War continued. The Lamanites prepared to attach the city
Teancum.
The Nephites defeated the Lamanites and they withdrew.
Having won, they boasted about their greatness and strength. They attacked the
city Desolation and defeated the Lamanites there. A great price was paid by
both sides. Each side lost thousands of men.
Two years have passed. The Lamanites attacked the Nephites. Mormon
tells us the Nephites refused to repent, explaining they “persisted in their
wickedness continually” (Mormon 4:10).
11 And it is impossible for the tongue to describe, or for
man to write a perfect description of the horrible scene of the blood and
carnage which was among the people, both of the Nephites and of the Lamanites;
and every heart was hardened, so that they delighted in the shedding of blood
continually.
In an Epistle to Moroni, Mormon described the Nephites. “For
so exceedingly do they anger that it seemeth me that they have no fear of
death; and they have lost their love, one towards another; and they thirst after
blood and revenge continually…
“And if they perish it will be like unto the Jaredites,
because of the wilfulness of their hearts, seeking for blood and revenge” (Moroni
9:5, 23).
The Nephites and Lamanites were so brutal in their wars,
Mormon wrote “it is impossible for the tongue to describe, or for man to write
a perfect description of the horrible scene of the blood and carnage which was
among the people, both of the Nephites and of the Lamanites” (Mormon 4:11).
Both sides “delighted” in the continuous shedding of blood.
“[T]he Nephites of Mormon’s day did not fight the Lamanites
for a righteous cause. When they lost battles, they sorrowed, cursed God, and
died in rebellion against him (see Mormon 2:11-15). When they won, they boasted
in their own strength and swore revenge and destruction on the Lamanites (see
Mormon 3:9-16; 4:8, 15). Unlike their ancestors, they delighted in the shedding
of blood (see Mormon 4:10-11). Mormon urged them to stand and fight for their
families and homes (see Mormon 2:2324), but, because they remained
unrepentant, at one point he resigned in despair as their chief captain (see
Mormon 3:9-16).”[1]
Both sides were so depraved, Mormon explains there had never
been such a wicked people among the Nephites and the house of Israel. That is
saying something as there were times of great wickedness among the Nephites and
house of Israel.
The Lamanites successful took possession of the city
Desolation. The Nephites lost because they were outnumbered by the Lamanites.
The Lamanites attacked city Teancum and took the city. Some
inhabitants escaped, but many were taken prisoners. The Lamanites had become so
corrupted and vile, they took the women and children who their prisoners and
offered them as a human sacrifice to their idols and gods. They had become so
vile a people, they fell to the level of the house of Israel during Jeremiah’s
days. Remember, it was at this time the Lord led Lehi’s party to the new world.
“Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged [OR
alienated] this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom
neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have
filled this place with the blood of innocents;
“They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their
sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake
it, neither came it into my mind” (Jeremiah 19:4-5).
“Idolatry was considered a serious threat to Nephite faith
throughout Book of Mormon history. Jacob warns against it (2 Nephi 9:37), Enos
mentions it in passing (Enos 1:20), and it continued to be a threat to the
spirituality of the Church during the time of the judges (Alma 1:32; 31:1;
50:21; Helaman 6:31) and even after the time of Christ (Mormon 4:14, 21).”[2]
This so angered the Nephites, they attacked the Lamanites
with such force that the Lamanites were driven out of the land. Eight years of
peace followed.
The Lamanites attacked once again. The Nephites were
overpowered by the huge Lamanite army.
“[I]n 375 A.D. came the turning point. The Nephites lost
their strong places and were never again able to make a successful rally and
defense, “but began to be swept off by them [the Lamanites] even as a dew
before the sun” (Mormon 4:18).”[3]
The Lamanites attacked the city Desolation, routing the
Nephite army. ‘They fled to the city of Boaz only to be driven out of it ‘and
slaughtered with an exceedingly great slaughter” (Mormon 4:21). So they took to
headlong flight, ‘taking all the inhabitants with them, both in towns and
villages’ (Mormon 4:22).”
23 And now I, Mormon, seeing that the Lamanites were about
to overthrow the land, therefore I did go to the hill Shim, and did take up all
the records which Ammaron had hid up unto the Lord.
“In the 345th year after the birth of the Savior, Mormon
removed at least some of the plates of Nephi from the hill Shim (Mormon
2:16–17). He doesn’t tell us the extent of the plates he removed at this time,
but it is improbable that they were the full set of the ‘plates of Nephi,’
although he explicitly tells us that these were the very plates on which other
record keepers had written (v. 18)…
“We next see the full collection of plates in the 367th
year,1 when Mormon was forty-six. At that time he again retrieves plates from
the hill Shim because the land is being overrun by the Lamanites (Mormon 4:23).
A plausible scenario, then, has Mormon writing as a chronicler or regular
record keeper for twenty-two years on the large plates of Nephi. He could not
compose his own book without access to the complete records from Shim—and he
apparently did not acquire them until the 367th year.”[4]
[1] Book of
Mormon Tribal Affiliation and Military Castes, John A. Tvedtnes, Maxwell
Institute website.
[2] A
More Perfect Priority?, Matthew Roper, Review
of Books on the Book of Mormon 6/1 (1994): 370.
[3] An
Approach to the Book of Mormon – Strategy for Survival, Hugh Nibley,
Maxwell Institute website.
[4] Mormon's
Editorial Method and Meta-Message, Brant A. Gardner, Maxwell Institute
website.
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