Helaman 12

Hel. 12:1

1 And thus we can behold how false, and also the unsteadiness of the hearts of the children of men; yea, we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in him.

Textual: The artificial split between chapters 11 and 12 leave this verse without its logical antecedent. Mormon is referencing the return to iniquity of the Nephites. Mormon sets up a fairly simple formula, if men trust in God, the Lord will bless them. While this might seem overly simplistic, it is simply a restatement of Lehi’s foundational promise. That promise told Lehi’s descendants (a promise co-opted by the Nephites) that if they remained faithful they would prosper in the land. Mormon’s statement is the same. In different language, Mormon is reaffirming the most important covenant of the Nephite people. Of course he is doing so with great pain in his heart, because the people cannot see that this is a promise that will be fulfilled, and in their return to apostasy, they also return to the road to destruction.

Nevertheless, there was logic in the separation into chapters. All of chapter 12 is an inserted homiletic lament from Mormon. Mormon abandons his abridger’s hat and inserts himself into the text. We can gain a greater appreciation for Mormon’s literary task if we remember that Mormon saw direct parallels between the events he is describing prior to the time of Christ and the events of his own day. The unfaithfulness of a people who have been greatly blessed by the Lord is a pain that is very personal for Mormon. He feels it in the time he is writing, and he feels it about these forbearers of whom he is writing.

Hel. 12:2

2 Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One—yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity.

Mormon laments the blindness of his people. They have had greatness. They have had prosperity. They have had peace. Yet precisely at these best of times they forgot their God who had granted those gifts to them, and the hardened their hearts against him.

Hel. 12:3

3 And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him.

Mormon has structured his story to lead to this moral statement. The events we have seen have been presented to provide the documentation for this assertion, and now Mormon gives us the moral lesson in case we have not yet understood it. We may share with the Nephites the problem of forgetting our God when all is well, and remembering God when all is difficult.

“You've probably heard the saying, "There are no atheists in foxholes." Yup. When the crisis is on, watch people get religious. We must be sure that we are praying not only in the tough times, but when things are easy and life is good. Elder Howard W. Hunter said:

If prayer is only a spasmodic cry at the time of crisis, then it is utterly selfish, and we come to think of God as a repairman or a service agency to help us only in our emergencies. (John Bytheway, What I Wish I'd Known in High School: The Second Semester [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1995], 102.)

Hel. 12:4

4 O how foolish, and how vain, and how evil, and devilish, and how quick to do iniquity, and how slow to do good, are the children of men; yea, how quick to hearken unto the words of the evil one, and to set their hearts upon the vain things of the world!

Hel. 12:5

5 Yea, how quick to be lifted up in pride; yea, how quick to boast, and do all manner of that which is iniquity; and how slow are they to remember the Lord their God, and to give ear unto his counsels, yea, how slow to walk in wisdom's paths!

Literary: Mormon makes his points with contrasts. In particular we have the quick/slow, evil/good contrasts. These are paired so that the contrast is (quick-evil)/ (slow-good). The irony of the statement comes from the obvious understanding that what we really should be is the combination of (quick-good). Thus behind the explicit parallels there is the implicit contrast between what we are, and what we ought to be.

Hel. 12:6

6 Behold, they do not desire that the Lord their God, who hath created them, should rule and reign over them; notwithstanding his great goodness and his mercy towards them, they do set at naught his counsels, and they will not that he should be their guide.

Note the location of the problem. It is men who “do set at naught his counsels.” It is men who “will not that he should be their guide.” This is not a problem that may be laid at God’s feet. Man is the author of this difficulty because we refuse to do the simple things we ought to do. God offers, and we reject that offer.

Hel. 12:7

7 O how great is the nothingness of the children of men; yea, even they are less than the dust of the earth.

Hel. 12:8

8 For behold, the dust of the earth moveth hither and thither, to the dividing asunder, at the command of our great and everlasting God.

It is in this context of our inability to obey simple and beneficial commands from God that we are “nothing.” Mormon is paralleling language and a concept found in the discourse of Benjamin:

Mosiah 2:22-25

22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

23 And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.

24 And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?

25 And now I ask, can ye say aught of yourselves? I answer you, Nay. Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of the earth; yet ye were created of the dust of the earth; but behold, it belongeth to him who created you.

Both Benjamin and Mormon understand that the Lord stands ready to bless us if we but follow his commandments. Both of them use the imagery of the dust of the earth to make the point. We may expect that Mormon, who had clearly studied his sources, was aware of Benjamin, and probably used this imagery with a conscious reflection on this earlier and great prophet and king. The dust of the earth in Benjamin is part of the creation of God. God owns it; it is His. Were we truly His, we would obey. The dust obeys. God may command, and the dust “moveth hither and thither.” All we need to do is obey, and we cannot do that as well as the simple dust of the earth.

Hel. 12:9

9 Yea, behold at his voice do the hills and the mountains tremble and quake.

Hel. 12:10

10 And by the power of his voice they are broken up, and become smooth, yea, even like unto a valley.

Literary: Not only the dust, but all of creation. Mormon expands his analogy. He starts with the small things. He has dust moving “hither and thither.” Now he increases the size of the natural elements that obey God. Not just dust, but hills and mountains will symbolically move “hither and thither” when they “tremble and quake.” God speaks and nature listens.

Hel. 12:11

11 Yea, by the power of his voice doth the whole earth shake;

Hel. 12:12

12 Yea, by the power of his voice, do the foundations rock, even to the very center.

Cultural: We noted in the experience of Alma the Younger the important connection between the shaking ground and the voice of thunder. That imagery was used to signal the presence of a divine event in the conversion of Alma the Younger:

Mosiah 27:11

11 And as I said unto you, as they were going about rebelling against God, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto them; and he descended as it were in a cloud; and he spake as it were with a voice of thunder, which caused the earth to shake upon which they stood;

Mormon echoes these sentiments. He emphasizes the shaking earth and the powerful voice. In these things he is invoking cultural clues that stand as proofs of the presence of God. These are things that the people will understand as coming from God, and therefore strengthen Mormon’s declaration that God is able to control the dumb elements of nature.

Hel. 12:13

13 Yea, and if he say unto the earth—Move—it is moved.

Hel. 12:14

14 Yea, if he say unto the earth—Thou shalt go back, that it lengthen out the day for many hours—it is done;

Referent: Mormon is referencing a text from the brass plates:

Joshua 10:12-14

12 ¶ Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.

13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.

14 And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel.

Mormon alludes to the text in Joshua as another model for the control of the Lord over the elements of nature. Even the earth obeys in its orbit.

Hel. 12:15

15 And thus, according to his word the earth goeth back, and it appeareth unto man that the sun standeth still; yea, and behold, this is so; for surely it is the earth that moveth and not the sun.

Cultural: This verse is a fascinating addition to the text. Mormon is clearly referencing Joshua, but he notes that there is a problem in Joshua. Joshua’s text implies that the sun revolves around the earth. Thus in Joshua it is the sun and moon that stand still, because they are conceived as moving. Mormon understands that this is not correct. He feels the need to correct the statement to be more accurate.

The question is how Mormon knew such information if Joshua and many in the Old World did not. Mormon was living in a Mesoamerican world that was fascinated with astronomical observation. It is plausible that this information was available to him through the New World traditions, and Mormon is using the New World tradition to correct the Old World “error.”

Hel. 12:16

16 And behold, also, if he say unto the waters of the great deep—Be thou dried up—it is done.

Continuing the catalog of elements, Mormon includes water. As the source of all life, water is critical, and it is controlled by God.

Hel. 12:17

17 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.

This statement has reference to the destructions that will come when Christ arrives. Mormon knows that these conditions existed when Christ came, and so he references them. They serve a dual purpose in this lament. They stand as a demonstration of God’s power over nature, but also as a representation of the ultimate gift of God, that of the arrival of his Son.

Hel. 12:18

18 And behold, if a man hide up a treasure in the earth, and the Lord shall say—Let it be accursed, because of the iniquity of him who hath hid it up—behold, it shall be accursed.

Hel. 12:19

19 And if the Lord shall say—Be thou accursed, that no man shall find thee from this time henceforth and forever—behold, no man getteth it henceforth and forever.

Literary: This theme of a treasure that is lost in the earth is part of the sermon of Samuel the Lamanite which comes in the next chapter (Helaman 13:31-36). It is quite probable that Mormon’s reference here is to Samuel’s sermon which he would know that he is about to write. The theme of the slippery treasures will be examined at that point.

Hel. 12:20

20 And behold, if the Lord shall say unto a man—Because of thine iniquities, thou shalt be accursed forever—it shall be done.

God has control over the earth. He can command the earth and it obeys. He can command the ocean, and it will obey. He can curse inanimate objects, and they are cursed. We should not be surprised that he may also curse man, and “it shall be done.” Mormon is again highlighting the promise of destruction that comes with iniquity. God made the promise. He promised prosperity upon righteousness, and it happened. So too will the penalty for unrighteousness.

Hel. 12:21

21 And if the Lord shall say—Because of thine iniquities thou shalt be cut off from my presence—he will cause that it shall be so.

The ultimate curse is to be cut off from God. God has the power to invoke this ultimate curse on man. This comes not because of God’s desire, but “because of thine iniquities.”

Hel. 12:22

22 And wo unto him to whom he shall say this, for it shall be unto him that will do iniquity, and he cannot be saved; therefore, for this cause, that men might be saved, hath repentance been declared.

Mormon sees the Nephites in the position of bringing this curse upon themselves. They have the iniquities that make them ripe for destruction. This is a destruction that will come not only to the body, but to the soul. Nevertheless, this is not a situation without hope. There is always hope in repentance, and so Mormon ends his lament on the hopeful, the prayerful note, of repentance.

Hel. 12:23

23 Therefore, blessed are they who will repent and hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; for these are they that shall be saved.

Hel. 12:24

24 And may God grant, in his great fulness, that men might be brought unto repentance and good works, that they might be restored unto grace for grace, according to their works.

In spite of the destruction to body and soul that comes from disobedience, repentance can completely return man to God. Rather than be destroyed and condemned, man may be saved.

Hel. 12:25

25 And I would that all men might be saved. But we read that in the great and last day there are some who shall be cast out, yea, who shall be cast off from the presence of the Lord;

Mormon has hope for all, but he knows that this will not be so. If it were up to Mormon to judge, he might try to find a way to save all men. However, he understands the scriptures, and Mormon indicates that the scriptures teach that there will be some who will be cast off from the presence of the Lord in that last day. Even with all of the times the Lord tries, even with the great principle of repentance, there will be those who decline to repent, and will reap the terrible reward of that choice.

Hel. 12:26

26 Yea, who shall be consigned to a state of endless misery, fulfilling the words which say: They that have done good shall have everlasting life; and they that have done evil shall have everlasting damnation. And thus it is. Amen.

Mormon concludes by citing scripture, and seals this testimony with a final “and thus it is. Amen.”

Literary: This final phrasing is a formula seen frequently in the Book of Mormon to close sections, particularly sections with testimony. It consists of the two parts “and this it is,” and the “Amen.” Since amen may be understood to mean “so be it,” we have an interesting problem if we see the phrases as “and thus it is, so be it.” Rather that see it in translation as a phrase, it is probably best to see amen as a single word that serves as a final affirmation. In this function it could represent a word on the plates that had the same confirmatory function. The translation would then be something like “and this it is, truly.”

Textual: This is the end of a chapter. It is not the end of the book, however, in spite of the change in speaker that will come in the next chapters. From here Mormon turns to Samuel the Lamanite. That will serve as a new text and a new chapter. Mormon closes his text to this point with the end of the chapter. It is his specific homily that is closed with the formulaic “and thus it is. Amen.”