And Thus We See

Korihor was cast out, and he did go about from house to house, begging food for his support.  And it came to pass that as he went forth among the people, yea, among a people who had separated themselves from the Nephites and called themselves Zoramites, being led by a man whose name was Zoram—and as he went forth amongst them, behold, he was run upon and trodden down, even until he was dead. (Alma 30: 58-59)

Poor Korihor.  Dying an ignoble death amongst apostate Nephites like himself.  He who always knew there was a God, but whose lying spirit led him astray.  A tragic story of pride run amok.

Then, in verse 60, we read this: And thus we see the end of him who perverteth the ways of the Lord; and thus we see that the devil will not support his children at the last day, but doth speedily drag them down to hell. 

The time period covered by Nephite history is 1,000 years, from about 600 BC to 400 AD.  The records kept during those years would and did fill libraries!  Then, about 320 AD, the keeper of the Nephite records, a man named Ammaron, sought out a 10 year old boy.  The boy's name was Mormon.  He was large in stature and mature in spirit, a sober youth who love God when few others around him did.  Ammaron told Mormon that he had hidden up all the records in caves in a hill named Shim.  When Mormon was 24 years old, he was to go to the hill and recover the records.  It was his calling to edit and condense the records into a codex of gold plates such as could be carried by one man.

Mormon spent the rest of his life in this labor, but he was an interesting editor.  Periodically, he allows himself to intrude into the story line.  He did so in this verse.  It was Mormon who wrote: and thus we see.  He doesn't want us to miss the moral of the story.  He doesn't want us to repeat the mistake.

The Book of Mormon wasn't written for the people of that time.  It was written for us: 1) to the Lamanites, who are a remnant of the house of Israel; 2) to the Jews; and 3) to the Gentiles.

Which is to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever—And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ . . . (The Title Page of the Book of Mormon)

It is a cautionary tale.  And thus we see that if we miss the caution, it will be our own fault and not that of the book's stalwart editor.

Text copyright September 2013, Gebara Education

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