(Lack of) Women in the Book of Mormon

[firepatch36]

Sorry for the length, but here’s my thoughts on why there are so few women in the Book of Mormon. I tried to get this as short as I could while still conveying the message.

******

Women in the Book of Mormon are mostly non-existent. Despite this, there is a metanarrative that mistreatment of women will lead to your destruction and proper treatment to salvation.

There are 5 such prophesies that I can find as to why the Nephites were destroyed as it relates to the treatment of women, with all 5 having a fulfillment in miniature in Nephite history. There are two additional references to drive home this point as well.

1. Wives

The first prophesy is Jacob 2-3. In chapter 2, Jacob begins talking about the pride of the Nephites. He then continues (2: 22-35; 3:4-7) on how mistreatment of their wives will destroy the Nephites.

Amalikaiah used deceit and murder to gain power through a marriage (Alma 47) and ended up being stabbed to death. In comparison, Moroni, who used his power to protect wives and children (Alma 46:12; 48:10, 34), emerged victorious in the war against Amalikaiah.

2. Rape

Mormon gives the crimes of the Nephites in Moroni 9. First, in verse 9 he talks of “depriving [women prisoners] of that which was most dear and precious above all things, which is chastity and virtue” (v. 9).

During the war recounted in end of Alma, the Lamanites had taken “many women and children” prisoners, whereas the Nephites had taken none (Alma 54:3). In war, women are frequently (always?) a target for mass rape and abuse. While this requires an assumption, based on knowledge of warfare it is safe to assume that the Nephite women prisoners were subjected to rape, whereas the Nephites had no women hostages. The Nephites ended up taking back every single prisoner without losing a single person while capturing the Lamanite guards (Alma 55).

3. Abuse/Respecting Women

Returning to Mormon: “And after they had done this thing [rape from above], they did murder them in a most cruel manner, torturing their bodies even unto death; and after they have done this, they devour their flesh like unto wild beasts” (v. 10). After describing the depravity, Mormon states that God will not be able to hold back punishment on such wickedness (v. 11-15).

Morianton led a rebellious faction against the Nephites. However, his plan was foiled when he became angry with a maid servant “and fell upon her and beat her much” (Alma 50:30). She fled and told Moroni of Morianton’s plans. Moroni responded by sending an army and killed Morianton (v. 35).

A little later in the war the converted Lamanites sent their sons to battle. They were successful in battle as they performed “every word of command with exactness”, which came to them by faith which “their mothers had taught them” (Alma 57:21).

Morianton beat his maid servant and suffered death nearly immediately. The stripling warriors listened to their mothers. As a result, none of the stripling warriors were killed (Alma 57:26). Note that in Moroni 9, Mormon cited the abuse by the “people in Moriantum” which is virtually identical to Morianton.

4. Widows/Single Women

Mormon continues the awful scene of depravity with another reason why the Nephites had to be destroyed: mistreating widows (Moroni 9:16-19).

In Mosiah 20 the priests of King Noah saw Lamanite women gathered together. The priests, instead of returning to their own wives and children, abandoned their families and kidnapped the women. Later, the descendants these priests were killed by the Lamanites (Alma 25:7-10).

Following the abduction of their daughters, the Lamanites attacked the people of Limhi, thinking they were responsible. Following a peace agreement, the Lamanites abused the people of Limhi (Mosiah 21: 2-5). The people murmured, so the king went to war against the Lamanites three times and lost every one (Mosiah 21:6-8; 11; 12). The people humbled themselves and set up a system to care for widows and children (Mosiah 21: 17). After setting up a home teaching like system of care for the widows they escaped oppression without a single casualty.

5. Daughter of Jared

Finally, at nearly the end of Moroni 9, Mormon compares the Nephites to the Jaredites, as why they had to be destroyed.

Few mentions of women occur in the Book of Ether. One notable example is the daughter of Jared son of Omer. In brief, to gain power Jared and Akish sexually exploited a women to gain power. In order to accomplish this, they set up a secret combination (Ether 8-9). Engaging in secret combinations leading to destruction is common theme in the Book of Mormon (e.g. Ether 8:18-22). What is of note is that one of the few times we are let in on what happened in secrecy, it is exploiting a woman for power. In the end, those that engaged in such behavior met their demise and never prospered, and the king they plotted against had his kingdom restored.

Alma’s Prophecy

The last words of Alma were that the Nephites “will see wars and pestilences, yea, famines and bloodshed, even until the people of Nephi shall become extinct – Yea, and this because they shall dwindle in unbelief and fall into the works of darkness, and lasciviousness, and all manner of iniquities” (Alma 45:10-14). It’s of note that the only iniquity singled out by Alma is lasciviousness.

As a point of comparison to lasciviousness destroying the Nephites, we can see what happened after Christ’s visit. Following the ministry of Jesus Christ among the Nephites, a utopian society eventually arose. One reason given for nature of the society was no “manner of lasciviousness” (4 Nephi 1:15-6).

King Lamoni versus Noah

The most famous missionary story in the Book of Mormon is Ammon and the sons of Mosiah. Time wise, this happens in the middle of the book. Using 600 BC to 421 AD (ignoring the Book of Ether), there is a 1021 year of history with the middle being about 90 BC. “About 90 BC” is the dating given for the conversion of the Lamanite households.

For a short recap: the central story of the Book of Mormon is a story of mass conversion driven by a Lamanite woman with more faith than any Nephite, a prophesy of Jesus being born of a woman, and one of the few woman named – Abish (Alma 19).

King Noah is a point of comparison of the household of King Lamoni. The introduction given about him gets to the point (Mosiah 11:2 (see also 4, 14)): “…he [Noah] had many wives and concubines. And he did cause his people to commit sin, and do that which was abominable in the sight of the Lord. Yea, and they did commit whoredoms and all manner of wickedness.” Abinadi came to preach repentance to Noah and his priests of “their wickedness, and their whoredoms.” Noah killed Abinadi instead. Later, the remaining priests began their own society; called the Amulonites. However, the Lamanites later went and killed nearly everyone who was descended from the priests (Alma 25: 2-9).

These two stories could be viewed as separate and distinct; however, the two are intertwined. The story of the Priests of King Noah happens first, and then we get the story of Lamoni. Following this, the Nephite missionaries went to the apostate Nephites, but “neither were any of the Amulonites [converted]; but they did harden their hearts” (Alma 23: 14). Next the story returns to the house of Lamoni with other Lamanites killing the converts. The converts laid down their weapons to be slaughtered, stopping the killing. Angry at killing innocent people, the Lamanite army went and massacred the descendants of the priests of Noah (Alma 24: 19-25; 25:1). After this, the narrative returns to the Lamanite converts and they leave to move among the Nephites. Thus, the stories of the destruction of apostate Nephites who in essence mistreated women every way possible is weaved around a story of Lamanites who respect and listened to women who were saved. Note that Jacob prophesized that the Lamanites would be preserved and the Nephites destroyed for their treatment of women (Jacob 3), which is what happens in central story of the Book of Mormon.

 

[firepatch36]

(for a summary of above)

Conclusion

Jacob at the beginning of his book warned that the Nephites would be destroyed due to their poor treatment of their wives. We see this in miniature with Amalikaiah and Captain Moroni in Alma, where Amalikaiah (an apostate Nephite) did not respect his wife and family whereas Moroni did. Moroni lived (in part due to righteous Lamanite help), and Amalikaiah had a spear through his heart.

In the beginning of Moroni 9 Mormon states “I fear lest the Lamanites shall destroy this people; for they do not repent” (v. 3). This fear obviously came true; so while the epistle was written before their complete destruction, placing it afterward leads this to be an autopsy report for the demise of the Nephites. Mormon then gave four reasons why the Nephites would be obliterated; all of which relate to mistreatment of women. The first is raping of prisoners. We saw this earlier in Alma where the Nephites had no women prisoners and all Nephite POWs escaped unharmed and their armies had no casualties. In comparison, the Lamanites who had the women prisoners all became prisoners themselves.

Another reason for the Nephite destruction was abuse towards women by the people in Moriantum. Morianton (an apostate Nephite) abused a women and was killed soon thereafter. In contrast, the Lamanite army had respect for their mothers and went to battle, where not a single soldier died.

The next reason for the Nephite annihilation given by Mormon was the mistreatment of widows. This happened earlier, where the apostate Nephites kidnapped single women and distributed them among themselves and their people were destroyed. In contrast, the people of Limhi escaped all unharmed from bondage after taking care of their widows.

The last reason for the Nephite extinction is their similarity to the Jaredites. The only secret combination in Ether involved sexual exploiting a woman for political gain. All involved in that plot died, whereas the king who opposed them returned triumphant to his kingdom along with his family.

Furthermore, Alma prophesied that the Nephites would be destroyed due to their lasciviousness. This compares to 4 Nephi, where everyone lived in a utopian state without any lasciviousness.

We also see this playing out in miniature in the central story of the Book of Mormon (time wise, ignoring Ether). King Noah and his priests lived with harlots, concubines, and abandoned their children and wives. Their descendants were all killed. Among the Lamanites, King Lamoni respected his wife who prophesied, and many listened to Abish. They lived.

When pieced together, the similarity between these stories across nearly the entirety of the Book of Mormon is striking. A metanarrative emerges that can only be seen by piecing together various strands that all coherently tie together and tell a story of why the Nephites were destroyed – mistreatment of women. In comparison, the Lamanites had superior treatment of their women throughout the Book of Mormon and were preserved to be converted in the latter days.

Moroni asked for mercy in reading the his words: “Condemn me not because of mine imperfection, neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been” (Mormon 9:31). We can generalize this verse to more than just their writings. The Nephite civilization throughout their history had issues in how they treated women. By seeing their fate and having the obliteration of the society directly tied to their poor behavior, we can learn from their imperfections and became more wise then they.

****

If you have any thoughts/feedback on this theory, I'd appreciate it. I've been mulling over this for a year or so. 

[Dario_M]

Well i'm gay so i don't really mind hihi. 🤣 

No but seriously... you have a point though. Moroni, Alma, Jacob, Mormon, and all the others in the Book of Mormon. They're all males indeed. 

Edited August 25 by Dario_M

[Rain]

7 hours ago, firepatch36 said:

Sorry for the length, but here’s my thoughts on why there are so few women in the Book of Mormon. I tried to get this as short as I could while still conveying the message.

******

So are you saying that there are few women in the Book of Mormon because they weren't treated well?  If not could you please simplify it into a short sentance or paragraph?  I can understand what you are saying through it, I think, but I'm lost on the connection.

7 hours ago, firepatch36 said:

Women in the Book of Mormon are mostly non-existent. Despite this, there is a metanarrative that mistreatment of women will lead to your destruction and proper treatment to salvation.

There are 5 such prophesies that I can find as to why the Nephites were destroyed as it relates to the treatment of women, with all 5 having a fulfillment in miniature in Nephite history. There are two additional references to drive home this point as well.

1. Wives

The first prophesy is Jacob 2-3. In chapter 2, Jacob begins talking about the pride of the Nephites. He then continues (2: 22-35; 3:4-7) on how mistreatment of their wives will destroy the Nephites.

Amalikaiah used deceit and murder to gain power through a marriage (Alma 47) and ended up being stabbed to death. In comparison, Moroni, who used his power to protect wives and children (Alma 46:12; 48:10, 34), emerged victorious in the war against Amalikaiah.

2. Rape

Mormon gives the crimes of the Nephites in Moroni 9. First, in verse 9 he talks of “depriving [women prisoners] of that which was most dear and precious above all things, which is chastity and virtue” (v. 9).

During the war recounted in end of Alma, the Lamanites had taken “many women and children” prisoners, whereas the Nephites had taken none (Alma 54:3). In war, women are frequently (always?) a target for mass rape and abuse. While this requires an assumption, based on knowledge of warfare it is safe to assume that the Nephite women prisoners were subjected to rape, whereas the Nephites had no women hostages. The Nephites ended up taking back every single prisoner without losing a single person while capturing the Lamanite guards (Alma 55).

3. Abuse/Respecting Women

Returning to Mormon: “And after they had done this thing [rape from above], they did murder them in a most cruel manner, torturing their bodies even unto death; and after they have done this, they devour their flesh like unto wild beasts” (v. 10). After describing the depravity, Mormon states that God will not be able to hold back punishment on such wickedness (v. 11-15).

Morianton led a rebellious faction against the Nephites. However, his plan was foiled when he became angry with a maid servant “and fell upon her and beat her much” (Alma 50:30). She fled and told Moroni of Morianton’s plans. Moroni responded by sending an army and killed Morianton (v. 35).

A little later in the war the converted Lamanites sent their sons to battle. They were successful in battle as they performed “every word of command with exactness”, which came to them by faith which “their mothers had taught them” (Alma 57:21).

Morianton beat his maid servant and suffered death nearly immediately. The stripling warriors listened to their mothers. As a result, none of the stripling warriors were killed (Alma 57:26). Note that in Moroni 9, Mormon cited the abuse by the “people in Moriantum” which is virtually identical to Morianton.

4. Widows/Single Women

Mormon continues the awful scene of depravity with another reason why the Nephites had to be destroyed: mistreating widows (Moroni 9:16-19).

In Mosiah 20 the priests of King Noah saw Lamanite women gathered together. The priests, instead of returning to their own wives and children, abandoned their families and kidnapped the women. Later, the descendants these priests were killed by the Lamanites (Alma 25:7-10).

Following the abduction of their daughters, the Lamanites attacked the people of Limhi, thinking they were responsible. Following a peace agreement, the Lamanites abused the people of Limhi (Mosiah 21: 2-5). The people murmured, so the king went to war against the Lamanites three times and lost every one (Mosiah 21:6-8; 11; 12). The people humbled themselves and set up a system to care for widows and children (Mosiah 21: 17). After setting up a home teaching like system of care for the widows they escaped oppression without a single casualty.

5. Daughter of Jared

Finally, at nearly the end of Moroni 9, Mormon compares the Nephites to the Jaredites, as why they had to be destroyed.

Few mentions of women occur in the Book of Ether. One notable example is the daughter of Jared son of Omer. In brief, to gain power Jared and Akish sexually exploited a women to gain power. In order to accomplish this, they set up a secret combination (Ether 8-9). Engaging in secret combinations leading to destruction is common theme in the Book of Mormon (e.g. Ether 8:18-22). What is of note is that one of the few times we are let in on what happened in secrecy, it is exploiting a woman for power. In the end, those that engaged in such behavior met their demise and never prospered, and the king they plotted against had his kingdom restored.

Alma’s Prophecy

The last words of Alma were that the Nephites “will see wars and pestilences, yea, famines and bloodshed, even until the people of Nephi shall become extinct – Yea, and this because they shall dwindle in unbelief and fall into the works of darkness, and lasciviousness, and all manner of iniquities” (Alma 45:10-14). It’s of note that the only iniquity singled out by Alma is lasciviousness.

As a point of comparison to lasciviousness destroying the Nephites, we can see what happened after Christ’s visit. Following the ministry of Jesus Christ among the Nephites, a utopian society eventually arose. One reason given for nature of the society was no “manner of lasciviousness” (4 Nephi 1:15-6).

King Lamoni versus Noah

The most famous missionary story in the Book of Mormon is Ammon and the sons of Mosiah. Time wise, this happens in the middle of the book. Using 600 BC to 421 AD (ignoring the Book of Ether), there is a 1021 year of history with the middle being about 90 BC. “About 90 BC” is the dating given for the conversion of the Lamanite households.

For a short recap: the central story of the Book of Mormon is a story of mass conversion driven by a Lamanite woman with more faith than any Nephite, a prophesy of Jesus being born of a woman, and one of the few woman named – Abish (Alma 19).

King Noah is a point of comparison of the household of King Lamoni. The introduction given about him gets to the point (Mosiah 11:2 (see also 4, 14)): “…he [Noah] had many wives and concubines. And he did cause his people to commit sin, and do that which was abominable in the sight of the Lord. Yea, and they did commit whoredoms and all manner of wickedness.” Abinadi came to preach repentance to Noah and his priests of “their wickedness, and their whoredoms.” Noah killed Abinadi instead. Later, the remaining priests began their own society; called the Amulonites. However, the Lamanites later went and killed nearly everyone who was descended from the priests (Alma 25: 2-9).

These two stories could be viewed as separate and distinct; however, the two are intertwined. The story of the Priests of King Noah happens first, and then we get the story of Lamoni. Following this, the Nephite missionaries went to the apostate Nephites, but “neither were any of the Amulonites [converted]; but they did harden their hearts” (Alma 23: 14). Next the story returns to the house of Lamoni with other Lamanites killing the converts. The converts laid down their weapons to be slaughtered, stopping the killing. Angry at killing innocent people, the Lamanite army went and massacred the descendants of the priests of Noah (Alma 24: 19-25; 25:1). After this, the narrative returns to the Lamanite converts and they leave to move among the Nephites. Thus, the stories of the destruction of apostate Nephites who in essence mistreated women every way possible is weaved around a story of Lamanites who respect and listened to women who were saved. Note that Jacob prophesized that the Lamanites would be preserved and the Nephites destroyed for their treatment of women (Jacob 3), which is what happens in central story of the Book of Mormon.

 

 

Edited August 26 by Rain

[blackstrap]

Setting aside the fairness issue, can we name Nephi's wife, or Laman's or Alma's or Moroni's or Mormon's ? 

I suggest a couple of reasons for the lack of females spoken of :

1. They wanted a massive wall built to protect the women from a wicked world

2. They were wary if not afraid of the considerable power that women have over men and their desires.

3. Literacy and record keeping were taught only to the males of elite families so  there was little chance for the writings of women

   as was true of most ancient societies. 

Of course ,as a man, my opinions are often flawed. 😶 

[MustardSeed]

Women’s thoughts and actions outside domestic duties were not valued. Why write about something not important? 
 

[Kevin Christensen]

For more on Women in the Book of Mormon,  see this essay for which I noticed that:

Quote

In researching this essay, we have realized that when women move from the background to the foreground in the Book of Mormon they typically do so for three reasons:

• to highlight profoundly archetypal situations

• to show the mutual dependence and independent agency of men and women

• to emphasize that the promises and obligations of the gospel apply equally to men and women

There is a consistency and deliberation in this on the part of the authors that suggests a positive intent and attitude. 

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/msr/vol10/iss2/5/

Also this one on Instructional Wisdom in the Book of Mormon

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Fg1zuabUj5r156AhrlRlGAfUgBzdQpQL/view?pli=1

And this one by Daniel Peterson, Nephi and His Asherah.

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol9/iss2/4/

And this one by Val Larsen on Heavenly Mother:

https://www.squaretwo.org/Sq2ArticleLarsenHeavenlyMother.html

FWIW,

Kevin Christensen

Canonsburg, PA

[Tacenda]

12 hours ago, blackstrap said:

Setting aside the fairness issue, can we name Nephi's wife, or Laman's or Alma's or Moroni's or Mormon's ? 

I suggest a couple of reasons for the lack of females spoken of :

1. They wanted a massive wall built to protect the women from a wicked world

2. They were wary if not afraid of the considerable power that women have over men and their desires.

3. Literacy and record keeping were taught only to the males of elite families so  there was little chance for the writings of women

   as was true of most ancient societies. 

Of course ,as a man, my opinions are often flawed. 😶 

Maybe they had so many concubines, they gave up using their names...couldn't keep them straight.

[smac97]

22 hours ago, firepatch36 said:

Sorry for the length, but here’s my thoughts on why there are so few women in the Book of Mormon. I tried to get this as short as I could while still conveying the message.

******

Women in the Book of Mormon are mostly non-existent. Despite this, there is a metanarrative that mistreatment of women will lead to your destruction and proper treatment to salvation.

We also have some pretty good resources for better understanding why women are not more specifically included in the BOM narrative:

1. Scripture Central: Why Are So Few Women Mentioned in the Book of Mormon?

Quote

The Know

One element of the Book of Mormon that is troubling to some modern readers is that it rarely mentions women. Only six women are mentioned by name,1 and there are just over 150 passages that explicitly reference women.2 If the Book of Mormon were a modern book, this lack of references to women might be somewhat surprising.3 However, when one looks at the Book of Mormon in its ancient context, this lack of references to women begins to make more sense.

In the Old Testament, for example, around 200 named women are mentioned and more than twice that number of unnamed women are referred to, but that is still a very small number when compared to the number of men named in the book (nearly 3,000).4 In addition, this number drops significantly when one considers the books in the Old Testament written during the time of Lehi and later.5 Thus, the lack of women in the Book of Mormon fits its ancient Israelite context. In addition, the Book of Mormon does not contain the kinds of texts, like law books or social histories, that discuss women more often, like the Old Testament does. This means that women appear in the Nephite record even less often than one might otherwise expect.6

Another element that may help explain the lack of women in the Book of Mormon is Mormon’s occupation.7 As a military commander, Mormon devoted much of the Book of Mormon to depictions of war.8 Yet, like most women in much of the rest of the ancient world, pre-Columbian American women rarely participated in warfare.9 Thus, much of the book discusses an activity that women would not be directly involved with: war. This may be. Similarly, the missionaries and prophets in Nephite culture were generally men, meaning that women appear less often in accounts of these events as well. 

Literacy is another factor we must take into account. Unlike many modern Western societies, where both men and women are literate, in the ancient Near East and pre-Columbian America, it was primarily men who were literate.10 This means not only that a man (Mormon) abridged the Book of Mormon, but also that men wrote the records that Mormon abridged. Therefore, women are less likely to be mentioned simply because men wrote and abridged the book.11 Ultimately, we should not necessarily expect women to be mentioned often in a book that was written by an ancient male military leader.

The final note, and perhaps most significant, is that languages themselves are often sexist. In Hebrew, for example, one of the common words for “human” is the word “man.”12 Genesis 5:1–2, for example, states that “God created man, in the likeness of God made he him; male and female created he them.” This verse means that God created all humankind, both males and females, but uses the word “man” to mean “humankind.”

English is the same in this respect. In the 1828 Webster’s dictionary, the first definition for “man” is “Mankind; the human race; the whole species of human beings.”13 This means that, both the language the Book of Mormon was originally written in, and also the language it was translated into, often used masculine language, including masculine pronouns, when a modern English text would have used gender-neutral terms.

The Why

Understanding the lack of women in the Book of Mormon in its ancient context can inform how we read the Book of Mormon. If one reads the book knowing that it will only explicitly mention women on certain, limited occasions, readers can actively begin looking for women in places they might not initially expect them.14 Keeping this in mind and pondering details that go deeper than the text itself allows modern readers to find women throughout the Book of Mormon, even when they are not given a prominent role or mentioned expressly.

For example, the war chapters of the book of Alma would likely have gone very differently if Morianton’s maid servant hadn’t told Moroni about Morianton’s intentions to flee into the land northward (Alma 50:30–32).15 If Morianton had succeeded in turning the land northward into an anti-Nephite stronghold, the Nephites may well have lost the wars against the Lamanites, changing the course of Nephite and Lamanite history forever. It was the courage of this abused but righteous and honest woman that allowed Teancum to head off Morianton and end this significant threat to the Nephites (Alma 50:35). Thus, even though she is not mentioned throughout the rest of the Book of Mormon, readers can ponder the impact of her actions and keep them in mind throughout the rest of the war chapters in the book of Alma.

There are often other occasions, when although women are not explicitly mentioned, the reader should picture them as an important element of the scene. The Encyclopedia of Mormonism notes that,

In religious life, women participated in assemblies at the temple (Jacob 2:7; Mosiah 2:5–8), in teaching their children about God (Alma 56:46–47), and in offering sacrifice (1 Nephi 5:9). Evidently they were not excluded from, or segregated during, worship (2 Nephi 26:28–33) ... The gospel taught by the Nephites and Christ in the Book of Mormon is addressed to all, regardless of gender, age, or descent (2 Nephi 26:33; Mosiah 27:25; Alma 11:44; 32:23; 3 Nephi 17:25). Baptism was offered to all men and women who believed (Mosiah 18:16; Moroni 9:10). Women demonstrated profound faith and were tested by great sacrifice. In Ammonihah, women were burned to death with their children for refusing to renounce their faith in Christ (Alma 14:7–11).16

This means that in sacred scenes involving the temple, worship, sacrifice, teaching of the gospel, family, genealogy, community, and persecution for the cause of Christ, not to mention numerous other moments, we should picture women as well as men having an impact on the story and historical events surrounding the given passage.

Readers of the Book of Mormon should recognize that its lack of women is largely due to its ancient context, as well as a number of other factors. However, those who intentionally look for women as they read its pages will be rewarded with a deeper understanding of women and women’s issues in the context of the restored gospel.

 

2. Journal of Book of Mormon Studies: Women in the Book of Mormon

Full disclosure: This article was written by a good friend of mine (though I did not know this until I found it).  It's a good read.

3. Women in the Scriptures: How Many Women Would You Guess are in the Scriptures?

22 hours ago, firepatch36 said:

There are 5 such prophesies that I can find as to why the Nephites were destroyed as it relates to the treatment of women, with all 5 having a fulfillment in miniature in Nephite history. There are two additional references to drive home this point as well.

1. Wives

The first prophesy is Jacob 2-3. In chapter 2, Jacob begins talking about the pride of the Nephites. He then continues (2: 22-35; 3:4-7) on how mistreatment of their wives will destroy the Nephites.

Amalikaiah used deceit and murder to gain power through a marriage (Alma 47) and ended up being stabbed to death. In comparison, Moroni, who used his power to protect wives and children (Alma 46:12; 48:10, 34), emerged victorious in the war against Amalikaiah.

2. Rape

Mormon gives the crimes of the Nephites in Moroni 9. First, in verse 9 he talks of “depriving [women prisoners] of that which was most dear and precious above all things, which is chastity and virtue” (v. 9).

During the war recounted in end of Alma, the Lamanites had taken “many women and children” prisoners, whereas the Nephites had taken none (Alma 54:3). In war, women are frequently (always?) a target for mass rape and abuse. While this requires an assumption, based on knowledge of warfare it is safe to assume that the Nephite women prisoners were subjected to rape, whereas the Nephites had no women hostages. The Nephites ended up taking back every single prisoner without losing a single person while capturing the Lamanite guards (Alma 55).

3. Abuse/Respecting Women

Returning to Mormon: “And after they had done this thing [rape from above], they did murder them in a most cruel manner, torturing their bodies even unto death; and after they have done this, they devour their flesh like unto wild beasts” (v. 10). After describing the depravity, Mormon states that God will not be able to hold back punishment on such wickedness (v. 11-15).

Morianton led a rebellious faction against the Nephites. However, his plan was foiled when he became angry with a maid servant “and fell upon her and beat her much” (Alma 50:30). She fled and told Moroni of Morianton’s plans. Moroni responded by sending an army and killed Morianton (v. 35).

A little later in the war the converted Lamanites sent their sons to battle. They were successful in battle as they performed “every word of command with exactness”, which came to them by faith which “their mothers had taught them” (Alma 57:21).

Morianton beat his maid servant and suffered death nearly immediately. The stripling warriors listened to their mothers. As a result, none of the stripling warriors were killed (Alma 57:26). Note that in Moroni 9, Mormon cited the abuse by the “people in Moriantum” which is virtually identical to Morianton.

4. Widows/Single Women

Mormon continues the awful scene of depravity with another reason why the Nephites had to be destroyed: mistreating widows (Moroni 9:16-19).

In Mosiah 20 the priests of King Noah saw Lamanite women gathered together. The priests, instead of returning to their own wives and children, abandoned their families and kidnapped the women. Later, the descendants these priests were killed by the Lamanites (Alma 25:7-10).

Following the abduction of their daughters, the Lamanites attacked the people of Limhi, thinking they were responsible. Following a peace agreement, the Lamanites abused the people of Limhi (Mosiah 21: 2-5). The people murmured, so the king went to war against the Lamanites three times and lost every one (Mosiah 21:6-8; 11; 12). The people humbled themselves and set up a system to care for widows and children (Mosiah 21: 17). After setting up a home teaching like system of care for the widows they escaped oppression without a single casualty.

5. Daughter of Jared

Finally, at nearly the end of Moroni 9, Mormon compares the Nephites to the Jaredites, as why they had to be destroyed.

Few mentions of women occur in the Book of Ether. One notable example is the daughter of Jared son of Omer. In brief, to gain power Jared and Akish sexually exploited a women to gain power. In order to accomplish this, they set up a secret combination (Ether 8-9). Engaging in secret combinations leading to destruction is common theme in the Book of Mormon (e.g. Ether 8:18-22). What is of note is that one of the few times we are let in on what happened in secrecy, it is exploiting a woman for power. In the end, those that engaged in such behavior met their demise and never prospered, and the king they plotted against had his kingdom restored.

Alma’s Prophecy

The last words of Alma were that the Nephites “will see wars and pestilences, yea, famines and bloodshed, even until the people of Nephi shall become extinct – Yea, and this because they shall dwindle in unbelief and fall into the works of darkness, and lasciviousness, and all manner of iniquities” (Alma 45:10-14). It’s of note that the only iniquity singled out by Alma is lasciviousness.

As a point of comparison to lasciviousness destroying the Nephites, we can see what happened after Christ’s visit. Following the ministry of Jesus Christ among the Nephites, a utopian society eventually arose. One reason given for nature of the society was no “manner of lasciviousness” (4 Nephi 1:15-6).

King Lamoni versus Noah

The most famous missionary story in the Book of Mormon is Ammon and the sons of Mosiah. Time wise, this happens in the middle of the book. Using 600 BC to 421 AD (ignoring the Book of Ether), there is a 1021 year of history with the middle being about 90 BC. “About 90 BC” is the dating given for the conversion of the Lamanite households.

For a short recap: the central story of the Book of Mormon is a story of mass conversion driven by a Lamanite woman with more faith than any Nephite, a prophesy of Jesus being born of a woman, and one of the few woman named – Abish (Alma 19).

King Noah is a point of comparison of the household of King Lamoni. The introduction given about him gets to the point (Mosiah 11:2 (see also 4, 14)): “…he [Noah] had many wives and concubines. And he did cause his people to commit sin, and do that which was abominable in the sight of the Lord. Yea, and they did commit whoredoms and all manner of wickedness.” Abinadi came to preach repentance to Noah and his priests of “their wickedness, and their whoredoms.” Noah killed Abinadi instead. Later, the remaining priests began their own society; called the Amulonites. However, the Lamanites later went and killed nearly everyone who was descended from the priests (Alma 25: 2-9).

These two stories could be viewed as separate and distinct; however, the two are intertwined. The story of the Priests of King Noah happens first, and then we get the story of Lamoni. Following this, the Nephite missionaries went to the apostate Nephites, but “neither were any of the Amulonites [converted]; but they did harden their hearts” (Alma 23: 14). Next the story returns to the house of Lamoni with other Lamanites killing the converts. The converts laid down their weapons to be slaughtered, stopping the killing. Angry at killing innocent people, the Lamanite army went and massacred the descendants of the priests of Noah (Alma 24: 19-25; 25:1). After this, the narrative returns to the Lamanite converts and they leave to move among the Nephites. Thus, the stories of the destruction of apostate Nephites who in essence mistreated women every way possible is weaved around a story of Lamanites who respect and listened to women who were saved. Note that Jacob prophesized that the Lamanites would be preserved and the Nephites destroyed for their treatment of women (Jacob 3), which is what happens in central story of the Book of Mormon.

Very good points.  Thank you for sharing them.

Thanks,

-Smac

[CV75]

14 hours ago, blackstrap said:

Setting aside the fairness issue, can we name Nephi's wife, or Laman's or Alma's or Moroni's or Mormon's ? 

I suggest a couple of reasons for the lack of females spoken of :

1. They wanted a massive wall built to protect the women from a wicked world

2. They were wary if not afraid of the considerable power that women have over men and their desires.

3. Literacy and record keeping were taught only to the males of elite families so  there was little chance for the writings of women

   as was true of most ancient societies. 

Of course ,as a man, my opinions are often flawed. 😶 

RE: names, Zelda, Kayla, Mina, Goldie and Shanice, respectively.

[firepatch36]

11 hours ago, Kevin Christensen said:

For more on Women in the Book of Mormon,  see this essay for which I noticed that:

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/msr/vol10/iss2/5/

Also this one on Instructional Wisdom in the Book of Mormon

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Fg1zuabUj5r156AhrlRlGAfUgBzdQpQL/view?pli=1

And this one by Daniel Peterson, Nephi and His Asherah.

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol9/iss2/4/

And this one by Val Larsen on Heavenly Mother:

https://www.squaretwo.org/Sq2ArticleLarsenHeavenlyMother.html

FWIW,

Kevin Christensen

Canonsburg, PA

I've read the Peterson one multiple times and am familiar with  the Larsen, and von Feldt articles, but not the others. I got them downloaded, thanks for the reference .

[firepatch36]

7 hours ago, smac97 said:

1. Scripture Central: Why Are So Few Women Mentioned in the Book of Mormon?

2. Journal of Book of Mormon Studies: Women in the Book of Mormon

Thanks for these, I hadn't seen the first and will read the second.

[firepatch36]

22 hours ago, Rain said:

So are you saying that there are few women in the Book of Mormon because they weren't treated well?  If not could you please simplify it into a short sentance or paragraph?  I can understand what you are saying through it, I think, but I'm lost on the connection.

To put this as briefly as I can: Jacob and Mormon stated that poor treatment of women will lead to the destruction of the Nephites. The lack of women in the BoM can then be viewed as an object lesson as to what happens when women are mistreated: you will be destroyed. The specific forms of mistreatment each have a positive and negative example in the text to show the prophesy fulfilled in miniature. 

 

Hope that helps.

[webbles]

9 hours ago, Tacenda said:

Maybe they had so many concubines, they gave up using their names...couldn't keep them straight.

This made me think of how early Romans named their daughters.  All the daughters were given the exact same name.  It was the feminine form of family name.  So, if your family name was "Aemilius", then all your daughters were named "Aemilia".  If you had one daughter, it was simple.  If you had two daughters, then you might call one "Aemilia Maior" (the eldest) and the other "Aemilia Minor" (the youngest).  If you have more than 2, then you start counting them, such as "Aemilia Tertia" (the third).  All women with that same last name were named "Aemilia", so all your cousins, nieces (if their dad is your brother), and aunts.  It sounds like a headache.  The female names did get better by the time of the Roman Empire but there were several hundred years of this naming convention.

[bluebell]

19 minutes ago, firepatch36 said:

To put this as briefly as I can: Jacob and Mormon stated that poor treatment of women will lead to the destruction of the Nephites. The lack of women in the BoM can then be viewed as an object lesson as to what happens when women are mistreated: you will be destroyed. The specific forms of mistreatment each have a positive and negative example in the text to show the prophesy fulfilled in miniature. 

 

Hope that helps.

I'm not following on how not mentioning women very much equals poor treatment.  Can you clarify?

Historically, women (and children) are known as the "silent majority" because they are almost never mentioned or written about.  Generally, men didn't find them or their lives important enough to do so.  Clearly, the lack of historical records about women does not have anything to do with object lessons about what happens when women are mistreated. 

Why should we assume that the BOM, which treats women like all the other historical records treat them, is doing it for a different, nobler, reason?

[The Nehor]

I take Jacob’s warning about destruction the same way I take Roman writer’s in the first century CE worrying that decadence will destroy the Roman Empire. If said destruction is centuries away then it didn’t cause anything.

[Rain]

4 hours ago, firepatch36 said:

To put this as briefly as I can: Jacob and Mormon stated that poor treatment of women will lead to the destruction of the Nephites. The lack of women in the BoM can then be viewed as an object lesson as to what happens

I don't see how you get from ^ there to here ---->

4 hours ago, firepatch36 said:

when women are mistreated: you will be destroyed. The specific forms of mistreatment each have a positive and negative example in the text to show the prophesy fulfilled in miniature. 

 

Hope that helps.

I get the whole mistreatment of women and destruction idea. I just don't see how not mentioning women becomes an object lesson. While it's not a good thing that women are missing it is not the same thing. Your object lesson of an omission of women is for a commision of rape, abuse, kidnap and sexual exploitation. Is there something I'm missing in what you are saying? 

 

 

 

[MustardSeed]

I mean, it could be presented as an object lesson, but I don’t think that was the original intent. At all.

[firepatch36]

On 8/26/2024 at 10:25 PM, bluebell said:

I'm not following on how not mentioning women very much equals poor treatment.  Can you clarify?

It seems that the Nephites gave less importance to women, or ignored them. In the text, there isn't many mentions of women is an extension of the Nephite's behavior. 

[bluebell]

2 hours ago, firepatch36 said:

It seems that the Nephites gave less importance to women, or ignored them. In the text, there isn't many mentions of women is an extension of the Nephite's behavior. 

Yes, but that is true of almost all historical books.  Men almost never wrote about women, even men who treated women well we can assume.  I'm not sure how you are making the leap from that to it happening on purpose as an object lesson for us.  

I think that's where a lot of us are confused.

[The Nehor]

If ignoring women or treating them poorly was a point of the text Mormon really should have mentioned it.

[The Nehor]

1 minute ago, bluebell said:

Yes, but that is true of almost all historical books.  Men almost never wrote about women, even men who treated women well we can assume.  I'm not sure how you are making the leap from that to it happening on purpose as an object lesson for us.  

I think that's where a lot of us are confused.

This. Unless they are a plot point or were in a position of power or are a prize to be won (looking at Helen of Troy here) women didn’t get much mention in most ancient documents. There is an irony that the Bible is much more progressive on this point. Only six women get mentioned by name in the Book of Mormon. Eve, Sarah, and Mary are biblical figures and Sarah is only mentioned in passing as the mother of all of Israel. Then there is Sariah whose only main action in the story is to doubt Lehi. Isabel who might not even be an individual woman is a harlot. Then there is Abish who was secretly converted to the Lord due to her father’s vision and plays a minor role in the sons of Mosiah missionary story.

[bluebell]

51 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

This. Unless they are a plot point or were in a position of power or are a prize to be won (looking at Helen of Troy here) women didn’t get much mention in most ancient documents. There is an irony that the Bible is much more progressive on this point. Only six women get mentioned by name in the Book of Mormon. Eve, Sarah, and Mary are biblical figures and Sarah is only mentioned in passing as the mother of all of Israel. Then there is Sariah whose only main action in the story is to doubt Lehi. Isabel who might not even be an individual woman is a harlot. Then there is Abish who was secretly converted to the Lord due to her father’s vision and plays a minor role in the sons of Mosiah missionary story.

We could probably add in the mothers of the Sons of Helaman and a couple Lamanite queens (and maybe a jaredite daughter or two conspiring against a father or husband) since they are mentioned with purpose (and not just in passing as 'wives and daughters' or 'widows' and 'sisters'). 

But yeah, if you are looking to argue for the worth and equality of women scripture is not the place to go.

[The Nehor]

29 minutes ago, bluebell said:

We could probably add in the mothers of the Sons of Helaman and a couple Lamanite queens (and maybe a jaredite daughter or two conspiring against a father or husband) since they are mentioned with purpose (and not just in passing as 'wives and daughters' or 'widows' and 'sisters'). 

Yeah, there are other characters but they don’t get names. I was being very specific when I said mentioned by name.

There are some oddities in who doesn’t get a name in both men and women. The Brother of Jared is the most obvious one. Also Lamoni’s father never gets named along with his wife. Lamoni’s wife especially deserved a name drop. 

29 minutes ago, bluebell said:

But yeah, if you are looking to argue for the worth and equality of women scripture is not the place to go.

Definitely true.

[MustardSeed]

Women don’t need noticing.  Just ask the folks of  Afghanistan.