Jacob 1 - That We Might Persuade Them to Come Unto Christ I'm taking an online economics class right now, which prompted me to think of the definition of economics in the context of the scriptures. Economics is the study of the allocation of scarce resources. In the case of Nephi and his successor Jacob, the plates upon which they engraved their record was a scarce resource. They were costly to make and difficult to engrave, and instilling a tradition of passing them through generations was surely cumbersome. Recognizing the great importance of spiritual things and the challenge of maintaining records, Nephi instructed Jacob to prioritize religious instruction saying, " if there were preaching which was sacred, or revelation which was great, or prophesying, that I should engraven the heads of them upon these plates, and touch upon them as much as it were possible, for Christ’s sake, and for the sake of our people" (Jacob 1:4). This priority was not only reflecte...
Internal political divisions left the Nephites vulnerable to external attack. A group of monarchists sought to overthrow the chief judge Pahoran after a failed bid to change Nephite law to allow for a monarchy. "Those who were desirous that Pahoran should be dethroned from the judgment-seat were called king-men, for they were desirous that the law should be altered in a manner to overthrow the free government and to establish a king over the land. And those who were desirous that Pahoran should remain chief judge over the land took upon them the name of freemen; and thus was the division among them, for the freemen had sworn or covenanted to maintain their rights and the privileges of their religion by a free government" (Alma 51:5-6). From this verse it seems that the freemen's primary consideration in opposing monarchy was to maintain religious freedom and basic rights. While not specifically addressed in the scriptures, I wonder what challenges Nephite society faced in protecting religious freedom and basic rights.
I've always been puzzled by the attention the Book of Mormon, particularly the book of Alma, pays to the political history and military strategy of the Nephites. At times I've come up empty handed from my attempts to find spiritual nourishment and personal relevance in these passages. And yet God deemed it essential to inspire His prophets to record them, preserved them over millennia, and then worked through the prophet Joseph Smith to unearth and translate them. Furthermore, ancient and modern prophets have testified that the Book of Mormon was written for our day. Perhaps the lesson for me is that our worldly, temporal affairs have spiritual importance. I've had similar thoughts about our professions and all that goes into creating and sustaining family life. These are more than jobs and housework. God intended us to spend the majority of our waking hours engaged in work that, on the surface, simply sustains temporal earthy needs. Just as there are spiritual lessons to be learned through our daily labor, what we collectively decide to do as communities and nations has eternal significance.
The timing of this political polarization proved to be particularly ruinous for the Nephites: "this was a critical time for such contentions to be among the people of Nephi; for behold, Amalickiah had again stirred up the hearts of the people of the Lamanites against the people of the Nephites" (Alma 51:9). The leader of the Lamanites saw an opportunity to attack while the Nephites were distracted. Many of the king men mutinied, "and it came to pass that [Moroni] sent a petition, with the voice of the people, unto the governor of the land, desiring that he should ... give him (Moroni) power to compel those dissenters to defend their country or to put them to death" (Alma 51:15). Because of the armed conflict required to put down the insurrection, thousands lost their lives in civil war and many of the Nephites' fortified cities fell into the hands of the Lamanites. "And it came to pass that the Nephites were not sufficiently strong in the city of Moroni; therefore Amalickiah did drive them, slaying many. And thus had the Lamanites obtained, by the cunning of Amalickiah, so many cities, by their numberless hosts, all of which were strongly fortified after the manner of the fortifications of Moroni; all of which afforded strongholds for the Lamanites" (Alma 51:23, 27).
The Lamanite victory over the Nephites further highlights a common theme in the Book of Mormon: the greatest threat to peace and prosperity is always unrighteousness and internal divisions, not an external enemy.
Application Questions:
What spiritual nourishment and personal relevance do you find in the political history of the Book of Mormon?
How do your political positions and civic engagement reflect your eternal values?
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