Hugh Nibley wrote: “Readers of the Book of Mormon often express… weariness and impatience at having to wade through 170 pages of wars and alarms in a religious book. . . .
War is anything but glamorous in the Book of Mormon; the campaigns and battles are described not as a writer of fiction would depict ancient warfare with all its excitement and color; all that a romantically inclined young American of the 1820’s would imagine as the gaudy trappings of heroic daring-do is conspicuously missing. It is real war that we see here, a tedious, sordid, plodding, joyless routine of see-saw successes and losses—brutally expensive, destructive, exhausting, and boring with constant marches and counter marches that end sometimes in fiasco and sometimes in intensely unpleasant engagements. The author writes as one would write—as only one could write— who had gone through a long war as a front-line observer with eyes wide open. Everything is strictly authentic, with the proper emphasis in the proper place. Strategy and tactics were treated with the knowledge of an expert: logistics and supply; armaments and fortifications; recruiting and training; problems of morale and support from the home front; military intelligence from cloak and dagger to scouting and patrolling, interrogation, guarding, feeding, and exchange of war prisoners; propaganda and psychological warfare; rehabilitation and resettlement; feelers for peace and negotiations at various levels; treason; profiteering; and the exploitation of the war economy by individuals and groups—it is all there.” ~ Hugh Nibley, The Essential Hugh Nibley p.149, 2014, c Deseret Book Company, Used by permission, (emphasis added).
Such detail as described above and that ‘it is all there’ is a parallel of the rest of the Book of Mormon (and the faith from which it came)—a parallel about life itself in any/all eras… all struggles, adversity, heartache. Every facet of our earthly sojourn; happy, sad, brutal, and exquisite have parallel lessons and examples within the pages of the Book of Mormon. It is why this book of scripture is worthy of a constant read. As it is read prayerfully and consistently, it is absolutely amazing how often answers for current concerns are in the book’s reading for that day or within a relatively short time. Remember too how very young Joseph was (in his early twenties and with a third grade education) during the translation process,… and then all that followed. Truly, without the Lord’s help and guidance the Book of Mormon and Joseph’s miraculous life never would have happened. k
