Helaman 11
Helaman 11:10 They Have Concealed Their Secret Plans in the Earth:
In Helaman 11:10 Nephi tells the Lord, “behold this people repenteth; and they have swept away the band of Gadianton from amongst them insomuch that they have become extinct, and they have concealed their secret plans in the earth.”
Question: Nephi said that [the Gadianton band] had become extinct and they had concealed their secret plans in the earth. You [Hugh Nibley] said that meant they went underground?
Answer: I mean they literally went underground if they buried their secrets in the earth. They will dig them up later on–don’t worry. These things are hid and dug up. You find them. They put them in caves and their sacred places. If you go near those places, you are in real danger because those places are carefully guarded. They have all sorts of things in them. I had quite an adventure in one where you would never expect there was anything at all. They had the whole thing down underground. 1
Helaman 11:20 From the Sea West to the Sea East:
In Helaman 11:20 it says that the people “began to multiply and spread, even until they did cover the whole face of the land, both on the northward and on the southward, from the sea west to the sea east.” Once again, much like Helaman 4:7, the expression “from the sea west to the sea east” is used in connection with describing a total spreading of the people from sea to sea.2
Helaman 11:36-37 They Began to Forget the Lord Their God:
According to Donald Parry, Anabasis (Greek, “to go up”) is a poetical devise where there is an apparent stepping up from one sense to another, until, at the pinnacle is a culmination of thought. Because anabasis consists of an ascension of thought, it is also known as gradational or staircase parallelism. . . . A remarkable example of anabasis is found in Helaman 11:36-37. Describing the people of God, the Book of Mormon prophet demonstrates that, with each succeeding year, there was a retrogression from a state of righteousness to a condition of wickedness:
And in the eighty and second year
they began again to forget the Lord their God.
And in the eighty and third year
they began to wax strong in iniquity
And in the eighty and fourth year
they did not mend their ways
And . . . in the eighty and fifth year
they did wax stronger and stronger in their pride, and in their wickedness
Simple forgetfulness was a feature of the eighty-second year of the judges, but after a period of four years, the Nephites became full of “wickedness” and “pride.” An important truth is set forth in a dramatic way. 3
