18 But behold, I say unto you that if ye persist in your wickedness that your days shall not be prolonged in the land, for the Lamanites shall be sent upon you; and if ye repent not they shall come in a time when you know not, and ye shall be visited with utter destruction; and it shall be according to the fierce anger of the Lord.
19 For he will not suffer you that ye shall live in your iniquities, to destroy his people. I say unto you, Nay; he would rather suffer that the Lamanites might destroy all his people who are called the people of Nephi, if it were possible that they could fall into sins and transgressions, after having had so much light and so much knowledge given unto them of the Lord their God;
20 Yea, after having been such a highly favored people of the Lord; yea, after having been favored above every other nation, kindred, tongue, or people; after having had all things made known unto them, according to their desires, and their faith, and prayers, of that which has been, and which is, and which is to come;
21 Having been visited by the Spirit of God; having conversed with angels, and having been spoken unto by the voice of the Lord; and having the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and also many gifts, the gift of speaking with tongues, and the gift of preaching, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the gift of translation;
22 Yea, and after having been delivered of God out of the land of Jerusalem, by the hand of the Lord; having been saved from famine, and from sickness, and all manner of diseases of every kind; and they having waxed strong in battle, that they might not be destroyed; having been brought out of bondage time after time, and having been kept and preserved until now; and they have been prospered until they are rich in all manner of things—
Alma 9:18-22 (Emphasis mine)
Alma(2) declares that if they don’t repent, the Lamanites would attack them and destroy them all. He goes on to explain why. They had received much from God, yet turned away from him. He lists numerous items:
- · They have been given much light and knowledge.
- · They were highly favored of the Lord.
- · They were favored above all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people.
- · They had all things made known to them according to their desires.
- · They had been visited by the Spirit of God.
- · They had conversed with angels.
- · They had been spoken to by the Lord.
- · They had the spirit of prophecy and the spirit of revelation.
- · They had received many gifts.
- · They had been delivered of God from Jerusalem.
- · They had been saved from famine, sickness, and diseases.
- · They were strong in battle.
- · They had been brought out of the bondage time after time.
- · They had prospered until they were rich.
This is quite a list. The Lord had been great to the people of Nephi, yet these people have turned the back and ignored all this. They believed they owed nothing to the Lord.
In this set of scriptures, we gain some insight to Mormon’s approach to editing his plates.
“Mormon reinforced this reading by framing the destruction within a prophecy. His editorial summary included the observation, ‘Their great city [was destroyed], which they said God could not destroy, because of its greatness. But behold, in one day it was left desolate’ (16:9-10). Here Mormon was referring to an exchange that took place at the story's beginning. There the people of Ammonihah had rejected Alma's message with the words, ‘We will not believe thy words if thou shouldst prophesy that this great city should be destroyed in one day.’ Mormon there commented, ‘Now they knew not that God could do such marvelous works, for they were a hard-hearted and a stiffnecked people"’(Alma 9:4-5; see also the predictions at Alma 9:18; 10:23). Clearly, Ammonihah's destruction was a marvelous work of God manifesting his divine power and justice.” [1] (Emphasis mine)
Once again, we get more insight to what happened to Lehi’s party as they travelled in the wilderness of the Arabian peninsula.
“It is important to add a few words about the kinds of vicissitudes that the party met along the way. Nephi said of their troubles that ‘we did ... wade through much affliction,’ afterward characterizing the hardships less vividly as ‘afflictions and much difficulty; (1 Nephi 17:1, 6). Later Book of Mormon authors who had consulted the full set of records added important details, speaking of the family's suffering from both ‘famine’ and ‘all manner of diseases’ while crossing the desert (Mosiah 1:17; Alma 9:22).
“These later Book of Mormon authors, who enjoyed access to the fuller account of the party's journey, preserve recollections of troubles that differ markedly from details in Nephi's rather full narrative of the trip from Jerusalem to Nahom. For instance, King Benjamin recalls that at certain points along the way party members ‘were smitten with famine’ (Mosiah 1:17). To be sure, the family had suffered from lack of food during the trip from the first camp to Nahom (see 1 Nephi 16:17–32, 39). But the word famine sounds a more ominous note. Moreover, Alma also writes of Lehi's party suffering ‘from famine’ as well as ‘from sickness, and all manner of diseases’ (Alma 9:22).” [2] (Emphasis mine)
[1] Mormon as Editor. Grant R. Hardy, Maxwell Institute, accessed October 16, 2011.
[2] New Light from Arabia on Lehi's Trail, S. Kent Brown, Maxwell Institute, accessed October 16, 2011.
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