The Prophecies of Samuel the Lamanite

I have often wondered about the prophecy that Samuel the Lamanite gave to the Nephites after returning to preach to them again.  After climbing the wall he declared this, “Behold, I, Samuel, a Lamanite, do speak the words of the Lord which he doth put into my heart; and behold he hath put it into my heart to say unto this people that the sword of justice hangeth over this people; and four hundred years pass not away save the sword of justice falleth upon this people” (Helaman 13:5).  In other words, his warning was that they were all going to die in 400 years if they didn’t repent—that doesn’t sound like something that they would need to worry much about!  Why would he tell them about the destruction of their descendants hundreds of years in the future if it did not really make a difference for them?  Perhaps it did give them pause to consider what legacy they were leaving for their posterity and what role they might be playing in their destruction by not repenting in their time.  They surely knew the history of the peoples that had come before them: how most of the Nephites had been slain about four hundred years after Lehi’s arrival (when King Mosiah left with a small band of the righteous) and how the Jaredites had been destroyed because of wickedness.  The Lord’s message to these Nephites may have been to look beyond themselves and see the impact their wickedness would have on future generations. 

                But that was not the only warning from Samuel, and these Nephites still had plenty to worry about in their own time.  Samuel continued by saying, “Yea, heavy destruction awaiteth this people, and it surely cometh unto this people, and nothing can save this people save it be repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Helaman 13:6).  I don’t believe that he was still referring to what was going to happen four centuries later but what was in fact around the corner.  Within 20 years they were faced with the threat of annihilation from the Gadianton robbers: “And thus ended the fifteenth year, and thus were the people in a state of many afflictions; and the sword of destruction did hang over them, insomuch that they were about to be smitten down by it, and this because of their iniquity” (3 Nephi 2:19).  But they did repent and turn to the Lord, and they were miraculously preserved from their enemies: “And they knew it was because of their repentance and their humility that they had been delivered from an everlasting destruction” (3 Nephi 4:33).  Samuel had told them that only repentance could save them, and that was exactly what did preserve them two decades later. 
                Their war with the Gadianton robbers, though, was not the only threat of destruction that came upon those of that generation who heard Samuel the Lamanite preach.  Samuel had warned as well to the people of Zarahemla, “But behold, if it were not for the righteous who are in this great city, behold, I would cause that fire should come down out of heaven and destroy it” (Helaman 13:13).  This was, in fact, exactly what happened just under forty years later when the signs of the Savior’s death came upon the Nephites who had turned to their wickedness again: “And there were exceedingly sharp lightnings, such as never had been known in all the land. And the city of Zarahemla did take fire” (3 Nephi 8:7-8).  After the Savior came He confirmed, “Behold, that great city Zarahemla have I burned with fire, and the inhabitants thereof” (3 Nephi 9:3).  The people had been warned by many prophets, including Samuel nearly four decades before, and the words of the Lord had been fulfilled because they did not repent.