Moronihah's Stand

One of the most precarious moments in Nephite history was in the 58^th year of the reign of the judges.  The Nephite dissenters had stirred up the Lamanites to battle against the Nephites, and they “succeeded in obtaining possession of the land of Zarahemla; yea, and also all the lands, even unto the land which was near the land Bountiful.  And the Nephites and the armies of Moronihah were driven even into the land of Bountiful….  And thus those dissenters of the Nephites, with the help of a numerous army of the Lamanites, had obtained all the possession of the Nephites which was in the land southward” (Helaman 4:6, 8).  Since the days of Mosiah, the Lamanites had been based in the land of Nephi.  The land of Zarahemla where the Nephites were was north of that, and Bountiful was even further north from Zarahemla.  The narrow neck of land between the land southward (which included all the above-mentioned places) and the land northward was north of Bountiful.  It appears that at this time the Lamanites had taken Zarahemla and Bountiful, and Moronihah was pushed up against the narrow neck of land with his armies, desperately trying to stop them from breaking through into the land northward. 

               This must have been a terribly frightening time for Moronihah, the leader of the Nephite armies, as he tried to stop the Lamanite push through to the land northward.  We know that there were indeed many Nephites there, for about a decade earlier many Nephites had gone there: “And it came to pass in the forty and sixth, yea, there was much contention and many dissensions; in the which there were an exceedingly great many who departed out of the land of Zarahemla, and went forth unto the land northward to inherit the land” (Helaman 3:3).  It’s very unlikely though, that they were militarily prepared for any kind of Lamanite invasion.  The Nephite government and army, as far as we know, were all located in the land southward, and so if the Lamanites did indeed break through the land northward would have been overrun.  Moronihah understood the importance of this critical piece of land and so he did everything to prevent this from happening: “And there they did fortify against the Lamanites, from the west sea, even unto the east; it being a day’s journey for a Nephite, on the line which they had fortified and stationed their armies to defend their north country” (Helaman 4:7).  How Moronihah must have longed for the help of his father, the great military and spiritual leader Moroni, as he sought to rally his people to make their defense against the onslaught of Lamanites.  Moronihah was clearly a man of God like his father, and he realized that their true hope was found in righteousness: “Moronihah did preach many things unto the people because of their iniquity, and also Nephi and Lehi, who were the sons of Helaman, did preach many things unto the people, yea, and did prophesy many things unto them concerning their iniquities, and what should come unto them if they did not repent of their sins” (Helaman 4:14).  Through his word and faith he was indeed able to stop the Lamanites and turn the tide by recovering many of their cities.  We have few details in the Book of Mormon text, but his effort to save the people must have been every bit as amazing as what his father had done earlier.  Moronihah saved the Nephite nation through inspiring the people to righteousness and remains one of the unsung heroes of the Book of Mormon.