“The Lord is Mightier Than Laban and His Fifty Yea or Even Than His Tens of Thousands”

Bryan Richards

When one is outnumbered in the cause of truth it helps to remember how the Lord protects his servants against the armies of the world – as seen in the following story: Elisha had been giving military advice to the king of Israel to help the Israelites avoid the Syrian army. When the Syrian king heard that Elisha's divine interventions were giving away their military positions, he sent his entire army to take out Elisha.

'…behold an host (of Syrians) compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his (Elisha's) servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?

And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the LORD, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.' (see 2 Kings 6:8-18)

With the help of the Lord, Elisha and his servant defeated an entire Syrian army. This was the same kind of faith that Nephi had. His message to his faithless brothers was, in effect, 'Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.'

Heber J. Grant

"That is the kind of faith to have. Let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of God and then we know that we can win the battle, though we may be opposed by a man with his tens of thousands. The final result was that Nephi got the plates." (Conference Report, Oct. 1899, p. 129)

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