Chapter 5
The Nephites repent
and forsake their sins—Mormon writes the history of his people and declares the
everlasting word to them—Israel shall be gathered in from her long dispersion.
About A.D. 22–26
The war has ended and things are back to normal. The Nephites were keeping God’s commandments
and listening to his leaders. No one doubted in the words of the prophets nor
that their words would be fulfilled.
They looked for the signs and they knew Christ had
come. They were looking for the other
signs which were prophesied. They had turned away from their sins and
diligently served God.
After the war, the robbers not killed were taken
prisoners. The word of God was preached
to the robbers in prison. Those that
accepted God’s word, repent of their sins, and made a covenant they would not
murder were set free. “And they granted
unto those robbers who had entered into a covenant to keep the peace of the
land, who were desirous to remain Lamanites, lands, according to their numbers,
that they might have, with their labors, wherewith to subsist upon; and thus
they did establish peace in all the land” (3 Nephi 6:3).
Those that refused to covenant not to murder were punished
to the fullest extent of the law. “Wherefore, for this cause, that my covenants
may be fulfilled which I have made unto the children of men, that I will do
unto them while they are in the flesh, I must needs destroy the secret works of
darkness, and of murders, and of abominations” (2 Nephi 10:15).
This put an end to the secret combinations, for the time.
Peace lasted for three years. Many great
and wonderful things came about. So much so “they cannot all be written in this
book; yea, this book cannot contain even a hundredth part of what was done
among so many people in the space of twenty and five years” (3 Nephi 5:8).
“The prophetic utterances and their historical fulfillment
are complementary parts of the same process of showing to God’s children (1)
the way that they may return to him through the gospel of Jesus Christ and (2)
the consequences for their souls if they do not. For Mormon, this purpose seems
to be far more compelling than anything else his record might have accomplished.
In fact, circumstances, personalities, and events that do not help explicate
this revealed plan and other exalted purposes are treated as extraneous,
trivial, or otherwise unworthy to be preserved in this official record. Thus
Mormon includes in his abridgment less than one one-hundredth of the historical
information available to him.”[1]
How did Mormon select what he put in his abridgement?
“Mormon said several times that his abridgment could not
treat more than a fraction of the historical material found on the large plates
of Nephi (Words of Mormon 1:5; Jacob 3:13–14; 4:1; 3 Nephi 5:8; 26:6).
How, then, did he make his selection of materials among the records he set out
to abridge? His primary criterion comes through repeatedly in his book. The aim
was to ensure that his readers, especially the future inhabitants of the
American promised land and particularly Lehi’s descendants, grasp the
significance for them of the promise and prophecy given to father Lehi: ‘Inasmuch
as ye will keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land’ (Jarom 1:9). Actually,
it is Amaron’s negative version of Lehi’s dictum to which Mormon gives prime
attention: ‘Inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall not prosper
in the land’ (Omni 1:6). Even the long sections on warfare emphasize that
theme; overwhelmingly, Mormon’s writings depict the Nephites poised on the edge
of destruction due to their failure to meet the condition of Lehi’s law of
survival. He uses little of his narrative to describe people’s happiness and
prosperity. Details of the society in the era of peace following the appearance
of Christ among them might interest us, but that was not the point he wanted to
underline in his history.”[2]
[1] Prophecy
and History: Structuring the Abridgment of the Nephite Records, Steven L.
Olsen, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 15/1 (2006): 28-29.
[2] Mormon’s
Sources, John L. Sorenson, Journal of
the Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture 20/2 (2011): 12.
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