Enter the Prophet-Historian Mormon - The Words of Mormon

You can read the entire chapter at the following link https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/w-of-m/1?lang=eng.

We fast forward to about 385 A.D. Lehi, Nephi and Jacob have prophesied about the destruction of the Nephites if they fall into iniquity, and now we learn that the prophecy is in the last stages of being fulfilled.

The voice of Mormon, the namesake of the entire record, appears for the first time. We will get to know him well. From this point forward, until near the end of the record when he turns the plates over to his son Moroni, Mormon’s point of view dominates what we read. He abridges the records that were made and handed down through the generations from the time of King Benjamin (about 130 B.C.) to that of the record-keeper (and probable Nephite leader) Ammaron (about 321 A.D.). Then Mormon supplies his own record (running from about 321 A.D. to 385 A.D.). This comprises the heart of the book, and 338 of the book’s total 531 pages, spanning about 515 years. At various points throughout, Mormon takes the narrator’s prerogative to add inspired words of clarification and emphasis. When he does that, it’s a good sign that the Lord wants us to pay special attention to something.

So what does the Lord want us to pay attention to at this point in the book? Maybe first what is mentioned above about the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Nephites’ destruction. As we get into the heart of the book, we will be able to follow the cyclical course of the Nephites’ prosperity, and how often they use their favorable material circumstances as false justification to disengage from the Lord and—through ingratitude and pride—hurt each other and ultimately themselves. Mormon’s casual reference to the destruction as a done deal in the first two verses points up for us the ruinous path of earthly prosperity without regard for the Lord—the true source of all good things.

Secondly, it seems the Lord wants us to recognize—once again—the great miracle that is the unbroken chain of custody over the sacred record. Somehow, each of the men who kept the plates was able to pass it on to someone else who remained faithful to his task and was able to keep alive the promise that eventually it would resurface and awaken future generations to the unrealized promises made to their fathers and still on offer to them (verses 10-11). This is the overarching continuity of the Book of Mormon. Through all the ups and downs, the faithfulness and faithlessness, that record remains intact and in good hands for a thousand years.

And we are reminded that the Lord is very particular in how the record would be received by future generations. Just as Nephi was told by the Lord to make small plates alongside a larger historical record as a way of preserving and transmitting the most precious of his people’s prophecies and teachings, for a “wise purpose” unto the Lord (1 Nephi 19 and 2 Nephi 5), the “workings of the Spirit” whisper to Mormon to organize the small plates with the portion of his abridgment of the larger historical record (with the abridgment on plates made by Mormon himself) in such a way that where the small plates end chronologically, he has inserted this “chapter” to provide us a bridge from the small plates to his abridgment of the larger ones (verses 5-7).

In the last third of this chapter, Mormon returns to the narrative. If you remember from Amaleki’s record in Omni, the Nephite king Mosiah was warned by the Lord to flee the land of Nephi to a new land called Zarahemla. Mosiah died and his son Benjamin inherited the kingdom. Mormon tells us that the Lamanites threaten the Nephites in their new dwelling place, but that Benjamin and his people repel the Lamanites in the “strength of the Lord” (verse 14).

It’s not absolutely clear, but it is possible that the Nephites’ contentions among themselves (verse 12) had made them vulnerable to the Lamanites. Mormon refers to false Christs and false prophets and teachers among the people who instigated the contentions and even dissensions unto the Lamanites. This will be a common pattern we see as the book continues, where the Nephites are their own worst enemies. Those who are raised as Nephites, with the true record of their covenant relationship with the Lord and their family’s heritage of faith, often end up as the most implacable foes of their people—willfully rebelling from that heritage and inciting the Lamanites to come against the Nephites as means of revenge or the acquisition of power or wealth.

Mormon tells us that King Benjamin countered the negative effects of the false prophets and teachers on his people in two main ways. Those propagating falsehoods and blasphemy were punished under the Nephites’ laws. But recourse to law and force only stopped the active spread of error, it did not reverse it. We learn that—as is always the case—the only truly effective way to disabuse the people of their false notions and to bring about true peace in the land was to preach the gospel. In verses 16-18, we find out that Benjamin relies on holy men (prophets and those operating under their authority) to “speak the word of God with power and authority” with “sharpness” to counteract the “stiffneckedness of the people.” With labor, love, the Spirit of God and hope that the people will respond of their own free will and choice, this is the only truly time-tested remedy to roll back spiritual darkness in a society.