A Lesson from Nephihah

Mormon recorded a tragedy during the course of the great war between the Lamanites and Nephites in Alma 59.  After Moroni had received an epistle from Helaman about the battles on the west side, he sent word to the government to send more men to Helaman’s army to support them.  Moroni then began preparing to take more of the Lamanite cities.  He was taken by surprise when an enormous Lamanite army (some of them coming fleeing from Helaman in Manti as recorded in Alma 58:29) attacked the Nephite city of Nephihah.  Mormon recorded that Ammoron’s army “did begin to slay them with an exceedingly great slaughter,” and so it must have been a terrible disaster as men, women, and children were slain by the Lamanites (Alma 59:7).  This city had apparently been through a lot because it was captured by the Lamanites in the 25^th year of the reign of the judges (Alma 51:26).  It was then retaken by the Lamanites here in the 30^th year, and so at some point in between that the Nephites must have captured the city back.  Thus it is no wonder that Moroni was so upset to see Nephihah attacked by the Lamanites when they could have defended it if only the government had sent the men to do so.  Mormon described Moroni’s feelings this way: “And now as Moroni had supposed that there should be men sent to the city of Nephihah, to the assistance of the people to maintain that city, and knowing that it was easier to keep the city from falling into the hands of the Lamanites than to retake it from them, he supposed that they would easily maintain that city” (Alma 59:9).

               This seems to be a story that Mormon wanted us to learn from, so what is the lesson for us in the account of Nephihah?  Moroni’s statement was that it was easier to protect Nephihah than to fight to retake it—you need far more men and you’ll have far more casualties trying to capture a city than to simply stay within its walls and protect it from the enemy.  Perhaps Mormon wanted us to think of this spiritually: it is much easier to protect ourselves from serious sin and transgression than to fall to the adversary and have to repent and make restitution.  Resisting the temptation to violate the word of wisdom, for example, is far easier than succumbing and then having to overcome the addictions that we have gained.  The adversary can sometimes tempt us with the thought that we can always repent later if needed; you can always “retake” the city to use this analogy.  But retaking the city—truly repenting after we have fallen into transgression—has a much higher price than simply protecting ourselves from danger in the first place.  Moroni’s lesson in this story and in the whole experience of the war seems to be that protecting what you already have is far more effective than trying to get back what you have lost.  When he sent word to Teancum earlier in the war he told him to “be faithful in maintaining that quarter of the land” that he was in possession of and to “fortify and strengthen the cities round about, which had not fallen into the hands of the Lamanites” (Alma 52:10).  We too must seek to protect the spiritual ground we have gained in our own lives, fortifying and strengthening our resolve each day to eschew evil and stay on the high ground of the gospel.