Mormon, the Nephites, and the Flood

Father Lehi’s vision of the tree of life provides us with a pattern applicable to our own lives, as we seek to overcome worldly influences and partake of the love of God. Lehi saw that as many were seeking to lay hold upon the word of God that would led them to the tree, "there arose a mist of darkness; yea, even an exceedingly great mist of darkness, insomuch that those who had commenced in the path did lose their way, that they wandered off and were lost" (1 Nephi 8:23). He also saw that others took hold of the rod of iron and "did press forward through the mist of darkness" until they were able to come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree of life (1 Nephi 8:24).

Later, Lehi’s son Nephi had a vision in which he saw the things his father saw and received an angelic interpretation of the symbols in the dream. The angel taught that "the mists of darkness are the temptations of the devil, which blindeth the eyes, and hardeneth the hearts of the children of men, and leadeth them away into broad roads, that they perish and are lost" (1 Nephi 12:17). After his vision, Nephi taught his brothers that the rod of iron "was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction" (1 Nephi 15:24).

In Amulek’s teachings to the Zoramites, we see how he draws upon Nephi’s description of the mists of darkness to highlight the importance of daily prayer, so that the temptations of the adversary do not overpower us. Mormon uses this same language to highlight the dangers of apostasy.

At the birth of Christ, great signs were given to the people of Nephi; yet, in spite of these events, Mormon relates that many of the people fell back into unbelief and apostasy.

They began to be hard in their hearts, and blind in their minds, and began to disbelieve all which they had heard and seen—

Imagining up some vain thing in their hearts, that it was wrought by men and by the power of the devil, to lead away and deceive the hearts of the people; and thus did Satan get possession of the hearts of the people again, insomuch that he did blind their eyes and lead them away to believe that the doctrine of Christ was a foolish and a vain thing …

And Satan did go about leading away the hearts of the people, tempting them and causing them that they should do great wickedness in the land (3 Nephi 2:1-3).

Like the mists of darkness, the adversary’s temptations hardened the hearts, blinded the eyes, and led away the people of Nephi into wickedness. Mormon’s language, borrowed from Nephi, emphasizes how the mists of darkness worked at this point in Nephite history. Temptations of the devil, left unchecked, can lead us to forget and dismiss even the greatest signs and miracles that have previously occurred in our lives.

Mormon’s account underscores the need to hold fast to the word of God, making it a part of our daily life and behavior, even after we have experienced miraculous events and blessings in our lives. We must "watch," or always be alert for danger, and continue in sincere and daily prayer. We must never become careless in our faith and must strive to remember the Lord’s many mercies, lest we become as the Nephites of old.

Key Insights

By adopting the words of Nephi earlier in his narrative, Mormon skillfully places the apostasy of the Nephites into the setting of Lehi’s dream and likens earlier scriptures to a new circumstance. Attentive readers of the Book of Mormon will benefit from noticing such allusions in the text. This account invites us to see ourselves in Lehi’s dream and use the wisdom found in the Book of Mormon. It will allow us to pass through the mists of darkness, designed to blind us to the joys of God’s love and lead us to misery and destruction. We can then partake of God’s love.

His longer account on the large plates of Nephi contains a more detailed account of the wickedness he witnessed, leading up to the final destruction of the Nephites as a people (Mormon 2:18; 4:11). While Mormon does not provide great detail about the wickedness of his people, he does underscore the fallen state of his people by alluding to one of the most wicked points in biblical history: the time preceding the Flood in the days of Noah.

At the time of wickedness before the Flood, Noah and his family were blessed by God. "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord" (Genesis 6:8). Mormon lamented the wickedness of his unrepentant people and wrote, "I saw that the day of grace was passed with them, both temporally and spiritually" (Mormon 2:15). Unlike Noah and his family, the Nephites would not be spared destruction, because of their unwillingness to repent and return to God.

In Genesis, "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth" (Genesis 6:5) and "the earth was filled with violence" (Genesis 6:11, 13). Mormon wrote, "And there never had been so great wickedness, among all the children of Lehi, nor even among all the house of Israel, according to the words of the Lord, as was among this people" (Mormon 4:12). Mormon also notes the violence that pervaded his own society (Mormon 4:11).

The wickedness before the Flood enveloped all aspects of society and man and "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5). Mormon describes the Nephites in similar terms. His people "repented not of the evil they had done but persisted in their wickedness continually" (Mormon 4:10), and "every heart was hardened, so that they delighted in the shedding of blood continually" (Mormon 4:11).

Before the Flood, the Lord warned, "My spirit shall not always strive with man" (Genesis 6:3). When the Spirit ceased to strive with those in Noah’s day, they were destroyed. Mormon pointedly evokes that earlier period when he wrote, "the Spirit of the Lord hath already ceased to strive with their fathers" (Mormon 5:16), language that highlights the wickedness that prevailed among the Nephites in his time.

When mankind refused to repent, the Lord told Noah, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth" (Genesis 6:7). After the Nephites refused to repent and swore in vengeance to utterly destroy the Lamanites, the Lord said the Nephites "shall be cut off from the face of the earth" (Mormon 3:15).

Key Insights

By alluding to the language of the account preceding the destruction by Flood, Mormon skillfully highlights the gross wickedness of his people for the reader, without having to go into awful detail. While both the Lamanites and the Nephites were wicked, the wickedness of the Nephites far exceeded that of the Lamanites (Moroni 9:20) and was similar, as witnessed by Mormon, to the wickedness of man in the days of Noah.

Mormon’s words are a warning to us today of the dangers of pervasive and continual wickedness. In our day, we are surrounded by such wickedness. As we repent daily and follow the teachings in the Book of Mormon, we can help our society avoid the destruction of individuals, groups, and entire societies that occurred in the Book of Mormon (Mormon 5:22).



Noah and Mormon

Genesis	Mormon
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8).	I saw that the day of grace was past with them, both temporally and spiritually (Mormon 2:15).
God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth (Genesis 6:11, 13).	And there never had been so great wickedness among all the children of Lehi, nor even among all the house of Israel, according to the words of the Lord, as was among this people (Mormon 4:12).
Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Genesis 6:5). And the earth was filled with violence (Genesis 6:11).	Repented not of the evil they had done but persisted in their wickedness continually (Mormon 4:10). Every heart was hardened so that they delighted in the shedding of blood continually (Mormon 4:11).
My spirit shall not always strive with man (Genesis 6:5).	The Spirit of the Lord hath already ceased to strive with their fathers (Mormon 5:16).
I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth (Genesis 6:7).	Because this people repented not after I had delivered them, behold, they shall be cut off from the face of the earth (Mormon 3:15).

The final chapters of the book of Judges, like those in Mormon 1-6, were a dark time in the history of Israel. Instead of doing what was right before God, every man did what was right in his own eyes. As one biblical scholar states, "It shows how Israel’s hospitality, warfare, justice, and politics were all debased because of the moral blindness and/or perversity of its citizens (including Levites and elders) and the consequent malfunctioning of its institutions. Yahweh’s displeasure, and his sovereignty, find expression in the chastisement he brings to bear on the whole community." ¹

When the Benjaminite town of Gibeah refuses to hand over men accused of a crime, the other tribes of Israel go to war against them, resulting in three destructive battles. During the first two battles, the Benjaminites manage to defeat the forces of Israel. During the third battle, however, the men of Israel are able to draw the forces of Benjamin out of the city and destroy them in an ambush. In this and subsequent engagements, all but a few hundred of the men of Benjamin are destroyed.

Mormon’s description of the three battles at the city of Desolation recall the biblical story, but he notably casts the Nephites in the role of doomed Benjamin, and the Lamanites as the other tribes of Israel. During the first two battles, the Nephites defeat the Lamanites, but during the third, the Nephites are drawn out of their stronghold and suffer a disastrous defeat. The comparison between the tribe of Benjamin and the people of Nephi is particularly apt, since both Israelite groups were nearly destroyed. The connection between the two stories is strengthened by Mormon’s use of words that evoke the three battles in Judges.

During the third battle, the army of Benjamin "went out" of their fortress to fight (Judges 20:31). Similarly, the Nephites in their third battle went "out" from their fortified land of Desolation to fight the Lamanites (Mormon 4:1).

During the third battle between the Israelites and Benjamin’s army, "the battle was sore" (Judges 20:34). Similarly, during the third engagement between the Nephites and the Lamanites, Mormon says, "they had a sore battle" (Mormon 4:2).

Before going to battle with the tribe of Benjamin, the forces of Israel "had sworn" with an oath that those who did not join the fight against Benjamin would be put to death (Judges 21:5), and that none of the Israelites would be allowed to intermarry with Benjamin (Judges 21:1, 7). This oath, however, resulted in disaster for both the Israelites and Benjamin, as there were not enough Benjaminite women to marry the surviving men.

Mormon says that after the second battle, the Nephites "began to swear by the heavens" that they would avenge themselves against the Lamanites and destroy them. Mormon says that "when they had sworn" this oath, he refused to lead them (Mormon 3:14). This oath resulted in the disastrous third battle, in which the Nephites forces were nearly destroyed.

After the battles in Judges, the Israelites lamented that "there is one tribe cut off from Israel this day" (Judges 21:6). Mormon says that when the Nephites made their oath, they swore that they would "cut off" the Lamanites from the face of the land (Mormon 3:10). The Lord then told Mormon that because the Nephites had done this and refused to repent, "they shall be cut off from the face of the earth" (Mormon 3:15). In Judges, when the forces of Benjamin were decoyed out of their fortifications, the Israelite armies who lay in wait rose up and took the town, while others sprung the trap on their enemies.

And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and put themselves in array... and the liers in wait of Israel came forth out of their places, even out of the meadows of Gibeah.

And there came against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was sore: but they knew not that evil was near them.

And the Lord smote Benjamin before Israel (Judges 20:33-35).

Lillian Klein, in her commentary on the book of Judges, noted the ambiguity of the phrase in Judges 20:34. "The ‘evil’ may be understood as abstract ‘evil’ has struck. It may also be taken to suggest that the forces of Israel, which are striking the Benjaminites down, are themselves evil, that Yahweh uses the reprehensible forces of Israel to conquer [the] iniquitous forces of Benjamin. The ‘evil’ (ra’ah) which is striking will purge the evil in Benjamin." ²

Significantly, this is the very point that Mormon makes when he implicitly compares the Nephites and the Lamanites to the wicked forces of Benjamin and Israel. "But, behold, the judgments of God will overtake the wicked; and it is by the wicked that the wicked are punished; for it is the wicked that stir up the hearts of the children of men unto bloodshed" (Mormon 4:5).

Key Insights

Mormon was clearly familiar with scripture and was able draw insights from the biblical history on the plates of brass appropriate for his own situation. We can do the same by likening the scriptures unto ourselves in our day. Readers of the Book of Mormon will also benefit from a familiarity with biblical stories, as these are a part of the scriptural past of Book of Mormon prophets, who drew upon biblical ideas, phrases, and words to convey their prophetic messages. The better we know the biblical stories and their language, the more we can recognize these elements in the Book of Mormon.



¹ Barry G. Webb, The Book of Judges: An Integrated Reading (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1987), 197.

2 Lillian R. Klein, The Triumph of Irony in the Book of Judges (Sheffield: Almond Press, 1988), 185.