War in the Book of Mormon

Mormon's metaphor uses armed conflict to teach all of us how to return to stand clean before the judgement bar of Jesus Christ (Mormon 3:20-22). That metaphor emphasizes three key parts: preparation, covenants, and unity. This episode discusses each of those parts as a conclusion and then goes on to draw spiritual concluding lessons from Mormon's three great armed conflict sermons: the Battle of Manti, the Amalickiahite War, and the Gadianton Robber War. The episode ends with my gratitude to all the listeners, Bill Welch for his musical contributions, and Sheri Steed for her unfailing support.

This penultimate episode is a summary of the major military lessons from the previous 47 episodes of this podcast series.

Mormon returned to command the Nephite armies as the fifth and final war raged on. Facing defeat, he invited the Lamanite king to a final battle at the Hill Cumorah. There, in what may have been the largest battle in the history of the western hemisphere, the Nephite state was destroyed for the third and final time. This episode includes Mormon's final lament and also some key lessons from his most detailed battle of his own experience.

Mormon commanded during four different wars. This episode discusses the first three of those wars. Mormon does not give us much detail as he wanted to emphasize the positive and successful approach to God demonstrated by people like Alma, Moroni, and Lachoneus and not the inevitability of defeat and destruction for those who reject God, which was what the people of his day did. Even with the limited details there is value in understanding what happened and what that can teach us about preparation, covenants, and unity.

Mormon begins his personal story with the return of war after an absence of nearly 300 years. This episode addresses six areas that are unique to Mormon's time and experience and that can inform each of us about our world and how to better exist in it.

Mormon places two extremes in immediate juxtaposition in the Book of Mormon. In the previous episode, I discussed the Consolidated Settlement – a period of unique and nearly complete physical, organizational, and social unity. In this episode we discuss the collapse of that unity, the near perfect unity resulting from the instruction of Jesus Christ, and the gradual and consistent decline and loss of that unity.

The Nephites and Lamanites unite in a single body to fight a poetically equally united group of Gadianton Robbers. This is the giant showdown where united good fights united evil. Mormon teaches about the power of good the comes from unity and how, for some of us, that may be the best ways that we can survive in the battles that we face. This is the biggest clash of arms in the Book of Mormon record to this point.

The two brothers – Nephi and Lehi – did more as missionaries to the Lamanites to end war, return lost lands, and transform a seemingly intractable opponent than did all of the Nephite armies even though they were led by a prophet-warrior like Moronihah. This is a significant and important story to understand the nature of what I call narrative war.

The single biggest Nephite military loss takes place under the command of Moronihah and the leadership of Nephi IV during the 58th and 59th year of the reign of the judges when the Nephites lose everything south of the land Bountiful. Mormon gives us a compelling story of defeat caused by disunity in the form of two major dissensions occurring two years apart and the struggle to regain that which was lost. This is the first part of a discussion on this war.

Helaman chapter one introduces the reader to the sea change that is coming in a form of foreshadowing. The chapter begins with a story of the creation of the first band of Gadianton Robbers and then ends with fighting between Nephites and a Lamanite army commanded by a man named Coriantumr. As the Book of Mormon moves forward from here, Gadianton Robbers become more and more important to the point that their efforts lead to the near complete destruction of the Nephite state. This chapter is where it all begins.

This episode is a general overview of what secret combinations are in the Book of Mormon, how they were organized and developed, how Nephite and Lamanite societies fought both successfully and unsuccessfully against them, and the significance of these lessons for us as we live in the twenty-first century. The point is that we live in a world of modern secret combinations and that the teachings of the Book of Mormon are powerfully relevant to us today.

Moronihah is a fascinating character in that he is the longest serving Nephite military commander in the pre-Christ era and yet we know very little about him as compared to his father. This episode provides some insights into what we do know and why that information matters.

This is the final episode dealing with the second great sermon from the prophet Mormon: The Amalickiahite War. This episode includes a discussion of the 2nd Battle of Moroni, the deadly adventure of the Nephite commander Teancum, and a summary of key observations and lessons from the Amalickiahite War.

The penultimate episode of the Amalickiahite War discusses two different battles that capture very different styles of fighting and different aspects of preparation, covenants, and unity. The episode includes the first detailed discussion of Nephite escalade and assault on a Lamanite fortified position and some great principles for conduct regarding opponents and opportunities.

The majority of this episode features a discussion on the two epistles sent from and received by Moroni and how those letters are instruction for readers of the Book of Mormon on leadership responsibilities and leadership reactions to criticism respectively.

This is the best jailbreak story ever. Moroni led an army to capture a city and release prisoners and he did all of this without losing a single soldier dead or apparently wounded on either side. It includes spies, deception, getting people drunk, arming prisoners, and surrounding the enemy. Again, the best jailbreak story ever.

Helaman puts all of his experiences together to generate his greatest military victory yet. He acts like he is laying siege to trick his opponent to come out of the city and attack him. He runs away and then sneaks back to have captured the city without the loss of a single Nephite fighter. It doesn't get better than that.

A close passive siege, prisoner escape, the possibility of highly disciplined formations, and the capture of another Lamanite controlled city are part of this episode that features Helaman and his 2,000 (actually 2,060) Stripling Warriors going against three different Lamanites armies.

The most complex battle in the Book of Mormon record is the 3rd Battle of Mulek. It also includes the biggest names in Book of Mormon warfare: Moroni, Lehi, and Teancum. These three men never lost a battle they personally commanded and this battle shows them at the cooperative and daring best.

The single most relayed battle of the Book of Mormon is the Battle of Antipus’ Fall or what you might call the Battle of the 2000 Stripling Warriors. This is one of the most detailed battles in the record and clearly one of the most important battles to consider for lessons to apply in our current lives. The single most important point is that faith and obedience to covenants brings real power.

The first and maybe only time in the Book of Mormon where the Lamanites conduct a multi-theater strategy. This time under the leadership of Ammoron, the previously unknown brother of Amalickiah.

The most successful Lamanite campaign sought to capture Bountiful and surround the Nephites. Instead, it ended with the assassination of the Lamanite King Amalickiah and Bountiful protected by Teancum and his army.

What happens when a sub-group of a society hates the organization, structure, and institutions of that society? In the Book of Mormon, we have three different approaches to answering this question. The first were the anti-Christs – people and groups who opposed the cultural foundations of the Nephites – the gospel of Jesus Christ. We discussed anti-Christs in greater detail in episode 9 or part 2.3. The second is a group that we discuss in this episode – the king-men. This was a group that attacked the political structure of the society – they wanted to change the governing structure from a magistracy based on laws and checks and balances of judges. The third approach is represented by secret combinations that come most directly in the form of the Gadianton Robbers. We discuss them, in detail, in part seven of this podcast series. Consider what the Book of Mormon provides us today – an explanation for how groups seek to destroy societal foundations by attacking the culture, the government, and the civil society. I believe that there are profound insights in this discussion for the 21st century world.

The 2nd Battle of Noah is a wonderful discussion of the first and only detailed expression of a city assault in the Book of Mormon. This is also the best expression of strategic and operational empathy recorded in the Book of Mormon and one of the best ever in the annals of military history. The lessons are profound for us today.

Teancum is introduced as well as an expression of Nephite strategic thought – don’t be surrounded by your enemies.  This battle analysis is a bit outside the chronological order for the Amalickiahite War, but addressing it now allows for more direct coverage of that war in the next part of the podcast series.

Moroni is the example of the ideal soldier of Christ and Amalickiah serves as the Satan archetype in the Book of Mormon. This episode explores these two men and what we can learn in ways that can make our lives better.

The period referred to as the Amalickiahite War in the Book of Mormon demonstrated many changes in warfare. This episode highlights what we can learn about commanders, learning organizations, a war for cities, and prisoners, the size of armies.

The Book of Mormon provides one of the great discourses on jus ad bellum or the right justification to go to war in the discussion on just war theory. This episode explores how the Book of Mormon illuminates just war doctrine primarily through the person and experiences of Moroni as well as others.

Moroni, a chief captain in the Book of Mormon, from about 75 to 59 BC, was one of the greatest battlefield and war preparers in military history. This episode explores his preparations in fortifications, clearing potential threats, logistics and support, and reinforcements. The episode concludes with comments on application for our present experience.

This is the most detailed battle in the Book of Mormon. It contains the most extensive battle narrative from the 1st century BC. Mormon teaches us through showing more than telling. In all of this detail, Mormon shows us a lot about how to prepare ourselves to stand clean before the judgment bar of Christ.

The single most significant battle in the pre-Christ Book of Mormon is covered in only a couple of verses in Alma chapter 28. We discuss it and what caused it in some detail in this episode as well as shedding light on the character of the women who were mothers to the Stripling Warriors who said “we do not doubt our mothers knew it.”

Five engagements or battles happen in rapid succession as the Chief Judge and High Priest Alma defends the Nephite magistracy against a Nephite dissenter named Amlici in one of the largest battles in the pre-Gadianton Robber era of the Book of Mormon. Alma is an amazing and dynamic leader who accomplishes a lot in this sequence of events and from his actions we learn how to be active servants of God.

The most important method of engagement is the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The greatest example of this engagement in the Book of Mormon is the missionary efforts of the sons of Mosiah. This episode illuminates the technical aspects of conflict as we discuss the fighting at the waters of Sebus. It is a popular story in the Book of Mormon and I hope to provide some illumination on just how much it teaches us.

Part 4 covers about 18 years in the Book of Mormon. During this period the Nephites will go from the heroic leadership of Alma2 to the bureaucratic leadership of Nephihah and the military leadership of chief captains.

The Jaredite record covers about 59 generations and includes two genocidal wars. There are a variety of critical lessons that come from this record that seem to have changed the Nephite and Lamanite conduct of war.

It is in the story of Zeniff, those who followed him, and his descendants—Zeniffites—that Mormon begins to reveal the development of Nephite strategy at several levels. He provides information on the armor and weapons of individuals, the organization and actions of units or formations, the general disposition of forces throughout the area, and the general issues among the two major cultures in conflict. None of this is extremely detailed, but in this portion of the Book of Mormon there are the first battle narratives and the opportunity to see how Nephites developed their concept of just warfare and the methods appropriate for use in it. By the end of the Zeniffite period, the Lamanites begin the development of strategy or “cunning” as Joseph Smith translated it. This comes as a direct result of the association with the Nephites and their language. In this era, the Zeniffites gain possession of the Jaredite record from Ether. The combination of experiences gained through the Zeniffite conflicts and the Jaredite record allow for the developments of Moroni. It is here in the reigns of Zeniff, Noah, and Limhi that the seeds of Nephite strategic thinking and practice are planted and nurtured which will bear fruit in the time of Moroni and Moronihah and even in the time of Mormon himself.

The second battle analysis in our series. This is the existential battle for the Zeniffites against an angry Lamanite army seeking to gain the return of their kidnapped daughters. This is probably the most justified Lamanite attack on the Zeniffites or the Nephites in the entire Book of Mormon. This episode includes insights into battlefield organization and decision making and numerous firsts for war in the Book of Mormon.

The first battle analysis in our series. This is Zeniff’s second major and final battle. The discussion on this battle draws out details from the record to understand even more of what happened.

Zeniff was a spy and then an expedition leader. The people who followed him on his expedition lived in the Land of Nephi for about 80 years. These people give us the most significant spiritual leaders in the Book of Mormon. They also give us the first battle narratives and the introduction of strategy. This episode provides an overview of the Zeniffites from beginning to end.

This episode includes a discussion on a variety of topics that are important for understanding the remainder of the podcast episodes: Naming Conventions of People and Battles, Cities and Lands, Geography and Separation Barriers, Weapons and Armor, Demographic Differences between Nephites and Lamanites, Competition of Cultures, Language as a Source of Conflict.

  Anti-Christs are those who seek to lead people away from the doctrine of Christ. They exist all around us. The Book of Mormon provides great evidence of the variety of approaches used by Anti-Christs that help readers understand what they are experiencing and how to fortify against similar attacks on faith.  

Mormon was much more than the primary record keeper, abridger, and editor of what we have today as the Book of Mormon. He was also a prophet of God and the longest serving military commander in the history of the Nephite people. His perspective shaped the construction of the Book of Mormon and his personal experience with war led to the significant role of conflict in the Book of Mormon as a metaphor for how people can return to live with God.

  What was the armed conflict in the Small Plates of Nephi? This episode explains what the record reveals in answer to that question and how one can understand the details captured in that record.

  A summary of the main lessons from Part One of the podcast with some examples of personal application.

  Lehi and Nephi brought with them to the writing of the Book of Mormon three environments of conflict. The first is the environment of their nativity which we discussed in some detail in the previous episode. The second was the environment of their travels in the wilderness. The third was the environment of their new residency. In this episode, we are talking about the second and third.

  The world of Lehi and Nephi was one of the most complex and dynamic periods in ancient history. This episode explains the complexity and briefly explains the capability and organization of the armies of the Kingdom of Judah and the Assyrian Empire.

  Ancient warfare includes behavior different from present warfare. This episode explains basic terms like war, battle, fighter, soldier, and strategy and how these things are present in the Book of Mormon.

  Mormon uses a metaphor of war to teach his readers how to stand clean before the judgment bar of Christ. He places emphasis on preparation, covenants, and unity as ways to achieve this end.

Welcome to War in the Book of Mormon.  This first episode describes the organization of the dozens of episodes to follow.  It also explains the theses of the primary engravers of the Book of Mormon, the pride cycle, and the unity cycle.