In these verses the historian continued to describe the appearance of the benighted Lamanites. Besides the ferocity of their looks when prepared for battle, they had, he implied, been overtaken by moral darkness and ignorance. Their brethren, the Nephites who remained true to God’s laws and the traditions of their forefathers, were a “white and delightsome people.” The Lamanites were slothful and spent their time, not in the peaceful pursuits of the Nephites, but in the chase, in robbery, and in the harassment of their enlightened brethren who progressed to an onward goal which was promised to them by their God-inspired leaders. In the events of many years in which much bloodshed and thievery had a portion, the children of “Laman and Lemuel, and also the sons of Ishmael, and the Ishmaelitish women,” sank to unfathomable depths of barbarism and unrepented-wickedness. They had quickly become a loathsome, degenerate, and unprogressive race.
The inspired writer of this part of the Book of Mormon, we presume it was Mormon who noted that he could not write even the hundredth part of what the original writer placed on record, nevertheless, in his abridgment thereof, he described in rather great detail the fallen state of the Lamanites. He gave the reasons why the descent of the Lamanites into this seemingly bottomless pit was so rapid. He briefly traced their history from the time when they first rebelled against the authority vested in God’s chosen one, until that time when, about 500 years later they had become the enemies of all righteousness.
In the first place, Laman, who, according to Hebrew custom was the rightful leader of Lehi’s children upon the death of their father, rebelled at his younger brother assuming that position. He allowed a growing hatred of him to guide his confused actions, and was joined by Lemuel, the next oldest brother. This younger brother Nephi, who together with his other brothers, Jacob, Sam and Joseph—called “holy men” in the Sacred Record—walked undaunted in the path of duty, loyally following in their father’s footsteps. It is well to note that these younger brethren were strict in keeping the commandments of the Lord, and in serving Him in every way, boldly and without guile. On the other hand, Laman and Lemuel characterized their father as being “visionary,” and they said of him shortly after leaving Jerusalem, “... he had led them ... to leave the land of their inheritance, and their gold, and their silver, and their precious things, to perish in the wilderness.” This, Laman and Lemuel opined, their father, Lehi, had done “because of the foolish imaginations of his heart.”
So great was the resentment of Laman and Lemuel towards Nephi that hostile action was decreed by them. They therefore sought to kill him and thus rid themselves of his alleged usurpation of that which they considered their right.
The Lord, seeing the wicked intent of Laman and Lemuel, cursed them because they sought to destroy His faithful servants, and “set a mark upon them,” that made known to all that He was displeased with the actions of the older brothers. This mark was a dark skin. It followed from father to son, from mother to her daughter, and to all who intermingled with them, their seed.
It was the lot of them who joined Laman or his children in marriage, for the Lord foresaw that their offspring would follow them in the wicked desires of their hearts, and if allowed to do so would contaminate the whole people. To excuse themselves in their wrongdoing, Laman and Lemuel and their followers caused untruths to be scattered among their children so that quickly they became steeped in falsehoods and lies. Stories about how from Jerusalem their forefathers had been driven because of their own wickedness, and how Nephi and his brothers had robbed Laman and Lemuel of great riches, including the Plates of Laban, were told by them with increasing fervor. They also denied the existence of God, and they said that the coming of the Messiah was only a myth. False traditions soon proved the sandy ground on which the Lamanites built their future.
In all this the Lord moved to protect His people. A distinction was thus made to separate those who believed His holy word, and those who numbered themselves with the unbelievers. They who believed and kept His commandments, those who were guided by the correct traditions in which the righteous believed, were “called the Nephites, or the people of Nephi, from that time forth.” It is they upon whom the burden rested of keeping the true records of both the Nephites and the Lamanites, and thus we have this day a record of the righteous to guide us to that Holy Home which is the goal of all worthy Christian believers.