Plain speech, plainness, and highways

The covenant path is plain, not in the sense of being mundane, but rather in the sense that it is not complicated or convoluted. The Book of Mormon states this repeatedly in many different ways, often centering the description on the word 'plain.' This post will offer an overview of how this word is used in reference to God's word and God's way.  

Here are a few key themes I've taken away from this study:

• God delights in plainness, and those who love Him should as well. (2 Nephi 25:4)
• The wicked despise plainness, because it exposes their wickedness (Alma 14:3)
• Plainness can lead those who turn away to seek to destroy the work and servants of God (Alma 14:2, Alma 24:30, Helaman 8:4)
• God's word is plain, but over time wicked men take away the plainness, causing many to stumble. (1 Nephi 13:26, 28-29)

The metaphor of the "plain road"

• In his psalm, Nephi asks God: "O Lord, wilt thou not shut the gates of thy righteousness before me, that I may walk in the path of the low valley, that I may be strict in the plain road! O Lord, wilt thou encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness! O Lord, wilt thou make a way for mine escape before mine enemies! Wilt thou make my path straight before me! Wilt thou not place a stumbling block in my way—but that thou wouldst clear my way before me, and hedge not up my way, but the ways of mine enemy." (2 Nephi 4:32-33) 
• "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." (Isaiah 40) 
• "Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies." (Psalm 27)

In addition to the references above, a slight variant of this metaphor is prophesied as a literal manifestation of Christ's death:

And behold, there shall be great tempests, and there shall be many mountains laid low, like unto a valley, and there shall be many places which are now called valleys which shall become mountains, whose height is great. And many highways shall be broken up, and many cities shall become desolate. (Helaman 14:23-24)

This same prophetic metaphor was emphasized again at the time of its fulfillment:

13 And the highways were broken up, and the level roads were spoiled, and many smooth places became rough. (3 Nephi 8)

The Restoration is one of Plainness

40 And the angel spake unto me, saying: These last records, which thou hast seen among the Gentiles, shall establish the truth of the first, which are of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and shall make known the plain and precious things which have been taken away from them; and shall make known to all kindreds, tongues, and people, that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world; and that all men must come unto him, or they cannot be saved. (1 Nephi 13)

Nephite splinter groups and Book of Mormon wars

A few years ago I started making an overview of all the wars in the Book of Mormon: When they occurred, who was involved, how it was initiated, etc. It was a bit difficult since there are so few details sometimes, like Enos just saying that "I saw wars between the Nephites and Lamanites in the course of my days." (Enos 1:24). I don't know exactly what I expected to get out of it, I just thought it could be interesting. Although I didn't really finish it, I made at least one observation that I thought was interesting: Every single war during the reign of the judges until the coming of Christ (Alma, Helaman, 3 Nephi up to chapter 11) is initiated by Nephite dissenters and never the Lamanites. And these are a lot of wars too. Here is an overview:

87 B.C. - Amlici wants to be king, the Nephites vote against him, he gets mad and mixes goes to the Lamanites along with his followers. They go to war against the Nephites. See Alma 2.

81 B.C. - The Sons of Mosiah had been preaching among the Lamanites and had much success. Many Lamanites converted but none of the Nephite dissenters among them (Amalicites and Amulonites) except for one. Instead they stirred up the others that had not converted to anger against the converts and later the Nephites and went to war against them. See Alma 16 and 28.

74 B.C. - In the aftermath of the Zoramite mission, those who believe are cast out and those who don't believe are mad at the Nephites for giving them refuge and land. They mix with the Lamanites and go to war. See Alma 43-44.

73-57 B.C. - Amalickiah is another one who seeks to become king. When it doesn't work he goes to the Lamanites and eventually even becomes their king. But he is not happy with that and goes to war against the Nephites. There is at least one period of peace in-between, but all the wars going on in this period are initiated by Amalickiah and perpetuated by his brother, Ammaron, when he dies. This is a long one and is covered in Alma 46-62.

52 B.C. - We get little information about this one but enough to know that it is caused by Nephite dissenters stirring up the Lamanites to anger. See Alma 63:14-15

50 B.C. - We don't know much about the background for this war, just that the Lamanites came. But we learn that their armies were led by someone called Coriantumr who was a Nephite dissenter and that the king stirred them up. The Lamanite king at the time was Ammaron's son and Amalickiah's nephew, i.e. a Nephite by birth. See Helaman 1:14-34

38-30 B.C. - History repeats itself. Nephite dissenters go to the Lamanites, and manage after some persuation to stir them up to anger against the Nephites and go to war. They capture a lot of Nephite land, but give it back after a lot of them convert through miraculous events. See Helaman 4-5.

15-16 A.D. - This is the longest period without wars between Nephites and Lamanites in the reign of judges. But there has been much unrest at times and the Gadianton robbers have been established and have taken over much of the government and caused murders and plundering. It is hard to pinpoint a war in this period until 15-16 A.D. where more of a battle is described between the Nephites and the Gadianton robbers. Not surprisingly, the Gadianton robbers originate from Nephites. See 3 Nephi 2:17-18.

19-22 A.D. - Another battle with the Gadianton robbers. At this point, the terms "Nephite" and "Lamanite" seem to have little to do with who their forefathers were. "And it came to pass that those Lamanites who had united with the Nephites were numbered among the Nephites" (3 Nephi 2:14). Considering all the Nephite dissenters who have joined the Lamanites before this, a genetic test would probably fail to determine who is who. See 3 Nephi 4. 

Depending on how we count, we have about 9 distinct wars in this period of judges. Every single one is initiated by people who were Nephites by birth. In fact, at least in two of these accounts, there were Lamanites who refused to go to war and had to be persuaded by Nephite dissenters. See Alma 47:2 and Helaman 4:3.

I guess Mormon was right:

And thus we can plainly discern, that after a people have been once enlightened by the Spirit of God, and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have fallen away into sin and transgression, they become more hardened, and thus their state becomes worse than though they had never known these things. (Alma 24:30)

"Great knowledge"

The term, "great knowledge", is unique in the Book of Mormon (6 occurrences) except for one occurrence in the Book of Abraham. I will quote three of them to discuss what we can learn from it

30 And thus we can plainly discern, that after a people have been once enlightened by the Spirit of God, and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have fallen away into sin and transgression, they become more hardened, and thus their state becomes worse than though they had never known these things. (Alma 24:30)

1 I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days. (1 Nephi 1:1)

7 And now I, Nephi, cannot say more; the Spirit stoppeth mine utterance, and I am left to mourn because of the unbelief, and the wickedness, and the ignorance, and the stiffneckedness of men; for they will not search knowledge, nor understand great knowledge, when it is given unto them in plainness, even as plain as word can be. (2 Nephi 32:7)

The Alma quote informs us that "great knowledge" comes by the enlightenment of the Spirit of God. It also teaches us that "great knowledge" is accompanied with responsibility. If you sin against it, it would be better to not have had it in the first place. The last of the three quotes also teaches that one must search for it, it doesn't come without any effort.

In the first verse of the Book of Mormon, Nephi reflects on his life (he is probably around 40-50 years old as he writes this). One of the first things he brings up is the "great knowledge" that he has been "highly favored" to obtain. He also connects this to the "mysteries of God". This makes the next quote even more interesting. The same Nephi who connected "great knowledge" to mysteries also connects it to plainness. It may seem a paradox on the surface, but I don't think it is at all.

It could be interesting to dive into "mysteries" in the Book of Mormon as well, but I will try to not make it too long-winded. Simply put, I think mysteries are called so in the scriptures because they cannot be obtained by secular learning, they can only come to you through revelation. But when you are enlightened by the Spirit of God, it is pure knowledge given to you in plainness. For example, great knowledge of God's mysteries came to Nephi through revelation, plain and clear, but was hidden from his brothers (and therefore 'mysterious' to them) because they had not "inquired of the Lord" (1 Nephi 15:8). It is the same for you and I, and we choose if we want to be Nephi or Laman/Lemuel in that regard. This is my understanding or interpretation at least, but I would say that I have support from Jacob

Behold, great and marvelous are the works of the Lord. How unsearchable are the depths of the mysteries of him; and it is impossible that man should find out all his ways. And no man knoweth of his ways save it be revealed unto him; wherefore, brethren, despise not the revelations of God...the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. Wherefore, it speaketh of things as they really are, and of things as they really will be; wherefore, these things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls. (Jacob 4:8, 13)

I also think certain Book of Mormon expressions, such as "great knowledge", "highly favored" and "chosen" are used to describe a branch of a covenant people on an "isle of the sea" (2 Nephi 10:20). This position gave the Nephites both privileges and great responsibility. Unfortunately they could not live up to this responsiblity in the end and suffered the consequences of it.

I mentioned that the term, "great knowledge", was found in the Book of Abraham. Let's have a look

2 And, finding there was greater happiness and peace and rest for me, I sought for the blessings of the fathers, and the right whereunto I should be ordained to administer the same; having been myself a follower of righteousness, desiring also to be one who possessed great knowledge, and to be a greater follower of righteousness, and to possess a greater knowledge, and to be a father of many nations, a prince of peace, and desiring to receive instructions, and to keep the commandments of God, I became a rightful heir, a High Priest, holding the right belonging to the fathers. (Abraham 1:2)

It is interesting to me that one of the precursors for the Abrahamic covenant was his desire for "great knowledge".

To me at least, the use of "great knowledge" in the the Book of Abraham and the Book of Mormon suggests that this is not merely about having information. Those who are "highly favored" and have "great knowledge" about the mysteries of God are in a covenant relationship with him. They have a great responsibility but also access to wonderful blessings.

Sufficient

I have noticed the use of the word, "sufficient", in the Book of Mormon. It seems to indicate that a certain amount of a given virtue or condition is necessary
to obtain a desired outcome.

Faith

For instance, in 3 Nephi 17:8, Jesus told the people that they had sufficient faith so that he could heal them. Apparently, it was not just about having faith, but having the required amount to unlock the blessing of being healed. I find that interesting.

Other similar uses of the word, "sufficient", are found in several other Book of Mormon passages.

Hope

Moroni 7:3 speaks of those who...

...have obtained a sufficient hope by which ye can enter into the rest of the Lord,

Humility

In Alma 5:27, Alma-2 asks the people in Zarahemla if they have been sufficiently humble. Also, in Ether 9:35, we read

And it came to pass that when they had humbled themselves sufficiently before the Lord he did send rain upon the face of the Earth

Repentance 

In Alma 24:11, the converted Lamanite king speaks on behalf of himself and his people

for it was all we could do to repent sufficiently before God that he would take away our stain

Grace

 In Ether 12:26, Christ says

my grace is sufficient for the meek

 In Moroni 10:32 we find Moroni's famous last words

if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ;