Blood crying from the ground in Helaman 8-10

It’s good to study the scriptures with a friend. Over the years, I’ve gotten into the habit of bouncing any big insights I glean from my scriptures study off my friend and co-author of this blog, Stisa. Such was the case leading up to my latest post. His input is always greatly appreciated, and we often think of related references that I missed the first time through the topic. Here’s a passage he pointed out from Isaiah connecting the themes of blood, darkness, crookedness, injustice, and destruction — quite in line with Jesus’ comment about Abel and Zechariah:

⁷ Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.
⁸ The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.
⁹ Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.

Isaiah 59

As I mentioned in the prior post, I believe these themes, especially the blood of the innocent/prophets crying from the ground for justice, was so fundamental to the Israelite worldview that Mormon felt compelled to write these themes into his historical abridgment.

Another point that Stisa made to me was that I actually missed a clever example of “blood crying from the ground” in this account in Helaman 8-10. I noted that the corrupt judges did not act against Nephi out of a fear “lest [the people] should cry out against them” (Helaman 8:4). For me, seeing the words “cry out against them” was enough to make the connection, but I had completely forgotten about what comes next in the account.

What comes next in the account

Seeing that he had “gained favor” with some (v. 10), Nephi preaches about the power given to Moses by God to part the waters “hither and thither.” Next, he pivots to Abraham:

16 And now behold, Moses did not only testify of these things, but also all the holy prophets, from his days even to the days of Abraham.
17 Yea, and behold, Abraham saw of his coming, and was filled with gladness and did rejoice.

Helaman 8

(Teaser: Stisa has some very interesting thoughts about the symbolic connections between Moses parting the Red Sea and God covenanting with Abraham which he’ll likely lay out in a future post.)

Next, Nephi speaks of all the prophets testifying of Christ. He cites many by name, and points out that their prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem has been fulfilled (evidenced by the presence of the Mulekites among them).

Here’s where we get to a direct (and an indirect) reference to Cain. The chapter concludes with these words:

24 And now, seeing ye know these things and cannot deny them except ye shall lie, therefore in this ye have sinned, for ye have rejected all these things, notwithstanding so many evidences which ye have received; yea, even ye have received all things, both things in heaven, and all things which are in the earth, as a witness that they are true.
25 But behold, ye have rejected the truth, and rebelled against your holy God; and even at this time, instead of laying up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where nothing doth corrupt, and where nothing can come which is unclean, ye are heaping up for yourselves wrath against the day of judgment.
26 Yea, even at this time ye are ripening, because of your murders and your fornication and wickedness, for everlasting destruction; yea, and except ye repent it will come unto you soon.
27 Yea, behold it is now even at your doors; yea, go ye in unto the judgment-seat, and search; and behold, your judge is murdered, and he lieth in his blood; and he hath been murdered by his brother, who seeketh to sit in the judgment-seat.
28 And behold, they both belong to your secret band, whose author is Gadianton and the evil one who seeketh to destroy the souls of men.

Helaman 8

Summarizing the key points here, Nephi tells them:

• they have rejected all the words of the prophets
• they are rejecting “all things, both … in heaven and … the earth.”
• instead of “laying up … treasures in heaven,” they are “heaping up for [themselves] wrath against the day of judgment.”
• they are ripening because of their “murders,” “fornication,” and “wickedness.”
• they are “ripening … for everlasting destruction,” which “now even at [their] doors.”

It is at this point that he prophesies about the murder of the chief judge, “[lying] in his blood, … murdered by his brother, who seeketh to sit in the judgment-seat.” It’s a prophecy of a re-enactment of the murder of Abel by Cain, complete with an allusion to God’s warning to Cain:

7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

Genesis 4

(Both of these references were pointed out to me by Stisa.)

Helaman 9-10

Chapter 9 recounts how Nephi and five others end up in captivity because of the dishonest actions of the leaders who are now desperate to counter this prophecy. They are saved by (you guessed it!) another miraculous prophecy, which also reveals the truth about the chief judge’s murderous, power-hungry brother (another allusion to Cain).

Then comes Helaman 10:1, a verse I absolutely love, which describes the parting of the people, as if to hint to the reader that Nephi possesses the same power as Moses–divine power to separate the wicked from the righteous by means of the word of God (symbolized by a rod). We are told that Nephi is given the power to command the elements and also given a charge to preach repentance, which he immediately does. After the people harden their hearts and reject his words, he emulates Moses again, in a way, and causes a drought (dividing the waters in the heavens from the ground — hat tip to Stisa again), which finally results in the people being humbled and repenting.

Conclusion

Once again we see how the covenant worldview of ancient Israel is on full display in the writings of Mormon. While recounting and abridging Nephite history, Mormon adds phrases and themes that highlight the similarity between these wicked Nephites and Cain. Once again, a story that seems strange and out of place turns out to be perfectly aligned with the symbolic, covenant worldview of the Israelites.

This is the work of a masterful scribe, trained in the highly symbolic literary tradition of the ancient near east, certainly not the work of an uneducated 19th century frontier day laborer.