Neither Silver Nor Gold

The prophet Zephaniah said this about the wicked at the Second Coming: “Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath” (Zephaniah 1:18).  In other words, when the judgment comes for us, money will be of no value.  We look to money in our society as a thing of protection and happiness and security, but it will not help us in the day when we must stand before the Lord.  Moroni warned of “a day when there shall be churches built up that shall say: Come unto me, and for your money you shall be forgiven of your sins” (Mormon 8:32).  But giving money cannot protect us from the consequences of our sins; salvation comes “without money and without price” as Jacob put it (2 Nephi 9:50).  Only the Savior coupled with our own repentance can protect us from the full weight of our own transgressions. 

               There are many examples in the scriptures of those who found themselves with money but without spiritual (and physical) safety.  Perhaps the most poignant story is that of Judas.  We don’t know all of the reasons that He betrayed the Savior, but it would seem that at least a part of it was to get money.  When He went to the Jewish leaders He said, “What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you?” (Matthew 26:15).  He received thirty pieces of silver, but once the deed was done and the money was his, he found himself in a far worse state with the money than without.  The money seemed to have tormented him so much that he tried to return it: “Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders” (Matthew 27:3).  He realized that he had sold his soul for silver, and money could do him no good with such a tormented conscience, and he hung himself.  Another dramatic story in the New Testament is that of Ananias and Sapphira who when they were asked to consecrate all they had to the Lord, “kept back part of the price” (Acts 5:2).  Their fate was similar to the parable of the rich man who similarly set his heart upon riches.  On the day that he decided that he would hoard his wealth and essentially worship it, the Lord said to him, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee” (Luke 12:20).  So it was with Ananias and Sapphira—the Lord required their soul that night.  How they must have wished like Judas that they did not have the money they had at that moment.  Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, was another in the Old Testament who sought riches at the expense of his soul, and how he must have yearned to return to his poverty when he found himself “a leper as white as snow” (2 Kings 5:27).  All the money in the world couldn’t take that curse from him. 

               In the Book of Mormon we similarly see the downfall of many because of their love of money.  Laban of course was one of these: when Nephi and his brothers took their money before him to try to buy the plates, “he did lust after it, insomuch that he thrust [them] out, and sent his servants to slay [them]” (1 Nephi 3:25).  Like Gehazi and Ananias and Sapphira, the Lord didn’t appreciate this hungering after money and he too soon found himself powerless and unprotected.  His soul was also required that night and his lust for money proved to be at least part of his downfall.  Another who sought for money at the expense of his own soul was Nehor.  He preached so that the people would “support him and give him money” and was consequently “lifted up in the pride of his heart.”  He incited his followers to “[love] the vain things of the world” and they did preach “for the sake of riches and honor” (Alma 1:5-6, 16).  But all of his riches could not protect him from his own sins, and he suffered an “ignominious death” for his murder of Gideon.  The fate was the same for the people of Ammonihah who followed his teachings.  They were a people who sought to “get gain” and “stir up the people to riotings” just so the lawyers and leaders could get money (Alma 11:20).  Their love for money was a great stumbling block to accepting Alma and Amulek, and ultimately it led to their demise like Nehor when, after their own murders, the Lamanites came and “destroyed the people who were in the city of Ammonihah” (Alma 16:3).  These and other examples help us see the dangers of placing our hearts on money.  Neither our silver nor our gold will save or protect us from the judgments of God.  In a world that constantly tells us to seek after its wealth, the words of the Savior give us the perspective we need to always remember: “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Matt. 16:26)