book of Mormon, which is powerful.
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Then turning to chapter 2 of Helaman, we were introduced to
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Gadianton. We always talk about the
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Gadianton robbers because he's kind of the the archetype.
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He's the the big leader of this. It's interesting that he's
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always called by robber. And notice that the Hebrew word
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for robber is gadud, which is interesting to me because you've
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got 2DS there. Yeah, you would have spelled it
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GDD. But when you look in our copy of
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the Book of Mormon, Gadianton is just spelled with 1D.
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But that wasn't the way it was in the original manuscript.
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Oh really? It had a double D there.
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Oh wow. It's kind of odd that Gadianton
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would be called Robert E Anton, but in their language it's
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pretty close to that. As if it were a title rather
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than a name. I don't think a mother would
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name their child robber. You know, that's probably right.
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I've wondered about that. And, you know, unless of course,
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the father was already involved in seditious and rebellious
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actions. Yes, because we know previous to
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Galleon there was Kish, Kuman, there was others, yeah.
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Yeah. The distinction, though, that I
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think is really interesting and important for us to recognize,
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is the difference between being a thief.
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And a robber, yes, we talked about that back in Nephi.
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The accusation that Laban raises against the Sons of Lehigh.
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I be thou art a robber, and I will slay thee.
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So. But what what we remind you of
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here is that being a thief is, is more like being a pickpocket.
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You steal chickens. You're you're a member of the
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village. It's a local kind of offense and
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it's not too serious. But to be a robber is more like
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what we would call a pirate or a bandit.
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And in fact, these robbers always operate in bands.
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We call them gangs now. But they were the biggest threat
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to the established efforts by kings and local government.
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The people of Liberty, the. Ancient world, you don't have a
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police force, you don't have organized parts of society that
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will help to deter this kind of thing.
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And so these were Public Enemy number one or #2 in all of the
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ancient cultures. Yeah, and they just didn't.
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As the editor explains, they infiltrate the whole rest of the
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book. So as you read Helaman chapters
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one and two and on into the Book of Helaman and actually the rest
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of the book of Third Nephi and on into the end of the Book of
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Mormon, this plague of these outlaws is a serious, serious
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threat. And unfortunately, they're not
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able to cut them off at the start.
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And so as we read Chapter 3, it's interesting because we see,
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I love Hugh Nibley's phrase on this.
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He called Chapter 3A thumbnail picture of a civilization
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because we're introduced here to the underworld.
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You know this, this skillfully, the crime families are able to
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infiltrate the whole society during this time of peace and
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prosperity. It's it's really quite tragic.
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But Chapter 3 for me talks mainly about the migrations and
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the missionary work. Again, it's the 46th year of the
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reign of the judges, and we're told that many contentions and
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many dissensions in which there was an exceeding great many who
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departed into the land of Zahemla and went forth to the
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land northward. Before, the Nephites were always
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careful not to let anybody go up there.
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But now we have thousands and thousands who are making this
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migration. Why do you think they're going?
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What is it in the North that's attractive to them?
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Well, I think it would be less warfare.
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And it also says that many of the people who go are the people
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of Ammon. So they're people who are
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converted to God who want to be able to worship in there in
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peace and safety. But what do you think?
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Well, like you say, I, the people of Ammon had already been
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displaced a couple times. They had been in the land of
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Nephi. They were given the land of
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Jershon. They had to move out of that for
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defensive purposes. And and so they see an
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opportunity I think here to say we want to get out of the
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controversies here. And they're growing, and the
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land may not be big enough for all of their children to become
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farmers. And as we saw, there were lots
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of Lamanites who in the end went over to join them.
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So now they recognize because of the building that had gone on up
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in the northern part of the land of of Zarahemla, that there are
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staging areas they can move that far, and maybe the ones who had
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already moved up into those cities.
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Had come down and communicated. And I think they they get up
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into the land northward and they realize that there are lots of,
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lots of advantages up there. There were reasons why the
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Jaredites had lived there. It's good land.
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It's very especially lots of mineral land and it does talk
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about them becoming exceeding. Rich it says there's money
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there. It says there's metals, precious
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metals, silver and things, but it says that they had to travel
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a great distance. This is verse four to large
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bodies of water and many rivers. So there's plenty of water you
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there's no need to worry about that.
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Verse six says no part of the land was desolate save it were
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for timber. Now this is significant because
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it doesn't mean it's an empty space, it just means there's the
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people before had destroyed the trees without allowing them to
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grow back. Up and of course they're coming
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from an area where it was overgrown a lot and they had no
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trouble finding trees to to make fortifications and things like
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that. And to cook and to everything
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else. Yeah, Not just building.
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Yeah. So what do they build with if
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they don't have trees? Verse seven says cement.
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This is, I think, a fascinating little point.
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We didn't know exactly when cement began to be used in the
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in the Western Hemisphere, but a master's thesis was written back
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in the 1940s at Johns Hopkins University on this very
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question, according to the findings of of that report.
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And these have only been confirmed by much subsequent
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research that the cement floors that they analyzed were of
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remarkable quality. You you can walk on the
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sidewalks of places like Taoti Wakhan.
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And these sidewalks are 2000 years old, some of them 1000
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years old. And it's an area that has a lot
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of earthquakes, too. And the cement is still very,
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very solid. Not only was it used for slabs
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and floors, but they learned how to put up walls with stone and
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then fill the room with rubble and put dirt on the top to level
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it off and then pour the cement over the top of that room.
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As if it were a roof. And then once the cement is set
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up, then they empty out the rubble and the dirt and you have
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a a roof made of cement. They don't have forms that they
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can use to pour cement and they don't have reinforcing concrete
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and steel and things like that. So but they did that and you can
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see that today and it's it's fascinating.
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The dating of this development is interesting because it's
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right around the late pre classic Mayan period when people
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learn how to be expert in working of cement.
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Which is the time period we're talking about here in the Book
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of Mormon. 300 BC to 250 AD Right in that range and still
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today near Pueblo in Mexico, there are large open lime pits
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that are used for just gathering, excavating what is a
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real natural ready mix concrete. They used lime for their cement.
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Because there's already some lime in the in the soil.
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There another evidence of the antiquity of this book.
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And another explanation why this now is open land that they can
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move to, and why this migration northward was so successful.
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In chapter 3, verse 13, we also read that there are many records
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and I just always like to see the editor saying I am really
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cutting this down. There is 100 times more
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information than I'm giving you, and the editing is very severe.
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In the book of Helaman, we just get a few little snippets and I
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have to emphasize, Jack, once again, that the things that we
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have are often things that are appropriate for us right now in
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this day and age. I really feel like Mormon was
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inspired to know how to prepare a people for the coming of
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Christ because that's our role right now.
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But going back to the text, we learn now that Helaman is going
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to fill the judgment seat. This is chapter 3, verse 20.
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He did fill the judgment seat with justice and equity.
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Yeah. He'd observed to keep the
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statutes and the judgments and the commandments of God.
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And he'd he'd do that which was right in the sight of God
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continually. And he did walk after the ways
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of his father. We see this pattern of walking
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after the ways of your righteous Father as a very, very important
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message, repeated and repeated here in the text.
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And this little expression, justice and equity, what's the
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difference between those two? I don't know.
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Let me ask an attorney here. What do you think, Jack?
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Well, to me justice is more the letter of the law, and we have
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the balance of the scales, and justice means that the law must
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be fulfilled. And it does say that the
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judgments and the commandments of God were important for
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Helaman as he sat in the judgment.
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Seat. Uh huh.
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But then equity is more equality and fairness and the spirit of
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the law rather than the letter of the law.
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But what it's telling us is that we need both.
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Yes. That we can't say, well, I'm a
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letter of the law guy or I'm a spirit of the law guy.
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So the scripture here says that I think that the factor of
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equity was provided because he always wanted to do what was
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right in the sight of God. And God is a God of mercy as
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well as a God of justice. And in order to do that, he did
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walk after the ways of his father.
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So you have to walk the walk. If you're going to be a judge,
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if you're going to be even a judge in Israel, let alone a
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judge in the society you have to be in, you have to have
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integrity. And I think what we're getting
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here is a statement by Mormon that Heelman had integrity.
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The genealogy is listed here. As we mentioned last week, this
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is all the descendants of Alma, Senior Heelman, juniors, two
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children. Nephi and Lehigh are two sons.
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I presume he had more children. I don't know, become great
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leaders. But the rest of chapter 3
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combines these growth of the secret combinations.
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Look at verse 23 here. The secret combinations which
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Gadiat and the robber had established in the more settled
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parts of the land not known unto those were the head of the
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government, you know, So they're in hiding.
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And then the very next verse, verse 24, talks about this great
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missionary success. And I love the fact that it's
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written out as a chiasmus starts in verse 24.
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We're talking about the thousands that are joining
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themselves to the church and then the word baptized unto
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repentance. But the center point here is
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that the prosperity of the church, even the high priests
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and the teachers did the work of the Lord.
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And so the Lord blessed them and prospered them and they then
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could go forth and baptize and uniting to the church were 10s
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of thousands. So he does a beautiful little
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short three verse chiasmus here to say the church is growing by
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leaps and bounds. So as the wickedness grows, the
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righteousness grows. And we have an interesting
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detail here about the the leadership, and it comes right
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at the center of this little point.
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Who is it that is able to bring this prosperity about in the
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church in a righteous way? The center is even the high
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priests and the teachers. So they have righteous teachers.
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And notice that we now have a plural by priests.
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We had no, we've had that in the Book of Mormon.
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It wasn't in the Old Testament. You just had Aaron and one.
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But in the Book of Mormon, we have had plural because it
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depends on which city you're in. You need to have.
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Yeah. And it's a holy order of God, so
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it's not the ironic law. You've got that right.
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And notice that this is a step because even in ancient Israel
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when there were many different cities.
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We still just. Have only one high preach.
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You've been talking a lot about Mormons editing and here we have
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in verse 27, and thus we see, which I always see as a sign of
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the editor. And then 28 we see.
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And then in 29 we see. And he gives his summary, that
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whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick
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and powerful, shall be divided asunder.
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And then he ends by saying that they are going to land their
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souls, yeah, their immortal souls at the right hand of God.
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And why do you think Mormon emphasizes these points by using
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that? Thus we see that's a kind of a
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Mormon trademark, and it's an interesting editorial point.
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He doesn't say, and thus I can tell you this.
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By saying thus we see. He's inviting the reader to be a
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part of seeing these things. You have seen, I have seen.
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We all have seen. And he's seen so much more than
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we are knowing that he stands in a really strong position to say,
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oh, this is over and over. I'm giving you just the tip of
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the iceberg here. And in fact, down in verse 33,
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it's now the 51st year of the reign of the judges.
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They were lifted up now, however, in pride even to the
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persecution of many of their brethren.
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Now this was a great evil which did 'cause the more humble part
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of the people to suffer great persecutions and wade through
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much affliction. But luckily the humble part of
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the people are able to look at verse 35.
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They did fast, they did pray, they did wax stronger and
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stronger in their humility. So even in their times of
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persecution, I feel like this is the place where some of us stand
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now. We become firmer and firmer in
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the faith of Christ unto the filling of their souls with joy
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and consolation. Yeah, even to the purifying and
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the sanctification of their hearts.
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So in the preparation of the time before the Savior comes, we
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will see wickedness grow and the those who remain true to their
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testimonies of Jesus Christ will become sanctified.
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And that remaining true to Christ brought about peace.
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So there were places of peace, cities of peace.
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The conflict wasn't universal, and in fact, it's still quite
22:27
undercover in a lot of ways. But what we get here is the
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beginning, kind of the tip of the iceberg that tells us, so
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how are these problems first going to manifest themselves and
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how can we confront them? And this is problem of pride.
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And President Benson, of course, his talk about the problem of
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pride comes right out of his careful reading of the Book of
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Mormon. He saw the pride cycle here,
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that the Lord would bless them as they would and then their
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prosperity unfortunately would turn to self centeredness.
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And Hugh Nibley always says the first article of false faiths,
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Satan's first article of false faiths is you can get anything
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in this world for money. And we see that it's their
23:14
riches that have them become self-centered, which then leads
23:17
to their pride. And that with the persecution
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then leads to problems and destruction and unhappiness.
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But that leads to what? Humility that the people are
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humble once they have seen these problems and they recognize we
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shouldn't be doing this kind of thing.
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And they're humble, they're repentant, and then what
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happens? Oh, the Lord blesses them, and
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He blesses all of us. But Jack, we can break that
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cycle. And I think that was what verse
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35 was trying to say, is if we can continue in humility and
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feed the poor and take care of those in need and not raise
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ourself up financially but take care of those around us, we can
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break that cycle. I think one of the most
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congenial and fun BYU devotionals given on this very
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difficult subject was given by Elder Wilfred Anderson, and it's
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on breaking the pride cycle and how you actually can break out
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of the pride cycle at any point where you first realize that
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it's beginning or even after it's gone very seriously.
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And he had some family stories about how they had the pride
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chair the people had to go sit in and to think about things if
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there was a problem in the family with somebody being a
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little too proud. Anyways, I recommend it highly.
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Yeah, I'll go back and listen to it.
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Thanks. Keelman, though, steps down, he
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passes on, and his son Nephi were told in verse 37, began to
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reign in his stead. And I thought it was interesting
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to look in conjunction with verse 20, where Helaman is
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reigning, as you mentioned, about the equity and the
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justice. Now in 37, we almost have word
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for word that Nephi did fill the judgement seat with justice and
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equity. Yeah, he did keep the
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commandments of God, just like the author had said before, and
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did walk in the ways of his father.
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And that then takes us to chapter 4.
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Well then, in chapter 4:00 we we do see the justice of divine
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punishment, that when God punishes us under biblical
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principles, we get what we deserve.
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And this is sometimes called an eye for an eye, a tooth for a
25:38
tooth, and we think of that as being brutal.
25:41
However, this principle of talionic justice is much deeper
25:46
than that. They call eye for an eye
25:48
talionic. Is that what that word means?
25:49
OK. Talion means that that the
25:52
punishment should fit the crime. OK, OK, so that you're not just
25:57
and we tend to punish people by just saying, well, give us your
26:00
money. We we give fine.
26:02
Yeah, if your speed you get a. Fine, but a talionic punishment
26:06
for speeding would be you can't drive for six months.
26:09
Oh dear. Well, that would get people's
26:11
attention. Wouldn't it?
26:12
But it fits the crime. OK.
26:14
If you've done something that has put other people at risk or
26:19
you've done something, you need to correct the problem.
26:23
And so we have not only this idea of an eye for an eye, but
26:27
back in Leviticus 24 it does say that whatever you send out will
26:31
come back unto you. Oh, we can certainly see that in
26:34
the Book of Mormon cycles. The Book of Mormon doesn't state
26:37
this because they just understand that as their nature
26:39
of justice. We have in chapter 4 verse 13,
26:43
because of their boastings in their own strength, they were
26:46
left in their own strength. So that's what they deserved
26:48
until they had lost possession of almost all their lands.
26:51
So if God withdraws and leaves you OK, you want to do you think
26:55
you're so strong He will leave us to our own devices?
27:00
And that's that's fair. That's just.
27:07
We skip a few years ahead to Chapter 5, where we're in the
27:11
62nd year of the reign of the judges, and this chapter for me
27:15
is all about remembering. This is a fabulous.
27:18
Chapter one of my favorites in all of the book of Helaman,
27:22
Nephi and Lehi are remembering back to their father's advice.
27:27
Their father is the second Helaman.
27:29
They are children of Helaman, who is children of Helaman, who
27:32
is children of Alma, and we see and their mission.
27:35
Where do they go on a mission? You know, they go all over the
27:39
land. They start out on the northeast
27:41
side and they go from Bountiful all the way down.
27:43
And as they go down, though, they see this sad state.
27:47
This is verse 2. The voice of the people chose
27:50
evil, so they knew they were ripening for destruction.
27:53
But Jack, I keep asking myself, how can so many, how can they be
27:56
having such missionary success when the people are evil?
27:59
Although you think it's the contrast.
28:00
Yeah, it's got to be the opposition again.
28:02
And as we've said, most of the dissenters in the opposition,
28:06
these are secret people. These are, you know, dissenters,
28:12
but I think the majority of the population has recognized the
28:16
the goodness that has come to them.
28:17
They have seen the benefits of this.
28:19
Well, the challenge here in verse two is it sounds like the
28:22
voice of the people. So I don't know if that's the
28:24
majority, but they are here choosing evil in in chapter 5.
28:28
Let me suggest that the problem here, when the voice of the
28:31
people is the problem and what they've done, is they've elected
28:35
poorly. They've elected people who were
28:37
good campaigners or who had influenced people and had
28:42
parties of of influence and support and they haven't chosen
28:46
wisely. Honesty is not what they're
28:49
looking for. They're looking for smoother.
28:52
Or maybe they maybe they can't tell the difference, You know,
28:56
maybe they're being deceived in some ways, but they are ripe for
28:59
destruction when they don't exercise that voting right,
29:03
which has been given to them under the reign of judges.
29:06
I mean, that was the essential part.
29:09
They don't get to vote the way we kind of do, but they do
29:13
confirm who will be the judge and the judges.
29:16
It says the voice of the people. That's a very important part of
29:19
participating in keeping the government righteous.
29:22
And that's why he becomes so fed up that he follows the example
29:26
of his grandfather and he leaves the judgement seat just like
29:29
Alma did, a great grandfather, it says in verse four, because
29:33
of their iniquity, he yielded up the judgement seat and took it
29:35
upon him to preach the word of God all the remain of his days.
29:40
And his brother Lehi, before they go on their mission,
29:43
though, they recite this beautiful message from their
29:45
father. And this is verse six through 12
29:48
in chapter 5. And 13 times remember is
29:52
mentioned. And if you look at the whole
29:53
chapter, it's actually 15 times. But do you remember back?
29:57
I didn't mean to use that word. But when Alma the younger is
30:01
telling his son in chapter 37, oh, Remember.
30:04
Remember my son, and learn wisdom in thy youth.
30:06
And who's he quoted? He's quoting Benjamin.
30:10
You know, these people really knew their scriptures.
30:13
Remember, Remember, O man, and perish not.
30:16
Nephi is quoting this again, verse six.
30:19
When you remember your names, you may remember them, and when
30:24
you remember them, you may remember their works.
30:26
And when you remember their works, that they were good.
30:30
And he just keeps going on. And to skip ahead to verse 8,
30:33
lay up for yourselves a treasure in heaven.
30:37
Yeah, that ye may have precious gift of eternal life, which we
30:41
have reason to suppose has been given to our fathers.
30:45
Now, I assume he's referring to great grandpa's too, because I
30:49
went back and looked, because this precious gift of eternal
30:52
life, Jack, I think is exaltation.
30:55
And so I looked back at the record, and it looks like in
30:59
Mosiah 26, Alma the Elder was told, I an Angel, thou art my
31:05
servant, or maybe it was the Lord who said it.
31:08
And I covenant with thee that thou shalt have eternal life.
31:13
Alma is the one who teaches this.
31:15
Yes. Alma the elder.
31:17
And so this is this is just a part of the heritage of this
31:23
lineage of Alma's descendants. He continues on in verse 9 here.
31:27
This is again Helaman talking to his sons Lehi and Nephi.
31:33
Oh, remember. Remember, my sons, the words
31:35
which King Benjamin spake. Yeah.
31:38
Remember that there is no other way nor means whereby man can be
31:41
saved. Only through the atoning blood
31:45
of Jesus Christ, who shall come to redeem the world.
31:48
And now the whole message turns to Christ.
31:51
What we're supposed to be remembering is not just
31:53
remembering your grandpas, but it's remembering the Lord.
31:56
To me this sounds like a baptismal or a sacrament.
32:00
I think you're right. And why would Mormon have put
32:03
this into the Book of Helaman? Remember, Remember, remember
32:08
that Mormon is telling us that this book is helping us to
32:13
prepare for the coming of Christ.
32:15
Yes, yes. So he's now putting these
32:18
factors into the story. We're not hearing about the
32:20
wars, we're hearing about the sermons and the fatherly advice.
32:23
And by the way, that word remember as Lou Midgley did a
32:28
lot of research on the Hebrew word sakur does not mean just to
32:35
intellectually remember to recall.
32:37
The thought, OK. But to remember means to in in
32:42
English actually to put the parts back together, the member
32:46
you remember something when you reassemble something.
32:50
So when things have become scattered or have become
32:54
confused, you remember them as you put the pieces back together
32:59
again. So to me it actually refers to
33:01
repentance it. Does and to return and come back
33:06
remembering as a part of? That and Helaman really knows
33:10
his scriptures. He goes back now and quotes do
33:13
you remember in Alma chapter 5 when Amulek and Alma are on that
33:18
Zoramite mission? He starts quoting that one here
33:21
in verse 10. The Lord should not come to
33:23
redeem them in their sins, but to redeem them from their sins.
33:29
And that was a point that they were teaching Zezrim.
33:32
And then at the end of this wonderful message to his sons,
33:36
first 12 reads, My sons, remember.
33:38
Remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is
33:42
Christ the Son of God, that you must build your foundation, that
33:48
when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, and we know
33:51
this verse well, I'm going to skip ahead a little bit.
33:53
It shall have no power. Why He says up ahead a little
33:58
bit, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a
34:03
sure foundation for me remembering Christ.
34:07
I love that idea of putting it back together because for me,
34:10
remembering always helps me repent because repentance is
34:15
returning. This is really great to see how
34:17
these words all fit together. And you return to the rock.
34:22
Remember Jesus ends the Sermon on the Mount, and we'll see this
34:26
at the Sermon of the Temple as well at the wise man builds his
34:30
house upon not a rock as you and most people say.
34:34
That's right. It's the build your house upon
34:38
the rock. And I think that's terribly
34:41
important. And when you go into the Psalms,
34:45
the Lord is my rock, the salvation.
34:47
This is a common way in which people have spoken of the
34:51
holiness of God, because where is the rock that you build upon
34:58
physically? Of course, Jesus is our
35:00
spiritual rock, but the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is upon
35:05
the rock, the Temple Mount, which was referred to as the
35:11
rock of the Lord. And so it's not just a matter of
35:16
building abstractly upon Jesus, but following his commandments,
35:24
being holy as he is, going to the temple, worshipping, It's
35:28
all a part of building on that rock.
35:32
And if you don't, the storms will come and the winds will
35:35
blow, and great will be the collapse of that.
35:38
Chapter 5 continues then after this wonderful message from his
35:42
father on the missionary work, as they begin up in Bountiful
35:45
and then head along the East Coast, they go down to Gid and
35:48
and Mulik. By this time they've got 8000
35:51
converts. It says, I thought, wow, this is
35:53
an amazing mission. And he heads down to the land
35:57
where Nephi first landed, the land of Nephi, which is also
36:00
where King Noah was. And the reason why I, this is
36:03
significant is because when he gets down there, they're put in
36:06
the same in prison that Noah's grandson put ammo.
36:10
They, they're not fed and they come to kill them.
36:13
They come in to get them to kill them.
36:14
And a whole waterfall of miracles just begin flowing.
36:19
I, I counted 12. First of all, a flame of fire in
36:22
circles, Nephi and Lehigh as we look in, in verses 21 to 48.
36:28
And then a voice of the Lord is heard.
36:30
There's this dark, dark cloud that comes, but the mild
36:34
piercing voice in verse 29 and 30 comes back again in verse 32
36:40
and again in verse 33. And it's described in wonderful
36:44
language where it says that the voice was not a voice of
36:48
Thunder, neither was it a voice of great tumultuous noise.
36:52
But it was a still voice of perfect mildness, as if it had
36:58
been a whisper, and it did Pierce even to the very soul.
37:02
I wonder the Mormon's gone to the effort to even describe to
37:06
us what that voice sounded like. And I think it's because he is
37:11
preparing us for what? The coming of Christ.
37:15
And you remember as Jesus appears at the temple in
37:20
Bountiful, the voice is heard from heaven.
37:25
And let's just look at that for a second, because they cast
37:28
their eyes about, they don't know where the voice is coming
37:30
from. It was not a harsh voice,
37:33
neither was it a loud voice. Nevertheless, notwithstanding it
37:37
being a small voice, it did Pierce them that did hear to the
37:42
center. That's great, Jack.
37:43
Yeah, the continuity here. That that description is
37:47
remembered and then when it is experienced again, it's the same
37:53
manifestation that they had experienced and these people
37:57
will become converts. These are all Lamanites.
38:00
No, some of them, some of them are dissenters.
38:02
And in fact, Nephi and Lehigh's face shines.
38:05
And it says a Minidab is a dissenter that calls the rest of
38:10
the people who have gathered either in the prison or the
38:13
Lamanites in the community. He says look, look, and they
38:18
start asking him these questions and because he had been a
38:22
Nephite, he tells to repent. That's where we learn that all
38:27
these people that are gathered, and later we learn there's 300
38:29
of them, they pray in the name of Jesus Christ with a repentant
38:34
heart to have this darkness leave them.
38:36
And the physical darkness, of course, represents their
38:39
spiritual darkness, and they are blessed with a baptism of fire.
38:44
And to me this is one of the greatest miracles here.
38:47
It's in verse 45. And God's voice is again heard
38:51
in 46. And then angels come and
38:54
minister to them in verses 48 and 49.
38:57
And these last couple of verses are placed in a little chiasmus,
39:01
a beautiful parallel to remind us how important this is.
39:05
In verse 48, they heard and saw the heavens open.
39:09
And then of course, I'd mentioned the angels ministered
39:11
unto them. And then the 300 souls go forth.
39:15
But the center point here is that they marvelled not.
39:19
And they did not doubt, you know, they trusted this
39:21
experience. They would.
39:22
They knew it was from God. And then of course, it repeats
39:25
as they come out. Now that's a beautiful
39:27
experience and so well told by Mormon.
39:32
Or Nephi if he is the one writing it.
39:34
I don't know who wrote it in the chiastic form there.
39:37
Pause for a moment and wonder whether Nephi and Lehi, as they
39:41
go now out of the land of Zarahemla and on down into the
39:47
land of Nephi to preach to the Lamanites.
39:51
And yes, there were some descenders there, but the main
39:53
body were Lamanites. And are they thinking of their
40:00
own grandfather, Helaman, and the stripling warriors that he
40:05
had led and the influence that he had been able to have among
40:09
those Lamanites? But in verse 50 it says the more
40:13
part of the Lamanites were convinced and continuing down to
40:15
51, they laid down their weapons of war and also their hatred and
40:20
their tradition of their fathers, exactly like the sons
40:23
of Mosiah had been blessed with in their missionary work.
40:27
The amazing part for me here, Jack, is that with this
40:30
conversion they give up their lands and they're saying anyone
40:35
can live anywhere and let's not just hold boundaries for one
40:39
people or another. Let's says in verse 52, they did
40:42
yield up unto the Nephites the lands of their possession.
40:45
So this conversion was in action, not just in thought.
40:48
I wonder if they didn't as a part of this also recognize that
40:54
the old model of kingship was not going to be a good model
40:59
going forward. They had learned by the
41:02
Zoramites who had come in and had created a bad situation,
41:08
being a king that had usurped the power by now, yielding their
41:17
land, saying we would now like to become a part of this larger
41:21
confederacy. We recognize that you are
41:26
descendants of Nephi. We are descendants of laymen,
41:31
and so they become one, They become a united people, and
41:36
yielding their lands would be a big part of that merger.
41:42
Also remember that people were leaving their lands willingly at
41:45
this point as we saw them going to the land northward.
41:50
And so there's major shifts here in in the underlying economy and
41:56
what people saw as valuable and land.
42:02
Land is only useful for certain things, and they are now seeing
42:07
that land isn't everything. Which takes us now to chapter 6.
42:15
And so this come follow me lesson just finishes here at the
42:17
end of chapter 6. And I don't know whether it's
42:22
Mormon, I think it may be, but there is a record keeper who has
42:27
given us just some final statements about how this has
42:32
all come together. And the 64th year of the reign
42:39
of Judges is given in a kind of Chronicle way.
42:45
It begins in verse 7. And it ends in verse 13, and it
42:52
begins by saying, behold, there was peace in all the land in so
42:56
much that the Nephites did go into whatsoever part of the land
43:00
they would, whether among the Nephites or the Lamanites.
43:03
And verse 8, the Lamanites can go wherever they want to.
43:06
So borders have been broken down.
43:09
And so it opens up commerce and free trade, and they begin to
43:16
thrive as they recognize that they can help each other and
43:21
let's become allies, let's be friends and not be opponents.
43:26
And verse 12 says that they raised grain in abundance both
43:30
in the north and in the South. And so again, the emphasis is
43:35
North and South combined. This little report, the entire
43:41
report for the 64th year of the reign of judges is one very
43:45
nicely developed chiasm. And, you know, they're keeping
43:50
records. And I think there were record
43:52
keepers who said, how can I best summarize what's happened in
43:57
this 64th year? And the idea of chiasmus being
44:01
perfectly balanced. There's a turning point at the
44:04
middle, of course, but the balance and the be the ability
44:09
to pass from one part of the land to another, the
44:12
relationship of the beginning to the end.
44:15
The chiastic form works perfectly to describe that.
44:19
It does. Yeah.
44:20
That's clever. And at the center you have for
44:23
the land S was called Lehi, and the land N was called Mulik,
44:29
which was after the son of Zedekiah.
44:31
Right. They came over the same time
44:33
that the destruction before Babylon.
44:35
For the Lord and you realize that the word Lord is Jehovah
44:40
which is Yahweh, which the suffix on the end of Zedekiah is
44:46
the word Lord. So there's a parallel in the
44:48
words if it were written out in the Hebrew.
44:50
End of the word Zedekiah and the beginning of the word Lord are
44:54
going to be Jehovah Jehovah back-to-back for the Lord did
44:58
bring mulich into the land north and Lehi into the land S.
45:02
So they're stitching this unity together in a wonderful little
45:07
chiastic harmony. And it's, it's not just a
45:11
literary thing either, because as it says, you know, they, they
45:15
can buy and sell and get gain wherever they want and the
45:20
precious ores are exchanged and they flourish.
45:24
And it's not just the men doing the work in the first part of
45:27
the chapter. It appears to be mostly the men.
45:29
Well, that's at least what they recorded.
45:31
I'm sure the women were working much harder.
45:35
Well, and what it says is, and they did multiply and wax
45:38
exceeding strong in the land, and their women did toll and
45:42
spin, and did make all manner of cloth, and fine twined linen,
45:48
and cloth of every kind, to clothe their nakedness.
45:50
They found materials there that they can spin and and weave and
45:54
yeah, yeah, constantly constant. So this this unifying of the
45:59
people, also recognizes the importance of gender.
46:04
Together, everyone's working together.
46:06
Everyone is contributing to this great year of of peace and
46:12
harmony. Now again, how does this prepare
46:15
for the coming of Christ? Well, it shows that through
46:18
conversion you can actually have peace and happiness.
46:24
Now it won't last in the book of Helaman.
46:26
No it doesn't. But I feel like the key here is
46:29
to live the law of consecration. You know, they are able to take
46:33
care of the poor and needy and clothe one another and share
46:36
lands. And when we take care of those
46:40
in need is when we're ready for Christ's coming.
46:42
And you're absolutely right. And what happens after Christ's
46:45
coming in Fourth Nephi, they share all things and have things
46:50
in common. And so this little episode is
46:53
just a foretaste of what can come, what will come with the
46:58
coming of Christ, which again, as we said, is what this book of
47:03
Helaman is helping us to get ready for.
47:05
And one more thing to say about this report of the 64th year of
47:09
the reign of judges. We've gone over the fact that
47:12
it's it's a complete chiasm. It's a beautiful little passage.
47:16
It's actually, I think one of the best examples of a strong
47:21
chiasm where you look at all the different criteria that you
47:24
might want to ask, was this created consciously or was this
47:29
some? By happen chance.
47:30
Yeah, yeah, yeah. In this book, Chiasmus
47:33
State-of-the-art, Neil Rapley put together a very interesting
47:38
chapter that I recommend to everyone who's interested in
47:41
chiasmus on criteria that people use in deciding whether a
47:46
passage is chiastic at all, and is it a really good one or not.
47:51
Yeah. How do you rate these?
47:52
Yeah. Which one is the good, better,
47:54
best? There are different approaches
47:56
taken by different scholars. Some have seven or eight
47:59
criteria. I ended up with 15 criteria, and
48:06
some of them are like objectivity.
48:10
Are the parallels really objectively there?
48:12
And the ones that we're showing, the words are so often precise
48:16
that satisfies the objectivity criteria.
48:20
Purpose. Is there a purpose in why this
48:23
is being done? Why would an author use
48:26
chiasmus? It's to emphasize something very
48:28
important to them. And we can see here what's the
48:31
purpose, what's the center of this chiasm?
48:34
It's bringing the the Lord had brought these two people into
48:38
this land, the north and the South.
48:40
And it's the Lord who has done this.
48:44
That's a purpose. And the purpose sometimes allows
48:46
you to see it grow. As you read the coming into the
48:49
center and the coming out. You can see the development
48:52
logically of the point as well. Another one of my criteria are
48:56
boundaries. OK, Do you have a real clear
48:59
beginning and a clear ending? And in this case, this is the
49:03
entire annual report for the 64th year of the reign of
49:07
judges. OK.
49:08
That's a pretty good boundary. It's a annual report length.
49:12
The longer it is, the stronger it gets if it has all of these
49:16
other characteristics because you can often get just a ABBA
49:21
that's short. But if you got six points going
49:24
in and six, yeah. And.
49:25
What we have here is a relatively long use of it.
49:30
It's not the longest, but we do have a very high density that
49:35
most of the words play a role in, in the, in this and so on.
49:42
So we go down through these, these criteria, the balance, how
49:47
evenly does the, the passage split between the 1st and the
49:51
second-half? And here are the, the balance is
49:54
almost perfect and, and so on. And I, I end with criteria like
50:01
compatibility. Is it compatible with the
50:04
author's overall style? And here we have, you know, a
50:09
grandson, a great grandson of Alma.
50:13
And so it's compatible with the family lore and the family
50:16
tradition. And I do see more coming out of
50:19
Nephi than I did his father. You know, Nephi seems to go back
50:24
a little bit more to his grandfather and great
50:25
grandfathers. And of course, King Benjamin was
50:28
quoted and they were told. Remember the words of King
50:32
Benjamin. And there's no better chiastic
50:34
writer than Benjamin. So all of this becomes, I think,
50:39
a very strong case for seeing this chiasm in Helaman chapter 6
50:45
as a a real gem. And and I'll tell one of others
50:50
little story because, you know, these these discoveries don't
50:53
just come out of nowhere. Say, when did I find this one in
51:00
Helaman Chapter 6 and why? Well, it was when I was a Bishop
51:04
of a BYU student ward back in the 1980s, and I'd only been on
51:09
the faculty for about 5 years. Every Tuesday night was Bishop
51:15
interview down in the apartments, and I usually had a
51:19
pretty good schedule of temple recommends and other interviews
51:23
that needed to be done. And I had one person on the list
51:27
who hadn't come, didn't show up. And I thought, well, I'll wait a
51:34
few minutes. Maybe he'll come.
51:36
I think it's important. Maybe he's delayed.
51:39
I don't know why he hasn't come. I thought, I'll just wait.
51:43
No, I said. I'm going to be teaching a class
51:45
tomorrow and I'm going to be talking about helium in chapters
51:48
5:00 and 6:00. I might as well read it right
51:51
now. I will read this.
51:53
Well, I'm not interrupted by anything.
51:55
And I started reading Helium in six.
51:59
And as I read through this, I said, this is really good.
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Why hadn't I seen this before? But you know, in those days we,
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we haven't done a thorough search, of course.
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There's still more to be found. And so there are discoveries
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that are important. And as I sat there, I worked
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through it and I got all the little points and saw details
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that, that yes, this is the, the real deal.
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And then I, I looked and I'd been working on that for maybe
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20 minutes and he still hadn't shown up.
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And I thought, I'm going to wait for just a minute more.
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And he came in and when he sat down, of course, he was very
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apologetic and said, I'm so sorry I was delayed, you know,
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but there was a problem and he was hesitant to come.
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And he had a, a spiritual problem that he really wanted to
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talk about. So it was good that I had been
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there. I told him after we went through
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the interview, I have something to tell you.
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There was a reason why you were delayed today.
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I needed to see something that I hadn't seen before.
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And if you hadn't come late, I wouldn't have found this.
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So this is your chiasm. And I explained it to him.
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He didn't know all about it, but he could see the the center
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point. And he walked out of that
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interview just glowing that the Lord had known that he would be
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coming. And the timing of the miracle is
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part of God's great plan. It is, and these messages go to
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our heart and meet our needs in our particular situation.
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Amen. Amen.
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So I think we can end this little lesson where we began
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with an understanding of how this this book has been put
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together to prepare us for the coming of Jesus Christ.
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There are so many good lessons to be learned here.
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And these are real life situations that come out of
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difficult situations, out of remembering, out of reading the
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Scriptures after serving. They come after a lot of trial
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and trouble, affliction. These descendants of Alma, they
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know this and we know it too. And so it's wonderful to be able
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to have this record. I treasure things like this in
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my life and am blessed by the Book of Mormon every day.
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We testify of its truthfulness. In the name of Jesus Christ,
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Amen. Amen.