The Aftermath of War
After the battle, the Nephite survivors buried their dead—so many that they didn’t even try to count them all. Then they went home to their families.
The war had devastated them. Many women and children had been killed. Their livestock were slaughtered, and their grain fields trampled flat by armies.
The bodies of the Lamanites and Amlicites who fell near the Sidon River were thrown into the water. Their bones still lie at the bottom—countless bones in the depths.
The Marks That Separated Them
You could tell the Amlicites apart from the Nephites by the red marks they painted on their foreheads—just like the Lamanites used to do. But unlike the Lamanites, they didn’t shave their heads. The Lamanites shaved their heads and wore almost nothing except a leather strip around their waists. They carried their weapons—bows, arrows, slings, and stones—and wore whatever armor they had.
The Lamanites had dark skin because of the mark God placed on their ancestors—a curse that came from their rebellion against their brothers: Nephi, Jacob, Joseph, and Sam, who were righteous and faithful men. When their brothers tried to kill them, God cursed them. He put a mark on Laman and Lemuel, and on the sons of Ishmael and the Ishmaelite women. He did this so their descendants would be easy to recognize—to keep his people from mixing with them and adopting false beliefs that would destroy them.
Anyone who joined with the Lamanites brought the same curse on their own family. So whoever let themselves be led away by the Lamanites was counted among them, and marked.
On the other hand, those who rejected Lamanite teachings and trusted the records brought from Jerusalem—who believed in the true traditions of their ancestors and kept God’s commands—they were called Nephites, the people of Nephi. And the Nephites are the ones who kept the true records of both their own people and the Lamanites.
Fulfilling Prophecy Without Knowing It
Now back to the Amlicites. They also had a mark on them—but they put it there themselves. They chose to paint red marks on their foreheads.
In doing this, they fulfilled God’s word without even knowing it. God had told Nephi long ago: 'I’ve cursed the Lamanites, and I’ll put a mark on them so they and their descendants will be separated from you and yours forever—unless they turn from their wickedness and come back to me. Then I can show them mercy.' 'And I’ll mark anyone who joins with your rebellious brothers, so they’ll be cursed too.' 'And I’ll mark anyone who fights against you and your descendants.' 'Whoever leaves you will no longer be counted as your family. But I’ll bless you and everyone who is called your descendants, now and forever.' These were the Lord’s promises to Nephi and his family.
The Amlicites had no idea they were fulfilling God’s prophecy when they marked their foreheads. But they had rebelled openly against God, so it made sense that the curse would fall on them. You see, they brought the curse on themselves. That’s how it works—everyone who’s cursed brings condemnation on themselves.
Another Battle, Another Victory
Not long after the battle in Zarahemla, another Lamanite army showed up in the exact same place where the first army had joined forces with the Amlicites. The Nephites sent an army to push them back.
Alma couldn’t lead this battle himself because he was still recovering from his wounds. But he sent a large army, and they killed many Lamanites and drove the rest out of Nephite territory. Then the army came home, and the Nephites began rebuilding peace in their land. For a while, at least, their enemies left them alone.
All of this—all these wars and conflicts—began and ended in the fifth year of the judges' reign. In just one year, tens of thousands of people were sent into eternity to face what they’d earned—eternal joy or eternal misery, depending on which spirit they’d chosen to follow, whether good or evil. Everyone gets what they’ve worked for, serving the master they chose. The spirit of prophecy says it clearly, and so it is. And that’s the end of the fifth year of the judges.
Influences
- 3:7 — Genesis 4:15 (KJV)And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.
- 3:11 — 1 Corinthians 7:19 (KJV)Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.
- 3:13 — Revelation 20:4 (KJV)And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
- 3:14 — Revelation 2:22 (KJV)Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
- 3:20 — Luke 15:13 (KJV)And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
- 3:26 — Ephesians 3:11 (KJV)According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:
- 3:26 — 2 Corinthians 5:10 (KJV)For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good, or bad.
- 3:26 — Revelation 20:13 (KJV)And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
- 3:26 — KJV Preface-1776But among all our joys, there was no one that more filled our hearts, than the blessed continuance of the preaching of God's sacred Word among us; which is that inestimable treasure, which excelleth all the riches of earth; because the fruit thereof extendeth itself, not only to the time spent in this transitory world, but directeth and disposeth men unto that eternal happiness which is above in heaven.
- 3:26 — Romans 1:4 (KJV)And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
- 3:27 — Romans 6:16 (KJV)Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
- 3:27 — John 4:36 (KJV)And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
- 3:27 — Revelation 19:10 (KJV)And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Notes
- 3:6
The 1830 edition of 2 Nephi 30:6 read, “shall be a white and delightsome people.” In 1840, this wording was changed to “shall be a pure and a delightsome people.” However, in 1841 the text was reverted back to “white and delightsome.” It was not changed again to “pure and delightsome” until 1981—three years after the 1978 lifting of the priesthood ban.
Although many Latter-day Saints argue that “white” should be understood metaphorically as referring to righteousness or purity rather than race or ethnicity, statements from LDS leaders leave little ambiguity about how these passages were historically interpreted. Here are just a few statements from LDS authorities:
“You may inquire of the intelligent of the world whether they can tell why the aborigines of this country are dark, loathsome, ignorant, and sunken into the depths of degradation …When the Lord has a people, he makes covenants with them and gives unto them promises: then, if they transgress his law, change his ordinances, and break his covenants he has made with them, he will put a mark upon them, as in the case of the Lamanites and other portions of the house of Israel; but by-and-by they will become a white and delightsome people” (Journal of Discourses 7:336).
At the October 1960 LDS Church Conference, Spencer Kimball utilized 2 Nephi 30:6 when he stated how the Indians “are fast becoming a white and delightsome people.” He said,
“The [Indian] children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation” (Improvement Era, December 1960, pp. 922-3).
During the same message Kimball referred to a 16-year-old Indian girl who was both LDS and “several shades lighter than her parents…” He went on to say,
“These young members of the Church are changing to whiteness and to delightsomeness. One white elder jokingly said that he and his companion were donating blood regularly to the hospital in the hope that the process might be accelerated.”
Elder Eugene J. Neff, in a 1927 conference message claimed, “The first missionaries went from this section around to another little town on the east side of the island, and there they gathered in a grass hut one hundred people to hear the message of these strange white men, As they all sat around the mat and heard the voice of this missionary from Utah, they were transfigured before George Q. Cannon, and he saw ninety-seven of them become white, and three of them remained dark. He did not understand. He did not know why it was that three of them would remain dark and all the rest should become light. He received a partial answer to this manifestation when it was learned that ninety-seven of those people in meeting at this time joined the Church, became devout members, lived and died Latter-day Saints, while three of them never did. It is said that they will become a white and delightsome people. They are delightsome at present, and I believe they are going to become white. They are growing whiter from year to year. I have said to myself and to some of my intimate friends that I thought the Hawaiian people would become white and delightsome, through intermarriage. I do not know whether that is according to the doctrines of the Church or not, but they have married the oriental races and married white people on the islands to such an extent that today there are more half casts than there are pure Hawaiians” (Conference Report, April 1927, p.49).
The Juvenile Instructor (26:635) reads, “From this it is very clear that the mark which was set upon the descendants of Cain was a skin of blackness, and there can be no doubt that this was the mark that Cain himself received; in fact, it has been noticed in our day that men who have lost the spirit of the Lord, and from whom his blessings have been withdrawn, have turned dark to such an extend as to excite the comments of all who have known them.”
See also 2 Nephi 5:21; 2 Nephi 30:6; 3 Nephi 2:15-16; Jacob 3:8-9; Alma 3:6.
- 3:26
The phrase "eternal happiness" appears in the KJV preface but not in the Bible. Yet, it appears in Alma 3:26.
See also Helaman 5:28, 31, 34, 36, 40-43 use of "clouds of darkness" and "overshadowed" as further examples of wording in the KJV preface that are not used in the Bible, but are found in the Book of Mormon.