The City of Nephihah

The city Nephihah was an important place in the war between the Nephites and Lamanites in the book of Alma.  Nephihah, who was the chief judge at the beginning of the war, was a righteous man and it was likely after him that the city was named.  In the same chapter that records his death and the instatement of Pahoran his son as chief judge, we read, “And they also began a foundation for a city between the city of Moroni and the city of Aaron, joining the borders of Aaron and Moroni; and they called the name of the city, or the land, Nephihah” (Alma 50:14).  The city proved to be a critical place during the war and appears to have changed hands several times over the course of the battles.

               The city was first taken by the Lamanites in the 25^th year of the reign of the judges.  Amalickiah was in the borders of the land with an innumerable army, and people from the city of Moroni fled to Nephihah.  We read, “But it came to pass that Amalickiah would not suffer the Lamanites to go against the city of Nephihah to battle, but kept them down by the seashore, leaving men in every city to maintain and defend it.”  Though he first avoided it, apparently Amalickiah then went back and took Nephihah, for it was listed among the names of the cities that were captured in the next verse: “And thus he went on, taking possession of many cities, the city of Nephihah, and the city of Lehi, and the city of Morianton….”  (Alma 51:24-26).  The next that the city is mentioned is about five years later in the 30^th year of the reign of the judges when the Lamanites took the city again.  We read, “The people of Nephihah, who were gathered together from the city of Moroni and the city of Lehi and the city of Morianton, were attacked by the Lamanites” (Alma 59:5).  This suggests that either sometime during this five-year-period the city had been retaken by the Nephites or that the Lamanites simply hadn’t decided to keep it when they first took it (i.e. they ransacked it and moved on).  The later seems a little more likely given how much of the story is devoted to the recapture of various cities. 

The loss of this city this second time was particularly hard on Moroni and it appears that the event itself was a terrible massacre: “By the command of Ammoron they came forth against the people of Nephihah, and they did begin to slay them with an exceedingly great slaughter….  And now, when Moroni saw that the city of Nephihah was lost he was exceedingly sorrowful, and began to doubt, because of the wickedness of the people, whether they should not fall into the hands of their brethren” (Alma 59:7-11).  It was this loss of Nephihah that prompted his famous rebuke to the government in the letter now recorded in Alma 60.  It is certain that there were women and children there in Nephihah who were brutally killed by the Lamanites, and it was a completely unnecessary defeat because the Nephite government could have sent more men to fortify it from being taken but had instead been negligent in their responsibilities to defend it.  Seeing this terrible tragedy, with so many innocent lives massacred, it is no wonder that Moroni turned in anger to the government who had failed to protect their people.   

               Gratefully, the story of Nephihah doesn’t end there.  We hear of it one more time in the tale of its redemption.  After helping restore Pahoran to power, Moroni came back and brilliantly retook the city.  In the middle of the night he snuck over the walls of the city with his army, and “when the Lamanites awoke and saw that the armies of Moroni were within the walls, they were affrighted exceedingly, insomuch that they did flee out by the pass.”  Moroni’s army chased the Lamanites out, and “thus had Moroni and Pahoran obtained the possession of the city of Nephihah without the loss of one soul; and there were many of the Lamanites who were slain” (Alma 62:24-26).  Surely it was a great victory for Pahoran to participate in as he was redeeming the city named after his father and defending that liberty that his father—the man who walked with “perfect uprightness before God”—had stood for (Alma 50:37).  The city is never mentioned again in the Book of Mormon after this chapter, but it represents the great struggle and redemption of Moroni and his brethren as they defended the cause of freedom among the Nephites.