“He Was Run Upon and Trodden Down Even Until He Was Dead”

Brant Gardner

Textual: Mormon’s tight construction of his story is evidenced here in this transition. He has a story to tell about Korihor, and one to tell about Zoram. He uses the death of Korihor at the hands (or more literally feet) of the Zoramites as his transition from one story to another. This tight connections raises the question of whether or not the death of Zoram was recorded in his sources, or whether Mormon used some literary license to fill in this particular blank in a way that moved his story along.

Of course it is possible that the statement is accurate, but that requires that the death of Korihor was recorded in an official Zarahemla document when the event occurred at some time later than the trial, and it occurred in a vassal city some distance from Zarahemla. While the historicity of the statement is possible, it would appear equally as probable that his is the result of some literary license on Mormon’s part. Even were it the result of the literary license, it would not necessarily have been out of place for the self-righteous Zoramites, about

Multidimensional Commentary on the Book of Mormon

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