Nephite Humility

One trait that seems to be common among all of the Book of Mormon authors is their humility.  We look to these prophets of old as men of incredible faith and power—because they were—and yet they showed great meekness without any indication that they felt their achievements were due to their own strength.  We get this sense of humility in the Book of Mormon right at the beginning—Moroni wrote in the title page: “And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God.”  Here we have in the first page of the book that we claim is the most correct book of any on the earth, and one of the principal authors is apologizing for any mistakes we might find.  And it’s not because the book is fraught with errors; it’s because Moroni constantly felt that he was weak and inadequate despite the power the sincere reader finds in his words.  He wrote referring to “my weakness in writing” and worried that “the Gentiles will mock at these things, because of our weakness in writing” (Ether 12:23, 40).  He was certainly not weak in my eyes, but he knew where his strength came from and wrote in perfect humility. 

                Several other writers in the Book of Mormon likewise showed humility.  Nephi—the one who seems to the reader to have never made a wrong choice in his life—exclaimed, “O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities.  I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me.  And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins” (2 Nephi 4:17-19).  Despite what seems to be a super-human ability to forgive his brothers, he apparently wasn’t perfect at it and made no attempt to hide his challenges from us.  In the next chapter we also see how unassuming he was as a leader.  In an apologetic tone he wrote, “And my people would that we should call the name of the place Nephi; wherefore, we did call it Nephi.  And all those who were with me did take upon them to call themselves the people of Nephi….  And it came to pass that they would that I should be their king. But I, Nephi, was desirous that they should have no king; nevertheless, I did for them according to that which was in my power” (2 Nephi 5:8-9, 18).  He seemed to be ashamed that his people wanted to call themselves after his name and to have him as his king, and the only reason he allowed it was because he wanted to do whatever he could for them.  There were certainly no grand ceremonies among his people naming buildings or trust funds or cities after him—like we would see from the rich and powerful today—for Nephi maintained the “lowliness of heart” that the Lord commended in him (1 Nephi 2:19).

                Nephi’s brother Jacob wrote this after mentioning the great things they were able to do through God’s power: “Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things” (Jacob 4:7).  He had no doubt that any strength he had came from the Lord and was not his own doing.  His father had told him from the beginning that it was “the righteousness of [the] Redeemer” that was the cause of his salvation—not his own righteousness.  Mormon also showed great humility as he recounted the events of his own day.  Here’s how he described his promotion to lead the entire Nephite army: “And notwithstanding I being young, was large in stature; therefore the people of Nephi appointed me that I should be their leader” (Mormon 2:1).  He didn’t tell us how capable he was in military affairs or any other of many incredible skills that he must have had for the Nephites to give a boy this responsibility; no, he just said essentially, “I was a large man so they hired me.”  He made no claim to greatness and even gave up this most prominent position at one point “because of their wickedness and abomination” (Mormon 3:11).  He told us later after he had again resumed command, “They looked upon me as though I could deliver them from their afflictions,” (showing how great of a leader he must have been for his people to look up to him that much) but he quickly told us he had no confidence in his own ability to do that (Mormon 5:1).  He made no claim to greatness but, like Nephi, served his people in complete humility however he could. 

                This meekness of the Nephite prophets and leaders is so refreshing in an era when political candidates can’t stop praising their own accomplishments and touting their future ability to singlehandedly fix the most difficult of problems.  We could use more leaders today who had the faith and humility of the ancient prophets and would exclaim with Ammon, “I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things” (Alma 26:12).