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CHAPTER 56Helaman sends an epistle to Moroni recounting the state of the war with the Lamanites—Antipus and Helaman gain a great victory over the Lamanites—Helaman's two thousand stripling sons fight with miraculous power and none of them are slain. [About 66—62 B.C.] |
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1 AND now it came to pass in the
*commencement of the thirtieth year of the reign of the
judges, on the second day in the first month, aMoroni
received an bepistle from Helaman, stating the affairs of
the people in cthat quarter of the land.
2 And these are the words which he wrote, saying: My dearly beloved brother, Moroni, as well in the Lord as in the tribulations of our warfare; behold, my beloved brother, I have somewhat to tell you concerning our warfare in this part of the land.
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1*
[62 B.C.] a Alma 58:35 b Alma 59:1 c Alma 53:22 (8,22)
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3 Behold, atwo thousand of the sons of those men
whom Ammon brought down out of the land of Nephi—now ye have known that
these were descendants of Laman, who was the eldest son of our father Lehi;
4 Now I need not rehearse unto you concerning their traditions or their unbelief, for thou knowest concerning all these things— 5 Therefore it sufficeth me that I tell you that two thousand of these young men have taken their weapons of war, and would that I should be their leader; and we have come forth to defend our country.
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3a
Alma 53:22
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6 And now ye also know concerning the acovenant
which their fathers made, that they would not take up their weapons of war
against their brethren to shed blood.
7 But in the twenty and sixth year, when they saw our afflictions and our tribulations for them, they were about to abreak the covenant which they had made and take up their weapons of war in our defence. 8 But I would not suffer them that they should break this acovenant which they had made, supposing that God would strengthen us, insomuch that we should not suffer more because of the fulfilling the boath which they had taken.
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6a
TG
Covenants 7a Alma 24:18 (17-19); Alma 53:13-15 8a TG Honesty b TG Vows
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9 But behold, here is one thing in which we may have great joy. For
behold, in the *twenty and sixth year, I, Helaman, did
march at the head of these atwo thousand young men to the
city of bJudea, to assist Antipus, whom ye had appointed a
leader over the people of that part of the land.
10 And I did join my two thousand asons, (for they are worthy to be called sons) to the army of Antipus, in which strength Antipus did rejoice exceedingly; for behold, his army had been reduced by the Lamanites because their forces had slain a vast number of our men, for which cause we have to mourn. 11 Nevertheless, we may console ourselves in this point, that they have died in the cause of their country and of their God, yea, and they are ahappy. 12 And the Lamanites had also retained many prisoners, all of whom are chief acaptains, for none other have they spared alive. And we suppose that they are now at this time in the land of Nephi; it is so if they are not slain.
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9*
[66 B.C.] a Alma 53:22 b Alma 57:11 10a Alma 56:17 11a Alma 28:12 12a Alma 52:19
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13 And now these are the cities of which the Lamanites have
obtained possession by the shedding of the blood of so many of
our valiant men:
14 The land of aManti, or the city of Manti, and the city of Zeezrom, and the city of bCumeni, and the city of Antiparah. 15 And these are the cities which they possessed when I arrived at the city of Judea; and I found Antipus and his men toiling with their might to fortify the city.
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14a
Alma 43:22 b Alma 57:7-34
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16 Yea, and they were depressed in body as well as in spirit,
for they had fought valiantly by day and toiled by night to
maintain their cities; and thus they had suffered great
afflictions of every kind.
17 And now they were determined to conquer in this place or die; therefore you may well suppose that this little force which I brought with me, yea, those asons of mine, gave them great hopes and much joy.
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17a
Alma 56:10
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18 And now it came to pass that when the Lamanites saw that
Antipus had received a greater strength to his army, they were
compelled by the orders of Ammoron to not come against the city
of Judea, or against us, to battle.
19 And thus were we favored of the Lord; for had they come upon us in this our weakness they might have perhaps destroyed our little army; but thus were we preserved. 20 They were commanded by Ammoron to maintain those cities which they had taken. And thus ended the twenty and sixth year. And in the *commencement of the twenty and seventh year we had prepared our city and ourselves for defence.
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20*
[64 B.C.]
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21 Now we were desirous that the Lamanites should come upon us;
for we were not desirous to make an attack upon them in their
strongholds.
22 And it came to pass that we kept spies out round about, to watch the movements of the Lamanites, that they might not pass us by night nor by day to make an attack upon our other cities which were on the northwarda. 23 For we knew in those cities they were not sufficiently strong to meet them; therefore we were desirous, if they should pass by us, to fall upon them in their rear, and thus bring them up in the rear at the same time they were met in the front. We supposed that we could overpower them; but behold, we were disappointed in this our desire.
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22a our other cities which were on the northward Now at this juncture, among these other cities on the north of Judea would have likely included the cities in the land of Melek which contained not only Nephites but the people of Ammon as well. Thus the Nephite spies did well in insuring that the city of Judea was not circumvented and a Lamanite attack came upon such cities to its north. And this would add to the significance as to why Antipus and his army were determind to maintain this line of defense unto the death with no further retreat an option. This greatness of the heart of Antipus and his men will also be seen later as well. | |
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24 They durst not pass by us with their whole army, neither
durst they with a part, lest they should not be sufficiently
strong and they should fall.
25 Neither durst they march down against the city of Zarahemla; neither durst they cross the head of Sidon, over to the city of Nephihaha. 26 And thus, with their forces, they were determined to maintain those cities which they had taken.
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25a the city of Nephihah Like the situation of the city of Aaron, there are such scholars who have determined of themselves that both Aaron and Nephihah have more than one such city of Aaron and of Nephihah though the Book of Mormon itself never does stimpulate such. The problem with the city of Aaron is that many consider it to be near Ammonihah in one instance and not in another. But there is also logic which would support only one city of Aaron. Now the supposed two cities of Nephihah likely are the result of an engraving error made by Mormon. The Book of Mormon on its title pages states ' ... if there are faults they are the mistakes of men, wherefore, condemn not the things of God ... '. And in Mormon 8:12 it plainly speaks of the 'imperfections which are in it', which refers to the Book of Mormon. Thus the Book of Mormon does not purport to be error free or perfect due to the errors of men, but it is a scriptural record from God command. Mormon in chapter 51 verses 22-26 speaks of the events of the invasion of the land of Nephi by Amalickiah. In one verse it states that Amalickiah would not suffer his men to come upon the city of Nephihah (Alma 51:25) and in the very next verse (Alma 51:26) it lists the city of Nephihah as being one of those taken by Amalickiah. And in that Mormon seems to have made an engraving error. For in the listing of cities taken by Amalickiah Mormon in error of abridgment over sight does insert the city of Nephihah in place of the city of Moroni which was taken by Amalickiah but was the only such city not included in the list. This oversite error is what demands two cities of Nephihah. But the logical reasoning is that Mormon in engraving the sequence of the people of the city of Moroni fleeing to the city of Nephihah and Amalickiah not daring to come upon that city (and later it is Ammoron who finally takes the city of Nephihah after Amalickiah's death), and then in listing the cities which Amalickiah did take Mormon inadvertantly engraves Nephihah and not Moroni thus leaving out one city which Amalickiah did take and in error including the city which it did not take. (See Alma 51:26) There is another engraving error which Mormon also later makes when he states that the city of Mulek which is near unto the city of Bountiful is in the national 'land of Nephi' when it is obviously well within the national 'land of Zarahemla' (Alma 53:6). The important concept is not that men, even Mormon has made errors in the production of the abriged Book of Mormon plates, for the Book of Mormon has long experienced numerous publication errors of men since. The important concept is that one does not condemn the word of God contained in the Book of Mormon due to these errors of men. |
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27 And now it came to pass in the second month of this year,
there was brought unto us many provisions from the fathers of
those my two thousand sons.
28 And also there were sent two thousand men unto us from the land of Zarahemla. And thus we were prepared with ten thousand men, and provisions for them, and also for their wives and their children. 29 And the Lamanites, thus seeing our forces increase daily, and provisions arrive for our support, they began to be fearful, and began to sally forth, if it were possible to put an end to our receiving provisions and strength.
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30 Now when we saw that the Lamanites began to grow uneasy on this
wise, we were desirous to bring a stratagem into effect upon them; therefore
Antipus ordered that I should march forth with my little sons to a
neighboring city, aas if we were carrying provisions to a
neighboring city.
31 And we were to march near the city of Antiparah, as if we were going to the city beyond, in the borders by the seashorea.
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31a to the city beyond, in the borders by the seashore This seems to be a very lonely placed city of the Nephites which is the only city actualy upon the western sea coast. And it is upon the very borders of the land meaning upon the border between the national land of Zarhemla and the national land of Nephi. Such a lonely placed city would seem to be easy prey for the Lamanites. Thus one asks why did they not take it. The answers is quite simple. It was not strategically inviting for the Lamanites to wast their effort upon it. The only thing which this single coast line city did defend what the coast line of impassable mangrove swamps. So why did Moroni even take the time to place such a denfensive city at that location? While the city was not of strategic importance for the Lamanites to waste men and effort to secure, it was of a significant strategic importance to Moroni. And that importance is to be found in the protecting of ones flank in order that one is not out flanked in a round about manuver. The lonesome city by the seashore protected Moroni's western flank. |
30a
Alma 52:21;
Alma 58:1
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~ Day One ~ |
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32 And it came to pass that we did march forth, as if with our
provisions, to go to that city.
33 And it came to pass that Antipus did march forth with a part of his army, leaving the remainder to maintain the city. But he did not march forth until I had gone forth with my little army, and came near the city Antiparah. 34 And now, in the city Antiparah were stationed the strongest army of the Lamanites; yea, the most numerous.
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35 And it came to pass that when they had been informed by their
spies, they came forth with their army and marched against us.
36 And it came to pass that we did flee before them, northward. And thus we did lead away the most powerful army of the Lamanites; 37 Yea, even to a considerable distance, insomuch that when they saw the army of Antipus pursuing them, with their might, they did not turn to the right nor to the left, but pursued their march in a straight course after us; and, as we suppose, it was their intent to slay us before Antipus should overtake them, and this that they might not be surrounded by our people.
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~ Day Two ~ |
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38 And now Antipus, beholding our danger, did speed the march of
his army. But behold, it was night; therefore they did not
overtake us, neither did Antipus overtake them; therefore we did
camp for the night.
39 And it came to pass that before the dawn of the morning, behold, the Lamanites were pursuing us. Now we were not sufficiently strong to contend with them; yea, I would not suffer that my little sons should fall into their hands; therefore we did continue our march, and we took our march into the wilderness. 40 Now they durst not turn to the right nor to the left lest they should be surrounded; neither would I turn to the right nor to the left lest they should overtake me, and we could not stand against them, but be slain, and they would make their escape; and thus we did flee all that day into the wilderness, even until it was dark.
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~ Day Three ~ |
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41 And it came to pass that again, when the light of the morning
came we saw the Lamanites upon us, and we did flee before them.
42 But it came to pass that they did not pursue us far before they halted; and it was in the morning of the third day of the seventh month. 43 And now, whether they were overtaken by Antipus we knew not, but I said unto my men: Behold, we know not but they have halted for the purpose that we should come against them, that they might catch us in their snare; 44 Therefore what say ye, my sons, will ye go against them to battle?
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45 And now I say unto you, my beloved brother Moroni, that never had
I seen aso great bcourage, nay, not
amongst all the Nephites.
46 For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them very young) even so they said unto me: Father, behold our God is with us, and he will anot suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone; therefore let us go, lest they should overpower the army of Antipus.
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45a
Alma 19:10 b TG Courage 46a Alma 61:10-11 47a TG Birthright; TG Liberty b Alma 53:17 (15-18); TG Honoring, Father and Mother c Alma 57:21; TG Marriage, Motherhood
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47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they
did think more upon the aliberty of their
bfathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been
taught by their cmothers, that if they did not doubt, God
would deliver them.
48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their amothers, saying: We bdo not doubt our mothers knew it.
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48a
TG
Family, Love within b D&C 46:14
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49 And it came to pass that I did return with my two thousand
against these Lamanites who had pursued us. And now behold, the
armies of Antipus had overtaken them, and a terrible battle had
commenced.
50 The army of Antipus being weary, because of their long march in so short a space of time, were about to fall into the hands of the Lamanites; and had I not returned with my two thousand they would have obtained their purpose.
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Mormon's InterjectionNow, though this was an epistle from Helaman, we must also understand that it is Mormon engraving it upon the plates of his abridgment. Thus at this point in Helaman's letter, Mormon either interjects information, or he proceeds to abridge a part of Helaman's letter in the following verses which no longer speak from Helaman's first person 'I' perspective, but do proceed to speak from Mormon's perspective as narrating abridger of the account. |
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51 For Antipus had fallen by the sword, and many of his leaders,
because of their weariness, which was occasioned by the speed of their
march—therefore the men of Antipus, being confused because
of the fall of their leaders, began to give way before the
Lamanites.
52 And it came to pass that the Lamanites took courage, and began to pursue them; and thus were the Lamanites pursuing them with great vigor when aHelaman came upon their rear with his two thousand, and began to slay them exceedingly, insomuch that the whole army of the Lamanites halted and turned upon Helaman. 53 Now when the people of Antipus saw that the Lamanites had turned them about, they gathered together their men and came again upon the rear of the Lamanites.
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52a
Morm. 6:6;
IE Mormon here abridges some of the material in the letter of Helaman
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54 And now it came to pass that we, the people of Nephi, the
people of Antipus, and I with my two thousand, did surround the
Lamanites, and did slay them; yea, insomuch that they were
compelled to deliver up their weapons of war and also themselves
as prisoners of war.
55 And now it came to pass that when they had surrendered themselves up unto us, behold, I numbered those young men who had fought with me, fearing lest there were many of them slain.
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56 But behold, to my great joy, there had anot one
soul of them fallen to the earth; yea, and they had fought as if with the
bstrength of God; yea, never were men known to have fought
with such miraculous strength; and with such mighty power did they fall upon
the Lamanites, that they did frighten them; and for this cause did the
Lamanites deliver themselves up as prisoners of war.
57 And as we had no place for our prisoners, that we could guard them to keep them from the armies of the Lamanites, therefore we sent them to the land of Zarahemla, and a part of those men who were not slain of Antipus, with them; and the remainder I took and joined them to my stripling aAmmonites, and took our march back to the city of Judea.
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56a
Alma 57:25;
Alma 58:39 b TG Strength 57a Alma 27:26
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| * Verse 1 [62 B.C.]; Verse 9 [66 B.C.]; Verse 20 [65 B.C.]. | ||
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