A year after the last battle, the Lamanites once again attacked.
Unfortunately, the army was so large, the defeated the Nephites. The swiftest
part of the army escaped the Nephites. The slower part of the Nephite army were
killed by the Lamanite army.
“The fitful but continual falling back of the Nephites
towards the north, which had now been going on for fifty-three years, became something like a rout, with speed the
only hope of survival.” (emphasis in original)[1]
Mormon had no desire to disturb “the souls of men in casting
before them such an awful scene of blood and carnage as was laid before mine
eyes” (Mormon 5:8). Nevertheless, the
hidden things will be revealed. Scriptures
tell us this will happen. “Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing
covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known” (Matthew
10:26).
“Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be
heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets [GR
places of privacy] shall be proclaimed upon the housetops” (Luke 12:3).
“And the rebellious shall be pierced with much sorrow; for
their iniquities shall be spoken upon the housetops, and their secret acts
shall be revealed” (D&C 1:3).
“And then shall the first angel again sound his trump in the
ears of all living, and reveal the secret acts of men, and the mighty works of
God in the first thousand years” (D&C 80:108).
“The principal authors of the Book of Mormon developed and
refined their literary and spiritual capacities through similar life
experiences. Both Nephi and Mormon received formal training early in life in
order to realize their extraordinary potential (see 1 Nephi 1:2; Mormon 1:2–6).
Both writers overcame considerable opposition and affliction in their personal
lives, some of which came as a direct result of their literary endeavors (e.g.,
2 Nephi 33:3; Mormon 5:8–24). These challenges deepened their spiritual
sensitivities and personal resolve to devote their full effort to record only ‘the
things of God’ (see 1 Nephi 6:3–4).”[2]
He knew the knowledge of events would come to the remnant of
the people and the Gentiles. “And [Ammaron] did hide them up unto the Lord,
that they might come again unto the remnant of the house of Jacob, according to
the prophecies and the promises of the Lord” (4 Nephi 1:49).
The people of the Book of Mormon would be scattered when it
came forth.
“But wo, saith the Father, unto the unbelieving of the
Gentiles—for notwithstanding they have come forth upon the face of this land,
and have scattered my people who are of the house of Israel; and my people who
are of the house of Israel have been cast out from among them, and have been
trodden under feet by them;
“And because of the mercies of the Father unto the Gentiles,
and also the judgments of the Father upon my people who are of the house of
Israel, verily, verily, I say unto you, that after all this, and I have caused
my people who are of the house of Israel to be smitten, and to be afflicted,
and to be slain, and to be cast out from among them, and to become hated by
them, and to become a hiss and a byword among them” (3 Nephi 16:8-9).
Mormon only records a small abridgement of the records he
keeps. “And now I, Mormon, make a record of the things which I have both seen
and heard, and call it the Book of Mormon” (Mormon 1:1).
He only gives the small amount of information in his record
because he was commanded to not include this in his record.
“When Mormon saw that his Nephite people were about to be
exterminated, around AD 380, he set out to ‘write a small abridgment’ (Mormon
5:9) of the tribe’s records. This project began at the last location where the
Nephites camped before they finally gathered to the land of Cumorah … Mormon’s
writing activity probably extended into the four-year period of preparation for
the final battle agreed to by the Lamanite commander, but in any case the
abridged history was completed and the archive was buried in the hill Cumorah
well before the final conflict (Mormon 6:6).”[3]
“[T]he ancient editors of the Book of Mormon made their
abridgment decisions based on their target audience—the modern reader. Mormon
expresses his desire ‘that a knowledge of these things must come unto the
remnant of these people, and also unto the Gentiles’ (Mormon 5:9). Specifically
addressing us, the latter-day readers, Moroni tells us, ‘Behold, I speak unto
you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath
shown you unto me’ (Mormon 8:35).”[4]
[1] An
Approach to the Book of Mormon – Strategy for Survival, Hugh Nibley,
Maxwell Institute website.
[2] Prophecy
and History: Structuring the Abridgment of the Nephite Records, Steven L.
Olsen, Maxwell Institute.
[3] Mormon's
Sources, John L. Sorenson, Maxwell Institute website.
[4] The Book
of Mormon Abridged Anew, Shirley S. Ricks, Maxwell Institute website.
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