Come follow me Book of Mormon Bonus Post
Update - forgot to post this last week, so I will pot this and another this week. Hope you had a great General Conference! We did some special streaming which you can find at Twitch.tv/comefollowmejosephandsam for the next 2 weeks.
Welcome to Come Follow Me with Sam! For those paying close attention, you probably noticed I'm changing the order of the weekly topics a bit. Here is the schedule:
week of 3/29 (today) Special topic! A deep dive into this part of the civilization
week of 4/05 (conference) Easter and conference commentary
week of 4/12 (Easter) Mosiah 1-3, resume normal schedule
Great! A lot of stuff is happening during the pivotal time of King Benjamin in the book of Mormon so lets talk about the cultural and the spiritual changes. A note for all readers that I am not an expert in culture and we don't have a lot of information on what was really going on, so much of this is unconfirmed thoughts, take it and use it for what you can.
When most people teach about Lamanites and Nephites, they teach about it as only two cultures. While this is a fair first blush, I am convinced that if we lived among the Nephites and Lamanites at different times, we would see many different cultures. here are the events that rock the spiritual and cultural worlds, From Mosiah I's flight to the reign of judges.
The Nephites were almost destroyed during Amaron's time 6 verses earlier, but this time, God told the righteous to get out. They were led by Mosiah I and whoever was in tune enough to follow, followed. Those who weren't in tune were, presumably, destroyed. Mosiah I led them with inspiration, the power of God, and miracles. The writings suggest that nothing like this had happened since Nephi's record, and the double whammy of living by revelation and winnowing the people down to only those who would trust their lives to God must have put the people more in tune with God than any times since Nephi, possibly ever.
The Nephites bump into the people of Zarahemla(I'm going to call them Mulekites here for short). It seems like this was the perfect synergy. The Mulekites also fled Jerusalem at the time that it was destroyed by Babylon but brought no scripture. the Nephites had both scriptures and a prophet but had their civilization disrupted. The Mulekites probably gave the Nephites enough critical mass to break the traditional hierarchies that build, which can help grow a civilization. They also brought the story of the Jaredites, which was a great warning. The Nephites were industrious and probably a great asset. Obviously the Mulekites thought the Nephites also had leadership ability. Most importantly, they had the same heritage and similar stories of coming to the promised land, so there was a fertile foundation to build together on, and rejoicing in the scriptural records.
The Nephite learned of Coriantumr, and the Jaredites demise, mentioned previously. They had just narrowly escaped their own destruction and this must have been a sobering event and a time of reflection of what may happen if they did not keep straight paths.
This is perhaps the great tying-together event of all the events mentioned. King Benjamin had specific objectives to bring them together and some of those were to make a covenant to take the name of Christ upon themselves. I believe this was a great way to solidify the uniting of the people, mentioned previously, and to prepare them for some of the great things to come like the reign of judges, the establishment of a structured church under Alma, and the preparation for the coming of Christ still over a century out.
It seems as though there was a brief era of peace for the main body of the Nephites for a short time between the reign of Benjamin and through the reign of Mosiah because King Benjamin drove the Lamanites out of the land. Later in Mosiah, it says that not even Nephites could find their way back from Lamanite lands to the main body, and when they did, the Lamanite could not track them and follow them back. An era of peace like this could have brought some stability to help the people flourish and focus on spiritual things. Contrari-wise, it could be a lack of this reminder that gave the church its first major challenge in Mosiah 26 and such a falling away.
Alma, former priest of King Noah, by revelation, organized a church among the Nephites who had journeyed back to where Mosiah led them (more on that, stay tuned, probably in a month). When he came back, Mosiah asked him to organize the church everywhere. It seems that before then, the people would gather in one body. This church essentially lasts until Christ, and the story of the church among the people is followed from here.
Amulon was a wicked priest of King Noah, and by strange circumstances, he and other priest joined the Lamanites and taught them the learning of the Nephites. Amulon was pretty bad, and his posterity were some of the most hard-hearted people of the entire Book of Mormon, but I believe some amazing good came out of this. When the Lamanites took the learning of the Nephites, I believe it began a foundation where they could have common understanding to work with each other. They didn't have the disposition at the time, but within about a hundred years, thanks to the preaching of Nephi and Lehi (not the same people as the Lehi and Nephi in the first chapters of the book), the people eventually united. I don't think this would have happened without the common understanding being established by Amulon and the priests. It also probably changed the way that war was carried out, that dissenters were treated, and probably had a beneficial effect on the preaching of the sons of Mosiah, even if the Amulonites at that time themselves caused great trouble for the missionary work these sons performed.
I wonder if Mosiah saw patterns in Nephite and Mulekite culture that were warning signs that kings would cause contention, or perhaps as stated in the chapter, he was sufficiently warned about how bad it got with King Noah. In any case he created a new form of Government that was closer to the form that Moses put forth than any other government I know of. It was also something resembling a rule of Law vs a rule of kings, something equally rare. This changed the dynamics of the people.
The book of Alma and Helaman to some extent is the exploration of how these events, particularly the church reformation and the government reformation, shaped the lives of the people, and how they performed under these institutions. We are starved of the details so I admit that some of this is speculation and connecting dots that are far apart. However, I think I can safely say that it is crucial to ponder this time in Nephite history if you want to understand what comes next, which is the largest part of the records in the Book of Mormon.
P.S. I alluded to some other events that happened that I didn't break up into their own category. This includes Mosiah being called King, King Benjamin fighting many wars, A portion of the people of Nephi going back to their lands, and then returning, the first great trial of the church, etc. These are great events to study out as well, and some of them we will touch on in the future.
Welcome to Come Follow Me with Sam! For those paying close attention, you probably noticed I'm changing the order of the weekly topics a bit. Here is the schedule:
week of 3/29 (today) Special topic! A deep dive into this part of the civilization
week of 4/05 (conference) Easter and conference commentary
week of 4/12 (Easter) Mosiah 1-3, resume normal schedule
Great! A lot of stuff is happening during the pivotal time of King Benjamin in the book of Mormon so lets talk about the cultural and the spiritual changes. A note for all readers that I am not an expert in culture and we don't have a lot of information on what was really going on, so much of this is unconfirmed thoughts, take it and use it for what you can.
The Spiritual Rebirth and the Melding of Cultures
When most people teach about Lamanites and Nephites, they teach about it as only two cultures. While this is a fair first blush, I am convinced that if we lived among the Nephites and Lamanites at different times, we would see many different cultures. here are the events that rock the spiritual and cultural worlds, From Mosiah I's flight to the reign of judges.
Mosiah I flight from the land of Nephi (Omni vs 12-13)
The Nephites were almost destroyed during Amaron's time 6 verses earlier, but this time, God told the righteous to get out. They were led by Mosiah I and whoever was in tune enough to follow, followed. Those who weren't in tune were, presumably, destroyed. Mosiah I led them with inspiration, the power of God, and miracles. The writings suggest that nothing like this had happened since Nephi's record, and the double whammy of living by revelation and winnowing the people down to only those who would trust their lives to God must have put the people more in tune with God than any times since Nephi, possibly ever.
Nephites meet people of Mulek (Zarahemla) (Omni vs 13-19)
The Nephites bump into the people of Zarahemla(I'm going to call them Mulekites here for short). It seems like this was the perfect synergy. The Mulekites also fled Jerusalem at the time that it was destroyed by Babylon but brought no scripture. the Nephites had both scriptures and a prophet but had their civilization disrupted. The Mulekites probably gave the Nephites enough critical mass to break the traditional hierarchies that build, which can help grow a civilization. They also brought the story of the Jaredites, which was a great warning. The Nephites were industrious and probably a great asset. Obviously the Mulekites thought the Nephites also had leadership ability. Most importantly, they had the same heritage and similar stories of coming to the promised land, so there was a fertile foundation to build together on, and rejoicing in the scriptural records.
Nephites learn of Jaredites (Omni vs 20-22)
The Nephite learned of Coriantumr, and the Jaredites demise, mentioned previously. They had just narrowly escaped their own destruction and this must have been a sobering event and a time of reflection of what may happen if they did not keep straight paths.
King Benjamin initiates covenant with Nephites (Mosiah ch 1-6)
This is perhaps the great tying-together event of all the events mentioned. King Benjamin had specific objectives to bring them together and some of those were to make a covenant to take the name of Christ upon themselves. I believe this was a great way to solidify the uniting of the people, mentioned previously, and to prepare them for some of the great things to come like the reign of judges, the establishment of a structured church under Alma, and the preparation for the coming of Christ still over a century out.
Lamanites lose track of Nephites!? (Words of Mormon vs 12-14)
It seems as though there was a brief era of peace for the main body of the Nephites for a short time between the reign of Benjamin and through the reign of Mosiah because King Benjamin drove the Lamanites out of the land. Later in Mosiah, it says that not even Nephites could find their way back from Lamanite lands to the main body, and when they did, the Lamanite could not track them and follow them back. An era of peace like this could have brought some stability to help the people flourish and focus on spiritual things. Contrari-wise, it could be a lack of this reminder that gave the church its first major challenge in Mosiah 26 and such a falling away.
Alma starts an organized Church of God (Mosiah 18, Mosiah 25)
Alma, former priest of King Noah, by revelation, organized a church among the Nephites who had journeyed back to where Mosiah led them (more on that, stay tuned, probably in a month). When he came back, Mosiah asked him to organize the church everywhere. It seems that before then, the people would gather in one body. This church essentially lasts until Christ, and the story of the church among the people is followed from here.
Amulon and wicked priests teach the Lamanites the learning of the Nephites (Mosiah 24)
Amulon was a wicked priest of King Noah, and by strange circumstances, he and other priest joined the Lamanites and taught them the learning of the Nephites. Amulon was pretty bad, and his posterity were some of the most hard-hearted people of the entire Book of Mormon, but I believe some amazing good came out of this. When the Lamanites took the learning of the Nephites, I believe it began a foundation where they could have common understanding to work with each other. They didn't have the disposition at the time, but within about a hundred years, thanks to the preaching of Nephi and Lehi (not the same people as the Lehi and Nephi in the first chapters of the book), the people eventually united. I don't think this would have happened without the common understanding being established by Amulon and the priests. It also probably changed the way that war was carried out, that dissenters were treated, and probably had a beneficial effect on the preaching of the sons of Mosiah, even if the Amulonites at that time themselves caused great trouble for the missionary work these sons performed.
Mosiah II ends the kingship and begins the reign of Judges (Mosiah 29)
I wonder if Mosiah saw patterns in Nephite and Mulekite culture that were warning signs that kings would cause contention, or perhaps as stated in the chapter, he was sufficiently warned about how bad it got with King Noah. In any case he created a new form of Government that was closer to the form that Moses put forth than any other government I know of. It was also something resembling a rule of Law vs a rule of kings, something equally rare. This changed the dynamics of the people.
The book of Alma and Helaman to some extent is the exploration of how these events, particularly the church reformation and the government reformation, shaped the lives of the people, and how they performed under these institutions. We are starved of the details so I admit that some of this is speculation and connecting dots that are far apart. However, I think I can safely say that it is crucial to ponder this time in Nephite history if you want to understand what comes next, which is the largest part of the records in the Book of Mormon.
P.S. I alluded to some other events that happened that I didn't break up into their own category. This includes Mosiah being called King, King Benjamin fighting many wars, A portion of the people of Nephi going back to their lands, and then returning, the first great trial of the church, etc. These are great events to study out as well, and some of them we will touch on in the future.
Comments
Post a Comment