Wordplay on the name Samuel in the Book of Mormon

A recent Interpreter paper by Matthew Bowen illustrates the apparent wordplay on the name Samuel. It is yet another great example of the subtleties waiting to be discovered in the Book of Mormon.

As usual, Bowen goes into exquisite depth as he unfolds the various meanings and contexts associated with the name, both in the Old Testament and in the Book of Mormon.  I recommend reading the entire paper if this topic interests you.  For the purposes of this post, I'll try to keep things pretty focused on the Book of Mormon relevance of the name Samuel.

The meaning of the name 'Samuel'

Bowen explains the Old Testament meaning(s) of the name:

The Semitic/Hebrew name Samuel (šĕmûʾēl) most likely means “his name is El” — i.e., “his name [the name that he calls upon in worship] is El” — although it was also associated with “hearing” (šāmaʿ) God (e.g., 1 Samuel 3:9–11). In the ancient Near East, the parental hope for one thus named is that the son (and “his name”) would glorify El (a name later understood in ancient Israel to refer to God); or, like the biblical prophet Samuel, the child would hear El/God (“El is heard”).

Mormon seems to be quite familiar with this meaning of the name, as his account of the actions of Samuel the Lamanite seem to swirl around the concept of "hearing."  

Consider this example, from the early part of Samuel's sermon:

39 O ye people of the land, that ye would hear my words! And I pray that the anger of the Lord be turned away from you, and that ye would repent and be saved. (Helaman 13)

The story of Samuel involves divisive imagery: He stands alone upon a wall to deliver his message to the apostate Nephites, causing waves of division between those who believe his words and choose repentance and baptism and those who reject him and wish to see him killed:

1 And now, it came to pass that there were many who heard the words of Samuel, the Lamanite, which he spake upon the walls of the city. And as many as believed on his word went forth and sought for Nephi; and when they had come forth and found him they confessed unto him their sins and denied not, desiring that they might be baptized unto the Lord.

2 But as many as there were who did not believe in the words of Samuel were angry with him; and they cast stones at him upon the wall, and also many shot arrows at him as he stood upon the wall; but the Spirit of the Lord was with him, insomuch that they could not hit him with their stones neither with their arrows.

3 Now when they saw that they could not hit him, there were many more who did believe on his words, insomuch that they went away unto Nephi to be baptized.

4 For behold, Nephi was baptizing, and prophesying, and preaching, crying repentance unto the people, showing signs and wonders, working miracles among the people, that they might know that the Christ must shortly come—

5 Telling them of things which must shortly come, that they might know and remember at the time of their coming that they had been made known unto them beforehand, to the intent that they might believe; therefore as many as believed on the words of Samuel went forth unto him to be baptized, for they came repenting and confessing their sins.

6 But the more part of them did not believe in the words of Samuel; therefore when they saw that they could not hit him with their stones and their arrows, they cried unto their captains, saying: Take this fellow and bind him, for behold he hath a devil; and because of the power of the devil which is in him we cannot hit him with our stones and our arrows; therefore take him and bind him, and away with him.

7 And as they went forth to lay their hands on him... (Helaman 16)

One prophet standing on a wall causing a division among the people really reminds me of Helaman 10:1, which I discussed in this post. When the wicked who will not repent try to take him, he leaves.  Here is what Mormon says about Samuel's escape:

7 ...behold, he did cast himself down from the wall, and did flee out of their lands, yea, even unto his own country, and began to preach and to prophesy among his own people.

8 And behold, he was never heard of more among the Nephites; and thus were the affairs of the people. (Helaman 16)

There's the "hearing" theme again! Mormon's message is: Reject the prophet and eventually you'll never have to hear his offensive words again.

The fulfillment of prophecy

There is one really important footnote in the story of Samuel regarding the context of his name's meaning.  After the words of prophecy that he spoke are fulfilled among the Nephites -- after terrible destruction and loss of life -- Mormon highlights the tragic nature of covenant rebellion in the way he describes their cries:

24 And in one place they were heard to cry, saying: O that we had repented before this great and terrible day, and then would our brethren have been spared, and they would not have been burned in that great city Zarahemla.

25 And in another place they were heard to cry and mourn, saying: O that we had repented before this great and terrible day, and had not killed and stoned the prophets, and cast them out; then would our mothers and our fair daughters, and our children have been spared, and not have been buried up in that great city Moronihah. And thus were the howlings of the people great and terrible. (3 Nephi 8)

"The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ... neither can he know them"

12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2)

My recent posts have discussed the mantic and sophic worldviews and how they are at odds with each other inside each and every human mind. Here is a quick summary to review:

The fundamental ambivalence of western civilization consists of a permanent conflict of spiritualities derived from the human condition itself. The assumptions underlying this conflict have created the mantic world view of vertical supernaturalism, a dualistic metaphysic that includes not only the natural order but also another world order which transcends it, and the sophic world view of horizontal naturalism, a monistic metaphysic that confines all realities to the natural order. (source)

The Book of Mormon offers a strong endorsement of the mantic worldview. In this post, I'd like to focus on the scripture passage above and attempt to break down what it means to "receive the spirit which is of God."

Curtis Wright, in this paper, puts it this way:

The saints of God are the holy ones (hoi hagioi), people who are sanctified by a revealed spirituality because they live by the supernatural gift of faith, whereas the natural man, who lives solely by reason and the senses, is any person whose spirituality is naturalistic.

The phrase "sanctified by a revealed spirituality" really resonates with me. This is the new birth we read about in various contexts in the scriptures.  For example, when Alma-2 experiences his miraculous conversion, he tells the people what the Lord spoke to him:

25 And the Lord said unto me: Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters;
26 And thus they become new creatures; and unless they do this, they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God.
27 I say unto you, unless this be the case, they must be cast off; and this I know, because I was like to be cast off. (Mosiah 27)

Saints are those who are sanctified by receiving Christ's atoning sacrifice through covenant. Here is how British New Testament scholar James D. G. Dunn describes the "hoi hagioi":

One of [Paul's] favourite ways of referring to the members of his churches was as "saints" (hagioi), those who had been set apart and dedicated to the service of God. Here we may note that while the noun hagiasmos ("sanctification") was used for the process of salvation, the verb in Paul usually denotes the beginning action, whereby individuals were set apart to discipleship. On one occasion he uses the related image of anointing (2 Corinthians 1:21). We have already noted how important the metaphor of sacrifice is for Paul's understanding of the death of Jesus (2 Corinthians 9:2-3).  Paul also uses the imagery of priestly service for his own ministry, as indeed for all Christian commitment and other acts of service in the gospel. All the justified have "access" to the inner sanctum of the cult (Romans 5:2). Their bodies are themselves temples enshrining God's presence. (The Theology of Paul, 1998, p. 330).

Multiple layers of temple symbolism are intertwined in the concept of becoming a saint: "set apart" by anointing, sacrifice, and priestly service, all of which leads to "access" to the inner sanctum. The "new creature" is a temple of God.

As Paul teaches, it is this sanctification process which allows us to become the sons and daughters of God. This isn't something we earn through our own actions, rather, it is a process of recognizing what has already been done for us by Jesus Christ and seeing our mortal journey through spiritual eyes. Mortality is not a time to pursue idle pleasures. Rather, it is "a time to prepare to meet God" (Alma 12:24) by following His plan for mortality, the everlasting covenant.

We receive the gift by recognizing Christ's atonement

The key principle at work here is that our worldview makes all the difference.  When viewed through the sophic lens, which holds that the material world is all there is, it really makes no sense for Christ to suffer for our sins. It is "not reasonable that such a being as a Christ [should] come" (Helaman 16:18). The rational materialist mindset caused apostate Nephites to believe the doctrine of Christ was:

20 ...a wicked tradition, which has been handed down unto us by our fathers, to cause us that we should believe in some great and marvelous thing which should come to pass, but not among us, but in a land which is far distant, a land which we know not; therefore they can keep us in ignorance, for we cannot witness with our own eyes that they are true.

21 And they will, by the cunning and the mysterious arts of the evil one, work some great mystery which we cannot understand, which will keep us down to be servants to their words, and also servants unto them, for we depend upon them to teach us the word; and thus will they keep us in ignorance if we will yield ourselves unto them, all the days of our lives. (Helaman 16)

Natural eyes can never witness the reality of Christ, nor the purposes of His mortal ministry, suffering, death, and resurrection.

Conclusion

Let's finish this post with the same passage we began with (1 Corinthians 2:12-14), only this time I'll use Curtis Wright's alternative translation which explains more context in Paul's writing:

We are not animated by the natural spirit of the cosmos, but by the spirit that comes from God, so that we may distinguish God's free gifts to us [from the provisions of nature]. We speak openly of God's gifts, but not in words that generate instruction from humanly originated wisdom: we use instead the words that communicate information derived from the Holy Spirit; and we also utilize the Holy Spirit as a criterion for determining what is and is not revealed. But the man whose spirituality is naturalistic rejects as absurd everything derived from the Spirit of God: he is incapable of experiencing such things himself, and has no means of evaluating them in others in the absence of revelation.

 

A few thoughts on faith and reason

As I have reflected on this topic lately, I came to think of all the heart and mind passages in the Book of Mormon. I thought it was significant that heart (faith and desire) always was mentioned before mind (our intellect). But as I studied it further, I realized that it is all about our faith and desire. I created a post about this when I realized that the original word for "mind" in the Book of Mormon probably has little to do with our intellect.

I have had my share of discussion with former believers or non-believers. I think I understand where they are coming from. When you don't believe in God, the highest intelligence in the universe that you are aware of is that of man. In our time, using logic and reason and the principles of the scientific approach is not only the best approach to discovering and verifying truth, it is the only approach. To the non-believers, religion and faith, like any other topic, must be approached this way. "To a man with the hammer, everything looks like a nail". The scientific approach is the hammer and religion is just another nail.

For a believer like me, matters of faith differ significantly from matters of quantum physics, biochemistry or even social sciences. If there really exists

1. a supreme intelligence (God)
2. revelation

it goes without saying that I should "despise not the revelations of God" (Jacob 4:8) and that whatever enables me to receive revelation is the best approach to eternal truth. This is not a viable option for atheists. They will not accept revelation as a possible approach to learn truth before they accept the existence of God, and they cannot verify the existence of God with the only approach they know. They will pound away on that screw with the hammer without getting the desired result and quickly conclude that the screw is useless.

Don't get me wrong. I think that science is a great tool for its purpose. It is also hard to draw clear lines between all the different fields or subjects and in some cases they overlap. For instance, there are church historians who obviously use common approaches within the field of history to learn about the past of the church. But I think that the successes of science in the last century or two has caused it to sometimes overstep its bounds. One example is when some atheists try to convince themselves and others that science has disproved God. In other words, they are using a tool that is only capable of investigating the observable to disprove something unobservable.

Since this is a Book of Mormon blog, I will get to what I have learned from it about this subject. Science was obviously not a familiar concept to Book of Mormon authors, at least not the same way as today. But logic and reason or "wisdom of men", is mentioned several times, and it is usually connected to wickedness and disbelief. A great illustration of this is found in Helaman 16

15 Nevertheless, the people began to harden their hearts, all save it were the most believing part of them, both of the Nephites and also of the Lamanites, and began to depend upon their own strength and upon their own wisdom, saying:
16 Some things they may have guessed right, among so many; but behold, we know that all these great and marvelous works cannot come to pass, of which has been spoken.
17 And they began to reason and to contend among themselves, saying:
18 That it is not reasonable that such a being as a Christ shall come; if so, and he be the Son of God, the Father of heaven and of earth, as it has been spoken, why will he not show himself unto us as well as unto them who shall be at Jerusalem?

We have repeated several times on this blog that the Book of Mormon plainly teaches that a hard heart leads to lack of understanding. When depending on their own limited wisdom the coming of Christ was not "reasonable". Interestingly, their argument is based on a wrong assumption. This is basically the reaction of the people after Samuel's speech in Zarahemla. He only talked about Christ's birth and death in Jerusalem without mentioning that he would appear to the Nephites after his resurrection. The people assumed that Christ would only show himself to those at Jerusalem and not to them. 

Their hard hearts prevented the "greater portion of the word" (Alma 12:10) and they were left with "their own wisdom". Because of those limitations, they were missing vital understanding and it led them to the conclusion that the prophecies they had heard were "not reasonable". 

I think the same thing is happening a lot today, sometimes with believers like me as well. We apply logic and reason to "make sense" of the gospel and eternal truths. Sometimes it doesn't, but that is probably because we are concluding based on limited information, often as a consequence of hardened hearts. We tend to be unwilling to admit that the error is on our part. Some other ways the Book of Mormon teaches us about this topic:

But behold, the devil hath deceived me; for he appeared unto me in the form of an angel, and said unto me: Go and reclaim this people, for they have all gone astray after an unknown God. And he said unto me: There is no God; yea, and he taught me that which I should say. And I have taught his words; and I taught them because they were pleasing unto the carnal mind; and I taught them, even until I had much success (Alma 30:53)

The teaching that there is no God was pleasing unto the carnal mind. Interesting. Another well-known scripture:

28 O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish...
42 And whoso knocketh, to him will he open; and the wise, and the learned, and they that are rich, who are puffed up because of their learning, and their wisdom, and their riches—yea, they are they whom he despiseth; and save they shall cast these things away, and consider themselves fools before God, and come down in the depths of humility, he will not open unto them. (2 Nephi 9)

Does this mean that logic and reason has no place in religion at all? Of course not. What the Book of Mormon warns against is depending solely on the wisdom of man. Wisdom of man is simply inadequate to know the things of God

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 (Jacob 4:8)

Faith must come first

God is merciful unto all who believe on his name; therefore he desireth, in the first place, that ye should believe, yea, even on his word. (Alma 32:22)

Then a heart that is soft enough to enable the planting of a seed. Speaking of Alma 32, I find it quite interesting that the best description that I know in the Book of Mormon of developing faith and learning eternal truth, uses the term, "experiment".

But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith (Alma 32:27)

Can this be compared to a scientific experiment? Yes and no. Faith, diligence and patience is also necessary in the process of developing scientific proof, just like Alma describes the planting and growing of the tree. I mentioned that faith must come first. Actually, it is the same in science. First you postulate a theory or hypothesis before you do the experiment and get proof. That is also an expression of belief. The major difference is this: Whereas a person or group of scientists do the work, once the proof is there it's available to everybody else not requiring their individual effort. The tree in Alma 32, however, is personal. I can't eat of anybody else's fruit. Each one of us need to put in the effort to grow the tree. Just as importantly, each one of us can.  

And even all this can you do if you will (Alma 33:23)

That is the final point I would like to make: If logic and reason is God's way of approaching Him, that means he favors people with the highest cognitive abilities and deductive reasoning skills. That does not sound fair to me. "The way" is prepared for every single one of his children and he favors noone. Some might say that the faith/revelation approach favors people with the highest capacity of faith. But Alma assures us that we don't need anything more than a desire for a start. It is not about our skills or capabilities, it is simply about our will. This is the true meaning of "heart and mind".

The Office of the Ministry of Angels -- Part 5

This post is a continuation of a series of posts about a pattern spelled out by Mormon in Moroni 7:31-32. To summarize, Mormon offers us ten distinct details regarding the work that angels do to bring about faith and to fulfill the covenants of God. Here is the color-coded summary of the pattern:

• Angels are sent.
• They call men to repentance.
• They "fulfill" and "do the work of the covenants" of the Father.
• This is accomplished by declaring "the word of Christ" ...
• ...unto "chosen vessels of the Lord."
• The chosen vessels bear testimony of Him.
• By so doing, God "prepareth a way" for the residue of men to have faith in Christ...
• ...so that the power of the Holy Ghost can have place in their hearts.

In today's post, we'll conclude our Book of Mormon investigation with two additional examples.

The first is Samuel the Lamanite. I'll draw from scriptures giving us the account of his prophecies to the wicked Nephites, found in Helaman 13-15.  Many of the elements of the pattern are found in this short passage.  Additional examples are then listed below.

8 And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall believe on the Son of God, the same shall have everlasting life.
9 And behold, thus hath the Lord commanded me, by his angel, that I should come and tell this thing unto you; yea, he hath commanded that I should prophesy these things unto you; yea, he hath said unto me: Cry unto this people, repent and prepare the way of the Lord.
10 And now, because I am a Lamanite, and have spoken unto you the words which the Lord hath commanded me, and because it was hard against you, ye are angry with me and do seek to destroy me, and have cast me out from among you.
11 And ye shall hear my words, for, for this intent have I come up upon the walls of this city, that ye might hear and know of the judgments of God which do await you because of your iniquities, and also that ye might know the conditions of repentance;
12 And also that ye might know of the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and of earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and that ye might know of the signs of his coming, to the intent that ye might believe on his name.
13 And if ye believe on his name ye will repent of all your sins, that thereby ye may have a remission of them through his merits. (Helaman 14)

Angels are sent.

7 And behold, an angel of the Lord hath declared it unto me, and he did bring glad tidings to my soul. And behold, I was sent unto you to declare it unto you also, that ye might have glad tidings; but behold ye would not receive me. (Helaman 13)

They call men to repentance.

6 Yea, heavy destruction awaiteth this people, and it surely cometh unto this people, and nothing can save this people save it be repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ, who surely shall come into the world, and shall suffer many things and shall be slain for his people....8 Therefore, thus saith the Lord: Because of the hardness of the hearts of the people of the Nephites, except they repent I will take away my word from them, and I will withdraw my Spirit from them, and I will suffer them no longer, and I will turn the hearts of their brethren against them....10 Yea, I will visit them in my fierce anger, and there shall be those of the fourth generation who shall live, of your enemies, to behold your utter destruction; and this shall surely come except ye repent, saith the Lord; and those of the fourth generation shall visit your destruction.11 But if ye will repent and return unto the Lord your God I will turn away mine anger, saith the Lord; yea, thus saith the Lord, blessed are they who will repent and turn unto me, but wo unto him that repenteth not. (Helaman 13)

They "fulfill" and "do the work of the covenants" of the Father.

1 And now, it came to pass that there were many who heard the words of Samuel, the Lamanite, which he spake upon the walls of the city. And as many as believed on his word went forth and sought for Nephi; and when they had come forth and found him they confessed unto him their sins and denied not, desiring that they might be baptized unto the Lord. (Helaman 16)

This is accomplished by declaring "the word of Christ" ...

26 Behold ye are worse than they; for as the Lord liveth, if a prophet come among you and declareth unto you the word of the Lord... (Helaman 13)

...so that the power of the Holy Ghost can have place in their hearts.

8 Therefore, thus saith the Lord: Because of the hardness of the hearts of the people of the Nephites, except they repent I will take away my word from them, and I will withdraw my Spirit from them, and I will suffer them no longer, and I will turn the hearts of their brethren against them. (Helaman 13)

Our second example is Nephi the grandson of Helaman-2, who labors immediately prior to the destruction at the time of Christ's death.

15 And it came to pass that Nephi—having been visited by angels and also the voice of the Lord, therefore having seen angels, and being eye-witness, and having had power given unto him that he might know concerning the ministry of Christ, and also being eye-witness to their quick return from righteousness unto their wickedness and abominations;
16 Therefore, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds—went forth among them in that same year, and began to testify, boldly, repentance and remission of sins through faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.
17 And he did minister many things unto them; and all of them cannot be written, and a part of them would not suffice, therefore they are not written in this book. And Nephi did minister with power and with great authority.
18 And it came to pass that they were angry with him, even because he had greater power than they, for it were not possible that they could disbelieve his words, for so great was his faith on the Lord Jesus Christ that angels did minister unto him daily.
19 And in the name of Jesus did he cast out devils and unclean spirits; and even his brother did he raise from the dead, after he had been stoned and suffered death by the people.
20 And the people saw it, and did witness of it, and were angry with him because of his power; and he did also do many more miracles, in the sight of the people, in the name of Jesus.
21 And it came to pass that the thirty and first year did pass away, and there were but few who were converted unto the Lord; but as many as were converted did truly signify unto the people that they had been visited by the power and Spirit of God, which was in Jesus Christ, in whom they believed.
22 And as many as had devils cast out from them, and were healed of their sicknesses and their infirmities, did truly manifest unto the people that they had been wrought upon by the Spirit of God, and had been healed; and they did show forth signs also and did do some miracles among the people.
23 Thus passed away the thirty and second year also. And Nephi did cry unto the people in the commencement of the thirty and third year; and he did preach unto them repentance and remission of sins.
24 Now I would have you to remember also, that there were none who were brought unto repentance who were not baptized with water.
25 Therefore, there were ordained of Nephi, men unto this ministry, that all such as should come unto them should be baptized with water, and this as a witness and a testimony before God, and unto the people, that they had repented and received a remission of their sins.
26 And there were many in the commencement of this year that were baptized unto repentance; and thus the more part of the year did pass away. (3 Nephi 7)

Additional examples are present in the Book of Mormon, some of which are complete and some of which are not. The pattern is very clear, and understanding the pattern helps us realize how angels operate, what their central message is, and why prophets focus so intently on faith, repentance, baptism, other covenants/ordinances, and the Holy Ghost.

In the next post, we'll look at the Book of Moses to see if we can find examples of this same pattern in non-Nephite records.

"Cunning" in the Book of Mormon

In light of the Hebrew connection between "naked" and "shrewd" or "cunning" in the word arum, I decided to look at how the word cunning is used in the Book of Mormon.

First, a little background on the word itself and what it meant at the time of the publication of the Book of Mormon.  Webster's 1828 dictionary is helpful, offering us two definitions -- "skillful" and curious/ingenious" which are "quite obsolete." We then get three more definitions which are apparently more contemporary: "Shrewd," "deceitful," and "assumed with subtilty."

The word cunning appears 23 times in the Book of Mormon, in the following contexts:

1 Nephi 16:38 -- Laman and Lemuel murmur against their father and accuse him of "work[ing]
many things by his cunning arts"

2 Nephi 9:28, 37 -- 28 O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish. ... 39 O, my beloved brethren, remember the awfulness in transgressing against that Holy God, and also the awfulness of yielding to the enticings of that cunning one. Remember, to be carnally-minded is death, and to be spiritually-minded is life eternal.
2 Nephi 13 -- [quoting Isaiah] "the cunning artificer"

Mosiah 7:21 -- King Zeniff was "deceived by the cunning and craftiness of king Laman"

Mosiah 9:10 -- King Laman was "cunning" and crafty and brought the people of Zeniff into bondage.

Mosiah 10:18 -- King Laman deceived the Nephites "by his cunning, and lying craftiness."

Mosiah 24:7 (x2) -- The Lamanites began to be a "cunning and a wise people, as to the wisdom of the world, yea, a cunning people, delighting in all manner of wickedness."

Alma 2:1-2 (x2) -- Amlici was a "very cunning man, yea, a wise man as to the wisdom of the world." He drew people away "by his cunning."

Alma 10:13 -- "cunning devices" designed to catch someone in their words and have them cast into prison or slain as a result.

Alma 20:13 -- Lamoni senior chastises Lamoni junior for associating with the Nephite missionaries and accuses them of attempting to deceive them "by their cunning."

Alma 28:13 -- 13 And thus we see how great the inequality of man is because of sin and transgression, and the power of the devil, which comes by the cunning plans which he hath devised to ensnare the hearts of men.

Alma 44:9 -- Zarahemnah claims it is the Nephites' cunning and not their faith that delivered them.

Alma 46:10/47:35 -- Amalickiah "was a man of cunning device and a man of many flattering words," and obtained the Lamanite kingdom "by the assistance of his cunning servants."

Alma 51:27 -- The Lamanites obtained cities by the "cunning" of Amalickiah.

Helaman 3:29-30 -- 29 Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked—30 And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the right hand of God in the kingdom of heaven, to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and with Jacob, and with all our holy fathers, to go no more out.

Helaman 16:21 -- the people suppose that believing in the prophecies of Christ will bring the into servitude "by the cunning and the mysterious arts of the evil one."

3 Nephi 21 -- 9 For in that day, for my sake shall the Father work a work, which shall be a great and a marvelous work among them; and there shall be among them those who will not believe it, although a man shall declare it unto them. 10 But behold, the life of my servant shall be in my hand; therefore they shall not hurt him, although he shall be marred because of them. Yet I will heal him, for I will show unto them that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the devil.

Ether 8:2 -- Jared flattered many people "because of his cunning words" to gain half of the kingdom.

Ether 13:16 -- Coriantumr had studied "in all the arts of war and cunning of the world."

The usage of this word seems to fall into three categories, both negative: (1) crafty, deceptive individuals are described as "cunning" and use their skills for their own selfish purposes. (2) Righteous people/efforts are mischaracterized as attempt to decieve by cunning.
(3) Satan's tactics are described as "cunning" and meant to bind us and subject us to misery and endless woe.

Internal Consistency in Helaman 16

In Helaman 16:14 we read:

And angels did appear unto men, wise men, and did declare unto them glad tidings of great joy; thus in this year the scriptures began to be fulfilled.

Which scripture?

Compare with Alma 13:26:

And it shall be made known unto just and holy men, by the mouth of angels, at the time of his coming, that the words of our fathers may be fulfilled, according to that which they have spoken concerning him, which was according to the spirit of prophecy which was in them.