Helaman2, the son of the Helaman1 who led the stripling Ammonite warriors, served as chief judge for twelve years, from the forty-second to the fifty-third years of the reign of the judges (50–39 B.C.). After an assassination attempt against him in his inaugural year, his reign was the most peaceful of any Nephite chief judge. He saw no wars, and nine of his years were notably marked as times of peace. He was especially remembered for his “justice and equity” (Helaman 3:20), which says a lot.
Most significantly, the forty-ninth and fiftieth years of the reign of the judges appear to have been something of years of jubilee. The forty-ninth year would have been the seventh sabbatical year (a reasonable time for great celebration and rejoicing) and the fiftieth year was the jubilee itself (a time of continual peace and great joy). The jubilee laws under the Law of Moses are found in Leviticus 25–26. The forty-ninth and fiftieth years are mentioned in particular in Leviticus 25:8–10.
The jubilee celebrated by Helaman2 and his people was not, however, like other fifty-year jubilees dictated by the Law of Moses. This seems to have been a quasi-jubilee, rightly celebrating the fiftieth year of the reign of the judges. Apparently, the Nephites were still celebrating the festivals under the Law of Moses. But now they had two calendars going: (1) the ancient Mosaic calendar, marking festivals such as Passover and the Day of Atonement that were required to be celebrated according to law on the Plates of Brass, and (2) the Nephite calendar that counted the years since instituting the reign of judges, marking dates for the occasions of celebrating their own unique anniversaries. Whatever the actual nature of the Nephite jubilee, Mormon apparently could not pass by the forty-ninth and fiftieth year of the reign of the judges without commenting that “thousands did join themselves unto the church and were baptized unto repentance” (3:24) and that they had “peace and exceeding great joy” and then “continual peace and great joy” in those two years (v. 32). Mormon significantly emphasized the public religious celebration that took place at this time.
At the same time, it is important to note that during this brief season of peace, growth, and prosperity, the Gadianton robbers were already secretly infiltrating Nephite society. The secret actions of the Gadiantons were not known to Helaman2 and other officials of government (v. 23), but Mormon could insert that information because he knew the story with hindsight gained from other records he was abridging. A chronological overview of the reign of Helaman as chief judge is helpful:
Figure 1 John W. Welch and Greg Welch, "Helaman as Chief Judge," in Charting the Book of Mormon, chart 38.