Helaman's Missing Book

Chapters 1-44 in the book of Alma in the Book of Mormon cover the time period when Alma was alive and leading the people, either as chief judge or high priest. Mormon prefaced the book with this description, indicating that he was taking it from the record of Alma: “The account of Alma, who was the son of Alma, the first and chief judge over the people of Nephi, and also the high priest over the Church. An account of the reign of the judges, and the wars and contentions among the people. And also an account of a war between the Nephites and the Lamanites, according to the record of Alma, the first and chief judge.” These chapters cover a period of about 18 years, and that “war” mentioned likely was not the great war recorded in the later chapters of Alma because Alma was already gone by then; the war referred to here was probably the one recorded in Alma 28 or Alma 43-44 (or both). In the last verse of Alma 44, Mormon wrote, “And thus ended the record of Alma, which was written upon the plates of Nephi.” So though the book of Alma as we have it today covers 63 chapters, the part that comes from the record of Alma (abridged by Mormon) is only Alma 1-44.

I realized today that the final chapters of Alma 45 to the end (or at least through chapter 62), could have instead been called 1 Helaman. Mormon indicated in a header before chapter 45 that he was then starting to take from the record of Helaman: “The account of the people of Nephi, and their wars and dissensions, in the days of Helaman, according to the record of Helaman, which he kept in his days.” Alma 45-62 cover the time span of Helaman’s life when he had the records, which was about 16 years (a couple years shy of the time his father kept the record). The actual book of Helman as we now have it was named after his son Helaman, and it could have similarly been called 2 Helaman. Ultimately it does not really matter whether the story told in the final part of Alma was part of the book of Alma or the book of Helaman, but perhaps it is a bit symbolic that Helaman did not get his own book. By that I mean that Helaman’s life was cut short and he suffered greatly during the tumultuous time of war. Most of his time as the spiritual leader was overshadowed by the great war between the Nephites and the Lamanites. He took the plates in about the 19^th year of the reign of the judges, the same year that Amalickiah started all the problems and the Lamanites attacked the cities of Ammonihah and Noah. There was relative peace for about four years after that, but then the fighting started again and did not let up until the 31^st year of the reign of the judges. Helaman played a major role and suffered much in the struggle as he led the stripling warriors in numerous battles against a much more numerous enemy. After the end of the war he went forth to preach again to the people, and he died three or four years later.

So besides those final few years, Helaman’s whole ministry was during a time of war or preparation for war. I believe his life was prematurely ended, perhaps due to the physical hardships he endured, and he was relatively young when he died. The fact that the records were not directly passed on to his son Helaman but instead went to his brother Shiblon seems to suggest that Helaman, son of Helaman, was too young at the time his father died to take the records. As another indication, Alma told Helaman shortly before he received the records, “O, remember, my son, and learn wisdom in thy youth; yea, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God” (Alma 37:35). Helaman died about 17 years after being described as in his youth, suggesting I think that he was probably in his mid to late 30s when he passed away. Because of the war, his life was expended far too quickly, and the fact that we do not get a book named after him can perhaps be seen as a reflection of the sacrifices he made to serve the people.