Helaman 10

(All of my own thoughts are in red type 7/20 green6/21 9/22 Brown 11/23.) 

CHAPTER 10

The Lord gives Nephi the sealing power—He is empowered to bind and loose on earth and in heaven—He commands the people to repent or perish—The Spirit carries him from multitude to multitude. About 21–20 B.C.

  1 And it came to pass that there arose a division among the people, insomuch that they divided hither and thither and went their ways, I wish that were the normal pattern...just go your own ways...leaving Nephi alone, as he was standing in the midst of them.
  2 And it came to pass that Nephi went his way towards his own house pondering upon the things which the Lord had shown unto him. New things? or concerning the murder of the chief judge? or the impending judgments?
  3 And it came to pass as he was thus pondering—being much cast down because of the wickedness of the people of the Nephites, their secret works of darkness, and their murderings, and their plunderings, and all manner of iniquities—and it came to pass as he was thus pondering in his heart, behold, a ^avoice came unto him Take time to ponder....saying:
  4 ^aBlessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with ^bunwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine ^cown life, but hast sought my ^dwill, and to keep my commandments. We must not fear man or death in obeying the Lord.
  5 And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that ^aall things shall be ^bdone unto thee according to thy ^cword, for thou shalt ^dnot ask that which is contrary to my will. Is this is "calling and election"? If it is, I should not think I will receive my own without similar obedience and testing...
  6 Behold, thou art Nephi, and I am God. Behold, I declare it unto thee in the presence of mine angels, that ye shall have power over this people, and shall smite the earth with ^afamine, and with pestilence, and destruction, according to the wickedness of this people. Why do people see our current drought/looming famine as anything but judgement from God because of our wickedness? Do famines always come at the "word" of prophets?
  7 Behold, I give unto you ^apower, that whatsoever ye shall ^bseal on earth shall be sealed in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven; and thus shall ye have power among this people.
  8 And thus, if ye shall say unto this temple it shall be rent in twain, it shall be done.
  9 And if ye shall say unto this ^amountain, Be thou cast down and become smooth, it shall be done.
 10 And behold, if ye shall say that God shall smite this people, it shall come to pass.
 11 And now behold, I command you, that ye shall go and declare unto this people, that thus saith the Lord God, who is the Almighty: Except ye repent ye shall be smitten, even unto ^adestruction. Still waiting for this from our prophet. But it seems like his focus is gaining the friendship of the world. Would feel a little like back-stabbing to turn around and tell everyone they are being wicked and need to repent. But surely this must come! I also love that he clearly states "thus saith the Lord God". We should not be unclear when man speaks for God...
 12 And behold, now it came to pass that when the Lord had spoken these words unto Nephi, he did stop and did not go unto his own house, but did return unto the multitudes who were scattered about upon the face of the land, and began to declare unto them the word of the Lord which had been spoken unto him, concerning their destruction if they did not repent. He didn't even go home first...went immediately. Such obedience!
 13 Now behold, ^anotwithstanding that great miracle which Nephi had done in telling them concerning the death of the chief judge, they did harden their hearts and did not hearken unto the words of the Lord. What? Will we see this in our day? Pres. Nelson said we will yet see great manifestations that Jesus is the head of this church. Will it be for this same purpose? To gather in the righteous and prepare the wicked for destruction without excuse?
 14 Therefore Nephi did declare unto them the word of the Lord, saying: Except ye repent, thus saith the Lord, ye shall be ^asmitten even unto destruction.
 15 And it came to pass that when Nephi had declared unto them the word, behold, they did still harden their hearts and would not hearken unto his words; therefore they did ^arevile against him, and did seek to lay their hands upon him that they might cast him into prison.
 16 But behold, the power of God was with him, and they could not take him to cast him into prison, for he was taken by the Spirit and ^aconveyed away out of the midst of them. Sounds like the very same thing that happened to Jesus when they sought to take him and kill him. 
 17 And it came to pass that thus he did go forth in the Spirit, from multitude to multitude, declaring the word of God, even until he had declared it unto them all, or sent it forth among all the people. Apparently they could not stop him...
 18 And it came to pass that they would not hearken unto his words; and there began to be contentions, insomuch that they were divided against themselves and began to slay one another with the sword. weird. What were they divided about if they all would not listen? What happened to those that first spoke out in support of Nephi? Did they "turn"? Or are they the ones that the others are divided against? Why do people kill each other over differences in beliefs? 
 19 And thus ended the seventy and first year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi.

Mosiah 9

(All of my own thoughts are in red type 6/20 Green 3/21 orange 6/22 Brown 2023

The Record of Zeniff—An account of his people, from the time they left the land of Zarahemla until the time that they were delivered out of the hands of the Lamanites. Apparently Mormon thought it was important that we know what happened to these people after they left Zarahemla. Look for patterns and lessons. It may not just be about the story-line...

Comprising chapters 9 through 22.

Chapter 9

Zeniff leads a group from Zarahemla to possess the land of Lehi-Nephi—The Lamanite king permits them to inherit the land—There is war between the Lamanites and Zeniff’s people. About 200–187 B.C.

  1 ^aI, ^bZeniff, having been taught in all the language of the Nephites, assuming that means spiritual language and temporal... and having had a knowledge of the land of ^cNephi, or of the land of our fathers’ first inheritance, If this is the land Nephi established after his separation from Laman and Lemuel, then it’s been about 400 years since Lehi left Jerusalem and having been sent as a spy among the Lamanites that I might spy out their forces, that our army might come upon them and destroy them—but when I saw that which was good among them I was desirous that they should not be destroyed. Sometimes we are too quick to paint people with one broad stroke. We need to look for the good in all people. What was it that he saw that was “good” among them? And is it a righteous desire anyway, to spy on your enemy so that you can attack them instead of preparing to only defend if attacked?
  2 Therefore, I contended with my brethren in the wilderness, for I would that our ruler should make a treaty with them; but he being an austere "stern; cold; strict; uncompromising_ and a blood-thirsty man commanded that I should be slain; I get so frustrated/outraged with this belief that people who disagree with you should be silenced by death! but I was rescued by the shedding of much blood; Civil war. That is what this belief leads to, because you have to defend yourself from being put to death for your beliefs! for father fought against father, and brother against brother, until the greater number of our army was destroyed in the wilderness; and we returned, those of us that were spared, to the land of Zarahemla, to relate that tale to their wives and their children. If they left wives and children, surely they had plans to return. So my theory they didn’t make a map to be able to return should be incorrect. Maybe it was the length of time that had passed that made the map either hard to read, or it was lost... Seems silly to fight over not killing people and just end up killing each other instead
  3 And yet, I being ^aover-zealous to inherit the land of our fathers, Does this over-zealous belief go all the way back to Abraham and the promise of lands for an eternal inheritance? He must have known that other people now lived there. Was he just going to go in and force them to leave because it was the land of 'his inheritance'? Remember it had been several hundred years...collected as many as were desirous to go up to possess the land, and started again on our ^bjourney into the wilderness to go up to the land; but we were smitten with famine and sore afflictions; for we were slow to remember the Lord our God. We need to recognize the tie to physical famine and afflictions to our being slow to remember God. Especially when we are in the midst of prosperity. When our famine starts, who will preach repentance? 
  4 Nevertheless, after many days’ wandering in the wilderness we pitched our tents in the place where our brethren were slain, which was near to the land of our fathers. It sounds like they were able to retrace their steps.   
  5 And it came to pass that I went again with four of my men into the city, in unto the king, that I might know of the disposition of the king, and that I might know if I might go in with my people and possess the land in peace. Perhaps this "right of inheritance" was so ingrained in the culture, he believed he could just go in and make his claim...
  6 And I went in unto the king, and he covenanted with me that I might possess the ^aland of Lehi-Nephi, and the land of Shilom.
  7 And he also commanded that his people should depart out of the land, and I and my people went into the land that we might possess it. Wow. The king agreed and just like that, he made the people leave their homes and give it to this stranger? Sometimes we are too trusting. They should have known that “if it’s too good to be true...it probably is...” And how did the people who had to leave feel? Where did they go? Surely this was done by force of the king
  8 And we began to build buildings, and to repair the walls of the city, yea, even the walls of the city of Lehi-Nephi, and the city of Shilom. Why did it need repaired?
  9 And we began to till the ground, yea, even with all manner of ^aseeds, with seeds of corn, and of wheat, and of barley, and with neas, and with sheum, and with seeds of all manner of fruits; and we did begin to multiply and prosper in the land.
 10 Now it was the cunning and the craftiness of king ^aLaman, to ^bbring my people into bondage, that he yielded up the land that we might possess it. Why was Zeniff so gullible? Was it because he "saw the good among them" and believed too much that they weren't as bad as he was taught? Had he not experienced wars and hatred from them growing up?
 11 Therefore it came to pass, that after we had dwelt in the land for the space of twelve years that king Laman began to grow uneasy, lest by any means my people should ^awax strong in the land, and that they could not overpower them and bring them into bondage.
 12 Now they were a ^alazy and an ^bidolatrous people; You know a people are being deceived by Satan when they have no desire to work and they worship other Gods/things So remind me what was “good” that he saw? Was it pretty women? Good land? therefore they were desirous to bring us into bondage, that they might glut themselves with the labors of our hands; yea, that they might feast themselves upon the flocks of our fields.
 13 Therefore it came to pass that king Laman began to stir up his people that they should contend with my people; therefore there began to be wars and contentions in the land. This is happening right now. The 'hidden kings' of the world are stirring people up to fight with one another hoping that it will lead to war. We need to be on guard to all the ways the Satan can work through others to try to "stir" us up to contention. Don't fall for it!
 14 For, in the thirteenth year of my reign in the land of Nephi, away on the south of the land of ^aShilom, when my people were watering and ^bfeeding their flocks, and tilling their lands, a numerous host of Lamanites came upon them and began to slay them, and to take off their flocks, and the corn of their fields. Their plan to bring them in to bondage began with just murdering and taking their stuff.
 15 Yea, and it came to pass that they fled, all that were not overtaken, even into the city of Nephi, and did call upon me for protection.
 16 And it came to pass that I did arm them with bows, and with arrows, with swords, and with cimeters, and with clubs, and with slings, and with all manner of weapons which we could invent, and I and my people did go forth against the Lamanites to battle. Was Zeniff "surprised"? Maybe for 12 years he thought, "see...these Lamanites aren't that bad? We've lived near them for 12 years with zero problems..."
 17 Yea, in the ^astrength of the Lord did we go forth to battle against the Lamanites; for I and my people did cry mightily to the Lord that he would ^bdeliver us out of the hands of our enemies, for we were awakened to a remembrance of the deliverance of our fathers. Perhaps Gods purpose in allowing the Lamanites to come upon them was so they would be stirred up to a remembrance of His goodness and mercy and their dependence upon Him.
 18 And God did ^ahear our cries and did answer our prayers; and we did go forth in his might; yea, we did go forth against the Lamanites, and in one day and a night we did slay three thousand and forty-three; we did slay them even until we had driven them out of our land. This was a miraculous amount of mercy given to them. God does not require that we be perfect before He grants us mercy. When we repent, he immediately blesses you. Have faith in this.
 19 And I, myself, with mine own hands, did help to bury their dead. And behold, to our great sorrow and lamentation, two hundred and seventy-nine of our brethren were slain. Now they know the Lamanites aren't as "good" as they thought.