“That He Might Preserve Their Hatred Towards the Nephites”

Brant Gardner

Although Mormon notes the “hatred,” he also recognizes the dominant Mesoamerican objective of war: to “bring into bondage.” Political and military subjection means that the conquered people would redirect the flow of goods toward a new object. This is the meaning of Mesoamerican and Book of Mormon “bondage.”

Second Witness: Analytical & Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 4

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