Moroni 9

Moroni 9:1

1 My beloved son, I write unto you again that ye may know that I am yet alive; but I write somewhat of that which is grievous.

Redaction: When Mormon says that he writes again we understand that he has written before. We do have one other letter, but we should not presume that Moroni has included all of the letters he received from his father. While that is possible, it is also possible that he has selected two of several letters written to him. What that tells us is that we cannot be certain from position only that this letter followed the previous one. Moroni could have received this letter prior to the one from the last chapter, and simply added it later.

The subject matter of the letter, however, does appear to come from a later time period. The military situation Mormon describes at the end of chapter 8 is increased in this letter, suggesting that it does come later in time. We also have the problem of why Moroni adds this particular letter. The last letter at least dealt with a point of doctrine that had some tangential relationship to the rest of the text he had entered. This chapter is not tied to any liturgical theme. It is purely historical. However, it is tied to that very last information in the last letter.

A reconstruction of Moroni’s creation of his book would therefore have the previous chapter being added because of its theme. At the end of that letter, Moroni’s attention is turned to the historical events described at the end of that letter, and his next inclusion therefore turns on that piece. Once again, we see Moroni working without a guiding outline. His decision to include the current letter is not dictated by an overarching purpose for his whole book, but rather on a conceptual shift contained at the end of an inserted letter. His focus is not on the whole, but on the instance.

Moroni 9:2

2 For behold, I have had a sore battle with the Lamanites, in which we did not conquer; and Archeantus has fallen by the sword, and also Luram and Emron; yea, and we have lost a great number of our choice men.

Moroni 9:3

3 And now behold, my son, I fear lest the Lamanites shall destroy this people; for they do not repent, and Satan stirreth them up continually to anger one with another.

This is the theme that allows Moroni to connect this letter with the previous one that he has entered. In Moroni 8: 27-28 Mormon had written that the Nephites needed to humble themselves and repent, but that they would not. In Mormon 8:29 he specifically notes that if they persist in that condition, “they must perish.” In this letter, Mormon is repeating that same theme, but the condition of destruction is even closer.

Moroni 9:4

4 Behold, I am laboring with them continually; and when I speak the word of God with sharpness they tremble and anger against me; and when I use no sharpness they harden their hearts against it; wherefore, I fear lest the Spirit of the Lord hath ceased striving with them.

The condition of the Nephites ironically mirrors the condition of Laman and Lemuel. Laman and Lemuel had seen angels, and witnessed the miracle of the director. In spite of all of their spiritual privileges, they were angry when they were corrected by the Lord through Nephi, and turned their anger on Nephi. Their reaction to correction was to be angry with the messenger, just as these Nephites were angry with Mormon when he corrected them. For Laman and Lemuel, the explanation was that they had become “past feeling.” (see 1 Nephi 17:45-48). The Nephites of Mormon’s time had come to suffer the same malady. The Spirit of the Lord ceases to strive with us only when we completely shut it out. When the Nephites became like Laman and Lemuel, with hearts “past feeling,” then they had hardened their hearts against the Spirit, and it could not longer humble them – only anger them.

Moroni 9:5

5 For so exceedingly do they anger that it seemeth me that they have no fear of death; and they have lost their love, one towards another; and they thirst after blood and revenge continually.

The constant warfare has altered the nature of the fighting Nephites. They have entered into a form of bloodlust, where they have become numb to anything but the fight, and their desires turning to the killing in the battle. Some of this is occasioned by the shift in the nature of warfare that has occurred with the influence of the Gadiantons in the Lamanite armies. This is a new type of warfare that has changed the known rules, and the Nephite reaction has been to adopt the same destructiveness to which they have been subjected.

Moroni 9:6

6 And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God.

Mormon declares that even though they are losing the spiritual battle for the hearts of the Nephite people, they must continue to try to call them to repentance. That is their mission, and they are accountable for fulfilling their mission, even if the mission is not successful. Agency is powerfully operative in this earth, and when we exercise our agency in the context of the gospel, we benefit from those choices. Other people may exercise their agency to deny the gospel, and they reap the “benefits” of that rejection. However, in the economy of God, their rejection of our message does not diminish the growth we receive from delivering the message.

One of the important aspects of this letter is that Mormon uses the collective term “let us.” He might be speaking more generically, but it would appear that this letter comes after Moroni’s call to the ministry, and that this really is a mutual admonition to effort. Both Mormon and Moroni are in positions that require this effort of them, and Mormon is emphasizing their mutual responsibility to preach repentance.

Moroni 9:7

7 And now I write somewhat concerning the sufferings of this people. For according to the knowledge which I have received from Amoron, behold, the Lamanites have many prisoners, which they took from the tower of Sherrizah; and there were men, women, and children.

One of the facets of the final war with the Nephites is that it encompasses modes of warfare that the Nephites have not experienced. In all of the previous wars, there are no indications of the mass destruction of populations. There are conflicts with armies and warriors, but the involvement of the populace is seldom indicated. Such a condition is not unusual in ancient warfare. However, Mormon has noted that this war is different, and he emphasized some of the ways in which those differences are made manifest. One of the most important is that the destructiveness is now being expanded to that element of the population that previously was not part of the battle. In particular, Mormon notes that women and children are being taken prisoners. That men should be taken prisoners is expected. The unusual part is the women and children. This appears to be part of the new style of warfare, and again we have no indication of any such style of warfare until the influence of the Gadiantons on the Lamanite armies. As has been noted, this parallels the historical influence of Teotihuacan on the Maya region.

Moroni 9:8

8 And the husbands and fathers of those women and children they have slain; and they feed the women upon the flesh of their husbands, and the children upon the flesh of their fathers; and no water, save a little, do they give unto them.

Moroni 9:9

9 And notwithstanding this great abomination of the Lamanites, it doth not exceed that of our people in Moriantum. For behold, many of the daughters of the Lamanites have they taken prisoners; and after depriving them of that which was most dear and precious above all things, which is chastity and virtue—

Moroni 9:10

10 And after they had done this thing, they did murder them in a most cruel manner, torturing their bodies even unto death; and after they have done this, they devour their flesh like unto wild beasts, because of the hardness of their hearts; and they do it for a token of bravery.

Historical: These verses are some of the most historically interesting in the Book of Mormon, because they are both right and wrong, and the way that they are wrong is right. To understand such an enigmatic statement we must pull apart the elements that are noted in these verses. Mormon is cataloguing a set of practices, and there is a correlation between most of that set and known practices in Mesoamerica.

There are four elements that can be pulled from Mormon’s description:

Rape
Human sacrifice
Torture
Eating of human flesh

Of the four, rape is not a known religious practice from Mesoamerica, but the sad history of humanity tells us that we should not be surprised to find rape and war in the same context.

Human sacrifice is very well known and well documented for Mesoamerica. While the Aztec sacrifices are the best known, there are indications of human sacrifices going much farther back in time, and reaching into Book of Mormon times. There is no serious dispute that there was human sacrifice in Mesoamerica during Book of Mormon times.

Torture is one of the facets of the Maya world about which recent discoveries have provided dramatic new evidence. The Maya appear to have been a particularly cruel people in terms of the tortures to which they subjected their captives. When the murals of Bonampak where restored, one of the enlightening and grisly aspects of the restoration was noting the blood dripping from the tips of fingers. Either fingernails had been pulled off of the captives, or the tips of the fingers had been cut off. Sacrificial caches have been found where there are bowls with finger bones.

The eating of human flesh is best known from the Aztec times. Pieces of the victims were cooked and distributed to be eaten. This was a religious rite, and it would be unfair to their religious understanding to call it cannibalism (because of the connotations we bring to that label). For the Aztecs, it would be better to see that act as a rather too literal “sacrament” of flesh. Where the Christian symbolically eats the flesh of the Savior, the Aztecs literally ate the flesh of their sacrifices.

All of these descriptions are accurate for Mesoamerica. However, Mormon does not accurately describe the practice of eating human flesh. For Mormon, they feed the flesh of the fathers to the wives and children, and the “devour their flesh like unto wild beasts.” Here is where Mormon gets it wrong, but he gets it wrong in precisely the right way. Historically, ritual cannibalism has evoked very strong responses when it is met. The human disdain for eating the flesh of our own is deeply engrained, and is a subject of revulsion. When a non-human-flesh eating population encounters a population that does eat human flesh (and it should be noted that institutionalized eating of human flesh is always ritual and religion, and never food) there is an immediate revulsion and a reaction. One of the typical responses is to overstate the case and make the actions of those “other people” even more reprehensible. Therefore, Mormon tells us that the flesh of the fathers is fed to the wives. This makes us recoil in horror, and it is intended to. However, it is not historically accurate. What is historically accurate, however, is the description. Mormon is not accurately describing the practice, but he is responding appropriately for a man of his times.

Moroni 9:11

11 O my beloved son, how can a people like this, that are without civilization—

Moroni 9:12

12 (And only a few years have passed away, and they were a civil and a delightsome people)

Moroni 9:13

13 But O my son, how can a people like this, whose delight is in so much abomination—

Moroni 9:14

14 How can we expect that God will stay his hand in judgment against us?

Mormon’s emotion overpowers his ability to describe. We have in these verses sentence fragments. Mormon appears so overcome that he cannot complete the sentence or the thought.

[how can a people like this]: The Lamanites. There is no other logical reference. He cannot be speaking of the Nephites, for they are the ones being victimized. The reference therefore is to the Lamanites who are committing these atrocities.

[that are without civilization]: This moral judgment is directly related to the practice of human sacrifice and the eating of human flesh. For Mormon, no one who is civilized would do such things, and therefore those who do must necessarily be uncivilized. This is not a determination of the city/rural life, or a description of the political complexity of the Lamanites. This is not similar to the older common Nephite description of Lamanites as wandering savages. This is a direct result of their practices as Mormon describes them.

[they were a civil and a delightsome people]: For over two hundred years there were no “ites.” This people who has become so depraved in Mormon’s eyes were part of the great gospel community. They are far from that, and Mormon is noting the fall from Grace. They were a “delightsome” people, a phrase that the Book of Mormon uses to describe those who follow the gospel. They were civil. This is meant to contrast with their current lack of civilization, as defined by these actions.

[how can a people like this, whose delight is in so much abomination]: This is a fragment of a thought that Mormon never finishes. The implied ending is how can God allow such an atrocity. Mormon is experiencing the shock of many who have learned of the Holocaust. Faced with such gross inhumanity, one begins to wonder where God is in the process. For many, such terrible inhumanity leads them to doubt the existence of God, for they suppose that God ought to have intervened. Not understanding the nature of agency, but understanding their hope in a merciful God, they assume that God ought to have intervened.

Mormon’s reaction is similar, and his question similarly involves God, but in a different way, as in his concluding statement:

[How can we expect that God will stay his hand in judgment against us?]: Here is where Mormon asks his “why” question. Rather than deny the existence of God, as do many who cannot reconcile the great evils of the world, Mormon affirms God, but wonders why God’s intervention does not simply destroy those who would use their agency in such a way. It must have been powerfully painful for him to see his Nephite people destroyed, and this “uncivilized” people remain.

Interestingly, Mormon expands his wonderment from only the Lamanites to all of his known people. He asks how God would stay “his hand in judgment against us.” Even though the Nephites are not said to be guilty of the same atrocities, they are yet being destroyed. Mormon wonders why, with such failure of righteousness on all sides, God does not simply give us and destroy them all. Perhaps Mormon is thinking of the time of the flood, where the wickedness was so great that the Lord had to remove everyone and start over. Mormon is wondering why the Lord does not do it again.

Moroni 9:15

15 Behold, my heart cries: Wo unto this people. Come out in judgment, O God, and hide their sins, and wickedness, and abominations from before thy face!

Mormon does call for the judgment of God. The atrocities he sees are beyond his power to remedy, yet he knows such wickedness should not endure. He cannot remedy the situation, and therefore calls to God to come in judgment and destroy such wickedness.

Moroni 9:16

16 And again, my son, there are many widows and their daughters who remain in Sherrizah; and that part of the provisions which the Lamanites did not carry away, behold, the army of Zenephi has carried away, and left them to wander whithersoever they can for food; and many old women do faint by the way and die.

Verse 7 noted that there were many men, women, and children who were taken prisoner from Sherrizah. This verse tells us that there were many “widows and their daughters” who remained in Sherrizah. The Lamanite army has killed or captured most of the men, and had taken many prisoners. The context in which we hear of those prisoners suggests strongly that they were taken for sacrificial rites. However, not all of the people were taken for sacrifice, and therefore there are many “widows and their daughters” who remain. We should not read too much into the absence of “sons” in the list of people who remain. Mormon is writing to play on the shared sympathies of his son, and the natural protectiveness of the men for the women explains the emphasis on the remaining females. While it is possible that the Lamanites captured or killed all male children, it is more likely that there were younger sons who did remain as well as the daughters.

Zenephi is given as the name of the Lamanite general. The name certainly contains the element “nephi,” and that is easy to see as a traditional Nephite name, but not a traditional Lamanite name. Indeed, it is very doubtful that any of the first generations after Laman and Lemuel would ever have used the element “Nephi” in a name.

The history of the Lamanites for the previous five hundred years has been one of accepting dissenters from the Nephites, with several examples occurring in the latter part of the Book of Alma. We have the ironic probability that one of the generals destroying the Nephites had lineage ties to the Nephite nation, though probably from many years before. It does serve as a sobering reminder of what the destruction of the Nephites really meant, however. There were many who were once Nephite who are now Lamanites, and the people survived regardless of their lineage. What was destroyed was their nation.

The description of localized famine as an aftermath of war is also an authentic indication of the nature of this type of warfare. The Lamanites have large armies marching through foreign lands. The Maya economy was not one that produced large surpluses of food (David Webster. The Fall of the Ancient Maya. Thames & Hudson, 2002, pp. 330-332). When an invading army came through, that army would need supplies, and the longer their distance from their homeland, the more they relied upon the available food in the conquered lands. With so many extra people appropriating the stores of food, those who remained in their wake would be left with either much less, of simply not enough. Localized famine came from the appropriation of the foodstuffs for the invading army.

Moroni 9:17

17 And the army which is with me is weak; and the armies of the Lamanites are betwixt Sherrizah and me; and as many as have fled to the army of Aaron have fallen victims to their awful brutality.

Mormon is unable to assist the “widows and daughters” in Sherrizah because his army cannot break through a Lamanite army that stands between them and Sherrizah. He clearly would assist if he could, but he cannot. How does Mormon know what happened if he can’t get there? Mormon’s army cannot get there, but there would be ample opportunity for small groups to move through the land and scout the area. Certainly any general would have his spies to know the movements of the enemy, and those spies would be in a position to know what happened, and to return and report.

Moroni 9:18

18 O the depravity of my people! They are without order and without mercy. Behold, I am but a man, and I have but the strength of a man, and I cannot any longer enforce my commands.

Moroni 9:19

19 And they have become strong in their perversion; and they are alike brutal, sparing none, neither old nor young; and they delight in everything save that which is good; and the suffering of our women and our children upon all the face of this land doth exceed everything; yea, tongue cannot tell, neither can it be written.

War is brutal, but warfare also has sets of culturally determined rules. In later Mesoamerica, the Aztec Flower Wars were almost ritualized, but were wars-by-appointment, designed for personal glory and for the capture of prisoners to sacrifice to the gods. Such wars have rules, and when the rules are obeyed, everyone understands the limitations.

Mormon’s lament that his commands are not followed comes as an introduction to verse 19, which contains the examples of the types of things that are happening that are not the result of Mormon’s commands. Mormon’s army as become “alike brutal, sparing neither old nor young.” The Nephite army faced a situation where the rules of warfare had been changed unilaterally. The way that they had fought might be seen as a collection of “gentleman’s rules” of warfare. Those “gentleman’s rules” had been horribly violated in this new destructive style of warfare. No doubt for a while the Nephites maintained their honor in maintaining the old rules in the face of an enemy who was violating them, but clearly the result of constant combat with this new style infected the hearts of the Nephites, and they began to imitate their enemies. Thus did they become “alike brutal”. Mormon now uses the Nephite “women and children” as moral witnesses to their own men’s transformation into the type of army they are fighting. The “women and children” maintain the “proper” understandings, and it is the fighting men who have become brutal and loving of “everything save that which is good.”

Moroni 9:20

20 And now, my son, I dwell no longer upon this horrible scene. Behold, thou knowest the wickedness of this people; thou knowest that they are without principle, and past feeling; and their wickedness doth exceed that of the Lamanites.

Moroni 9:21

21 Behold, my son, I cannot recommend them unto God lest he should smite me.

Moroni 9:22

22 But behold, my son, I recommend thee unto God, and I trust in Christ that thou wilt be saved; and I pray unto God that he will spare thy life, to witness the return of his people unto him, or their utter destruction; for I know that they must perish except they repent and return unto him.

Mormon concludes with his fatal vision of the destruction of his people, just as he did in the previous letter. That vision and the reality of seeing it unfold obviously weighed heavily upon him. As he sees the destruction and death of the people, he prays that Moroni will not be one of them, that the Lord will spare Moroni’s life. We do not know if Mormon knows at this point of the mission Moroni will have. These letters come prior to Cumorah where it does appear that Mormon understands that Moroni will survive that awful last battle. Whatever prophetic assurance he later received, it appears that it remains future to this letter.

Moroni 9:23

23 And if they perish it will be like unto the Jaredites, because of the wilfulness of their hearts, seeking for blood and revenge.

Textual: Mormon compares the destruction of his people to the destruction of the Jaredites. This is not surprising, as he made that a theme of the latter part of his writing of the Book of Mormon. What is interesting here is that while he makes the conceptual linkage between the two destructions, he ascribes a different cause. In the latter part of his writing, Mormon created a complex thematic model where the secret combinations were the element that was in common and caused the destruction of the two peoples. In this verse, he suggests that the similarity comes from “the willfulness of their hearts, seeking for blood and revenge.” Mormon is completely accurate in describing the desire of “blood and revenge” as motivations for both peoples. It was certainly part of the destructions of each, and quite certainly one of the immediate causes. It simply isn’t the cause that he emphasized in his formal writing.

This tells us that the secret combination theme is confirmed as a literary theme that Mormon has extracted and used in his writing. It was not the only cause, for Mormon himself understands other causes, and other motivations. It was, however, the one that Mormon elected to use for his own purposes. Because that theme is a literary construction, we cannot tell from this alternate cause whether or not Mormon had yet written that explanation in the Book of Mormon prior to writing this letter. It is possible that this idea is a previous understanding, and the Book of Mormon explanation is a later explanation that came because Mormon wrote that part of the Book of Mormon after he had written this letter.

While that is possible, it is also possible that the difference between the formal and informal makes the difference in the explanations. Mormon’s text had a particular purpose, and the secret combination theme fit in to that narrative purpose. This is a letter to his son, and not intended to be public. Therefore, there is no need for the letter to contain the formal argument, and other perhaps more obvious similarities were appropriate to the letter. It would be nice if this information allowed us to reconstruct some of the timeline for the writing of the Book of Mormon, but it does not.

Moroni 9:24

24 And if it so be that they perish, we know that many of our brethren have deserted over unto the Lamanites, and many more will also desert over unto them; wherefore, write somewhat a few things, if thou art spared and I shall perish and not see thee; but I trust that I may see thee soon; for I have sacred records that I would deliver up unto thee.

There are many things on Mormon’s mind. The current terrible war is very clearly one of them, as the text of the letter indicates. His son is also one, as the fact of the letter demonstrates. This verse tells us that with all of his other concerns, the records are still one of the important things on his mind. He mentions that there will be Nephites deserters because the records will have the chance to help them. Moroni is to write something that will help those people. Mormon specifically mentions that he must give over the records to Moroni. Mormon knows that he is nearing the end of his life, one way or the other, and therefore the time has come to make the formal transition of record-keeper. Because Moroni would be the logical person to become the official record-keeper, we cannot be certain that this suggestion that Mormon has records to deliver to him indicates all of the records, or only the plates of the Book of Mormon. While eventually it was only the plates of the Book of Mormon that Moroni received, this letter comes earlier, and could have had the general intent of giving him charge over all of the records, as had the previous record-keeper to the next for generations. Similarly, we cannot know whether the command to write “a few things” refers to what we have, or the general task of the Nephite keeper of the sacred records.

Moroni 9:25

25 My son, be faithful in Christ; and may not the things which I have written grieve thee, to weigh thee down unto death; but may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and long-suffering, and the hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever.

Literary: Even in a letter, Mormon uses contrasts to present a beautiful imagery. Mormon contrasts the “weigh down unto death” with “may Christ lift thee up.” The implications of Christ include the salvation from death, so there is a rich connotative reversal of the phrase. The times are terrible, but the hope in Christ is wonderful.

Moroni 9:26

26 And may the grace of God the Father, whose throne is high in the heavens, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who sitteth on the right hand of his power, until all things shall become subject unto him, be, and abide with you forever. Amen.

The conclusion to the letter comes as a personal blessing on his son. Both men live in turbulent and bloody times, but both men has absolute hope and faith in another reality where those awful conditions are banished, and the fruits of our efforts result in heavenly power rather than their current earthly near-powerlessness.

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