Moroni 1

Moroni 1:1

1 Now I, Moroni, after having made an end of abridging the account of the people of Jared, I had supposed not to have written more, but I have not as yet perished; and I make not myself known to the Lamanites lest they should destroy me.

Moroni is alone. When Moroni began writing in his father’s record, this “aloneness” was one of the first things he mentioned:

Mormon 8:5

5 Behold, my father hath made this record, and he hath written the intent thereof. And behold, I would write it also if I had room upon the plates, but I have not; and ore I have none, for I am alone. My father hath been slain in battle, and all my kinsfolk, and I have not friends nor whither to go; and how long the Lord will suffer that I may live I know not.

Moroni finishes his father’s record, and that completes the work as his father had envisioned it. There was the addition of the book of Ether that had been promised in the text, and Moroni adds that. We do not know how long it took, but perhaps Moroni understood that the he would be preserved at least until he finished abridging the record of Ether (as his father appears to have understood that he would live through the final battle – see comments following Mormon 6:1).

At the end of addition of the book of Ether it could be argued that Moroni believed that the entire text was now finished. Therefore he “supposed not to have written more.” There was nothing left to say according to the outline of the text that his father had created. Nevertheless, Moroni is alive, and lonely. He needs someone to talk to, and “talks” to his journal-on-the-plates. This is a very personal statement from a man in very unusual circumstances. Almost as though it were a surprise, he tells us that ye has “not as yet perished.”

Redaction: E. Cecil McGavin has noted an important stylistic difference between Moroni’s work on Ether and the texts that we will find in the book of Moroni:

“Another interesting difference between the actual writings of Moroni and his abridgments was pointed out by E. Cecil McGavin in a series of radio talks over KSL radio in 1941. According to Brother McGavin, the term "and it came to pass" is used by Moroni 117 times in forty pages of his abridgment of the records of the Jaredites. Yet in thirteen pages of his own writing, consisting of over 7,000 words, he does not use the expression a single time.” (Daniel H. Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1976], 330.)

There is a very important reason that there should be a distinction focusing on the phrase “and it came to pass.” There is a difference in the type of documents we have in Ether and Moroni, with Ether being a retelling of historical information. The phrase “and it came to pass” has a particular function in historical narrative, along with the paired “and now” (see the Redaction section following 1 Nephi 1:20). The shift in the narrative purposes between the Ether material and the types of material in Moroni dictate the shift in the stylistic inclusion of the phrases that mark the passage of events in the historical narrative of Ether to the absence of such markers when there is not historical narrative, such as we have in Moroni.

Moroni 1:2

2 For behold, their wars are exceedingly fierce among themselves; and because of their hatred they put to death every Nephite that will not deny the Christ.

Moroni 1:3

3 And I, Moroni, will not deny the Christ; wherefore, I wander whithersoever I can for the safety of mine own life.

These verses reprise the situation Moroni described in Mormon 8:7:

Mormon 8:7

7 And behold, the Lamanites have hunted my people, the Nephites, down from city to city and from place to place, even until they are no more; and great has been their fall; yea, great and marvelous is the destruction of my people, the Nephites.

In the verse in Mormon, Moroni simply says that “my people, the Nephites,” are being hunted down. Here the description is that the ones who are hunted are those who “will not deny the Christ.” We should understand that those two definitions are equivalent. The Nephites are Nephites because of their particular religious persuasion. In the new order following the conquest of the Gadianton-infused Lamanite army, those who hold to the old Nephite religion are seen as subversive to this new order. The definition of Nephite has been political since the times of Jacob, but that political definition has always carried a religious component. Moroni emphasizes the religious component here, but historically we can be sure that both religion and politics were considered the same thing. Thus the Nephites who remain are those holding to the old religion, and therefore to a potentially different political order. For this reason they could be seen as dangerous and subversive, and they were hunted.

Of course Moroni is incapable of denying a Christ with whom he has had direct contact. He cannot deny being a Nephite, therefore, and since they are still hunted, Moroni remains a man in hiding. It is interesting to note that at this particular time he must still be physically located in the Mesoamerican region. While the hunt for Nephites might have extended some distance from the Nephite homeland, it is quite doubtful that the effort and expense of a massive manhunt for a few people would be undertaken over a large area. At this point in Moroni’s life, therefore, he remains in his homeland where the is the threat of discovery. However, there is also the possibility that he can remain anonymous and have some ability to survive since he speaks the same language, and looks and dresses like those around him.

Moroni 1:4

4 Wherefore, I write a few more things, contrary to that which I had supposed; for I had supposed not to have written any more; but I write a few more things, that perhaps they may be of worth unto my brethren, the Lamanites, in some future day, according to the will of the Lord.

The end of this chapter simply indicates that Moroni intends to write. The fact that the chapter ends without more information suggests that at this particular time there is no overt threat on his life. Moroni has the time to reflect and understand that he has the time to write. He can give us this introduction, and then proceed to write. What he wants to write follows, but this chapter ending tells us that he felt confident in his short-term survival such that he could take his time in the presentation of the material he decides to write.

Textual: This is the end of a chapter in the 1830 edition.