Tag: Alma

Teancum seems to have been reckless when he went after Ammoron at the end of the war. When he had killed Teancum he was desperate to end the Lamanite advance while he had minimal support. In contrast, when he killed Ammoron the neighbors were firmly in control of their position and the momentum was in…

Once Moroni had all the information he changed the directions of his efforts and the tide of the war quickly shifted. There was new energy among the Nephites and the Lamanites were suddenly having to defend from new directions.

I’m confident that Moroni was surprised with the speed of the answer from Pahoran. (I expect that Gideon was closer to Moroni than Zerahemla was.) When he read the response he was likely first relieved that Pahoran was not a traitor and also that there were many fighting in defense of liberty with Pahoran but…

Moroni is not just accusing Pahoran of neglect, pride, etc, he is also looking to find some reason for the actions (or lack of actions) that were plaguing the military. He considers many options including malice, pride, and relatively benign thoughtlessness.

Moroni was aware of his own situation but his understanding of the progress of the overall war was more complete after reading the epistle of Helaman. When the city of Nephihah fell he recognized another piece of information that he had been blind to. It was then that he could see the pattern of neglect…

We remember that the sons of Helaman were presented but we should not forget that they still received many wounds while keeping the covenant that had made.

When they were close to achieving their goals Helaman and his men found that they could gain no advantage over the final obstacle until the Spirit spoke peace to their hearts and they took a step forward in faith to finish the job.

Two descriptions of the sons of Helaman explain their miraculous preservation: 1) they did obey with exactness; 2) they did put their trust in God continually. If we can do those two things we can see miracles in our lives too.

Antipus sacrificed his men, pushing them hard in pursuit of the Lamanites to prevent them from overpowering Helaman and his stripling warriors. The sons of Helaman also choose to sacrifice in turning back on the Lamanites after they stopped without knowing whether they were walking into a trap.

When Helaman arrived to assist Antipus it initiated a stalemate between the Nephites and the Lamanites in that front of the war.