Now that Alma and his people are safely in Zarahemla with King Mosiah, I thought I'd take a break from the historical narrative to write a little bit about one of the themes of the Book of Mormon. We see such themes in the Old Testament, but it is so spread out and complex, not following a narrative line, that we often miss them. Since the Book of Mormon is an abridgment of 1,000 years of history, the story is a lot more compact by comparison and the themes are easier to recognize.
The first theme I'd like to discuss is the consistent hatred of the Lamanites for the Nephites. Like the hatred of the Arabs for the Jews, it began with their ancestors, Laman and Lemuel. If you've been following the Couch since June, you'll remember that Laman and Lemuel didn't want to leave Jerusalem. They were very worldly men who thought their father was a visionary old man who went off and a whim, taking them away from their wealth and comfort. When their father Lehi and their brother Nephi told them later through revelation from God that Jerusalem had been destroyed, they never believed it. As Nephi began to take over the leadership of the family group more and more (since he had become a prophet like his father), they resented it beyond words. Laman felt that, as the eldest, he should have been the ruler of the tribe. That Lehi gave the birthright to his then-youngest son, like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had done, was galling to Laman.
This is what the Book of Mormon says about that hatred:
And it came to pass that king Laman died, and his son began to reign in his stead. And he began to stir his people up in rebellion against my people; therefore they began to prepare for war, and to come up to battle against [the Nephites].
Now, the Lamanites knew nothing concerning the Lord, nor the strength of the Lord, therefore they depended upon their own strength. Yet they were a strong people, as to the strength of men. They were a wild, and ferocious, and a blood-thirsty people, believing in the tradition of their fathers, which is this—Believing that they were driven out of the land of Jerusalem because of the iniquities of their fathers, and that they were wronged in the wilderness by their brethren, and they were also wronged while crossing the sea;
And again, that they were wronged while in the land of their first inheritance, after they had crossed the sea, and all this because that Nephi was more faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord—therefore he was favored of the Lord, for the Lord heard his prayers and answered them, and he took the lead of their journey in the wilderness. And his brethren were wroth with him because they understood not the dealings of the Lord; they were also wroth with him upon the waters because they hardened their hearts against the Lord.
And again, they were wroth with him when they had arrived in the promised land, because they said that he had taken the ruling of the people out of their hands; and they sought to kill him. And again, they were wroth with him because he departed into the wilderness as the Lord had commanded him, and took the records which were engraven on the plates of brass, for they said that he robbed them. And thus they have taught their children that they should hate them, and that they should murder them, and that they should rob and plunder them, and do all they could to destroy them; therefore they have an eternal hatred towards the children of Nephi. (Mosiah 10: 6, 11-17)
We read the term traditions of their fathers throughout the Book of Mormon. In the early days in the new world, the division between Nephites and Lamantites had a racial overtone, since Laman and Lemuel's families had intermarried with indigenous people in the area and within a generation or two had slightly darker skin than the Nephites. But later, as apostate Nephites like Amulon joined them, the division became one of those who believed in God and the promise of His Messiah and those who did not believe in either. By the first century BC, as many of the Nephites grew wicked and some of the Lamanites became believers, any racial distinctions were truly blurred. But through the centuries, those false traditions and hatred of Laman and Lemuel, painstakingly taught to their children, continued to raise the ugly head of hatred, violence, and war.
What are we teaching our children?
Text copyright August 2013, Gebara Education
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We read the term traditions of their fathers throughout the Book of Mormon. In the early days in the new world, the division between Nephites and Lamantites had a racial overtone, since Laman and Lemuel's families had intermarried with indigenous people in the area and within a generation or two had slightly darker skin than the Nephites. But later, as apostate Nephites like Amulon joined them, the division became one of those who believed in God and the promise of His Messiah and those who did not believe in either. By the first century BC, as many of the Nephites grew wicked and some of the Lamanites became believers, any racial distinctions were truly blurred. But through the centuries, those false traditions and hatred of Laman and Lemuel, painstakingly taught to their children, continued to raise the ugly head of hatred, violence, and war.
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