A Dictionary of the Book of Mormon

Aaron

AARON. One of the sons of the Nephite King, Mosiah II, generally supposed to have been the eldest, as it is said that the sovereignty of the people rightly belonged to him on the death of his father, but he refused this great honor on purpose to fulfil a mission to the Lamanites, upon which he and his brothers had set their hearts. Aaron was born in the land of Zarahemla, probably not earlier than B. C. 125, as his father would then have been about thirty years old. During his youth he was wayward and uncontrollable, and joined with those who persecuted the people of God. In fact he and his brothers and the younger Alma were leaders among those who harassed the church. The conduct of the young princes in this regard cannot be ascribed to the corrupting influence of lives of pomp and luxury spent at their father's court, for that was a model of simplicity and frugality, and the king himself labored with his hands to lighten the burdens of the people.

But it may more justly be attributed to the want of thought, to the self-conceit and stubbornness so frequently shown in the lives of the young, until maturer years and wider experience teach them humility and reverence. From this evil course of life Aaron and his associates were rescued by the direct interposition of Heaven. He was in the traveling company that was stopped on the way by the angel of the Lord, who, in tones of thunder, which caused the solid earth to tremble, reproved its members for their sins and commanded them to molest the saints no more. From this moment Aaron was a changed man, he gave to God and heaven his undivided life. Where he had done evil he sought to make amends and where he had incited to turbulency he became a peacemaker. Shortly afterwards he and his brothers commenced to labor as missionaries among the Nephites. They next determined to lay their lives on the altar of sacrifice and go up to the land of Nephi, into the midst of the Lamanites, and bear to them the message of God's condescension and love. From this seeming rash resolve most of their friends sought to dissuade the young princes. They pictured to them the perils of the venture, the hopelessness of the task. But it availed not. The Spirit of the Lord was burning within them, they were oppressed with the thought of the value of human souls that were perishing for lack of knowledge. The good king himself had scarcely the fervor of his sons, he hesitated to give his consent, for he doubted, as from past experience he had good cause to doubt, that they would be able to reclaim from their savage ways the benighted children of Laban. However, he inquired of the Lord. The answer was full of assurances of success, and of Divine protection for his sons. Thus strengthened he sent them forth with his blessing. But as he was growing old the question of who should succeed him on the Nephite throne filled his mind. He sent among the people to inquire who would be their choice. The people answered Aaron. But Aaron would not accept the crown, his mind was on other objects fully bent. So, lest he should ever change his mind and demand the kingly authority as his right, his father decided, with the consent of the people, to change the form of the government of the nation from a monarchy to a republic; which change was made by unanimous consent. When the young men left Zarahemla (B. C. 91) they departed into the wilderness that divided the possessions of the Nephites from the Lamanites, and amidst its discouragements they almost lost heart, but were animated to renewed endeavor by Divine manifestations. When they reached the borders of the Lamanites the missionaries separated. Aaron journeyed towards a land called Jerusalem, in which was built a great city of the same name, peopled largely and controlled by Nephite apostates of the order of Nehor. Aaron entered into their synagogues and preached; he proclaimed the word wherever he had opportunity. But they would not accept it. Finding his efforts in their behalf useless, after a time he left them and went over to a village called Ani-Anti. There he found some of his brethren zealously ministering, but the people hardened their hearts against the gospel message. So they all departed and journeyed to the land of Middoni. Here again they preached to many, though but few believed. The hardened unbelievers treated the brethren with much cruelty, so that some of them fled, while the rest, among whom was Aaron, were taken and cast into prison where they were abused with great inhumanity; their lives were preserved by the power of God alone. In prison they remained until they were delivered by Ammon, Aaron's brother, and king Lamoni. The latter had influence enough with Antiomno, the king of Middoni, to secure the release of the brethren. Some time after their release, Aaron left the land of Middoni and was led by the Spirit to the land of Lehi-Nephi, where was the abode of the chief king over the Lamanites. Aaron and his brethren repaired to the palace, bowed before the king, told him who they were and offered to be his servants. To this he would not consent. He had already learned something of the gospel from Ammon, and now desired to hear more. At his request, Aaron explained to him many things relating to the nature of God and the plan of salvation, for, though he recognized the power and might of the Great Spirit, he was altogether ignorant of things concerning the Deity.

These truths were gratefully received by the king, who besought Aaron to teach him how he might obtain the eternal life of which he spoke. Aaron instructed him to bow down before the Lord in prayer, and then, in faith, ask for the blessings he desired. The aged king did so. He prostrated himself on the ground and cried mightily to the Lord, promising to give away all his sins if he could know Him and be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day. So great was his emotion, that when he had finished his prayer he was struck as if he were dead. When the king thus fell his servants ran and told the queen what had happened. She at once came into the room where he lay, and seeing Aaron and his brethren standing by she became very angry, as she supposed that they were the cause of the evil that had, in her estimation, befallen her husband. She, without hesitation, ordered the king's servants to take the brethren and slay them; but they dared not, for they feared the power which was in Aaron. The queen was also afraid, but she seemed to think that the best way to get rid of the trouble was to destroy those who brought it. As the king's servants refused to obey her command, she ordered them to go out into the streets and call upon the people to come in and kill Aaron and his companions. When Aaron saw the temper of the queen, he feared lest the multitude, in the hardness of their hearts, would raise a great commotion, and cause the hindering of the work of God, which had so auspiciously commenced. Therefore he put forth his hand and raised the monarch from the earth, and at the same time commanded him to stand. The king at once received his strength and stood upon his feet, at the sight of which the queen and her servants wondered greatly and were filled with fear.

Then the king began to explain to them what he had learned with regard to God and the gospel, and he spoke with such great power that his whole household was converted. The multitude also that had gathered at the call of the queen were pacified by his words, and when he saw that their hearts were softened he caused that Aaron and his brethren should teach them the word of God. After the king was converted he sent a proclamation throughout the land forbidding any and all from persecuting Aaron and his fellow-missionaries, giving them liberty to preach anywhere they desired. Our readers may be sure that this privilege was not neglected. Nor was the result of their labors trifling, hut glorious in the saving of many thousand souls; for unto the Lord were converted the people of the Lamanites who dwelt in the lands of Ishmael, Middoni, Shilom and Shemlon, and the cities of Nephi, Lemuel and Shimnilon; and they became a righteous, peaceful, God-serving people, and from faithful obedience to His laws they never fell away. But the various bodies of Nephite apostates who dwelt among the Lamanites universally rejected the gospel message, with the exception of one single Amalekite. The renegade Amalekites, Amulonites and others were not willing to be ruled by a Christian monarch. They had rejected Christianity altogether, and would not have it as the ruling power, either in Nephi or Zarahemla. With the old sophistries and falsehoods they raised a mutiny in the hearts of their associate Lamanites and urged them on to rebellion against the rightful king and his believing subjects. But the converted Lamanites made no preparations to resist them; they felt that in times past, with unholy hands, they had spilled blood as water on the land; blood that they could never atone for, but they would do it no more. Passive non-resistance for the future should be their policy, but the blood of a fellow-being they would never again shed, no matter how great the peril, how intense the aggravation. As a witness of the completeness of this resolution, they took their weapons of war and buried them deep in the earth with an oath and covenant that they would never dig them up again. Their integrity was soon put to the test, for the unconverted Lamanites, incited and led by the Nephite apostates, fell upon them, and, with sword and spear, massacred one thousand and five of their innocent unresisting fellows. No opposition was ofiered, no vain strugglings occurred, the victims calmly but resolutely bowed before the assassins’ steel, and rejoiced in the opportunity of showing their devotion to God, even unto death. The sacrifice of so many of their unresisting brethren brought a deep change of feeling in many of the rude Lamanites; they refused to be any longer the murderers of their kindred, they strove to emulate so noble an example and more were added, that day, to the church, than those whose spirits had ascended to the Great White Throne, and whose blood smoked up to heaven as a testimony against traitors and apostates.

The intriguing apostate bodies who hated the Nephites with a fiercer hatred than the Lamanites had done, not being able to incite the people to fresh atrocities against their Christian brethren,managed to get up a Nephite invasion. Its results were most disastrous to them, and while smarting under the shame of ignominious defeat, incited by the Amalekites, they again fell upon the unoffending people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi, as the Christian Lamanites were then called, and again stained their hands with the blood of unresisting innocence. It is probable that they would ultimately have destroyed the whole of this persecuted people, had not the latter, under the guidance of the heaven-inspired sons of Mosiah, left their homes and possessions, and undertaken an exodus northward. They threw themselves upon the generosity of the Nephites, who joyfully received them, and set apart the land of Jershon for their inheritance. After the return of the sons of Mosiah to the land of Zarahemla we have little account of Aaron, except incidental references to his virtues, nor do we know anything of his death . He was alive in the year B. C. 75, for in that year he accompanied Alma to the land of Antionum, on his mission to the Zoramites, and there labored with faithfulness and zeal. When that mission was ended he appears to have accompanied the rest of the missionaries to the land of Jershon, after which we hear no more of him or of his labors.

Aaron, Borders of

AARON, BORDERS OF. The only time that this place is mentioned is in Alma 50: 14, when the building of the city of Nephihah is spoken of. It is stated that the Nephites also began a foundation for a city between the city of Moroni and the city of Aaron, joining the borders of Aaron and Moroni; and they called the name of the city or the land, Nephihah.

Aaron, City of

AARON, CITY OF. When Alma was first cast out of Ammonihah he turned his face toward a city called Aaron (Alma viii: 13). It is natural to suppose that Aaron was not far distant from Ammonihah; at any rate, not on the other side of the continent. Yet the only other time when a city called Aaron is referred to, it is spoken of as joining the land of Moroni, which was the frontier district in the extreme southeast of the lands possessed by the Nephites. Our only way out of this difficulty is to suggest that there were two cities called Aaron; not at all an unlikely thing when we reflect how important a personage Aaron, the son of Mosiah, was among his people. When chosen to be king he declined this great honor and the republic was established. It requires no stretch of the imagination to believe that a free and grateful people would name more than one city in honor of this self-denying prince.

The only mention made of the first of these two cities is that Alma bent his way "towards the city which was called Aaron." (B. C. 82.) Of the

second city of Aaron we learn that it was north of Moroni, on the Atlantic slope; between these two places the Nephites built (B. C. 72) a third city and called it Nephihah (Alma 50:14).

Aaron (II)

AARON. A king of the Lamanites, who reigned in the first half of the fourth century A. C, and who figured in the last great war between that people and the Nephites. We have no account, in the sacred record, of who he was or how he became king. He is mentioned twice by name in the Book of Mormon. Once in the year A. C. 330, when he with an attacking army of 44,000 was defeated by Mormon with 42,000 men, and again an incidental statement is made in the second epistle of Mormon to his son Moroni, of the horrible fate of certain ones who had fled to the army of Aaron. As this last named circumstance appears to have taken place some considerable time after the battle above mentioned, it is pre

that he ruled his people for a lengthy period. It is only reasonable to judge that the king of such a people as the Lamanites then were, would be a type of the race— brutal, bloodthirsty and merciless.

Aaron (III)

AARON. One of the royal race of the Jaredites. He was the son of Heth, a descendant of Jared. In the days of his grandfather, Hearthom, who was the reigning monarch, the kingdom was taken away from him and he was kept a prisoner all his days. His son Heth, his grandson Aaron, and Aaron's son Amnigaddah were also kept in captivity all their lives by the triumphant party. In the days of Aaron's great-grandson, Com, the kingdom was reconquered for the dynasty of which Aaron was a member. At a rough guess we should imagine that Aaron lived about a thousand years before Christ.

Abel

ABEL. The son of Adam. He is mentioned once by name in the Book of Mormon (Helaman 6:27), when his murder by his brother Cain is referred to.

Abinadi

ABINADI. A Nephite prophet, whom the Lord raised up in the land of Lehi-Nephi to reprove the wicked people of King Noah for their sins. As near as we can tell he delivered his prophecies about 150 B. C. At his first appearance he announced as the word of the Lord that if the people did not repent of their iniquities they should be brought into bondage and none should deliver them except the Lord, and He would be slow to hear their prayers in the days of their tribulations. The people did not repent, but sought the life of Abinadi and his words were fulfilled in the days of Noah's son, Limhi. Two years later he reappeared in disguise, so that the people knew him not, and pronounced yet greater woes upon the unrepentant Noah and his subjects. Slavery of the most oppressive kind, famine, pestilence and death were to be their lot, and but a few years passed before Abinadi's prophecies were fulfilled. For his bold denunciations of their abominations he was taken by the priests of the king with whom he had a long controversy on the principle of the atonement and other laws of God, which ended in his being condemned to death.

In accordance with this sentence he was burned at the stake in the City of Lehi-Nephi. One man only, Alma the elder, of whom we have record, pleaded with Noah in behalf of Abinadi, and this so incensed the sin-degraded king that he sought to take Alma's life. Alma, however, escaped and in his place of retreat made a record of the teachings and acts of Abinadi, and to that record we are indebted for some of the most precious gospel teachings in the Book of Mormon.

Abinadom

ABINADOM, A Nephite prophet and historian, who lived in the third century before Christ. He received the plates of Nephi from his father, Chemish, who was a descendant of Jacob, the brother of Nephi, and at his death, which occurred in the days of the first Mosiah, his son, Amaleki took charge of them. Either he or his son, conveyed the sacred records from the land of Nephi to Zarahemla, in the great migration of the Nephites under Mosiah, but the record does not show whether he died in the land of Nephi before this movement took place or after. His record is a very short one. From it we learn that he was a warrior, and had seen many wars between the Nephites and Lamanites, and that in those wars he, with his own sword, had taken the lives of many of the enemy in the defence of his brethren. These disastrous wars were undoubtedly one of the causes that led to the removal of the righteous portion of the Nephites from Nephi to Zarahemla. Abinadom concludes his brief record with the following statement: "And I know of no revelation, save that which has been written, neither prophecy; wherefore, that which is sufficient is written. And I make an end."

Abish

ABISH. A Lamanite woman of the land of Ishmael, who was a servant-maid to the queen of King Lamoni, at the time that Ammon the son of Mosiah, carried the gospel to that people. (B. C. 91). Abish herself, had been converted to the Lord

many years previously through a remarkable vision which had been granted to her father, but of this conversion she had never spoken. When Lamoni and all his court, including Ammon, were overcome by the power of God that they fell to the earth, Abish understood by what power they were affected. In the hope of convincing the people of the divinity of Ammon's message, she joyously ran from house to house and told all she met what had happened. While she was thus engaged a multitude gathered at the palace. They viewed with many conflicting emotions the monarch, his wife, and retainers all lying as if dead, with Ammon, the Nephite, also lying in their midst. A great dispute arose, some argued for good, some for evil, and the contention would doubtless have ended in bloodshed had not Abish returned. She was greatly grieved at the turn matters had taken. In the hope of raising the queen from the ground Abish took her by the hand. No sooner did she do so than the queen revived and arose. The latter uttered many expressions of love and gratitude to the Savior and pleaded for His mercy for her subjects. She next took her husband by the hand, when he arose also, and seeing the contention he rebuked the people and began to teach them the truths of the Gospel. Here commenced the great work of conversion among the Lamanites which eventually terminated in the salvation of many thousand souls. Abish is mentioned in the book of Mormon only in connection with this incident.

Ablon

ABLON. A place on the Atlantic seaboard of the Northern Continent, east of the hill Cumorah. The Lord in a dream warned Omer, king of the Jaredites, to flee from his native land, at the time his kingdom was overthrown by Akish and his friends. This he did, and after a long journey settled at Ablon. Nimrah, a son of Akish, with a number of adherents, afterwards joined Omer at Ablon. After many years Omer was re

to his kingdom and returned to his own land.

Abraham

ABRAHAM. The father of the faithful. As in the Bible so in the Book of Mormon, God is frequently spoken of as the God of Abraham. Most of the references to Abraham in the latter book are doctrinal and but few historical; mention is however made of his paying tithes to Melchizedek.

Adam

ADAM. The great father of the human family. His name is mentioned about two dozen times in the Book of Mormon; almost always in connection with the creation, or with the doctrine of the fall and the atonement.

Agosh, Plains of

AGOSH, PLAINS OF. A place, locality unknown, in North America, where a great battle was fought in the final war among the Jaredites. The commanders of the contending armies the Coriantumr and Lib. After a victory by were latter, in the wilderness of Akish, he pursued Coriantumr as far as the plains of Agosh, when another battle was fought in which Coriantumr was victorious and Lib was slain. Shiz, the brother of Lib, assumed command in the place of his brother and attacked and defeated Coriantumr. Probably about B. C. 600; but this is only conjectural.

Aha

AHA. A Nephite military officer of the days of the republic. He was the son of Zoram and brother of Lehi. He accompanied his father and brother when they went to Alma, the younger, to inquire the will of the Lord with regard to what course the Nephite army should take in. the pursuit of the Lamanites who had destroyed the city of Ammonihah (B. C. 81). Having received the word of the Lord, Zoram and his two sons proceeded to carry it out. They followed and overtook the Lamanites in the great wilderness south of Manti and east of the upper waters of the river Sidon. Here a severe battle took place, which ended in the Lamanite forces being scattered and driven into the wilderness; while all the Nephite

captives were delivered and taken back to their own lands.

Ahah

AHAH. A wicked king of the Jaredites, who reigned in the latter days of that nation. His father's name was Seth. Seth, owing to internal commotions, was brought into captivity and thus remained all his life. But Ahah obtained the kingdom, and reigned over the people until his death. He did all manner of iniquity by which he caused the shedding of much blood, but providentially his reign was a short one. He was succeeded on the throne by his son Etham.

Ahaz

AHAZ. The eleventh king of Judah. His name only appears in the Book of Mormon in quotations from 7th and 14th chapters of Isaiah. (II Nephi, chap. 17 and 24).

Aiath

AIATH. A place named by Isaiah (10:28), and quoted in II Nephi, 20:28. Possibly another name for Ai.

Akish

AKISH. One of the most subtle and cruel of the early Jaredites. Nothing more is known of his descent than that he was the son of Kimnor. The history of Akish is one with which are associated deeds of cruelty, treachery and iniquity that are scarcely paralleled in the annals of any nation. When the Jaredites first reached this continent they were a righteous, God-fearing, though somewhat unstable people. They, however, made one great mistake, they desired to be ruled by a king. Their prophet-leaders told them that this thing would lead to captivity, but they insisted, and Orihah, the youngest son of Jared, was chosen as their first monarch. The words of their prophets were quickly fulfilled, and bloodshed and internal commotions soon disgraced the history of this favored people. Orihah was succeeded by Kib, who was dethroned by Corihor, but afterwards restored. In the succeeding reign, that of Shule, the kingdom was rent in twain, but when he died he was succeeded by his son Omer,

who, we have reason to believe, was a good man. The example of the kings and princes had thus far, as a rule, been pernicious, and tended to encourage the people in lives of wickedness.

Omer had a son named Jared, an ambitious, unscrupulous man. He rebelled against his father and by his flatteries induced half the people to join his standard. He established himself in a land named Heth, and when he felt sufficiently strong he gave battle to and defeated the forces of his father, whom he took prisoner and held in captivity; and, it is said, Omer remained in this condition half his days. So long, indeed, was the time that Jared kept him prisoner that sons begotten by him during his captivity grew up to manhood before he was released. Two of these young men, named Esrom and Coriantumr, became very angry at the way their father was treated, and they raised an army and attacked their brother Jared by night. This attack appears to have been an utter surprise to Jared, for his army, was entirely destroyed, and he himself would have been slain had he not humbly pleaded with his brothers that his life might be spared, he promising that he would surrender the kingdom to his father. On this condition his life was granted him.

Now Jared, though he had made this promise when his life was in peril, still longed for the glories and power of the kingly authority; and his sorrow and unrest could not be hid from those near him. Among those who noticed his deep-seated grief was a daughter, who, was exceeding fair, and was apparently as unscrupulous as her father. Whether it was because she really had affection for her father, or, like him, languished for the pomp and magnificence of the court life she no longer possessed that caused her to submit to him a plan by which he might regain the kingdom, cannot be told; perhaps, also, she loved the man whom she suggested as the instrument to be used in the fulfillment of her ambition — possibly all three, for our motives are seldom single; our actions, in other words, are generally the result of a combination of motives.

The young lady's plan was this: She reminded her father that when their ancestors came across the great waters they brought with them records of the doings of mankind in the ages before the flood. And in those records was an account of how men by secret plans and combinations obtained kingdoms and great glory, She suggested that her father acquire a knowledge of these unholy methods and use them to regain the throne. She further proposed that he send for a friend of Omer's named Akish, the son of Kimnor, and she, being graceful as well as beautiful, would dance so entrancingly before him that he would desire her to wife. If she did not love Akish, she simply sold herself to gratify her father's and possibly her own ambition.

Her advice was listened to, her suggestions carried out. The old oaths and bloody mysteries were searched out, the plan laid, Akish invited, the suggestive dance danced, Akish's passions inflamed and the maiden asked in marriage. The proposal was received with favor, but terrible conditions were attached, such that would have appalled any honorable man. It was that Akish should obtain for Jared the head of his father, the king, and to enable him to carry out this murderous design Jared proposed that he administer to his friends the old oaths that had come down from the days of Cain, the first murderer.

Akish accepted this terrible responsibility. He gathered his associates at the house of Jared and there made them all swear by the God of heaven, and by the heavens, by the earth and by their heads, that whoso should vary from what he desired should lose his head, and whoso should divulge whatever he made known should lose his life. He then submitted his plans to them, which they accepted. The plot was so far successful that they overthrew the kingdom of Omer, but did not succeed in obtaining his head. For the Lord was merciful to Omer and warned him to depart out of the land. So taking those of his family who were faithful to him he traveled for a great distance until he reached the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. There he and his companions tarried until the course of events permitted him to return.

Omer being driven from his kingdom, Jared was anointed king, and his daughter was given to Akish to wife. But this did not satisfy Akish; he had learned the power of these secret combinations, and now determined to use them for his own ends. He aspired to the throne, and made up his mind to murder his father-in-law. So he assembled his followers, instructed them in his wishes, and Jared was slain by them as he sat on his throne giving audience to the people; a case of poetical retribution which, though often found in fiction, is seldom met with in real life. Akish was now made king, and under his cruel rule wickedness became almost universal; the secret societies by which he obtained power had corrupted the hearts of all the people. As may be well supposed, with such a condition of society his throne was not a stable one. He became jealous of one of his sons. What cause, if any, he had therefor, we are not told, but he shut him up in prison and slowly starved him to death. This cruel act greatly incensed another of Jared's sons, named Nimrah, and he, gathering a few followers, fled to the land where Omer dwelt.