The Book of Mormon mentions three men named Helaman (/ˈhiːləmən/HEE-lə-mən). The first was the son of King Benjamin, king of the united Nephite-Zarahemla kingdom who lived in the 2nd century BC. Besides his genealogy, information about the first Helaman is limited. His brother, Mosiah, became heir to the throne.[1]
The second was a Nephiteprophet and military leader who lived around the 1st century BC. He was the grandson of Alma and the oldest son of Alma (the younger), and was entrusted with maintaining a record of their people, the Nephites, as found in the Book of Alma. According to the Book of Mormon, he led into battle an army of two thousand young male warriors, which he referred to as his two thousand sons (two thousand stripling warriors). Most of the parts of the narrative involving Helaman come from the latter half of the Book of Alma.
The third Helaman was the son of the above mentioned Helaman. He was a chief judge over the Nephites and was also responsible for maintaining a record of this people. The account that Helaman kept was recorded on the same records as his father. This record, however, was first given by Helaman (the father) to his brother Shiblon, who then handed the record down to his nephew, Helaman. The writings of this second Helaman are contained within the Book of Helaman.
Etymology
Joseph Smith had no knowledge of any foreign language at the time of the Book of Mormon's composition, and the name "Helaman" has never been discovered in any non-Mormon text. However, Brigham Young University's Book of Mormon Onomasticon includes several apologetic etymologies for the name, including "Hammer of God".[2]
Early life
Helaman was the eldest son of Alma the Younger, another Nephite prophet. The exact time and place of his birth are unknown. The house of his father, Alma, was in Zarahemla, the Nephite capital land, and Helaman may also have lived in Zarahemla.
The Book of Mormon first mentions Helaman in Alma 31:7,[3] and little is known of his life prior to this brief allusion. In this verse Helaman's father, Alma, and two younger brothers, Shiblon and Corianton, embark on a missionary journey to the Zoramites, but Helaman does not accompany them. This journey occurred towards the end of the 17th year of the "reign of the judges", which probably corresponds to about 75 BC.[4]
Later life
After their missionary labors among the Zoramites, Alma, his sons, and the rest of their company returned to Zarahemla.[5] At this time Alma gathered his sons together to give each of them a charge.[6] In his charge to Helaman,[7] Alma recounts his own conversion, exhorts Helaman to righteousness, and confers stewardship of the sacred records and other artifacts (including the "interpreters", or Urim and Thummim).[8] to Helaman.[9] These sacred records were passed down from generation to generation throughout the history of the Nephites, with each generation adding the story of their own time. It was these records which Mormon and Moroni drew from and abridged when compiling the Book of Mormon. Helaman accepted the records and continued the record-keeping tradition. The section of the Book of Alma beginning at chapter 45 states that it is, "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."[10] This section may possibly continue as far as chapter 62, wherein Helaman dies.[11]
Following Alma's words to his sons, he and his sons (including, presumably, Helaman) went among the people for a time, preaching the word of God.[12] Shortly afterward, in the 19th year of the reign of the judges (c. 73 BC), Alma approached Helaman for an important conversation. In what some consider a good model for child-parent interviews,[13] Alma questioned Helaman, praised him for his beliefs, and blessed him. Alma also dictated to him a prophecy of the destruction of the Nephites, which Alma commanded him to record but not to make known until it was fulfilled.[14] Not long after his charge to Helaman, Alma departed and was never heard of again.[15]
After this, Helaman and his brethren went among the people declaring the word of God and appointing "priests and teachers throughout all the land, over all the churches."[16] Dissension arose, allegedly due to the people's pride and riches, and the people thus would not heed the words of Helaman and his brethren.[17]
For the next several years, Helaman worked as a high priest in the Church, though not necessarily as the high priest over the Church. Helaman's work suffered major set-backs during Amalickiah's rise,[18] but then prospered in the years following Amalickiah's departure from the Nephites to the Lamanites.[19]
Ministering to the Anti-Nephi-Lehies
Helaman next appears in Alma 53, in the 26th year of the reign of the judges (c. 66 BC), trying to persuade the Anti-Nephi-Lehies, also known as Ammonites, not to take up arms.[20] Years earlier, upon their conversion to the gospel of Christ, the Anti-Nephi-Lehies had made an oath to God that they "never would use weapons again for the shedding of man's blood."[21] The Nephites and the Lamanites were embroiled in war, and the Anti-Nephi-Lehies wished to join the conflict and fight alongside the Nephites. However, to do so would mean breaking the oath which they had made. Helaman "feared lest by so doing they should lose their souls."[22] Overpowered by the persuasions of Helaman, the Anti-Nephi-Lehies resigned themselves to being spectators in the conflict.
However, the Anti-Nephi-Lehies had many sons who, unlike their fathers, had never entered into a covenant not to take up weapons of war. These sons also wished to fight for the Nephites and have Helaman as their leader. With no oath restricting them and the Nephites in desperate circumstances, they were permitted to do so. There is no indication prior to this in the text that Helaman had any military training whatsoever, and indeed he may not have. Certainly, the sons of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies had no fighting experience.[23] Regardless, the interesting turn of events made Helaman have the Anti-Nephi-Lehies marching at the head of an army of two thousand soldiers. LDS leader Richard J. Maynes cited the entire episode in a General Conference as containing good examples of covenant-keeping behavior.[24]
Helaman's army of two thousand young men is often referred to as the two thousand stripling warriors, or the sons of Helaman. Theirs is one of the most well-known stories from the Book of Mormon.
In brief, Helaman and his band marched in the 26th year of the reign of the judges (c. 66 BC) to the western part of the land of the Nephites and there joined the existing Nephite forces.[25] There they played a pivotal role in some crucial Nephite victories. As a result of those victories, the Nephites regained possession of all of the western cities which had been taken by the Lamanites.[26] Although two of their battles were very bloody, the army of Helaman did not incur a single fatality.[27] Helaman attributed this to divine preservation.[28]
Helaman wrote an epistle to the captain of the Nephite armies, Moroni, informing him of their success and expressing confusion that the government did not send more troops and support to the western front.[29] Moroni received the epistle in the 30th year of the reign of the judges (c. 62 BC).[30] The next year the Nephites successfully drove the Lamanites back into the land southward and thus the war ended at last.[31]
Last years
After the war ended in the 31st year of the reign of the judges (c. 61 BC), Helaman first briefly "returned to the place of his inheritance".[32] He then went forth with his brethren, preaching the word of God and establishing the Church.[33] About four years later, in the 35th year of the reign of the judges (c. 57 BC), Helaman died.[11] At the time of his death, Helaman had not yet formally conferred stewardship of the sacred records and artifacts to his son, Helaman, as would have been traditional. Instead Shiblon "took possession of those sacred things" following Helaman's death.[34]
↑ It can be concluded from the following verses that the journey took place in the 17th year of the reign of the judges: Alma30:6 states that Korihor came into the land of Zarahemla in the latter end of the 17th year of the reign of the judges. Alma31:1, 6 show unambiguously that it was after Korihor's demise that the mission to the Zoramites took place. In Alma35, the mission concludes with the missionaries withdrawing from the Zoramites, the converts being cast out, and the Zoramites preparing for war. Alma35:11-12 states that the 17th year ended in this manner.
↑ Asay, Carlos E. (November 1983). "Parent-Child Interviews". Ensign. Retrieved 2024-09-01.LDS leader Carlos Asay uses the example of the relationship of Alma and Helaman to instruct concerning parent-child interviews.
↑ Helaman's epistle to Moroni in The Book of Mormon describes two particularly severe battles in which Helaman's army was involved. The first was outside the city of Antiparah (described in Alma56:30-56). The second was in defense of the city of Cumeni (described in Alma57:17-25) in the 29th year of the reign of the judges (c. 63 BC), Alma57:6).
Hardy, Grant (2010). Understanding the Book of Mormon: A Reader's Guide. Oxford University Press. ISBN9780199745449.
Patterson, Robert (Winter 2002). "Helaman's Stripling Warriors and the Principles of Hypovolemic Shock". Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. 35 (4): 135–141. doi:10.2307/45226903. JSTOR45226903.
Reiss, Jana K. (June 1999). "Stripling Warriors Choose the Right: The Cultural Engagements of Contemporary Mormon Kitsch". Sunstone. pp.36–47.
Wrathall, Mark A. (2020). Alma 30–63: A Brief Theological Introduction. Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship. ISBN978-0-8425-0020-3.
The Book of Alma: The Son of Alma, usually referred to as the Book of Alma, is one of the books that make up the Book of Mormon. The title refers to Alma the Younger, a prophet and "chief judge" of the Nephites. Alma is the longest book in the Book of Mormon and consists of sixty-three chapters, taking up almost a third of the volume.
The Book of Helaman is one of the books that make up the Book of Mormon, a text held sacred by churches within the Latter Day Saint movement, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The book continues the history of the Nephites and the Lamanites from approximately 50 BC to 1 BC. It discusses political unrest among the Nephites and the formation of a group of secret dissenters called the Gadianton Robbers. Helaman, son of Helaman leads the Nephites for a time, and his sons Nephi and Lehi go on a successful mission to the Lamanites. When Nephi returns home, he correctly identifies the murderer of the chief judge using his prophetic powers, and sends a famine to the Nephite which lasts three years. After a digression from Mormon, the book of Helaman ends with Samuel the Lamanite's prophecy of the signs that will precede Christ's birth and death. Helaman deals with themes of external and internal conflict, hidden information, Nephite racism, and Mormon's views of history as deduced by his redaction of it.
The Book of Mormon is a book, or subdivision, of the larger Book of Mormon. This "inner" book has nine chapters. According to the text, the first seven chapters were abridged by the prophet Mormon and the last two by his son Moroni.
In the Book of Mormon, Alma, the son of Alma is a Nephite prophet often referred to as Alma the Younger to distinguish him from his father, who is often referred to as Alma the Elder. These appellations, "the Younger" and "the Elder," are not used in the Book of Mormon; they are distinctions made by scholars, useful because both individuals were prominent during the same time period in the Book of Mormon's story and filled a similar cultural and religious role. Alma is the namesake of the Book of Alma.
In the Book of Mormon, Ammon is a prominent Nephite missionary and a son of King Mosiah. He originally opposes the church, but along with his brothers and Alma the Younger, is miraculously converted. Following his conversion he serves a mission to the Lamanites and converts Lamoni and his people.
The two thousand stripling warriors, also known as The Army of Helaman, are an army of young men in the Book of Mormon, first mentioned in the Book of Alma. They are portrayed as extremely valiant and loyal warriors; in the text, all are wounded in battle and yet survive.
According to the Book of Mormon, the Anti-Nephi-Lehies were an ethnic group of Lamanites formed around 90 BC in the Americas, after a significant religious conversion. They made a covenant that they would not participate in war, and buried their weapons. Eventually they changed their name to the people of Ammon, or Ammonites. During a later period of warfare, the young men of the group who had not made the pacifist covenant became a military unit known as the two thousand stripling warriors, and were protected by divine intervention.
This article is a list of rulers in the Book of Mormon, including kings and chief judges among the Lamanites, Nephites, and Jaredites.
According to the Book of Mormon, the plates of Nephi, consisting of the large plates of Nephi and the small plates of Nephi, are a portion of the collection of inscribed metal plates which make up the record of the Nephites. This record was later abridged by Mormon and inscribed onto gold plates from which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon after an angel revealed to him the location where the plates were buried on a hill called Cumorah near the town of Palmyra, New York.
This chronology outlines the major events in the history of the Book of Mormon, according to the text. Dates given correspond to dates in the footnotes of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints edition of the Book of Mormon and to a Jaredite timeline proposed by Latter-Day Saint scholar John L. Sorenson.
According to the Book of Mormon, Moronihah was the son of Captain Moroni who had defeated the armies of Zerahemnah, stopped the king-men, and restored the Nephites' cities to their possession. When Moroni got too old to lead an army any longer, Moronihah received command of his father's armies.
In the Book of Mormon, Mosiah, King Benjamin's son and Mosiah I's grandson, is king of the Nephite nation from about 124 BC to 91 BC. The Book of Mosiah is named after Mosiah. Mosiah is also a prophet and is described by Ammon as a "seer" who can translate records.
The Amalekites, in the Book of Mormon, are a group of dissenters from the Nephites around 90 B.C. They are after the order of Nehor and therefore believe that there will not be a Messiah and repentance is unnecessary, so when Nephite missionaries come preach to them, only one Amalekite coverts. They also press the Lamanites to war against the Nephites multiple times and participate in the destruction of Ammonihah.
Aminadab is a person in the Book of Mormon who appears in the Book of Helaman. He had been a member of the Nephite church but left it and became associated with the Lamanites. In the Book of Helaman, after Nephi abdicates the Chief Judgment Seat to Cezoram, he and his brother Lehi go to preach to the Lamanites, who imprison them. After a heavenly incident, Aminadab clarifies to the surrounding Lamanite captors that Nephi and Lehi are conversing with angels.
The Gadianton robbers, according to the Book of Mormon, were a secret criminal organization in ancient America. Their use of murder and plunder to destabilize society and overthrow the extant government makes them similar to the Sicarii.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Book of Mormon:
According to the Book of Mormon, Coriantumr (/ˌkɒriˈæntəmər/) was a Nephite dissenter and Lamanite captain. Coriantumr led the Lamanite armies against the Nephites in an attempt to conquer the land. He was countered by Moronihah and Lehi, eventually dying in battle.
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