I'm getting ready for the lesson on Sunday (and it's not even Saturday yet). We're doing Helaman chapters 1-5 this week, and what jumped out at me was the emphasis on the power of the word of God to really change people's lives.
Lemme e'splain... No. There is too much. Lemme sum up...
Chapters 1-4 deal with the on-going military struggles between the Nephites (captained by Moroni's son, Moronihah) and the Lamanites. It's a good read, I would highly recommend you take the time to go through it on your own. As a result of the Nephites' disobedience and pride "...and their boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength; therefore they did not prosper... until they had lost possession of almost all their lands." (Helaman 4:13)
I love that phrase, because of "their boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength". These guys were probably doing fairly well in the muscle department. I did 20 pushups this morning and thought I was going to lose the use of my arms for the rest of the day (in my defense, my feet were on one of those big inflatable exercise balls at the time, and I was using the fancy push-up bars for an added degree of difficulty). But I digress...
Moronihah and Nephi and Lehi (sons of Helaman 'the 2nd') preach repentance to the Nephites and they are able to regain half of their lands before they give up on trying to take back any more territory (Helaman 4:16-18). Even if the story stopped there, it would be impressive. Simply teaching the gospel humbled the people to where they were obedient again. But the story doesn't stop there...
Nephi and Lehi decide to preach to the Lamanites starting in Zarahemla,
"...they did preach with great power, insomuch that they did confound many of those dissenters who had gone over from the Nephites, insomuch that they came forth and did confess their sins and were baptized unto repentance, and immediately returned to the Nephites to endeavor to repair unto them the wrongs which they had done." (Helaman 5:17)
Not bad, huh. I'll have to look into it further, but I think this is the first recorded incident when a Nephite dissenter was converted back. But wait, it gets better. Eight thousand Lamanites were also baptized. That's a lot, in case you were wondering... But it gets even better.
They head towards the land of Nephi and are met by an army of the Lamanites who cast them into prison (okay, so that part's not better, but it ends on a positive note). I used to be good at math, but I can still figure out that it doesn't take an army to arrest two men. If that wasn't enough, they leave them in prison for "many days without food" before going in "that they might slay them" (Helaman 5:22).
Long story short, Nephi and Lehi are surrounded as if by a pillar of fire, the Lamanites are a little stunned when they see the two men aren't burned or harmed. A voice from above tells them to repent, and the 300 who came to kill Nephi & Lehi are converted and run around converting others, "insomuch that the more part of the Lamanites were convinced of them" and "did lay down their weapons of war, and also their hatred" (Helaman 5:50-51).
I think Mormon chose this account very carefully to contrast the results achieved through the Nephite military efforts with the results of the changing power of the gospel. There's no doubt Moronihah was a very righteous man, and had the Nephites as a whole been more humble and faithful, I think he could've been more successful with his armies.
On the other hand, two men armed only with the power and authority from God were able to set at defiance the Lamanite army. To me, the climax of the story is the last verse in chapter 5:
"And it came to pass that they did yield up unto the Nephites the lands of their possessions." (Helaman 5:52)
Moronihah's army was only able to regain half of their lands through battle and bloodshed. The preaching of the word caused the Lamanites to voluntarily return to the Nephites the all the lands which had been taken without any loss of life.
"And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them..." (Alma 31:5, emphasis added)
