CHAPTER 11
THE NEPHITES AND THE LAMANITES
Parable of the Tame and Wild Olive Trees. In the
fifth chapter of Jacob, in the Book of Mormon, we have
a most wonderful story. It is an allegory of the tame
and the wild olive tree, or, in other words, the history of
Israel through all ages, in the dispersions and the mixing
among the Gentiles and finally the gathering again in
the last days, If we had the complete interpretation of
this story in all its details, we could understand the
history of che scattering of Israel and how the whole
world has been leavened through the blessings of the
dispersion according to the covenant the Lord made
with Abraham. From time to time the Lord has colon-
ized various parts of the earth with remnants of the
chosen people, The scattering of Israel commenced
before the captivity of the Ten Tribes, and continued
after the captivity of Judah by the Babylonians, at the
time when Lehi was called from Jerusalem.
In this allegory, which is quoted from the ancient
prophet Zenos, of whom we know nothing except what
is quoted of him in the Book of Mormon, the tame olive
tree represents the house of Israel. The wild olive tree
represents the Gentiles. By grafting and cultivation, the
Lord endeavored to preserve his vineyard, and the fruit
thereof, for branches of the parent tree were planted inTHE NEPHITES AND LAMANITES 131
all corners and parts of the vineyard. In this story the
history of Israel is vividly told.
The Coming of Lehi’s Colony. Six hundred years
before the birth of Christ a branch was taken from the
mother tree and planted in the Western World. This
branch was the colony which came out of Jerusalem, in
the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, under the lead-
ership of Lehi. This colony was composed of members
of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, and therefore
descendants of Joseph, son of Jacob. In the blessing
given by Jacob upon the head of his son Joseph the
promise was made granting him a double inheritance.
The blessing is as follows:
Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a
well; whose branches run over the wall:
‘The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him,
and hated him:
Bur his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his
hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of
Jacobs (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel.)
Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and
by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven
above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the
breast, and of the womb:
The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the
blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the
everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on
the crown of the head of him that was separate from his
brethren —Gen. 49:22-26,
The interpretation of this blessing is to the effect
that Joseph was to receive the added blessings which
had been given to Jacob over his progenitors, and also132 THE PROGRESS OF MAN
the inheritance of the land of Zion, as a branch of the
tree which ran over the wall, or over the “great waters”
to this land choice above all other lands. The other
tribes of Israel received their inheritance in Palestine,
but Joseph was given the land of Joseph, or Zion, as
well as an inheritance with his brothers in Palestine.
Obtaining the Brass Plates. Under the direction
of Lehi, who was called to leave Jerusalem by a com-
mandment from the Lord, this colony advanced to the
seashore. On two separate occasions the sons of Lehi
were sent back to Jerusalem after the family had departed
from that city, to complete arrangements for the journey
in a manner satisfactory before the Lord. The first
occasion for the return was to obtain the Brass Plates
(which were kept by Laban, a member of the family of
Joseph to which Lehi belonged), which contained the
Five Books of Moses and the sacted writings of the
prophets down to Jeremiah, a contemporary of Lehi, who
was at that time prophesying among the Jews. After
much trouble and tribulation Nephi, the fourth son of
Lehi, was successful in obtaining this important and
necessary record. The second visit to Jerusalem was for
the purpose of persuading the family of one Ishmael to
join the little colony on this journey to the promised
land. After some persuasion Ishmael, with the members
of his family, consented to join Lehi on this trek across
the country to the seashore and thence across the ocean
to the Western World.THE NEPHITES AND LAMANITES 133
Nephi Builds a Ship. While this little band was
encamped on the shore of the ocean Nephi was com-
manded to build a ship in which these two families could
cross the great deep. The reason this call came to Nephi
was that his older brothers were rebellious and lacked
the necessary faith to do such a mighty work. Nephi,
however, felt that since the call had come from the
Lord, it was not an impossible thing to do, so he
commenced to make tools and prepare for the building
of the ship. In this work he was violently opposed by
his two older brothers, Laman and Lemuel, who com-
plained and said Nephi had neither the skill nor the
intelligence to build a ship. Nephi’s answer to them
is very significant in the simplicity of his faith—a faith
which it would be well for all at this day to emulate.
Nephi felt the urge of the Spirit of the Lord to admin-
ister to his rebellious brethren a merited rebuke. Of
this incident the following is written:
Ye are swift to do iniquity but slow to remember the
Lord your God. Ye have seen an angel, and he spake unto
you; yea, ye have heard his voice from time to time; and he
hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were past
feeling, that ye could not feel his words; wherefore, he has
spoken unto you like unto the voice of thunder, which did
cause the earth to shake as if it were to divide asunder.
And ye also know that by the power of his almighty
word he can cause the earth that ie shall pass aways yea, and
ye know that by his word he can cause the rough places to
be made smooth, and smooth places shall be broken up. O
then, why is it, that ye can be so hard in your hearts?
Behold my soul is rene with anguish because of you,134 THE PROGRESS OF MAN
and my heart is pained; I fear lest ye shall be cast off forever.
Behold, I am full of the Spirit of God; insomuch that my
frame has no strength.
And now it came to pass that when I had spoken these
words they were angry with me, and were desirous to throw
me into the depths of the sea; and as they came forth to lay
their hands upon me I spake unto them, saying: In the name
of the Almighty God, I command you that ye touch me not,
for I am filled with the power of God, even unto the con-
suming of my flesh; and whoso shall lay his hands upon me
shall wither even as a dried reed; and he shall be as naught
before the power of God, for God shall smite him.—I Nephi
17:45-48,
When Nephi had spoken these words his brothers
were afraid to touch him, for they felt the power of his
words. Therefore Nephi continued to speak unto them
saying:
If God had commanded me to do all things I could do
them. If he should command me that I should say unto this
water, be thou earth, it should be earth; and if I should say
it, it would be done.
And now, if the Lord has such great power, and has
wrought so many miracles among the children of men, how
is it that he cannot instruct me, that I should build a ship?
All of this, and much more, Nephi said to these
rebellious brethren, after they became afraid to lay their
hands violently upon him. Later, when they had partly
repented, the Lord said to Nephi: “Stretch forth thine
hand again unto thy brethren, and they shall not wither
before thee, but I will shock them, saith the Lord, and
this will I do, that they may know that I am the Lord
their God.” Nephi did as he was commanded andTHE NEPHITES AND LAMANITES 135
Laman and Lemuel received a severe shock which filled
their hearts with fear. After this manifestation of divine
power they felt the necessity of assisting Nephi in the
building of the ship. When this task was completed Lehi
and his farhily with Ishmael and his family entered the
ship and proceeded to the promised land. Ishmael was,
like Lehi, a descendant of Joseph. Lehi was of the tribe
of Manasseh and Ishmael was of the tribe of Ephraim,
so in the combining of these two families the two sons
of Joseph who were numbered among the tribes of Israel
were equally represented.
This colony cattied with them in the ship provisions
ample for their journey, but they did not collect animals
and seeds as did the Jaredites, for the land of promise
had been stocked with such things by the Jaredites when
they were called out from the building of the Tower of
Babel. After traveling many days upon the water, Lehi
and his colony landed on the promised land.
The Nephites and Lamanites. It was not long after
the death of Lehi when differences between two of the
sons of Lehi and the sons of Ishmael on one side, and
Nephi and those who were willing to hearken to his
counsels on the other, developed in such proportions
that Nephi saw the need of separating himself and all
who would listen to him, from his brethren. In this he
found himself in very much the same condition that
Abraham was in while residing in Ur of the Chaldees.
Nephi took with him his followers, including his brothers136 THE PROGRESS OF MAN
Sam, Jacob and Joseph, the latter two having been born
after Lehi left Jerusalem, and journeyed some distance
from the rebellious followers of Laman and Lemuel,
The place where the people of Nephi settled they called
the land of Nephi, and here they commenced to colonize
and worship the Lord in humility and faith. Because of
the rebellion of Laman and Lemuel the Lord placed
upon them and their seed a dark skin, so that they could
be distinguished from the followers of Nephi. In this
way from the very beginning of the colonization of the
people of Lehi, two nations were born. The white and
righteous people were called Nephites; the rebellious
were called Lamanites. Their history from this time
forth until the coming of Jesus Christ is one of continued
rebellion, war and bloodshed. When the Nephites
rebelled against the commandments of the Lord the
Lamanites acted as a scourge. Nephi saw all of this in
vision and the Lord said unto him:
I will cause that they (the Lamanites) shall be loathsome
unto thy people, save they shall repent of their iniquities.
And cursed shall be the seed of him that mixeth with
their seed; for they shall be cursed even with the same cursing.
And the Lord spake it, and it was done.
And because of their cursing which was upon them they
did become an idle people, full of mischief and subtlety,
and did seek in the wilderness for beasts of prey.
And the Lord God said unto me: They shall be a
scourge unto thy seed, to stir them up in remembrance of
me: and inasmuch as they will not remember me, and hearken
unto my words, they shall scourge them even unto destruc-
tion—2 Nephi 5:22-25.THE NEPHITES AND LAMANITES 137
The Mulekites. A few years after Lehi left Jerusa-
lem, when Zedekiah, the king, and the Jews were catried
off captive into Babylon, another colony came to
America from Jerusalem. This colony brought with
them the youngest son of Zedekiah who escaped the
horrible destruction of the other sons of that unfortunate
and rebellious king. The name of this child was Mulek,
and his people lived in this land for many yeats before
they were discovered by the Nephites. When they were
discovered they were in a state of decadence, for they
had brought no records with them and had shown little
tendency towards improvement. However, they had
kept an oral record so that they could tell who they
were and whence they came. These people joined
with the Nephites and from that time forth they were
all known as Nephites, or the people of Nephi.
The Rule of the Judges. The Nephites and La-
manites continued their struggles and warfare until the
time of the coming of Christ. During the first part of
the history of the people of Nephi they were ruled by
kings, and much of this time they were fortunate, for
their kings were righteous men, Eventually, in the reign
of King Mosiah, son of Benjamin, they changed the
form of their government. Mosiah was a righteous man
and a prophet unto his people. When he thought of
conferring the kingdom upon one of his sons, they each
in tum refused to receive the honor, for they were
following in the footsteps of their fathers and realized138 THE PROGRESS OF MAN
that when wicked kings arose distress and trouble came
upon the people, It was agreed, therefore, that the
entire nation should be ruled by judges. These judges
were chosen in a measure by the people, and in part by
hereditary right. There were times when the judges were
righteous and then the people prospered, but when their
judges became corrupt then the people suffered.
Through secret combinations formed in wickedness and
by the rise of robber bands in the land the time came
when wicked men sat in the judgment seats and ruled
the people. Especially was this the case duting the
century preceding the coming of Jesus Chtist.
The Reign of Righteousness. The promise had
been made from the beginning of the Nephite nation
that when Christ should rise from the dead he would
pay a visit to the people on this hemisphere. After his
resurrection the Lord fulfilled this promise. Immedi-
ately before the crucifixion the people had destroyed
the unity of their government and had broken up into
tribes and petty kingdoms. Wickedness ruled supreme
in most of the land and the corruption and violence was
appalling. When Christ was crucified there were three
days of darkness upon the American continent. This
was preceded by a severe tempest such as had never been
known, and the whole face of the land, we are informed,
was changed. Many cities were buried in the depths of
the sea, others were burned with fire, and still others
carried up upon the tops of new mountains which wereTHE NEPHITES AND LAMANITES 139
formed by the sudden convulsions of the earth. In this
manner the more wicked part of the people, and that
was the greater part of them, were all destroyed. All who
survived were granted the privilege of a visitation from
Jesus Christ, The account of his visitation and his
teachings to the survivors among the people is a very
interesting and profitable story. He established his
Church among them and for wo hundred years there
were neither Nephites or Lamanites, or any manner of
“ites” in the land. All of the people became united in
one kingdom and one church. Their kingdom was
the kingdom of God, a theocracy, and they were ruled
by twelve disciples comparable to the twelve Apostles
of the Savior who were ordained in the Church in the
and of Palestine, Following the appearance of the
Savior, for a period of two hundred years the Church
of Jesus Christ ruled, and the people lived, as did the
people in the city of Enoch, the law of consecration.
The historian says of these people during this time:
And it came to pass that there was no contention among
all the people, in all the land; but there were mighty miracles
wrought among the disciples of Jesus, * * *
And it came to pass that there was no contention in the
land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the
hearts of the people.
And’ there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults,
nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, not any manner
of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier
people among all the people who had been created by the
hand of God.
There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were140 THE PROGRESS OF MAN
there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in
one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of
Gods ad how blessed were they! For the Lord did bless
them in all their doings; yea, even they were blessed and
prospered until an hundred and ten years had passed away;
and the first generation from Christ had passed away, and
there was no contention in all the Iand—4 Nephi 13-18.
The Cup of Iniquity Full. It seems very strange,
when a people were so happy and prosperous, knowing
the truth and in it being free, that they could not so
continue indefinitely. The weaknesses and frailties of
mortality blind the judgment of men. They fail to
comprehend the eternal truth spoken by Alma, a Ne-
phite prophet: “Wickedness never was happiness.”
Turning from righteousness in the spitit of selfish greed,
they seek for happiness contrary to righteousness, and
there it cannot be found.
For two hundred years the descendants of Lehi lived
as one united people. Then the break came and a
portion of the people took upon them the name of
Lamanites. In course of time all of the people became
very corrupt. Their rebellion was wilful. They turned
away from the truth and the teachings of their Savior
with the full knowledge of their iniquitous course. They
had reached the stage when they loved wickedness and
Satan more than God. The Nephites, who remained
true to the cause of Christ longer than their brethren
who called themselves Lamanites, eventually became
even more wicked than the first dissenters from theTHE NEPHITES AND LAMANITES 141
kingdom of God. So intense was their hatred of that
which is good, that they sought to destroy the disciples
of the Lord who had been blessed with power of life in
the translated state with the promise that they should
remain on the earth until the second coming of Jesus
Christ. These people had the benefit of the presence
and teachings of these disciples, but in their wickedness
they tried to destroy them as they had destroyed the
Church. In this state of rebellion the Lord said of them:
But behold, your days of probation are past; ye have
procrastinated the day of your salvation until itis everlastingly
too late, and your destruction is made sure; yea, for ye have
sought all the days of your lives for that which ye could not
obtain; and ye have sought for happiness in doing iniquity,
which ‘thing is contrary to the nature of shat righteousness
which is in our great and Eternal Head—Helaman 13:38.
Because the people filled the cup of their iniquity,
the promised destruction came upon them. War and
bloodshed continued until some time early in the fifth
century of the Christian era, when the Nephites were
utterly destroyed.
From that time forth the Lamanites divided into
bands and tribes and fought among themselves, Their
greatest civilizations, at the time of the discovery of
America, were in Mexico and Peru. In North America
they had dwindled until they had become roaming bands
or tribes of savages. In this awful state of degradation
they were found when the white people from Europe
came to make their homes upon this promised land.142 THE PROGRESS OF MAN
From the Heights to the Depths. During the time
of their prosperity the Nephites, like the Jaredites before
them, reached great heights of prosperity and civiliza-
tion. They achieved a wonderful advancement in the
arts and in science, but they forgot God—the God of
this land choice above all other lands, even Jesus Christ,
They trampled his teachings under their feet. They took
pleasure in unrighteousness and when they filled their
cup, destruction awaited them. Moroni, the prophet
who survived the destruction of the Nephite people, hid
up the records of his people, containing the prophetic
sayings of their seers, the great promises made unto them
by the Lord, their wars and contentions, rebellions and
punishments, that this history might come forth in the
last days for the benefit of the Gentiles upon the land
as well as to again acquaint the remnant upon the land
with their departed glory. From the favor of God the
remnant upon the land sank in the depths of degrada-
tion and lost divine favor.
However the Lord has not altogether cast them off.
There are promises made to them which are yet to be
fulfilled. The day will come when they shall again rise
up and be a blessed people, white and favored of the
Lord. That day will come when they in all sincerity
accept the fulness of the Gospel.
Moroni hid his records in the hill known as the Hill
Cumorah, which is located in Western New York, It
was here where Joseph Smith, in our present dispensa-THE NEPHITES AND LAMANITES 143
tion, was led by this same Moroni, who had by then
teceived his resurrection, to obtain and translate the
abridgment of this ancient history made by Moroni’s
father Mormon and by himself, Today that record
speaks as from the dust from those who are dead, with
a warning voice to all who are living, that they may, upon
this land, avoid the pitfalls and the rebellions which
brought destructions upon the peoples who formerly
dwelt here, and thus escape a similar destruction. For
the decree has gone forth that no people may possess
this land indefinitely in rebellion against God, for when
their cup of iniquity is full they shall be swept off the face
of the land, for the Lord has decreed that “wickedness
shall not stand.”