“The Nephites Had Gathered Together a Great Number of Men”

Alan C. Miner

In Mormon 1:7, Mormon notes that "the people were as numerous almost, as it were the sand of the sea." However, just 4 verses later in Mormon 1:11 he states that "the Nephites had gathered together a great number of men, even to exceed the number of thirty thousand. And it came to pass that they did have in this same year a number of battles, in which the Nephites did beat the Lamanites and did slay many of them." One might ask, Why, if the Nephites were as numerous as "the sands of the sea," could they only raise an army of 30,000? Perhaps this verse is either describing only one of many battle zones for the Nephite "armies" (see Mormon 2:3), or it is possibly describing a relatively minor battle. [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]

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

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