General Comments on Helaman 1-5 The general pattern of the Alma 43-63 continues, with Nephite dissidents causing all of the trouble: 1:6-8 Paanchi attempts rebellion 1:9-12 Kishkumen's secret combination 1:14-34 Dissident Nephite Coriantumr leads Lamanite attack 2:1-11 Gadianton takes over Kishkumen's secret combination and escape 3:3-22 Three years of internal conflict, dissension, and wars among the Nephites 3:23 Gadianton's secret combination spreads among the Nephites 3:33-36 Polarization and contention within the church 4:1-3 Contention and bloodshed among the Nephites with dissenters unsuccessfully attempting to instigate Lamanite aggression 4:4-10 Nephite dissenters successfully attempt to instigate Lamanite aggression, Nephites lose a considerable amount of their territory Thus, the theme of Moroni's combating dissenters by war carries over to his son Moronihah. However, the subject shifts and becomes more complex with Moronihah, Lehi, and Nephi combating the dissenters more successfully by preaching the gospel to them, cf. 4:14-19 and 5:5-52. Mormon gives us some commentary on this issue: 11 Now this great loss of the Nephites, and the great slaughter which was among them, would not have happened had it not been for their wickedness and their abomination which was among them; yea, and it was among those also who professed to belong to the church of God. 12 And it was because of the pride of their hearts, because of their exceeding riches, yea, it was because of their oppression to the poor, withholding their food from the hungry, withholding their clothing from the naked, and smiting their humble brethren upon the cheek, making a mock of that which was sacred, denying the spirit of prophecy and of revelation, murdering, plundering, lying, stealing, committing adultery, rising up in great contentions, and deserting away into the land of Nephi, among the Lamanites 13 And because of this their great wickedness, and their boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength; therefore they did not prosper, but were afflicted and smitten, and driven before the Lamanites, until they had lost possession of almost all their lands. (Hela 4:11-13, also cp. 4:20-26) Mormon identifies the root cause of the Nephite's problem. Moronihah, Lehi, and Nephi address that problem by preaching repentance to the people. The preaching is very successful, so successful that the Lamanites are largely converted and the only lingering large- scale problem is Gadianton's Robbers and Murderers. Copyright © 2001 by S. Kurt Neumiller . All rights reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form or by any means for commercial gain without the express written consent of the author. Digital or printed copies may be freely made and distributed for personal and public non-commercial use.