Helaman 8

Hel. 8:1

1 And now it came to pass that when Nephi had said these words, behold, there were men who were judges, who also belonged to the secret band of Gadianton, and they were angry, and they cried out against him, saying unto the people: Why do ye not seize upon this man and bring him forth, that he may be condemned according to the crime which he has done?

Textual: The awkwardness that frequently comes from the modern chapter divisions is highlighted in this verse. As the beginning of a new chapter we can lose the context that explains the actions. In this verse we have judges who are Gadiantons becoming angry. The reason for their anger is in the previous chapter. In Helaman 7:25 Nephi has squarely laid blame at the feet of the Gadiantons and predicted them as the cause of the coming downfall of the Nephites. Of course the Gadianton judges would take offense. This section belongs with, and should be read as part of, the events in chapter 7.

The audacity of Nephi’s statement can be more clearly understood if we remember that these Gadiantons are judges, and that they are judges because their political party is in control, and in the majority. Nephi is speaking directly against the ruling government, and the majority opinion of the people. Of what crime are the judges accusing Nephi? Treason. Nephi is fomenting rebellion against the rulers placed in power by the voice of the people.

Hel. 8:2

2 Why seest thou this man, and hearest him revile against this people and against our law?

Hel. 8:3

3 For behold, Nephi had spoken unto them concerning the corruptness of their law; yea, many things did Nephi speak which cannot be written; and nothing did he speak which was contrary to the commandments of God.

Mormon inserts himself into this discourse. The Gadiantons are accusing Nephi. They specifically accuse him of being against law. We have no record of what Nephi said against any particular law, and it may be that the intent of law in this case is more like rule. Nephi is speaking against the corruptness of their rule, which comes through their application of law as judges.

In the midst of this accusation, however, Mormon finds it necessary to insert his editorial comment that Nephi was justified by God, even if he was contrary to the Gadiantons. Mormon is saying that although Nephi contradicted the laws of the Gadiantons, he is following the laws of God.

Hel. 8:4

4 And those judges were angry with him because he spake plainly unto them concerning their secret works of darkness; nevertheless, they durst not lay their own hands upon him, for they feared the people lest they should cry out against them.

The social dynamics of this situation are fascinating. We have Nephi standing on a raised platform. Below, and without the fence, is a crowd. In the crowd are Gadianton judges and other people. These are the people who have been the “voice of the people” to put the Gadianton judges in office, yet they appear to have sympathy to Nephi. How is this that the people should be so divided?

This division of opinion is not at all surprising. The establishment of their government was a statistical majority of the people, and it was an acceptance of a social/political way of life. Nephi is a person, and one who not only had the respect of the people when he was a chief judge, but one whose efforts among the Lamanites regained the city and many of the lands of Zarahemla to the Nephites. Nephi had to have been a personal hero. Therefore, the people would have been protective of Nephi the person, even when they had begun to move away from the religion that Nephi represented.

Hel. 8:5

5 Therefore they did cry unto the people, saying: Why do you suffer this man to revile against us? For behold he doth condemn all this people, even unto destruction; yea, and also that these our great cities shall be taken from us, that we shall have no place in them.

Here the Gadianton judges attempt to point out the essential conflict in the people’s position. How can they support Nephi and the Gadiantons at the same time, when Nephi is condemning the Gadiantons?

Hel. 8:6

6 And now we know that this is impossible, for behold, we are powerful, and our cities great, therefore our enemies can have no power over us.

Even though the people accept Nephi as a prophet, the Gadiantons need to discredit their belief in him as a prophet, particularly at this point in time where the gathered crowd appears at least somewhat sympathetic to Nephi. The easiest way to do that is to deal with Nephi’s prophetic threat to the Nephite nation.

Why were the Gadiantons so certain that they were powerful and the cities were great? Didn’t the Nephites only recently lose most of their lands and were forced to retreat into Bountiful? Yes, but since that point there was a great economic boom, and they were richer than they had been before. In times of boom, optimism is a much more common coin of public opinion. The increase in economic position created a presumption that there was a concomitant increase in political and military power.

What the Gadiantons do not realize is that the very economic forces that were allowing them to become wealthier would lead to their downfall. The desire for wealth was pushing the Nephites into wars for tribute – the Gadianton “stealings and plunderings.” This inter-city warfare and domination would have a region-wide repercussion as alliances shifted, and dominated cities would attempt to realign themselves with more powerful city-states to remove the burden of tribute – or even better, reverse the direction. The Mesoamerican spiral of warfare is beginning in earnest, and will yet turn on these prosperous Gadiantons.

Hel. 8:7

7 And it came to pass that thus they did stir up the people to anger against Nephi, and raised contentions among them; for there were some who did cry out: Let this man alone, for he is a good man, and those things which he saith will surely come to pass except we repent;

Hel. 8:8

8 Yea, behold, all the judgments will come upon us which he has testified unto us; for we know that he has testified aright unto us concerning our iniquities. And behold they are many, and he knoweth as well all things which shall befall us as he knoweth of our iniquities;

Hel. 8:9

9 Yea, and behold, if he had not been a prophet he could not have testified concerning those things.

Hel. 8:10

10 And it came to pass that those people who sought to destroy Nephi were compelled because of their fear, that they did not lay their hands on him; therefore he began again to speak unto them, seeing that he had gained favor in the eyes of some, insomuch that the remainder of them did fear.

The crowd dynamic intensifies. The Gadianton judges have managed to turn the focus of the event. Where the original crowd gathered to listen, and saw Nephi as either entertainment or curiosity, Nephi is now the focus of controversy. Rather than have the crowd listening to Nephi, the Gadiantons have managed to get them arguing among themselves, which at least stole the forum from Nephi.

As Mormon reports the internal dissention in the crowd, he not unsurprisingly concentrates on the positive arguments for Nephi. Assuredly there were just as many counter arguments from those who sided with the judges. However, Mormon doesn’t want to provide a balanced account, but rather one that meets his purposes. Therefore he presents Nephi in the best light during this crowd controversy.

Nephi sees that there is sufficient support in the crowd that he may retake control of the situation, and so he begins to speak.

Hel. 8:11

11 Therefore he was constrained to speak more unto them saying: Behold, my brethren, have ye not read that God gave power unto one man, even Moses, to smite upon the waters of the Red Sea, and they parted hither and thither, insomuch that the Israelites, who were our fathers, came through upon dry ground, and the waters closed upon the armies of the Egyptians and swallowed them up?

Nephi asserts his prophetic right and power to predict a coming destruction by referencing an account from sacred history. God gave power to Moses to open the waters of the Red Sea, so God could give power to Nephi to speak prophetically. The imagery is not haphazardly chosen, however, When Moses the true prophet opened the red sea, it led to the destruction of the army of a very powerful nation. That powerful nation was wicked, and the Lord preserved his righteous people.

Obliquely, Nephi is using that metaphor for the destruction of the Gadiantons. They have proclaimed themselves and their cities powerful, but so did the Egyptians of Moses’ time. They have declared their army strong, but so was the army of the Egyptians. The Egyptians were wicked because they did not follow the ways of God, and the Gadiantons are similarly wicked because they do not follow the ways of God. Moses was a prophet given prophetic power from God, and Nephi now has that same power, and has declared that same destruction to come upon the wicked Gadiantons as came upon the wicked Egyptians.

Hel. 8:12

12 And now behold, if God gave unto this man such power, then why should ye dispute among yourselves, and say that he hath given unto me no power whereby I may know concerning the judgments that shall come upon you except ye repent?

Nephi claims the same power as Moses, from the same source. Nephi also gives them a way out of the prophecy though repentance.

Hel. 8:13

13 But, behold, ye not only deny my words, but ye also deny all the words which have been spoken by our fathers, and also the words which were spoken by this man, Moses, who had such great power given unto him, yea, the words which he hath spoken concerning the coming of the Messiah.

Rhetorical: Nephi knows that the people continue to revere Moses as a prophet, even though they are accepting the rule of the Gadiantons that is going to lead them away from that belief. Nevertheless, for now Nephi knows that he may assume it. By linking himself with Moses he is suggesting that to reject his word is to reject Moses, something the audience is not likely to do.

Hel. 8:14

14 Yea, did he not bear record that the Son of God should come? And as he lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilderness, even so shall he be lifted up who should come.

Hel. 8:15

15 And as many as should look upon that serpent should live, even so as many as should look upon the Son of God with faith, having a contrite spirit, might live, even unto that life which is eternal.

The essential Nephite teaching involves the Atoning Messiah. Any threat to Nephite religion also attacked the understanding of the Atoning Messiah, something that we have seen throughout Nephite history. Nephi tries to awaken the slumbering faith in the Messiah from the crowd. Since he has invoked Moses, he invokes Moses as a proof of the Messiah through the event recorded in Numbers 21:9. Nephi clearly sees this as a type of the coming Atoning Messiah. How he sees the connection is interesting. Compare Nephi’s exposition to a parallel statement from John in the New Testament:

John 3:14-15

14 ¶ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

In John we have the similar reference to the serpent in the wilderness. However, for John, the essential image is the lifting up. John makes a direct parallel between the lifting up of the serpent and the lifting up of Christ (on the cross). For John, it is this lifting up of Christ that is the effective action. This fits the New Testament emphasis on reconceiving the cross from a humiliating tool of death to an affirming symbol of resurrection.

In Nephi we have the lifted up phrase, but it is not the effective part. For Nephi, the effective part of the Mosaic symbol was the looking, not the lifting. This is an important distinction because the cross was not as important symbol in the New World as it was in the Old. Christ is important, clearly, but the emphasis in the Book of Mormon is never on the mode of his death, but rather the meaning of his atonement.

Cultural: There is a popular trend in LDS examinations of the serpent on the pole imagery that ties this image to the Mesoamerican deity Quetzalcoatl:

“Some scholars of the Book of Mormon have wondered if this story of the serpent as given in the book of Helaman did not account for the "serpent motif" in the art and architecture of some of the American Indian cultures. Also, it is of interest to note that one of the names given by some of the American Indians to the great white God who appeared out of the eastern sky was the name of Quetzalcoatl, which literally means the bird-serpent, or the serpent of precious plumage.” (Daniel H. Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1976], 244.)

While this has been a popular ascription, it is most assuredly incorrect. The arguments and evidences dealing with this Mesoamerican deity and image will not be presented here, but will be reserved for the discussion of Christ’s appearance in the New World, the event to which they are even more inextricably linked in LDS literature.

Hel. 8:16

16 And now behold, Moses did not only testify of these things, but also all the holy prophets, from his days even to the days of Abraham.

Hel. 8:17

17 Yea, and behold, Abraham saw of his coming, and was filled with gladness and did rejoice.

Nephi strengthens his position by invoking Abraham has well. Nephi is using the ties to the venerated prophets of old to bolster his present position. Since Nephi as a prophet of the traditional Nephite religion represents the religion of the Atoning Messiah, this is the issue that he uses as a contrast to the Gadianton secularism. By linking the revered patriarchs to the message of the Atoning Messiah, Nephi ties this belief to revered antiquity and reminds them that they should return to that belief.

This line of reasoning that Nephi is tracing here is designed to show the importance of the prophecy of the coming of the Atoning Messiah. Mormon has not given us any indication to this point that the rejection of the prophecies of the coming of the Messiah was an important aspect of the Gadiantons, but we will see that it will come. Nephi is responding to this unstated aspect of the Gadiantons.

Hel. 8:18

18 Yea, and behold I say unto you, that Abraham not only knew of these things, but there were many before the days of Abraham who were called by the order of God; yea, even after the order of his Son; and this that it should be shown unto the people, a great many thousand years before his coming, that even redemption should come unto them.

Hel. 8:19

19 And now I would that ye should know, that even since the days of Abraham there have been many prophets that have testified these things; yea, behold, the prophet Zenos did testify boldly; for the which he was slain.

Nephi continues to create the chain of belief. He has tied a belief in the Atoning Messiah to the ancient prophets, and now we continues to add names. These are all names that would be accepted and revered by Nephites who had a belief in the scriptures, particularly the brass plates. As noted in earlier discussions of the Nehorite gospel, the acceptance of the brass plates was typical, even though their gospel rejected the Atoning Messiah. Perhaps there is some of that in the Gadiantons, as Nephi is emphasizing brass plate prophets and the Atoning Messiah.

Hel. 8:20

20 And behold, also Zenock, and also Ezias, and also Isaiah, and Jeremiah, (Jeremiah being that same prophet who testified of the destruction of Jerusalem) and now we know that Jerusalem was destroyed according to the words of Jeremiah. O then why not the Son of God come, according to his prophecy?

Zenock was a brass plate prophet who is not present in the Old Testament. Ezias might be a different transliteration of the name we know as Esaias:

“Elder Orson Pratt suggests that "Ezias may have been identical with Esaias, who lived contemporary with Abraham." (See D&C 84:11-13 .) (George Reynolds and Janne M. Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, edited and arranged by Philip C. Reynolds, 7 vols. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1955-1961], 5: 272.)

Since the name is coupled with that of Zenock, it is also possible that this is a name from the brass plates for which we have on this single reference.

When Nephi cites Jeremiah he cites Jeremiah as having a known fulfilled prophecy, that of the destruction of Jerusalem. It is interesting that Nephi would use this particular fulfillment, as the Nephite knowledge of the fulfillment comes through Lehi’s prophecy, not actual knowledge.

What this tells us of the Nephites is that even amidst their apostasy from the general principles of the gospel, they do retain some basic beliefs. They accept the brass plates, and they accept the founding traditions of their people, which included the destruction of Jerusalem as the reason the founding family left that area. Unlike Laman and Lemuel who doubted, the longstanding tradition of this people was one of belief in the destruction, so much so that Nephi could use it as a demonstration of the fulfillment of prophecy.

Hel. 8:21

21 And now will you dispute that Jerusalem was destroyed? Will ye say that the sons of Zedekiah were not slain, all except it were Mulek? Yea, and do ye not behold that the seed of Zedekiah are with us, and they were driven out of the land of Jerusalem? But behold, this is not all—

Nephi knows that they cannot dispute the destruction of Jerusalem, as it comes from both branches of the united peoples of Zarahemla. Not only the Nephite tradition, but the Mulekite tradition as well, begins with a foundational experience in the fall of Jerusalem. Nephi’s lineal tracing of belief has now included both major genealogical lines of the peoples of the Nephites as currently defined.

Hel. 8:22

22 Our father Lehi was driven out of Jerusalem because he testified of these things. Nephi also testified of these things, and also almost all of our fathers, even down to this time; yea, they have testified of the coming of Christ, and have looked forward, and have rejoiced in his day which is to come.

Nephi explicitly invoked Mulek as a founding father. Now he explicitly invokes Lehi in the same context. He is continuing to thread the links to revered tradition and antiquity.

Hel. 8:23

23 And behold, he is God, and he is with them, and he did manifest himself unto them, that they were redeemed by him; and they gave unto him glory, because of that which is to come.

Rhetorical: Nephi understands that even in this particular apostasy, the Nephites retain a belief in these revered ancestors and in God. Their understanding of God has apparently changed in that they are beginning to reject to the Atoning Messiah, but nevertheless the fundamental belief remains. With this base, Nephi argues the obvious, that God was with these revered prophets of accepted tradition.

What Nephi now does in his discourse is to shift that accepted position into a criticism of their refusal to accept the coming Messiah. We must remember at this point that the Nephite tradition understood Jehovah and Jesus to be the same, and therefore when Nephi suggests that “he is God, and he is with them,” he is referring to Jehovah. This is an important connection for his argument, and he uses that linkage to turn the belief in tradition to a required belief in the Atoning Messiah. Nephi notes that God gave glory to these revered prophets (an accepted fact, and Nephi has also indicated that they have predicted the coming Messiah), and that he gave them glory “because of that which is to come.” That which is to come is the Atoning Messiah. Nephi tells the people that God revered these prophets precisely because they predicted the Atoning Messiah who would come.

Hel. 8:24

24 And now, seeing ye know these things and cannot deny them except ye shall lie, therefore in this ye have sinned, for ye have rejected all these things, notwithstanding so many evidences which ye have received; yea, even ye have received all things, both things in heaven, and all things which are in the earth, as a witness that they are true.

Rhetorical: Nephi now turns the evidence to the personal, and uses the accepted belief in these traditional prophets as the condemnation of the people. The tells them that “ye know these things.” Nephi has been citing prophets that they continue to accept, even though they are obviously in a form of apostasy. By beginning with this acceptance, Nephi has shown them that they should also accept the Messianic teachings of these prophets.

When Nephi says that “ye have rejected all these things,” he is not referring to the tradition of the prophets, as they clearly still accept that. He is referring to the portions of the prophetic tradition that refer to the coming Atoning Messiah.

Hel. 8:25

25 But behold, ye have rejected the truth, and rebelled against your holy God; and even at this time, instead of laying up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where nothing doth corrupt, and where nothing can come which is unclean, ye are heaping up for yourselves wrath against the day of judgment.

Nephi continues his condemnation of the people. They have rejected the fundamental belief in the coming Atoning Messiah, and they have exchanged the god of materialism for the God of their fathers.

Referent: The words we have from Nephi here are obvious mirrors for Matthew:

Matthew 6:19-20

19 ¶ Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

Nephi certainly had this concept in mind where there was a contrast between the eternal treasure of heaven and the temporary treasures of the world. However, the specific language Joseph Smith used was obviously colored by Joseph’s knowledge of the King James Version of this text. There are obviously some differences as well, so Joseph is not copying from Matthew, but rather being influenced by his memory of the passage that is parallel to the one that he is translating.

Hel. 8:26

26 Yea, even at this time ye are ripening, because of your murders and your fornication and wickedness, for everlasting destruction; yea, and except ye repent it will come unto you soon.

This is the catalogue of the Gadianton heresies. See the comments following Helaman 7:5 and Helaman 7:21 for similar catalogues of the Gadianton evils and their relationship to cultural context.

Hel. 8:27

27 Yea, behold it is now even at your doors; yea, go ye in unto the judgment-seat, and search; and behold, your judge is murdered, and he lieth in his blood; and he hath been murdered by his brother, who seeketh to sit in the judgment-seat.

One of the important aspects of the Gadianton catalogue is murder for political gain. Nephi tells his audience that their acceptance of the Gadianton program is also accepting the ills of the Gadiantons, including this most vile murder for gain. In verse 26 Nephi tells them that they are ripe for destruction because of their acceptance of the Gadiantons, and now he tells them that this coming destruction is right at their doors. The evidence is that one of these murders for political gain has just taken place.

Nephi dramatically proves not only the corruption of the Gadiantons, but his own prophetic calling. He gives the people a prophecy that can easily be tested. If Nephi can accurately predict something so obviously come true, then should not they believe that he can also predict the coming Atoning Messiah?

Textual: This is the prophecy referred to in the header of this original chapter, now found at the beginning of chapter 7.

Hel. 8:28

28 And behold, they both belong to your secret band, whose author is Gadianton and the evil one who seeketh to destroy the souls of men.

Nephi has catalogued the ills of the Gadiantons, and now explicitly links this political murder to the Gadiantons.

Textual: There is no chapter break here in the 1830 edition, and indeed the break is intrusive. Nephi has just set up a dramatic confrontation, and this split delays every so slightly what should flow directly from this event.