Helaman 8:3 Nephi had spoken unto them concerning the corruptness of
their law
Hugh Nibley
“Nephi's
little sermon received more than a cool reception. Some judges who happened to
be card-holding members of the Protective Association were in the crowd and they
immediately demanded that Nephi be brought into court and charged with the
crime of ‘[reviling] against this people and against
our law’ (Helaman 8:2). And indeed if contempt of institutions was a
crime, Nephi was guilty, for he ‘had spoken unto
them concerning the corruptness of their law’ (Helaman 8:3). Still, the
judges had to proceed with some care, since they were supposed to be
administering justice (Helaman 8:4), and could not be too crude and obvious in
their attack, for even among the exceedingly wicked and depraved Nephites the
feeling of civic virtue was perhaps as alive as it is in America today; instead
of trying to lynch Nephi in fact, the crowd actually protected him from the
treatment the judges would have liked to give him (Helaman 8:4).” (An
Approach To The Book of Mormon, p. 387)
Helaman 8:4 they durst not lay their own hands upon him, for they
feared the people
History repeats itself in
the lives of the Lord’s servants. Nephi’s detractors lacked the integrity to
act according to their wicked beliefs. This is a common pattern among those who
seek primarily for the praise of men. Herod wished to kill John the Baptist,
but ‘when he would have put him to death, he feared
the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet’ (Matt 14:5). Similarly,
the popularity conscious chief priests and Pharisees were paralyzed in the
presence of the Savior, ‘when they sought to lay
hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet’ (Matt
21:46). Certainly, their actions amply demonstrate that ‘they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God’ (Jn
12:43).
Helaman 8:6 we know that this is impossible, for behold, we are
powerful
These judges sound like the
people of Ammonihah who boasted in their own strength, ‘We
will not believe thy words if thou shouldst prophesy that this great city
should be destroyed in one day’ (Alma 9:4). Such self assurance didn’t
last long for ‘the people of Ammonhah were
destroyed; yea, every living soul of the Ammonihahites was destroyed, and also
their great city, which they said God could not destroy, because of its
greatness. But behold, in one day it was left desolate; and the carcases were
mangled by dogs and wild beasts’ (Alma 16:9-10).
Helaman 8:12 why…dispute among yourselves, and say that he hath given
unto me no power
Millet and McConkie wrote,
“In this sermon Nephi seeks to establish himself as a servant of God in the
prophetic tradition. If the people
believed that God granted miraculous power to Moses and the ancient prophets, why
should they think the Almighty unable to do so in their own time? If Moses could prophesy of the Messiah, why
could not he, Nephi, prophesy impending judgment if the people would not
repent?” (McConkie
and Millet, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, vol. 3, p. 374) But the Nephites are like any people. They are more
willing to believe in dead prophets than living ones. With the passage of time,
the traditions and history surrounding any prophet make him all the more
canonized and venerated and all the less mortal. Strangely, the more distant
the prophet is, the more believable the message.
Christ faced just this
phenomenon among the Jews. They were more than willing to believe in Moses and
Abraham, but they were not willing to believe in the God of Moses and the God
of Abraham. Jesus said, ‘I know that ye are
Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in
you…They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto
them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now
ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of
God; this did not Abraham…Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is
dead and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?’ (Jn 8:37-53)
Helaman 8:14 he lifted up the brazen serpent
Neal A. Maxwell
“Augmenting
the verses in the Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon and the other books of modern
scripture provide helpful elaboration that aids us not only in understanding
more of what happened anciently, but also why, and its significance for us.
Note how the writings of Moses and John in the following verses are clarified
by the words of Nephi and Alma:
‘And the Lord sent
fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of
Israel died.
And the Lord said unto
Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to
pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.
And Moses made a
serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a
serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.’ (Numbers 21:6, 8-9.)
‘And as Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
That whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.’ (John 3:14-15.)
‘And he did straiten
them in the wilderness with his rod; for they hardened their hearts, even as ye
have; and the Lord straitened them because of their iniquity. He sent fiery
flying serpents among them; and after they were bitten he prepared a way that
they might be healed; and the labor which they had to perform was to look; and
because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many
who perished.’ (1 Nephi 17:41.)
‘Behold, he was spoken
of by Moses; yea, and behold a type was raised up in the wilderness, that
whosoever would look upon it might live. And many did look and live.’ (Alma 33:19.)
“Divinely
deliberate and serious symbolism is involved. Without this needed elaboration,
the Old Testament episode of the fiery serpents does not give us a fulness of
spiritual insight that can clearly be ‘for our
profit and learning.’ (1 Nephi 19:23.) The symbolic emphasis in this
episode is upon both the necessity and the simpleness of the way of the Lord
Jesus. Ironically, in Moses' time many perished anyway. The promise for the
future is as follows: ‘And as many as should look
upon that serpent should live, even so as many as should look upon the Son of God
with faith, having a contrite spirit, might live, even unto that life which is
eternal.’ (Helaman 8:15. See also 1 Nephi 17:41; Alma 37:46.)
“Thus,
now we have the verified and amplified analogy, thanks to the precious and
plain things given to us in ‘these last records.’
“The
whole episode points toward the need to look upon Jesus Christ as our Lord,
likewise a simple but unwaivable requirement. How plain and precious in any
age! Yet believing in Jesus is sometimes regarded as foolishness. One can imagine
the scoffing comments of some in Moses' time concerning the illogicality and
foolishness of looking upon a brass pole in order to be healed and saved.” (Plain
and Precious Things, pp. 21-2)
Helaman 8:17 Abraham saw of his coming, and was filled with gladness
and did rejoice
The brass plates must have
contained a more comprehensive history of the life and ministry of the prophet
Abraham. From Genesis alone, it is difficult to conclude that Abraham had a
clear picture of the coming of Jesus Christ. All we know from Genesis is that
he exhibited great faith and was taught a lesson from the Lord in the offering
of his son Isaac (Gen 22). Joseph Smith restored another simple truth in his
translation of Gen 15:12, ‘And it came to pass,
that Abram looked forth and saw the days of the Son of Man, and was glad, and
his soul found rest, and he believed in
the Lord; and the Lord counted it unto him for righteousness.’
Jesus made reference to the same concept when he taught among the Jews, saying,
‘Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he
saw it, and was glad’ (Jn 8:56).
Helaman 8:19-20 many prophets have testified these things
“One
of the teachings of the Book of Mormon that is well known among the members of
the Church is that the Bible has suffered a loss of many plain and precious
parts. This fact was revealed to Nephi when he was given the vision his father
had seen of the nations and kingdoms of the Gentiles. (1 Ne. 13).
“Other
prophets frequently mentioned in the plates of brass include Zenoch, Neum and
Ezias. (See 1 Ne. 19:10; Alma 33:16-17; Hel. 8:20; 3 Ne. 10:16.) The Bible
itself testifies of the titles of 11 books which are no longer included and of
others that are alluded to which do not include those mentioned in the Book of Mormon.
(See Dictionary in the 1979 LDS edition of the Bible, “Lost Books” page 725.)
“Because
the Lord has granted humans their agency, He has allowed these parts of
scripture to be taken away. However, He has compensated for this loss by
preserving other records to come forth in the latter days to ‘make known the plain and precious things which have been
taken away.’ (1 Ne. 13:40.)” (Monte S. Nyman, Church News,
01/01/94)
Helaman 8:20 Zenock, and also Ezias
“Zenock
was…a prophet of Israel of whose personal history, or to what age he belonged,
we know nothing. His writings were familiar to the Nephites as he is quoted by
Nephi (I Nephi 19:10); Alma (Alma 33:15); Amulek (Alma 34:7); and Mormon (III
Nephi 10:16).
“Ezias
was also a Hebrew prophet, referred to by Nephi (Helaman 8:19). Elder Orson
Pratt suggests that ‘Ezias may have been identical with Esaias, who lived
contemporary with Abraham.’ (See Doctrine and Covenants 84:11–13.)” (Reynolds and
Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, vol. 5, p. 270)
Helaman 8:21 Will ye say that the sons of Zedekiah were not slain, all
except it were Mulek?
“Zedekiah
was the king of Judah at the time Lehi and his colony fled from Jerusalem. (1
Nephi 1:4.) A few years later when the Babylonians besieged Jerusalem, they ‘slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes.’ (2
Kings 25:7.) Most people have assumed all of the sons of Zedekiah were killed
at that time; however, the Book of Mormon records that the sons of Zedekiah
were slain ‘all except it were Mulek.’
(Helaman 8:21.)
“…Mulek…was
spared at the time of the Babylonian captivity and…later came to the Americas.
The descendants of Mulek were included among the people of Zarahemla, and later
they were numbered among the Nephites. Thus, among the combined
Nephite-Lamanite-Mulekite peoples are represented at least three of the twelve
tribes of ancient Israel: (1) the tribe of Manasseh, represented by the
descendants of Lehi; (2) the tribe of Ephraim, represented by the descendants
of Ishmael; (3) the tribe of Judah, represented by the descendants of Mulek.” (Daniel
Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon, p.241-5)
Helaman 8:22 almost all of our fathers…have testified of the coming of
Christ
“At
the heart of [Nephi’s] preaching was one vital fact: God had always sent word
through his prophets of what his people needed to know to be happy and at
peace. Foremost among what they needed to know was that the Messiah, the Son of
God, would come to earth to redeem mankind. All who looked to him would live.
“Nephi
then listed a number of prophets who had detailed the Savior’s advent. Among
these prophets were Moses, Abraham, Zenos, Zenock, Ezias, Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Lehi, and Nephi. Indeed, Nephi pointed out, ‘many
prophets’ over the centuries had testified of Christ. (See Hel. 8:11-22.)
“This
observation was not unique to Nephi. More than a century earlier, Abinadi told
King Noah: ‘Did not Moses prophesy … concerning the
coming of the Messiah, and that God should redeem his people? Yea, and even all
the prophets who have prophesied ever since the world began—have they not
spoken more or less concerning these things?’ (Mosiah 13:33.)
“So
clear was this understanding that Amulek could tell the apostate Zoramites in
74 B.C. that it was ‘impossible
that [they] should be ignorant of the things which have been spoken concerning
the coming of Christ,’ for that fact had been taught to them
bountifully. (Alma 34:2.)
If they weren’t aware of Christ’s impending mortal ministry, it was because
they were unacquainted with God’s word.
“An
in-depth study of the Book of Mormon reveals this to be true. So clear are the
revelations that the Nephites should have known the name by which the Messiah
would be called in mortality, when he would be born, where he would be born,
the name of his mother, many details of his ministry, how he would suffer and
die, and that his resurrection would break the bands of death for all mankind.
More importantly, they should have understood how his atonement could reconcile
them to God and what they had to do to receive that marvelous gift. All this
was known and taught by the prophets on what we know today as the American
continent.” (D. Kelly Ogden, R. Val Johnson, Ensign, Jan. 1994, p. 31)
Helaman 8:24 notwithstanding so many evidences which ye have
received…even…all things
Elder Adam S. Bennion
“’The
soul of people hungers for an ideal.’ I was impressed that it may be that same
hunger that prompts us to believe in God. There are so many evidences, the
mystery to me is not that men may believe in God, but as Ballard once wrote,
‘the great miracle of mankind is the miracle of unbelief.’
“Dinmore
has put it beautifully: ‘If no help had ever come from God, the impulse to pray
would have died out long ago.’” (Conference Report, Oct. 1955, p. 116)
Helaman 8:25 laying up for yourselves treasures in heaven
Hugh Nibley
“Another
image of great importance in the Book of Mormon is treasure. The Book of Mormon
has much to say about earthly and heavenly treasures, in the same sense in
which the newly found apocrypha do. Of course the image is also found in the
New Testament. The Book of Mormon prophets explain many references to heavenly
treasures in the Bible. Helaman is fondest of treasures. ‘And even at this time, instead of laying up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where nothing doth corrupt, . . . ye are
heaping up for yourselves wrath against the day of judgment’ (Helaman
8:25). This is the correct concept of what is meant by a treasure; it is a very
common idea in the early apocrypha. We find in the many treasure passages that
the treasure is the wisdom and knowledge we left behind us when we came down to
this earth. In the premortal existence, we left our treasure in God's treasury,
in his keeping. There it is, and by our good works here we can add to it; more
will be waiting for us when we go back. So let us not try to pile up wealth and
possessions on earth. They're not going to do us any good; we can't take them
back there. Let us lay up our treasures there — add to our treasure store. We
really do have one there, because we had one before we came. We left it behind,
and we're going back to it. It's a very vivid concept, and basic to it is the
doctrine of the premortal existence. There's a great treasury in heaven which
contains all good things; it is to share in this treasury that all seek. But in
the Jewish apocrypha, in the Wisdom of Ben Sira, God orders, by his word, the
lights in the heavenly height, and by the utterance of his mouth he opens the
treasury, where the righteous have a store of good works preserved. These are
good works preserved, already done. And they're being preserved; everything we
add to our credit is being preserved in God's treasury.” (Temple and Cosmos,
p. 232-3)