By the time I hit the “post” button or shortly thereafter, someone will explain that in Moroni’s time, the land was under attack, the Nephite kingmen were committing treason, Moroni was justified, etc. Whatever. As history, I agree that the story is a teensy bit problematic. But as a specimen of pre-modern literature, it works pretty well. Slaying thousands due to one’s tremendous wrath happens all the time in medieval literature, at least. I was just reading a similar incident in “Ortnit” (before the Sabbath afternoon post-dinner blood sugar collapse knocked me unconscious).

Moroni asks Pahoran for help, and no help comes. So he writes a nasty letter ripping Pahoran a new one, accusing him of all kinds of things, projecting motivation onto Pahoran’s lack of participation with No Data, because apparently Moroni has a Mind Reading Hat.

Then, Pahoran sends a letter explaining what happened (“Sorry we couldn’t help, but we were under attack, y’see…but I’m not angry that you told me off without cause”). The narrative indicates that Moroni is happy that Pahoran has not abandoned the cause. At any point, though, does the narrative indicate that Moroni was wrong? Does Moroni express any regret for going off half-cocked? Does he recognize that the appropriate response for ripping someone a new one without cause would be to apologize?

And furthermore – the Title of Liberty was stupid. Who puts an entire paragraph of text on a flag made out of a coat to inspire people? Um, d’you suppose people were actually able to read the text, way up there on the flagpole?

Nibley went to great lengths to show that these king men were not pacifists, but rather they were an armed militia that was a very real threat to the nation. The fact that is was a true battle between the King Men and the army supports this. We are told how many king-men died but not how many free-men in Moroni’s army died. Later events also show that the leftovers of these king-men temporarily succeeded in forcibly overthrowing the government while Moroni and friends were at the front line fending off the invaders. I think the Nibley essays I have in mind are reprinted in The Prophetic Book of Mormon.

(BTW — I think that some of those essays rival his work in Approaching Zion)

The more interesting question is, when you see things like this in the Book of Mormon, do you presume that you’re right and they’re wrong or the other way around?