Helaman 13:21-28

²¹ Behold ye, the people of this great city, and hearken unto my words; yea, hearken unto the words which the Lord saith; for behold, he saith that ye are cursed because of your riches, and also are your riches cursed because ye have set your hearts upon them, and have not hearkened unto the words of him who gave them unto you.  ²² Ye do not remember the Lord your God in the things with which he hath blessed you, but ye do always remember your riches, not to thank the Lord your God for them; yea, your hearts are not drawn out unto the Lord, but they do swell with great pride, unto boasting, and unto great swelling, envyings, strifes, malice, persecutions, and murders, and all manner of iniquities.

²³ For this cause hath the Lord God caused that a curse should come upon the land, and also upon your riches, and this because of your iniquities. ²⁴ Yea, wo unto this people, because of this time which has arrived, that ye do cast out the prophets, and do mock them, and cast stones at them, and do slay them, and do all manner of iniquity unto them, even as they did of old time.

Helaman 13:21 – 24 (Emphasis mine)

Samuel calls on the people to listing the words of the Lord.  He tells them they “ye are cursed because of your riches, and also are your riches cursed because ye have set your hearts upon them, and have not hearkened unto the words of him who gave them unto you” (v. 21).  Remember, the Savior taught, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Luke 12:34).

Hugh Nibley explains why the people are cursed because of their riches.

"Ye are cursed because of your riches," says Samuel to the people of Zarahemla, "and also are your riches cursed." Why? For two reasons: (1) "because you have set your hearts upon them," and (2) you "have not hearkened unto the words of him who gave them unto you. Ye do not remember the Lord your God in the things with which he hath blessed you, but ye do always remember your riches, not to thank the Lord your God for them" (Helaman 13:21-22). They wanted the riches desperately, worked for them diligently, and were obsessed with them once they had them; but they simply would not accept them as gifts, but only as earnings.[1]

Samuel continues by warning them that, because they always remember their riches, their hearts swell with “great pride, unto boasting” (v. 22). 

The curse shall become, not only because of their riches, but also because of their iniquities.  They cast out the prophets, stone them, slay them, “and do all manner of iniquity unto them, even as they did of old time” (v. 24).  “And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes [HEB: early, promptly], and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy” (2 Chronicles 36:15 - 16).

Richard Rust writes:

In the beginning of the book, Laman and Lemuel represent the unbelievers who lament leaving "their gold, and their silver, and their precious things, to perish in the wilderness," or so they suppose (1 Nephi 2:11). On the other hand, Nephi is willing to give up the family's material treasures to try to obtain the heavenly treasure represented by the contents of the brass plates … Later, Nephi's younger brother Jacob admonishes the rich whose hearts are set upon their treasures that "their treasure shall perish with them" (2 Nephi 9:30). The same lesson is preached by Samuel the Lamanite. Treasures hidden up not unto the Lord are lost; the riches are cursed, says Samuel, "because ye have set your hearts upon them, and have not hearkened unto the words of him who gave them unto you" (Helaman 13:21). The capstone instruction is given by Christ himself to "lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven" rather than earthly treasures (3 Nephi 13:20).[2]

²⁵ And now when ye talk, ye say: If our days had been in the days of our fathers of old, we would not have slain the prophets; we would not have stoned them, and cast them out. ²⁶ Behold ye are worse than they; for as the Lord liveth, if a prophet come among you and declareth unto you the word of the Lord, which testifieth of your sins and iniquities, ye are angry with him, and cast him out and seek all manner of ways to destroy him; yea, you will say that he is a false prophet, and that he is a sinner, and of the devil, because he testifieth that your deeds are evil.

²⁷ But behold, if a man shall come among you and shall say: Do this, and there is no iniquity; do that and ye shall not suffer; yea, he will say: Walk after the pride of your own hearts; yea, walk after the pride of your eyes, and do whatsoever your heart desireth—and if a man shall come among you and say this, ye will receive him, and say that he is a prophet. ²⁸ Yea, ye will lift him up, and ye will give unto him of your substance; ye will give unto him of your gold, and of your silver, and ye will clothe him with costly apparel; and because he speaketh flattering words unto you, and he saith that all is well, then ye will not find fault with him.

Helaman 13:25 – 28 (Emphasis mine)

Oh, if they had lived in the past, they would have honored their prophets.  They would not have killed them, cast them out, stoned them.  We would have accepted them and their word, they claimed. 

Samuel told them that “ye are worse than they; for as the Lord liveth, if a prophet come among you and declareth unto you the word of the Lord, which testifieth of your sins and iniquities, ye are angry with him, and cast him out and seek all manner of ways to destroy him” (v. 26).  Stephen would use similar words when preaching to the Jews.  “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?  and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers” (Acts 7:51 - 52).

It’s amazing how wise prophets in the past are.  We love them and revere them.  Yet, many criticize and ignore our present prophet.  Many wish that he was a wise as those prophets were.  Sadly, too many of us are like the Nephites.  Past prophets are good; present day prophets are not so good!

Another is Samuel did not tell them what they wanted to hear.  “These people did not want to hear what was wrong with Zarahemla, only what was right with Zarahemla. Anyone who wanted their vote had only to avoid any mention of repentance and tell them that they had done no wrong, that Zarahemla was great because Zarahemla was good.”[3]  Paul saw this same problem.  “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:3 - 4).

---

[1] Work We Must, but the Lunch Is Free, Hugh Nibley, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed August 16, 2012.

[2] "That Jesus Is the Christ" – Typology, Richard Dilworth Rust, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed August 16, 2012.

[3] What is Zion? A Distant View, Hugh Nibley, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed August 16, 2012