Protecting Their Wives and Children

 

At the beginning of the war chapters in Alma, Mormon made it clear why the Nephites were fighting. He wrote, “And now the design of the Nephites was to support their lands, and their houses, and their wives, and their children, that they might preserve them from the hands of their enemies.” One of the key motivations for the Nephites was to protect their families from falling into the hands of their enemies. Mormon further explained, “The Nephites were inspired by a better cause, for they were not fighting for monarchy nor power but they were fighting for their homes and their liberties, their wives and their children.” He made it clear that this was in fact a commandment of the Lord for the to protect their wives and children: “And again, the Lord has said that: Ye shall defend your families even unto bloodshed. Therefore for this cause were the Nephites contending with the Lamanites, to defend themselves, and their families” (Alma 43:9,45.47). Though the Nephites desired peace and did not want to fight, they could not let the Lamanites simply overrun their lands and destroy their wives and children.

               Throughout the rest of the story of these Nephite wars, we are repeatedly reminded that the Nephites were fighting to defend their families. As Moroni stood before Zarahemnah, he cited the “sacred support which we owe to our wives and our children” as one of the reasons they were in battle against these Lamanites. He also included the same theme in his famous title of liberty that he raised to inspire the people: “In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children” (Alma 46:12). Mormon described later how Moroni “was preparing to support their liberty, their lands, their wives, and their children, and their peace.” He again justified their actions to take up weapons against the Lamanites by referring to their necessity to protect their families: “Nevertheless, they could not suffer to lay down their lives, that their wives and their children should be massacred by the barbarous cruelty of those who were once their brethren” (Alma 48:10, 24). When they weren’t fighting, they were preparing to protect themselves, as Mormon recounted: “He did employ his men in preparing for war, yea, and in making fortifications to guard against the Lamanites, yea, and also delivering their women and their children from famine and affliction, and providing food for their armies” (Alma 53:7). Their wives and children were always on their minds as they labored tirelessly to defend themselves.

               The story of Alma 54-55 showed that Moroni really meant what he said in defending their wives and children. Mormon described, “Now the Lamanites had taken many women and children, and there was not a woman nor a child among all the prisoners of Moroni, or the prisoners whom Moroni had taken” (Alma 54:3). Moroni was determined to rescue these innocent victims of war. He resolved upon a stratagem by which he got the Lamanite guards drunk and then was able to get weapons in to these women and children who were prisoners. When the Lamanites awoke, they found they were surrounded on the inside and outside and they surrendered without the loss of any life. And thus Moroni “caused that all the prisoners should be liberated” and these women and children were freed (Alma 55:24). Moroni could have worried only about preserving his men to fight, but he was clearly devoted to the safety and protection of their innocent families. And later we see that one of the main reasons he became so upset with the government was because of their lack to protect their women and children: “But behold, now the Lamanites are coming upon us, taking possession of our lands, and they are murdering our people with the sword, yea, our women and our children, and also carrying them away captive, causing them that they should suffer all manner of afflictions” (Alma 60:17). Moroni and all the righteous Nephites were determined to protect their wives and children, and their example is a powerful one for us today. We likely won’t have to lift swords to fight for our families, but surely we have to spiritually fight for them and protect them from the many evils of our day. We should be diligently seeking to keep them spiritually safe each day, working to preserve our homes as a spiritual safe haven for them, just as the Nephites gave their lives fighting to physically protect their homes and families.