Unwearyingness

As Book of Mormon scholar Royal Skousen mentioned recently in a very interesting lecture regarding the language of the Book of Mormon, the word unwearyingness that is used in Helaman 10 is not actually a recognized English word in the Oxford English Dictionary.  Brother Skousen suggested that it’s unlikely that it was a transcription error by the scribe because the word appears twice (once in verse 4 and once in verse 5).  The word works, though, because it is obvious what is meant by the term and the description fits Nephi so well. 

The Lord commended him because he “with unwearyingness declared the word.”  We don’t have a lot of detail about his life, but what we do know shows how devoted he was to the preaching of the gospel.  From Helaman 3:37 and Helaman 5:1 we know that he was the chief judge for about 9 years.  It is likely that he preached the gospel during that time, but he surely could not do it full time because of his responsibilities as chief judge.  He gave up his office, though, in order to “preach the word of God all the remainder of his days.”  It’s interesting that one of the reasons given for not wanting to be the chief judge anymore was that he “had become weary because of their iniquity” (Helaman 5:4).  He was tired of his secular responsibilities, but he did not weary in preaching the gospel.  His first mission after giving up the judgment seat was to the Lamanites, and we have the details of the miraculous account in Helaman 5.  Because he and his brother Lehi “did preach unto the Lamanites with such great power and authority” there were 8000 Lamanites in Zarahemla who were converted (Helaman 5:18-19).  The two brothers then went down to the Land of Nephi to preach to more Lamanites, and it appears that thousands there were also converted.  Sometime following this, “Nephi and Lehi went into the land northward, to preach to the people” (Helaman 6:6).  We have no record of what happened there other than this summary: “Nephi, the son of Helaman, returned to the land of Zarahemla from the land northward….  They did reject all his words, insomuch that he could not stay among them” (Helaman 7:1-3).  That language makes it seem like he wasn’t in the land north for very long, but it was actually six years.  That sounds like an awfully long time to be preaching away from his homeland to a people who rejected his words.  I wish we had more of the account of his preaching to them, but I have to think that the Lord’s commendation to his for his “unwearyingness” was really in response to his tireless efforts among the people up north.  What Nephi did after receiving this message of approbation from the Lord shows how diligent and faithful he really was.  He had been on his way home from some very difficult experiences preaching to the Nephites when he received the revelation to continue preaching.  In the text we read that “When the Lord had spoken these words unto Nephi, he did stop and did not go unto his own house, but did return unto the multitudes… and began to declare unto them the word of the Lord" (Helaman 10:12).  Unwearyingness may not be an actual word, but it certainly is the perfect description for this man who had spent years preaching to those who rejected him and yet still did not hesitate to follow the Lord’s invitation to warn the people.