Category: Scripture Notes
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Appealing to emotion
Giddianhi tried to appeal to the emotions of Lachoneus and the Nephites by flattering then in their efforts and using their terminology (“ye stand as if ye were supported by a god”) even though he didn’t believe a word of what he was saying. He also covered his bases by appealing to their emotions on…
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Parallels to Esther
The story of the people setting a date to kill the believers reminds me of Esther. If the Nephites had known of Esther the believers might have taken courage from that story but although Esther lived centuries earlier than this her story took place during the Babylonian captivity which was after Lehi, or even Mulek,…
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Delivered up the judgement seat
Bill and I talked about Nephi giving up the judgement seat the other day. I had always assumed that Nephi decided to step down as Alma had done but Bill believed he was voted out. As I read it now there is no information to differentiate between those two options. We know for sure that…
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Who were the dissenters?
Two successive waves of dissenters went from the neighbors to the Lamanites and convinced the Lamanites to attack the Nephites. It makes me wonder who those dissenters were but the word that they had become proud of their riches and had oppressed the poor it makes me think that it was those poor people who…
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Hinting at context
Moroni is attempting to provide context to the reader that the people in the land were expansive as were their records without getting distracted from the focus of this record. Throughout the Book of Mormon we get hints of the people spreading over time and sometimes the record here concerns a wider scope of people…
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Solve the real problem
The origins of the Gadianton robbers clearly demonstrate that selecting a good leader is not the same as eliminating the underlying problems. Even if we choose (again) to not put trump back in power we still have to do the work to heal the divisions and improve people’s lives and help people increase their capacity…
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Mitigating a disaster
Coriantumr capturing Zerahemlah was a disaster for the Nephites. After that it would have been easy to conclude that standing against his army was hopeless but Moronihah kept his head and called upon Lehi and gathered his people so that in the end they surrounded and completely defeated the army of Coriantumr and restored peace…
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When the Lord does not chasten
Whom the Lord loves He chastens. When people are struggling to follow Him they may not feel chastened or He may have limited reason to chasten them. When they are beginning to go astray He will chasten them and while they may feel threatened or unloved by this it is a clear sign that He…
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Choosing easy prophets
The description of the Nephites holding up as prophets all those who say what is pleasing to them sounds like many people today. That is true for religious “prophets” as well as secular prophets in business and politics.
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A time of transition
The records went through the hands of two record keepers in the span of less than 10 years. During that same time several groups left the Nephites and settled in other places where they arrived by ship. That could be further north in the Americas or it could be out on isles of the sea…