Literature: Mosiah 9 begins with a formal declaration: “I, Zeniff, having been taught in all the language of the Nephites.… ” This introduction echoes Nephi 1:1–2: “I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days. Yea, I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians.” Although the two introductions share the writer’s identification of himself and his declaration of his “learning” and “language,” they are still sufficiently different in that Zeniff is not, apparently, copying Nephi. Indeed, most Book of Mormon writers seem unaware of the small plates of Nephi. Therefore, we would not expect that Zeniff would have (or could have) copied 1 Nephi 1. However, Nephi may have introduced his large plates in a similar way. Perhaps Zeniff modeled his introduction on the large plates of Nephi.
This possibility becomes more probable when we realize that Zeniff has the same relation to his people (founder of the lineage and the kingdom) that Nephi did for his own people. Therefore, it was appropriate to begin a new record and make a formal declaration of identify and intention. No doubt Zeniff intended his book to continue as a record his dynasty, just as the lost book of Lehi would have included the Lehite dynasty. However, in this case, Limhi closed the three-generation dynasty by reuniting with Zarahemla and becoming a subject of Mosiah.
History: The Book of Mormon introduces Zeniff in Omni 1:27–30, although without naming him. The next mention is in Mosiah 7:9 where Limhi identifies Zeniff as his progenitor. Limhi also gives an abbreviated account of his people’s history (beginning Mosiah 7:21) with a fuller account following in Mosiah, chapters 9–21, taken from the official dynastic history.
Zeniff’s introduction continues by posing another mystery. The purpose of the original expedition was to spy on the Lamanites “that our army might come upon them and destroy them.” Why was military action being considered? Mosiah1 and his people had recently fled from the city of Nephi, so it seems likely that the Lamanites overmatched them militarily. Perhaps, now that the Zarahemlaites have swelled their population, the displaced Nephites consider that they had the military strength to “correct” their dispossession. In other words, this expedition appears to be a manifestation of both nostalgia for their former home and a grudge against those who had forced them out. Thus, this military action was mounted, apparently with Mosiah1’s blessing. This expedition is the one of the rare overtly offensive actions taken by the Nephites. (See commentary accompanying Mosiah 9:17–19 for another occasion.) All other records indicate that the Nephites fought only after the Lamanites had instigated action.
Zeniff, a spy for the army, is supposed to learn about the people they want to attack, particularly the ways in which they would be most vulnerable. But what Zeniff learned changed the group’s plans: “when I saw that which was good among them I was desirous that they should not be destroyed.” What could have changed his mind?
We have no details about how Zeniff conducted his spying mission. It seems probable, however, that he disguised himself and went into the city of Nephi. As one who had recently lived in the land of Nephi he was able to pass as a native in both dress and language. There were at least two times that Zeniff was among the people of the city of Nephi for verse 5 mentions a second expedition. Zeniff therefore talked with some of the people and witnessed their lifestyle.
Those of the city of Nephi were linguistically Nephite but politically Lamanite. Mosiah1 fled with his people from internal pressure, not external attack. Those left behind in the city of Nephi had developed the wealth and power that Jacob denounced and were almost certainly those who had conspired against Jacob. (See commentary accompanying Omni 1:12.) Their way of life would have been somewhat familiar to Zeniff, and certainly their wealth and power would have been impressive. As many soldiers have discovered, the average person who is the “enemy” is still a human being, and there is much good in all the world. Zeniff saw this first hand.
Nevertheless, Zeniff’s recognition that the people were good must have had meant more than simple goodheartedness. For Zeniff to persuade a majority of the invading army that there was “much good” in these Nephites-become-Lamanites, there must have been some visible and persuasive evidence; not all who fought with Zeniff against the leader of the expedition would have entered the city and spoken with the inhabitants.
I hypothesize that the wealth and power of the inhabitants helped Zeniff’s expedition see “that which was good.” The foundational promise of the Nephites was that: “Inasmuch as thy seed shall keep my commandments, they shall prosper in the land of promise” (1 Ne. 4:14). Zeniff may have assumed that the reverse was also true, that evidence of prosperity was evidence of some form of keeping the commandments and of “goodness.” While those of the city of Nephi had become Lamanites politically, it is doubtful that they abandoned all of their inherited religion immediately. Therefore Zeniff would see a people who still had similar beliefs and a visible prosperity to attest to their “goodness.” (See “Excursus: Religion of the Nehors,” following Alma 1.)
If the tentative connections between Book of Mormon cities and archaeological sites are accurate, Nephi/Kaminaljuyú was much more spectacular than Zarahemla/ Santa Rosa. Internal evidence in the Book of Mormon confirms that difference in size and wealth.
Perhaps Zeniff thought that, with Mosiah1’s people gone, the internal tensions had been relieved and the returning Nephites could settle peaceably in the general area, probably also accumulating some of the same wealth that characterized the city of Nephi. Indeed, the fact that the inhabitants granted lands to Zeniff’s people is evidence that they felt no consuming hatred toward those who had fled with Mosiah1.
Language: As with most comments involving language in the Book of Mormon, Zeniff gives us ambiguous information that we would prefer he had elaborated. He was selected as a spy because he “had a knowledge of the land of Nephi” but also because he had “been taught in all the language of the Nephites.” The common origins of the Nephites and Lamanites lay nearly five hundred years in the past—plenty of time for at least one of the groups to have adopted the language of other tribes in the area or at least to be strongly influenced by other languages. Although Mosiah1’s people left behind linguistic and cultural “Nephites” when they fled, those linguistic and cultural Nephites have now become political Lamanites, enemies to “the people of Nephi,” who took this designation with them to Zarahemla.
Zeniff specifically notes that he was “taught” that language, probably as his natal language. The conjoining of the Nephites and the Zarahemlaites required some merging of languages. Mosiah had “Nephite” taught to the Zarahemlaites (Omni 1:18). Historically, the Zarahemlaites probably spoke Zoquean (a daughter language of Mixe-Zoque, the probable language of the Olmecs). The city of Nephi had been in an area dominated by Maya speakers. Maya and Zoque are unrelated and a meeting of two peoples with those two languages would certainly occasion the linguistic difficulties hinted at in the Book of Mormon’s record of their meeting. Archaeologist John S. Henderson notes: “Interaction of Maya and Zoquean peoples continued as a historical process along a linguistic frontier that extended from the Gulf Coast through the highlands and piedmont to the Pacific Coast.” In the case of Zeniff, his fluency in “Nephite” qualified him as a spy.