In my last post I set the stage to examine the story of the people of Nephi who returned to the land of Lehi-Nephi. They were led by a man called Zeniff. Zeniff had seen the land the Nephites left behind, which was since peopled by the Lamanites. He was desirous to go and dwell there. Not only did he want to go himself , he wanted as many others as he could get to come with him. Apparently he was pretty successful in enlisting others; in the book of Omni Amaleki writes: "And now I would speak somewhat concerning a certain number who went up into the wilderness to return to the land of Nephi; for there was a large number who were desirous to possess the land of their inheritance. And it came to pass that they also took others to a considerable number, and took their journey again into the wilderness. And I, Amaleki, had a brother, who also went with them; and I have not since known concerning them." (Omni, 27, 29-30). Zeniff himself records: "...I being over-zealous to inherit the land of our fathers, collected as many as were desirous to go up to possess the land, and started again on our journey into the wilderness to go up to the land... " (Mosiah 9:3). Zeniff must have gathered a lot of people. After living in Lehi-Nephi for 13 years, Zeniff led his people to battle against a large and aggressive Lamanite army. Zeniff's people withstood them, slaying over 3,000 of their number. My uninformed guess is that the Lamanite army must have been 3 or 4 times the number of men who were slain. With this in mind, I think Zeniff's population may have been more than a thousand people, including the women and children. My question is this: How many righteous Nephites does it take to withstand a Lamanite horde?
A word about the land of Lehi-Nephi. It is not clear to me where this might be in relation to Zarahemla. Zeniff says that his party wandered "many days" as they journeyed there from Zarahemla (see Mosiah 9:4). Ammon's party, who left Zarahemla seeking word of the people in Lehi-Nephi, wandared for 40 days before arriving at their destination (see Mosiah 7:4). If we assume that Ammon's party traveled at a very moderate pace of 10 miles per day, they could have traveled 400 miles. I speculate that it is likely not that far (going directly, that is), since Ammon and his men had to guess which direction to take as they traveled. Trips back to Zarahemla, mentioned later in the account and taken be at least two groups, do not talk about the trip other than it was done.
I also speculate about how the land Lehi-Nephi fits in to Nephite history. Is it the place that Lehi and his family landed after a long ocean voyage? Is it the land where Nephi and his people fled to shortly after Lehi's death? Is it the land that King Mosiah - Benjamin's father - and his followers fled from when they discovered the people of Zarahemla? I don't think the records contained in the Book of Mormon give us any hints. Either of these three locations could be the case, but consider this: At the time that Zeniff and company left the people of Zarahemla, it probably had been less than 50 years since Mosiah and his people left their former homes. It makes sense to me that this is where the people of Mosiah and Benjamin thought of as the land of their inheritance. They had lived in that place for centuries. It also makes sense that the people of Zarahemla felt threatened by the inhabitants of their former home and would send men to spy out their intentions and plans.
So Chapter 9 and 10 of Mosiah relate some of the experiences Zeniff's people had the first 23-25 years of their inhabiting the land of Lehi-Nephi. Several things popped out to me while reading Zeniff's record. More on this in my next post. Let me leave with this thought: Sometimes God leads his children to where he needs them to be. Sometimes God's children go where they feel they should be. In either case, the important thing is to rely on God, live His precepts, and accept the blessings and responsibilities that accompany living a Godly life.
Don
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