Sufferings and Deliverance

The Book of Mormon student manual says this about the headings in the Book of Mormon: “All headings in the Book of Mormon are part of the original record given to the Prophet Joseph Smith, including the inserts preceding individual chapters.”  The chapter summaries in italics before each chapter were not part of the original text, but the headings for the individual books as well as the headings for sections of chapters were in the original text.  This is easy to overlook, and I think it is instructive to see what is written there.  The books which have a heading are 1 Nephi, 2 Nephi, Jacob, Alma, Helaman, 3 Nephi, 4 Nephi, and Ether.  The book of Mosiah likely had a heading since Mormon put headings on all of the other books which contains his abridgment of the history, but since we don’t have the beginning of the book of Mosiah (lost in the 116 pages) we are likely missing the heading as well.  There is also a heading before Mosiah 9, Alma 17, Alma 21, Alma 45, Helaman 7, Helaman 13, and 3 Nephi 11. 

               So what can we learn from these headings?  The themes of these brief summaries are in my mind best summarized by a phrase in the preface to the account of the sons of Mosiah before Alma 17: “sufferings and deliverance.”  Many of the headings briefly describe both the difficulties and deliverance of the people.  For example, in the summaries for 1 and 2 Nephi we read of how the Jews “seek to destroy [Lehi’s] life” but then also how he escaped when they did “take a journey into the wilderness.”  The synopsis refers to “the account of their sufferings” and “their sufferings and afflictions in the wilderness.”  We read that “Nephi’s brethren rebel against him”—a phrase repeated in both summaries—but we also are told how he was delivered in that “he confoundeth them.”  We see that as a people they were delivered as “they cross the large waters into the promised land” and that later “the Lord warns Nephi to depart into the wilderness.”  These summaries show both the many trials of Lehi’s family as well as the ways they were delivered.  In Jacob’s much smaller summary we again see the theme: “He confoundeth a man who seeketh to overthrow the doctrine of Christ.”  He faced the trial of Sherem who fought against the doctrine of Christ, but Jacob was delivered in that he was able to confound and stop him.  In the summary of Zeniff’s account before Mosiah 9 we are told of deliverance again after their great bondage: “They were delivered out of the hands of the Lamanites.”  At the start of the book of Helaman we see both the struggles and triumphs of his time with reference to “their wars and contentions, and their dissessions” but also how “the Lamanites are converted” and “an account of their righteousness.”  This was a trying time as so many Nephites turned to wickedness, but it was one of great spiritual deliverance for the Lamanites who were converted.  In the summary before Helaman 7 we see again this theme of the struggle and deliverance: “God smiteth the people of Nephi with pestilence; they repent and turn unto him.”  These brief summaries emphasize both the struggles and triumphs of the people. 

            The description of the “sufferings and deliverance” of the sons of Mosiah in the heading prefacing their story includes this sentence: “An account of the sons of Mosiah, who rejected their rights to the kingdom for the word of God.”  To me this is the most profound phrase in all of these Book of Mormon summaries.  We of course know that this happened from the actual text of the Book of Mormon, but in my opinion nowhere else is the sacrifice of Ammon, Aaron, Omner, and Himni put so succinctly and powerfully as in this heading.  They rejected their chance for earthly power by choosing the word of God, and they stand as incredible models of consecration for us to follow.