Those of the Nephites who were not slain in the recent battle, nor were taken prisoners by the Lamanites, fled to the nearby City Teancum which was close to the seashore. Here the refugees joined the defenders of that city, and by their joint efforts they did prevail. The next year, it being the 364th, the Lamanites came against it, but by the united efforts of its protectors the Lamanites' attack was repelled and they were driven back. (v. 8)
Again the hue and cry of victory resounded throughout the Nephites' possessions, and drowned out all appeals for a spirit of thanksgiving. They would not acknowledge that God overruled all, but again they felt strong in their own might. They were, in their opinion, sufficient to the end they had in view. In a way they were successful, but only temporarily. They marched forth in their self-supposed might, and exhibiting all the strength they possessed, recaptured from the Lamanites the City Desolation.
This state of things continued yet for about ten years. War, contention, rapine, pillage, and all the honors incident to the letting loose of men's most depraved and brutal passions, filled the land. Sometimes one army conquered, sometimes the other. Now it was the Nephites who were pouring their forces into the south; then the Lamanites were overflowing the north. Whichever side triumphed, that triumph was of short duration; but it all meant sacrifice, cruelty, blood-guiltiness, and woe.
Mormon here observes what we, too, may take as a warning. We may compare our lives with the actions of the Nephites at this time. They sought trouble by going out for it. They attacked the Lamanites. Mormon notes that "it was because the armies of the Nephites went up unto the Lamanites that they began to be smitten; for if it were not for that, the Lamanites could have had no power over them." How often do we approach evil, thinking we are strong enough to overcome its blandishments. It is then we begin "to be smitten." Little by little we fall a prey to the things we once hated, and love the things to which we were once indifferent. Only God Himself can save such a man, and that by man's sincere repentance, for, "Behold," Mormon says, "the judgments of God will overtake the wicked." (v. 5) The Nephites sought things which would satisfy their depraved appetites; if we seek righteousness, Satan can have no power over us, just the opposite of Lamanitish might that had power over the Nephites when they sought the things God had forbidden-bloodshed and murder even if it was called "warfare."
A story we heard in our youth, although its allegory is imperfect, will tend to illustrate our point. In the old days before good roads, an owner of a stage line advertised for a competent and careful driver. Three men in particular answered, and them he took to a high mountain pass overlooking a steep cliff. The road, which we may call it, narrowed down as it negotiated a turn. To the first, he said, "How near can you get to the edge of that cliff and not go over?" The owner of the stage line was assured that the job's prospect could go almost to the edge of the cliff, and not any farther. "Good," said the inquirer, and asked the second applicant the same question. "I can get my back wheels over the cliff, and still regain the roadway." That was still better. But the third man in answer to the same question, replied: "I don't know how near the edge I can go, but I will stay as far away from it as I can." He got the job. The moral is: Stay away from even the appearance of evil. "Seek not after riches nor the vain things of this world; for behold, you cannot carry them with you." (Alma 39:14) But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the Kingdom of God.
It is by the wicked that the wicked are punished. How often has this been the case in the history of the Jews as well as in the history of the Nephites. The wicked Jews in crucifying our Lord, brought disaster to their descendants, who are still unbelievers in Christ's Divinity. The idolatrous nations, Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, and others, sought to bring apostate Jerusalem into bondage. This they did many times. But we do not hear of Jewish bondage in their Golden Age when they served the Lord. When they did not, but left the worship of the Only True and Living God, it so happened that the wicked nations of the earth came upon them and at one time carried many of their great ones into captivity at Babylon.
This was also the case with the Lamanites and those Nephites who forsook the Way of Righteousness, and entered by and forbidden paths. After the final battle at Cumorah when only the Lamanites survived the carnage, they battled one with the other. Moroni, in finishing his father's (Mormon) record, says: "The Lamanites are at war one with another; and the whole face of the land is one continual round of murder and bloodshed." (Mormon 8:8) The wicked survivors killed other wicked survivors of that battle.
In the case at point, Mormon informs us that the Lamanites, who were notoriously wicked, punished the wicked Nephites. Both had become so embroiled in sin that they actually delighted in the shedding of blood. They "sought for happiness in doing iniquity." (Helaman 13:38) At no time in the history of Lehi's descendants, or even among the Jews, had the people sunk so far in debasement, in profligacy, and in crime, as did both the Nephites and Lamanites of this period. Mormon says: "And it is impossible for the tongue to describe, or for man to write a perfect description of the horrible scene of the blood and carnage which was among the people, both of the Nephites and the Lamanites; and every heart was hardened, so that they delighted in the shedding of blood continually." (v. 11)
After again capturing the City Desolation, because of their superior numbers, the Lamanites also came in their might against the City Teancum. They overcame all resistance, and took many women and children prisoners. The Lamanites had 'become so debased and so corrupt that they offered their captives-both women and children-up "as sacrifices unto their idol gods." This so enraged the husbands and fathers of the Nephites that they "did go against the Lamanites with exceeding great anger." So fiercely did the Nephites fight, and so violently did they combat the Lamanites that they drove them entirely out of all Nephite lands. These things all happened in the 367th year, and the Lamanites were so beaten that they did not again come to battle with the Nephites for eight years, or until the year 375.