“All the People of Zarahemla Were Numbered with the Nephites”

Alan C. Miner

Mormon makes an interesting cultural note in Mosiah 25:13 that "all the people of Zarahemla were numbered with the Nephites." The reader should note that just previously in the narrative Ammon, the leader of the expedition to find the descendants of Zeniff's colony in Lehi-Nephi, was distinctly described as a "descendant of Zarahemla" (Mosiah 7:3). Thus, the numbering of the people of Zarahemla with the Nephites was apparently more political than cultural. This is brought out in the end of verse 13, which says that this numbering was "because the kingdom had been conferred upon none but those who were descendants of Nephi." [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]

Step by Step Through the Book of Mormon: A Cultural Commentary

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