Mormon uses this murder as evidence that “the people began to grow exceedingly wicked again.” While Mormon is reporting on historical events, he is not reporting as a historian but because this episode teaches as moral lesson. (See commentary accompanying Helaman 6:8–9.) From a modern perspective, the increase in “wickedness” (social dissent) probably preceded and therefore caused the judge’s murder. Nevertheless, Mormon can best achieve his editorial purpose by inverting cause and effect.
Chronology: The sixty-seventh year of the reign of the judges corresponds to 28 B.C.