Book of Mormon Commentary CofC - Odessa, Missouri Community ...

Book of Mormon Commentary
Enos Chapter 1
Enos showed his magnanimity and wholeness by asking that "the Lamanites should not be
destroyed, that the Lord God would preserve a record of my people, the Nephites" (19), even
though the Nephites should be destroyed. The promise had been made to Laman and Lemuel that
their seed should be preserved (II N. 3: 13, 16). The Nephites preserved their seed only by uniting
with the Lamanites (A. 21:13, 14; Mn. 3:16; Mi. 9:25).
CONCERN FOR THE LAMANITES, VER. 22-46
Enos 1:22 And they swore in their wrath, that if it were possible, they would destroy our records and us;
and, also, all the traditions of our fathers.
1: 22 The Lamanites had never appreciated the value of the brass plates. It was quite natural that
they would now associate the records with the Nephites in their hatred. They did not have faith in
God nor in the scriptures, except during the golden age after Christ had come to America and they
had united with the Nephites.
Enos 1:25 And I had faith, and I did cry unto God, that he would preserve the records;
1:25 Doubtless it was clear to Enos that these records would someday be the means of vindicating
his forefathers and of winning the hearts of Lehi's posterity back to God. "And he covenanted with
me that he would bring them [the records] forth unto the Lamanites, in his own due time" (26).
This knowledge satisfied Enos, for he concludes, "My soul did rest" (27).
Enos 1:30 And I bear record that the people of Nephi did seek diligently to restore the Lamanites unto
the true faith in God.
1:30 Enos traveled among the people of Nephi throughout the land. He was blessed with the spirit
of prophecy and revealed "things to come" (29). He bore his testimony of the things he "had heard
and seen" (29). It was under this spirit that his people sought "diligently to restore the Lamanites,"
But he adds sorrowfully, "Our labors were vain; their hatred was fixed” (31).
The evil nature of the Lamanites is described in these words, “They became wild, and ferocious,
and a bloodthirsty people, full of idolatry, and filthiness; feeding upon beasts of prey, dwelling in
tents, and wandering about in the wilderness, with a short skin girted about their loins, and their
heads shaven; and their skill was in the bow, and the cimeter, and the ax. And many of them did
eat nothing save it was raw meat" (31-33), This graphic description reminds one of stories of
atrocities in Indian massacres of the whites on some pioneer occasions.
Enos 1:34 And it came to pass that the people of Nephi did till the land, and raise all manner of grain,
and of fruit, and flocks of herds, and flocks of all manner of cattle, of every kind, and goats, and wild
goats, and also many horses.
1:34 What a contrast! It is hard to conceive of a people degenerating as rapidly as did the
Lamanites, and of a people from the same stock taking on a civilized culture in four generations.
The Nephites' social development cannot be attributed to their righteousness, for they were a stiff-