Chapter 8
Tempests, earthquakes,
fires, whirlwinds, and physical upheavals attest the crucifixion of Christ—Many
people are destroyed—Darkness covers the land for three days—Those who remain
bemoan their fate. About A.D. 33–34
The Nephites were a wicked people. They had killed the prophets and turned away
from God. The Gadianton Robbers were
spread throughout the land. There are
some righteous people, but they are a distinct minority.
Mormon’s tone suddenly changes. There is a sudden, unexpected change in his
writings. He testifies as to the
truthfulness of the record and the character of the author of the record. “[W]e know
our record to be true, for behold, it was a just man who did keep the record—for
he truly did many miracles in the name of Jesus” (3 Nephi 8:1).
The miracles he did are recorded in the record.
And
in the name of Jesus did he cast out devils and unclean spirits; and even his brother
did he raise from the dead, after he had been stoned and suffered death by the
people.
And
the people saw it, and did witness of it, and were angry with him because of
his power; and he did also do many more miracles, in the sight of the people,
in the name of Jesus.
3 Nephi 7:19 - 20
The only way he could have done these miracles in Christ’s
name was because “he [was] cleansed every
whit from his iniquity” (3 Nephi 8:1).
If there were no mistaken dates in the record, we have
arrived at the 34th year after the signs of Christ’s birth were
given. The people looked for the signs
that he been prophesied that there would be three days of darkness throughout
the land.
And
the God of our fathers, who were led out of Egypt, out of bondage, and also
were preserved in the wilderness by him, yea, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob, yieldeth himself, according to the words of the angel, as
a man, into the hands of wicked men, to be lifted up, according to the words of
Zenock, and to be crucified, according to the words of Neum, and to be buried
in a sepulchre, according to the words of Zenos, which he spake concerning the
three days of darkness, which should be a sign given of his death unto those
who should inhabit the isles of the sea, more especially given unto those who
are of the house of Israel.
1 Nephi 19:10
But
behold, as I said unto you concerning another sign, a sign of his death,
behold, in that day that he shall suffer death the sun shall be darkened and
refuse to give his light unto you; and also the moon and the stars; and there
shall be no light upon the face of this land, even from the time that he shall
suffer death, for the space of three days, to the time that he shall rise again
from the dead.
And
he said unto me that while the thunder and the lightning lasted, and the
tempest, that these things should be, and that darkness should cover the face
of the whole earth for the space of three days.
Helaman 14:20, 27
The Nephites, being the Nephites, found a way to turn this
event into disputes among the people.
Many signs had been given, but they still argued among themselves. And,
when the Nephites argue, bad things follow.
In the first month of the thirty-fourth year, there was a
great storm, unlike any storm they had ever seen. There was so much thunder, “that it did shake the whole earth as if it
was about to divide asunder” (3 Nephi 8:6). Russell Ball writes, “This apparently is the
first time the Nephites had experienced earthquakes approaching this intensity,
and they seem to have assumed incorrectly that thunder was the cause of the
earthquakes … The thunder and the shaking
of the ground were actually independent, both caused by severe seismic events.”[1]
Nephi1 quoted the prophet Zenos. “For
thus spake the prophet: The Lord God surely shall visit all the house of Israel
at that day, some with his voice, because of their righteousness, unto their
great joy and salvation, and others with the thunderings and the lightnings of
his power, by tempest, by fire, and by smoke, and vapor of darkness, and by the
opening of the earth, and by mountains which shall be carried up” (1 Nephi
19:11).
Matthew recorded occurrences in Jerusalem. “Now
from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour … Jesus,
when he had cried again with a loud voice [JST Matt. 27:54 ... a loud voice, saying,
Father, it is finished, thy will is done, yielded up...] yielded up the ghost. And,
behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain [GR torn into two pieces] from
the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;” (Matthew
27:45, 50 - 51).
In addition to the thunder and earthquakes, “there were exceedingly sharp lightnings,
such as never had been known in all the land” (3 Nephi 8:7). John Tvedtnes writes about the destruction.
The great destructions which took
place among the Nephites and Lamanites at the time of Christ's crucifixion can
be likened to the effects of hurricanes and tornadoes as well as tectonic
activity such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The cataclysm began with a
"great storm, such an one as never had been known in all the land,"
followed by "a great and terrible tempest" and "terrible
thunder" that "did shake the whole earth as if it was about to divide
asunder. And there were exceedingly sharp lightnings, such as never had been
known in all the land" (3 Nephi 8:5–7).[2]
Mormon details the destruction.
·
The city of Zarahemla caught fire.
o
Hugh Nibley writes:
§
"And the city of Zarahemla did take
fire" (3 Nephi 8:8). It would appear from the account of the Nephite
disaster that the main cause of the destruction was fire in the cities (3 Nephi
9:8–11), which agrees with all the major statistics through the centuries; for
"earthquakes are largely a city problem," mainly because the first
heavy shock invariably sets fires all over town: in the Japanese experience
"wind-driven flames were shown to be more dangerous than the greatest
earthquake."[3]
- The city of Moroni sank into the depths of the sea and all were drowned.
- The city of Moronihah was covered by earth and, where the city was, there was a mountain.
o
Mormon, writing about the Lord, wrote, “Behold, if he say unto this mountain—Be
thou raised up, and come over and fall upon that city, that it be buried
up—behold it is done” (Helaman 12:17).
o
Hugh Nibley describes similar situations.
§
In September 1538 during a tremendous storm and
tidal wave a volcanic mountain suddenly appeared and covered a town near
Puzzuoli on the Bay of Naples; ever since, the mountain has been known as Monte
Nuove, or New Mountain. The carrying up of the earth
upon the city suggests the overwhelming of Pompeii by vast heaps of volcanic
ash or the deep burial of Herculaneum under lava in 79 A.D.[4]
- There was great destruction in the land southward.
[1] An
Hypothesis concerning the Three Days of Darkness among the Nephites, Russell
H. Ball, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed November
15, 2012.
[2] Historical
Parallels to the Destruction at the Time of the Crucifixion, John A.
Tvedtnes, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed November
15, 2012.
[3] Some
Fairly Foolproof Tests, Hugh Nibley, Provo, Utah: Maxwell
Institute, accessed November 15, 2012.
[4] Some
Fairly Foolproof Tests, Hugh Nibley, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute,
accessed November 15, 2012.
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