The beauty of inspired prophecy in any form is that although different voices utter them, they are all given from the same source. Like looking at a landscape through a series of stained glass windows, the picture and story are all the same with the added twist of the personality or influence of the medium. Types work along these lines, as the same story can be told and seen throughout history in several different ways, all adding a bit of color to the painting. As such I am going through and making an attempt at analyzing the types in the Book of Mormon that seem to apply to the changing of the guard between the Gentiles and Israel. One of the more striking ones which I rarely hear discussed is that of Samuel on the wall.
Just prior to Samuels’s appearance we read of a covenant people (the Nephites) who had been given all the blessings that go along with covenant keeping, yet had turned again in the face of that prosperity like a dog to its vomit. Helaman 12 is a remarkable study of the fickle nature of men, their willingness to fall into pride, their need to have men lead them rather then God, their longing to gather the fine things of the world around them and forget the Lord’s hand in all things. Despite being offered the covenant of the gospel, the protection of the Lord, the unfailing and relatively simple guidance available, the richness of the earth and its natural goodness, men think they have better, more stable goods and services to rely on. All the warnings and curses given here are very similar to those in and throughout the Doctrine and Covenants, as given to the gentile church today. We are too are full of pride, covetousness, etc… we too have been cursed and remain under condemnation for not remembering our God, we too have been scattered and removed from the land of our inheritance, leaving Zion to wait for a little season (DC 101, 103, 124).
As an introduction, and for context to chapter 13, let’s read through the warnings in this chapter (Hel 12), with our own salvation and existence in mind.
And thus we can behold how false, and also the unsteadiness of the hearts of the children of men; yea, we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in him.
Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One — yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity.
And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him.
O how foolish, and how vain, and how evil, and devilish, and how quick to do iniquity, and how slow to do good, are the children of men; yea, how quick to hearken unto the words of the evil one, and to set their hearts upon the vain things of the world!
Yea, how quick to be lifted up in pride; yea, how quick to boast, and do all manner of that which is iniquity; and how slow are they to remember the Lord their God, and to give ear unto his counsels, yea, how slow to walk in wisdom’s paths!
Behold, they do not desire that the Lord their God, who hath created them, should rule and reign over them; notwithstanding his great goodness and his mercy towards them, they do set at naught his counsels, and they will not that he should be their guide.
So here we have a group of people who have the gospel, have been blessed beyond measure and have fallen into the ways of the world. They are the salt of the earth who has lost its savor. Sounds familiar, were we to apply the scriptures to ourselves (3 Nephi 16).
Next we move to Helaman 13 and a strange thing happens, the covenant people are addressed by one whom they believe to be cursed, he’s not a member of the ‘chosen’ people, he’s a Lamanite. We see an interesting shift has happened. The people who originally had the gospel in this time period had become relatively wicked and fallen into the ways of the world. Though as always, they didn’t see it that way. This pure-blood, though supposedly cursed people were living up to the covenants they had been given, which in this instance was the Law of Moses (vs 1). Amongst this group a man is called of God to go to the Nephite people to declare repentance.
Let us recall the character study of Samuel. We’ll remember that this Lamanite was not a member of any church leadership amongst these Nephites. In fact, no ‘authority’ is stated outside of the only one that matters, that of being on the Lords errand. This Lamanite is from a different race, essentially, at least a different group of people, than the Nephites. What a remarkable thing it was for him to be sent to these Nephites to speak!
Coming from out of one group of people to declare repentance to what was at the time the covenant people is a consistent type throughout the scriptures, which Samuel falls into beautifully here. Examples of this are a couple of the major servant types, Enoch, Moses and Joseph of Egypt In the New testament we have John the Baptist coming from the wilderness and Jesus assuming authority without church sanction, after having grown up in a foreign land. Lehi and Nephi were not of Judah, but rather of Manasseh, yet declared repentance in Jerusalem. The servant himself will be of pure-blood (dc 113 and 2 Nephi 3), yet grow up amongst the Gentiles as a “Root in dry ground”.
As a type for the future, all these stories, including our case study Samuel, lead us to know that the Servant of the Last Days will be of a different race and culture than the prevailing cultral leadership. In our case he will be a literal covenant Lamanite, exactly like Samuel (DC 113, 2 Nephi 3, DC 86) among several others. In this light, Samuel makes a remarkable study for us to view the message and context from which this Servant delivers his message, as a Pure-Blood Root, to a Covenant people who have dwindle in their beliefs amidst the remarkable prosperity of madern day America.
In Helaman 13 we see him fulfill another type that is consistent with Isaiah and the other stories of servants. His first attempt is unfruitful, and he is discouraged, thinking to leave the people to their own ways. They cast him out or their presence. Nephi too, as the servant type in his own writings, several times demonstrated ineffectiveness on his attempt. Joseph was thrown in Jail, Moses was chased away several times, Hezekiah languished with his own inadequacies and Abinadi was kicked out of the people. Isaiah tells us too, through the types of David and Hezekiah, as well directly, that the Latter-Day servant will also struggle for a time before being granted the power needed to accomplish his Goal. Like Nephi, Samuel and Abinadi he will be persecuted by the covenant people upon his first arrival and marred in character and physically, only to return in power with the Lords direct blessing and revelation. He will first be humiliated and then exalted, as is the way of things.
Samuel is commanded to return, but this time he is told to say whatever comes into his heart, like the others (v3). This lends me to believe that he went to them with a prepared script of some sort the first time. He had relied on his own wisdom to a degree, rather than going in ”not knowing before hand what he should do”.
Upon returning to the city the people did not want him back in, again the same as the other servant types. He was no longer welcome and had to deliver his message, accomplish his goal, with some sort of stratagem. It just so happens that with Samuel he gets up on a wall.
The image of a prophet standing on the wall to deliver his message is a powerful one. The wall is a type of false security that the people had built up to keep enemies at bay. It is the security of the arm of the flesh. Samuel standing on it and actually using it to his advantage to deliver the message puts the idea down that a people can rely on that arm for deliverance, the Lord always has another means to put the wisdom of men down.
Nephi’s Isaiah portrays the use of walls very well.
The definition of ‘Wall’ in Isaiah is given in the following verses;
Is 25:12 In parallel language
…he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands .And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.
Pride and the things of this world which accompany it are first put in parallel with the walls of the people. They are the things that people put out in front of them to protect them. They are the things that idolatrous people rely one. We build, shops, malls, cities, invest our money in 401(k)s and real estate, buy guns and ammo, food storage to go with it. We put on the traditions of our fathers as protection against ‘evil doctrine’. Our idolatry, our false systems, our building programs and investments are the false walls and hedges that people build up in order to say unto themselves ‘tomorrow shall be as this day, and better’. Our homes, money, jobs, cars, etc… in the end only breed pride and never salvation. Thou Fool!, as the Lord declared. However, Isaiah does provide for walls that do provide salvation.
Is 26:12 In opposition to the above, “… We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.”
Is 60:18 “…but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.”
The Lord is our salvation. Only in relying on him and him alone will we ever find real saving grace. He is our fortress, our walls against the pride of men, the injustice of men’s systemic downfalls. In this salvation He calls those who are saved to lead and to guide, only for those who are willing to get rid of their idolatry, their false walls, and rely only the Lord’s salvation for deliverance.
Is 62:6 “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence”
Incredibly, in our parable of the Last-Days redemption of Zion, the first thing the servants of the Lord will be asked to do is break down the false walls which have been built by the false watchmen of the covenant people;
Therefore, get ye straightway unto my land; break down the walls of mine enemies; throw down their tower, and scatter their watchmen. (DC 101:57)
Now we have Samuel, a Lamanite foreigner to this idolatrous covenant people, standing resolutely in defiance of their false walls that cannot save, proclaiming inspired words which Samuel had received only by relying wholly upon His grace. The descript but brief brevity with which Samuel has been put into the type of the servant is remarkable. In only four verses enough information is provided to establish him as a type for the Latter-Day servant of the Lord who sets the house of the Lord in order (DC 85). He makes an even more helpful type since, contrary to the vast majority of these shadows, the majority of Samuels story is vocal. In most of the other stories the servant is portrayed through the acts of a play, with the things given in the first 4 verses of this event stretched out in the others over whole chapters. In large measure the actual substance that the claims for the need of repentance will be based on are brushed over or only covered in brief reflective language. With Samuel, what we are left with is a situation reduced to the syrup, the oratory being the featured part of the drama. What would then follow is the subject matter with which the Servant will address the idolatrous covenant people of the last days, making the speech itself even more poignant in its commendations. This is a revolutionary revelation given wings by inspired power.
Starting in verse 5 of Helaman 13, Samuel begins a long discourse of warnings and prophecy. Throughout this chapter and chapters 14, 15 and 16 chiastic, parallel and even two lament poetic structures are seen. In the use of types I have found it very useful to rely on these structures, which are remarkably consistent in their presence, for direction on what the overall theme of the discourse is covering. The first of these chiasms is contained in verses 5 through 10. For the most point I won’t write them out, relying mostly on the descritpion. However, a written and teased out chiasm in this chapter can be found on the internet, here done by sterling allen, for those who a would follow along. (Disclamier: Sterling has a great site, with a ton of info, lots of structure and studies. He has done alot of work on the Book of Mormon and other places. I leave the content of his webiste to himself for responsibility, preferring only to piggy-back on the diligent work he has done in indentifying the strucutres available. Thanks, Brother, for your work in this area and the thoughts you have triggered in meditation.)
The outer two brackets give us the framework for the purpose of the discussion which Samuel, and by extension the servant, is having with the people. “The sword of justice hangeth over this people, I will visit… them in my fierce anger!” Recall that for the Lord to visit them in anger, for the sword of justice to be over them, they would have had to had the covenant and denied it. Otherwise there would be no justice in the Lords cleansing actions. In Mormon 8 a similar warning is given by the Lord to the gentile covenant people who have pollted the holy church of God,
the sword of vengeance hangeth over you; and the time soon cometh that he vengeth the blood of the saints upon you, for he will not suffer their cries any longer.
This is consistent with our study of Samuel being a type for the Lords servant to the Gentiles in the last days.
In the next set of corresponding lines the Lord gives a prophecy to Samuel for the Nephites. From this we can expect the servant to the give timelines, set limits, within which the Lord will act. The ultimatum is that the sword, pestilence and famine will destroy the people of the Lord. In short, they will fall with Babylon. Like the Lord did in 3 Nephi 16, he gives an out to those of the Nephites, and Gentile covenant people, who repent and turn to Jesus Christ for salvation. They will have to be rid of their idolatry. Remeber, the Lord is a light, judgment is yours because of Justice, but they righteous will find peace at this time.
Next the word ‘suffer’ is set at odds with itself, in verse 6 and 8. In one the Servant as the type of the Lord suffers for the people, in the other half His burden is removed and the Davidic protection is also removed from those who profess his name and yet know it not. Because HE suffered for you, if you will not turn to Him, YOU will suffer.
In verse 7 and 8 the Servant declares that his Authority comes from God, he is sent from God and received this message from an angel who showed it to him. He can spaek, INT HE NAME IF THE LORD. These are the things that the servant, and the people of the Lord RECEIVE, are endowed with (v7). However, if they turn to another source other than God it is TAKEN AWAY from them, that which they could have had (v8). If they will not receive it it will be given to another, as the Lord explained plainly during his Jewish ministry.
The center of the chiasm, the idea on which this structure relies on, is integral to both Samuel’s ministry as well as that of the Latter-Day ensign. It is given in the end of verse 7 and first line of verse 8,
but behold YE WOULD NOT RECEIVE ME. Therefore, thus saith the Lord: Because of the hardness of the hearts of the people of the Nephites.
The covenant is exemplified by the servant,
I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people (Is 42:16)
When the covenant is raised, when he is set up as the ensign before the nations, they will have an opportunity to accept or reject them. In this instance, the Nephites rejected Samuel, same as the people of Noah rejected Abinadi. The servant of God, when acting as mouthpiece or mediator, is the contract. It centers around this one idea, when the Lord comes to the people, when he appears to you on the road, when he is the dirty travler, when he speaks through the mouth of an ass, will you recognize that voice? Those who do will be gathered on one side, those who don’t will be on the other. In a very real sense, the Lord not only mediates the covenant, he himself is the covenant to which men must hold true. He is the light that will come in the darkness, which only those with eyes to see will see.
The next chiasm is contained in vs 21 through 24. I’ll go ahead and write this one out because it is short and quite representative of basic chiasmsus, with both sides being obviously representative. For those who are not familiar with chiasmus, notice how the opposite and correlating sides, represented here by letters, have things in common. It can be an idea, a key word, a descriptive course, etc. Often not all the ties together are obvious at first, but in studying them we can see how one sides makes the other richer ;
A Behold ye, the people of this great city, and hearken unto my words; yea, hearken unto the wordswhich the Lord saith;
B for behold, he saith that ye are cursed because of your riches, and also are your riches cursed because ye have set your hearts upon them,
C and have not hearkened unto the words of him who gave them unto you.
D YE DO NOT REMEMBER THE LORD your God
E in the things with which he hath blessed you,
F but Ye Do ALWAYS REMEMBER YOUR RICHES
E’ not to thank the Lord your God for them;
D’ yea, your hearts are not drawn out unto the Lord,
C’ but they do swell with great pride, unto boasting, and unto great swelling, envyings, strifes, malice, persecutions and murders, and all manner of iniquities.
B’ For this cause hath the Lord God caused that a curse should come upon the land, and also upon your riches, and this because of your iniquities.
A’ Yea, wo unto this people,
We can see the brackets for this one in the two descriptions of “this people”, who are inhabitants of the ‘great city’ (A), which is metaphor throughout Jeremiah, Isaiah, revelations, etc for Babylon. Jonah referred to Nenivah repeaetedly as the “great city”, the book of revelations makes several referrances to that city, for example, “And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth (rev. 17:18).” This is the job of the Latter-Day (Davidic) servant and those servants whom he sets apart; to call the people of Israel out of this great city through repentance, cleansing and gathering. In particular, those of the Lord’s people who have built up false walls, false hedges and false watchtowers in the image of Babylon using the consecrated monies of Zion.
In ‘B’ we see that this covenant people, to whom Samuel is talking, is under a curse because of their misuse of their riches. Incredibly, the Latter-Day covenant gentiles too have been placed under a curse for their misuse of the revelations they have, for their greed and covetousness (sections 84, 101). As we can observe and as prophecied in section 101, Zion’s monies are now going to build a Babylonian system. Zion’s people are now embroiled in that rat race too, as individuals. The day has come that Brigham spoke of when a saint and a sinner can’t be told apart, we are part of the same culture. Indeed, the back suit, white shirt and silky tie, of the corporate business leaders image, is the same image which the Lord’s people pracitce priesthood in. The Lord’s people get up and slave daily in the same markets, the same economy, the same businesses that Satan has set up to capitalize on our neighbors, buy up armies and navies and oppress the people. Like the frog in the pot, we have no idea we are in this kind of bondage!
In part ‘C’ of the curse contained in section 84, wherein the saints don’t give enough credence to the revelations they have received, we rely on our own wisdom to make decisions. We rely on study groups and marketing to grow the church and produce our materials, pass-alnong cards and Moromon.org. It has come some far that the Lords people are willing to post videos illustrating the fact that we are just like the rest of the world AND we are Mormons. Like the whole head and heart of Isaiah 1, it makes me sick. We ignore the warnings of pride, of fine clothing, etc… and unwittingly grind on the face of the poor with all our buildings and sanctuaries. This is why we are cursed, we ignore the revelations.
IDOLATRY! That is the message of ‘D’ and ‘E’. We are distracted, as were these Nephites, in our everyday pursuits, our careers and seeking gain. We are not drawn out to God, we do not build Zion as a lifestyle, at best it’s an afterthought only to be found by reaching into the dusty attics of our minds. For a few hours once a week we gather and discuss the parts of our religion that are included in a manual that was created by a panel and a focus group. We are offended if someone disagrees. Our hearts are not drawn out to him. Our time is not given to him. We forget and rationalize that any profit we make is the Lord’s to distribute, afterall, we rationalize ”we already paid our tithing…SO our profit must be a tithing blessing!”
Finally the center of this Chiasm, the thing that is drawing us down rather then building Zion, we ALWAYS remember our things, our pastimes, our bank accounts and our careers that support them. The root of all evil is the love of money. It is the one thing that has corrupted EVERYthing we do and see. Though we see her as glamourous and attractive, that great city is desolation.
Overlapping the end of the prior one which we arote out, verses 23-30 also compromise a chiasm. It contains 10 subset pairs (a-j) and is incredibly descriptive, continuing the story we’ve seen develop to this point. In the first two Chiasms we saw first a people that refused to receive the Lord, though they are a covenant people/church. They think they have, but they are distracted by their worldly pursuits throughout most of their lives. They always remember those things, but refuse to come out far enough to receive the Lord into themselves. Lets look into this chiasm.
Verses 23 and 30 are the outer brackets. Both of them begin with the curse that is our riches. The anger of the Lord is kindled because we give our time to them and not to him. We rationalize that we do our home teaching, pay our tithing, etc… forgetting that we spend 40+ hours a week building Babylonian corporations and even more added to that in fixing, investing, renovating the things we have. ‘B’ is contained in verses 24 and the first line of 30. The Anger of the Lord is pronounced as a “WO”, which is a covenant curse. ‘C’ defines what the ‘darkness’ that we accept is, versus the ‘light’ which we ignore (v29). The definition is provided in verse 24. That ye do cast out the prophets,and do mock them, and cast stones at them,(4) and do slay them, and do all manner of iniquity unto them. Lest we think that we have complied with the prophets, that the prophets are with us and sustained, we must remember who it is that are benefitting from the largest and most affluent corporation-sole in existence today, which we call our ‘church’. We must remember what it is that we see our ‘tithing’ money being turned into; corporations, stocks, real estate, infrastructure, intelligence and marketing. These are the fruits of this religious system. However, if you feel some anger swelling from such an accusation lets recall what it is that ‘C’ is saying our tendency is; To cast out those who cry foul and declare our perversions, as Sam is doing here, as well as myself in this writing, amongst many other servants who have been called in their own way to delcare his word. We do always remember our careers, we are distracted with building Babylon. Samuel is dead on and has us pegged to the wall like the proverbial tail on the donkey. ‘D’ is in reference to a time frame, this has been the case with the people of the earth since the beginning , we aren’t the first. ‘E’ recalls that words of the Lord in Matthew 23:16 when he starts out his discourse with the term “Ye blind guides…”.
The instructions in letter ‘E’ are timeless, reflecting the feelings of every prideful group of the Lords people. It is contained in verse 25, “And now when ye talk, ye say: If our days had been in the days of our fathers of old, we would not have slain the prophets; we would not have stoned them, and cast them out.” And in verse 29 the rhetorical comeback also in reference to the leaders, “Yea, how long will ye suffer yourselves to be led by foolish and blind guides?”
What comes to mind is the instruction of the Lord in the inspired version of Mark 9:46 and another in Matthew 7:4-8, when he tells the people;
And if thine eye which seeth for thee, him that is appointed to watch over thee to show thee light, become a transgressor and offend thee, pluck him out.
Beholdest thou the Scribes, and the Pharisees, and the Priests, and the Levites? They teach in their synagogues, but do not observe the law, nor the commandments; and all have gone out of the way, and are under sin. Go thou and say unto them, Why teach ye men the law and the commandments, when ye yourselves are the children of corruption? Say unto them, Ye hypocrites, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
As we see in the DC 104, it is our responsibility to sustain, or not sustain, leaders, our responsibility to raise our hands or to speak up when things aren’t quite right. Jesus was pretty blatant about that above, more than willing to say to the leaders of his day, Ye Hypocrites! Otherwise, the wickedness will be perpetrated and every generation will be worse, even more blind to their own blindness. Our garments will remain bloody.
It is always the case, just like a five year old, that people are anxious to say, ‘it wasn’t me!” People aren’t willing to apply scriptures like this to themselves, as they believe they are in the right. People are AFRAID to take inventory of their own lives and to think that maybe what we have been told our whole lives is only a decoy. Maybe things aren’t really as they appear. We have the tendency to declare, WE DO FOLLOW the prophet! We wouldn’t have done what they did back then! Yet, we fail to connect that Caiaphas too was followed, as was King Noah, among others. There is NEVER mentioned in scripture the edict to “follow the prophet’. There is however a commandment to yourself covet to be a prophet, that he may reveal his secrets to you. Like it says, some of Paul, others of Moses, others of John, or of Thomas. But who is following the Savior? By their fruits you shall know them, and they cannot be found in the dogma, careers, culture and economy of the spacious building. You will know who to follow, because like Nephi the Lord will tell you, he will speak in the Lords name, literally, and hae the welfare of Zion foremost in his mind.
Verses 26, 27 and 28 start into a stunning indictment put forth through the lips of an ‘enemy’ (Samuel) to a prideful people who believed full well they were on the right path. I want you to stop what you are doing now just long enough to pause and put yourself in the place of those who were listening to this statement. You were going about your day when out of nowhere there is a man standing high on the walsl above us which were set up for the sole purpose of your protection. He begins loudly declaring a message, with the obvious intent of getting the attention of everyone in the city. By his clothing and appearance it is rather apparent that he isn’t from here. Soon the word is spread around that his name is Samuel, the Lamanite. He is a castaway enemy of the state, having once been rejected before. Soon it is apparent that he not only wants to attack your way of life, your culture, but also your religion! YOU are the covenant people, claiming Nephi as your father, not unlike they would claim Joseph today. Yet, here he is, an outsider to the faith, part of a fallen people, publically derided and known by the people to be of low account. And what is the content of his message?
“When ye talk, ye say: If our days had been in the days of our fathers of old, we would not have slain the prophets; we would not have stoned them, and cast them out.
“Behold ye are worse than they; for as the Lord liveth, if a prophet come among you and declareth unto you the word of the Lord, which testifieth of your sins and iniquities, ye are angry with him, and cast him out and seek all manner of ways to destroy him; yea, you will say that he is a false prophet, and that he is a sinner, and of the devil, because he testifieth that your deeds are evil.
“But behold, if a man shall come among you and shall say: Do this, and there is no iniquity; do that and ye shall not suffer; yea, he will say: Walk after the pride of your own hearts; yea, walk after the pride of your eyes, and do whatsoever your heart desireth — and if a man shall come among you and say this, ye will receive him, and say that he is a prophet.
“Yea, ye will lift him up, and ye will give unto him of your substance; ye will give unto him of your gold, and of your silver, and ye will clothe him with costly apparel; and because he speaketh flattering words unto you, and he saith that all is well, then ye will not find fault with him.
“O ye wicked and ye perverse generation; ye hardened and ye stiffnecked people, how long will ye suppose that the Lord will suffer you? Yea, how long will ye suffer yourselves to be led by foolish and blind guides? Yea, how long will ye choose darkness rather than light?”
How would you respond to this message? If YOU were told this by a person who had no authority (in your mind), who had no position in the world, who had no name that you knew, who had already been declared an unwanted vagrant criminal by your society? What are the emotions that this would well up within you?
He is declaring to the Nephites that they are led by blind Prophets, blind leaders. They, the people, are the ones responsible for this travesty. They praise and adore these leaders, they build them up. They provide a place for them, stand when they come in the room, support their entire livelihood. In return he gives speeches full of humor, flatters you, speaks of warm fuzzies, hitting the high points of your doctrines, likely mixing in the fallacies of the philosphers of the world. You (nephites) are decoyed by the money, growth, flattery, fine clothing, smile and slick hair. Your pride allows you to see it this way, when you are only choosing light from darkness. Of course, this would likely make you angry. We know from the contet that they tried to kill Samuel for this message. It was not a popular one, but had to be delivered!
The center of the chiasm in these verses, from letters f-j gives us a bit more insight into our own perspective of this discussion. Of this chiasm we will have to remember that it could not be heard or seen in this form as delivered, it was intended for those who read it, namely, us. (F) says that we are worse then they, how long will the Lord suffer us! (G) A stiffnecked and hardened people derides those who declare their iniquities and testifieth of their sins. They will call him a false prophet, and do all they can to belittle his message and himself, historically even to the point of killing him. Of course such a person wouldn’t lead the church, he wouldn’t be sustained to that point, losing leadrship roles even within the ward, long before the area seventy came calling. (H) This wicked and perverse nation allows those who think as they do, who walk in the pride of their eyes, lifting up themselves over others and declaring it good! (I) We will not find fault with those who Say they are prophets, we will agree. We will take those who assume that role of prophet and lift them up, support their lavish lifestyles, pander to their needs of fine clothing in worship and life and give to their works of worldly growth and attainment.
Finally, in the center of this chiasm (J), as the fulcrum on which this lecture rests, we get the announcement of why and what a people like these Nephites in the last days will believe, “and because he speaketh flattering words unto you, and he saith that ALL IS WELL.” The idea that the Ephraimite Gentile covenant people in the last days will rest their laurels, believing that all is well in Zion, is consistent throughout scripture. 2 Nephi 28:29, the set of scriptures upon which this publication was founded, agrees that we will be declaring, ALL IS WELL in Zion! Jeremiah 23:16-22 gives us the same picture. Isaiah 28,29 & 56 in speaking of the Ephraimite Prophets, priests, watchdogs, states that they will fetch rhetorical wine and declare that tomorrow will be as good as today and better. The picture is consistent. The pride of the people will be the dominating force, their doctrine will be regurgitated vomit and their dispositions will be that of apathy. Babylonian splendor will be good enough to justify our place in the world. ALL IS WELL!
Helaman 13:26-39 are organized into one more chiasm with 16 parts, (a-q) , which wraps up the chapter and declares the judgment. If a prophet were to come amongst you (as the servant is here, and Samuel to the Nephites) and testified of your sins and iniquities, and you were to repent, you would be saved (v26,39 A). But, if you are to be Angry with such a prophet, the Lord will be angry with you (v39,26 B). The Lords words that we are to hear (v39 C) are contrasted with the light of darkness, the false prophet we lift up and set in front of us as our beloved leader, because he fits what we want (v26, C). In following our own ideas of happiness which are in reality iniquity, we are a wicked and stiffnecked people (v38, 29, D). Seeking our own ends at all times, blindly being full of idolatry, We seek our whole lives for our own end! How long will the Lord suffer us (v38, 29 E)? WE are allowing this people, we are blind leading the blind. We are fine with this, declaring that all is well. HOW LONG will we suffer ourselves to be led by blind guides? Zion is WAITING for redemption. Zion is waiting for OUR repentance. We have procrastinated the day of our Repentance! As an organization, when the covenant is raised, it will be everlastingly too late. (v29,28 F).
We are choosing darkness rather then light. We are casting out Zion and embracing Babylon. This is agreement with DC 45, wherein the Light comes to those who profess to know his name but do not. Those who do not perceive that light for what it is when He breaks forth will be cast out with the darkness. When we do this to the servant, as the Nephites do here to Samuel…times up (v29,38 G). The Lord will no longer be able to turn his anger (v30,37 H). The curse on the land will be in fulfillment, as promised in the DC, 45, 64, 101, 103, 105, 86, 85 etc (30,36 I), it will be because of our iniquity (passed down sin) and the procrastination of our repentance(30,36 J). The riches of this people, which have been given by slothful sleeping servants to the exchangers of Babylon (DC 101), as well as the riches of the individuals who are investing their time talents and energies in Babylon, will be cursed. This will be their downfall. We have lifted and supported those, as well as ourselves, who would procrastinate our repentance and build false walls, hedges and towers declaring that this is a time of peace! Because of this, those things that are Babylon’s will fall with Babylon, will be under the curse of Babylon. Our things, our riches, our jobs, will be taken away, hidden, cursed. Recall Nephi and the parable in DC 101 that we are using to parallel this story and we will see that the breach of the high wall from Isaiah is a curse on the misuse of Zion’s riches. Thus, the curse will be ours to reap as the corporation of the president falls before and with all of Babylon’s institutions. Our faith will be found misplaced as the structural roots upon which the church are now rooted are pulled up, dirt and all, in public view (v33,31 K,L).
He has richly blessed us, this people, the church, this government, yet we did not turn to him and create the society in which he could live! We created degeneracy in its place. Because we did not remember him when times were good, he will take his promise from us. When the economy and societal structure falls we will fall with it. We will then be in poverty, our society having lost its grip, but we will not be able to attain the covenant blessing promised to those who keep his commandments (Mosiah 2:22). DC 101 again agrees with Samuels assessment of we the Covenant Gentile people today.
In the day of their peace they esteemed lightly my counsel; but, in the day of their trouble, of necessity they feel after me (DC 101:8).
To cement the notion that this type could be speaking of us, Samuel declares “In that day”, which, from Isaiah, is imagery concerning the latter-days (v31,32 M,N). We’ve already begun to fall, we are already in the whirlpool circling downward, all because we are rejecting the words of the Book of Mormon and the words of those whose only care is to build Zion (v32,33 O).
The center of this poem? You gentiles will now weep, howl and LAMENT as the times of the Gentiles comes to an end (v32,33 P,Q)
Tying all of this chapter together we can see in futurity the context with which the Servant will declare repentance and a curse upon this Gentile people, with Samuel acting as the principle servant while delivering this message to us. Through the use of chiasms the case is made even stronger, telling us what we will hear in prophecy when Joseph returns as David and like Moses to a farm full of mud up to his ankles, with weeds everywhere, as he prophecied in dream. The chiasmic centers tell us that we (1) will not receive the words of the prophets as they are delivered. To seal this testimony upon our heads, we have the covenant in living flesh delivering the message to us. Will we, as individuals, repent and come out of the Gentile people? Will we accept this testimony? If we will not receive him, we will receive the wages of our worldly pursuits and fall with that world. Next, (2) like the curse given in parable 101, this pronounced cursed comes BECAUSE we do always remember our riches. The thing we are concerned with are our careers, our things, ourselves and our riches. We have given those riches, as a people, over to the exchangers of Babylon (DC 101). The servant will renew this command, asking us to forsake it all and follow him (real consecration), to forsake the world in the face of poverty and unstable times, and reach out for the cipher here on the wall, whom the world will despise (DC 85). (3) When he makes this edict, asking us to accept the covenant that the lilies and sparrows already keep, we will declare to him as we always have, ‘ALL IS WELL!’ We will say that, ‘in our version of Zion, our blind guides are doing the right thing, saying the right things in their flattery and building the right kingdom’. This belief will, as the Latter-Day people of Isaiah who rely on Shebna (Isaiah 22), cause the people to fall because the rely on the nail that they believe is set in the sure place. (4) Because we will declare all is well with our blind guides, turn to our daily pursuits and away from the servant, we will weep, lament and howl, experiencing the wages of breaking the covenant.
Are we willingly to apply thses scriptures to ourselves? Are we willing to recognize the structure and types that the Book of Mormon has given us? Are we willing to recognize the parts of us that seek after the things of the world? Or, are we willing to hearken unto the voice of the good shepherd, come out of the world, touch not their unclean things and RECIEVE HIM unto yourselves, needing no fleshy mediator for that covenant blessing to be yours? Your riches, your houses, your food staorage, your guns, have no power to save. Your savior does, be still and see the salvation of your God.
