Helaman2 died while in office in the fifty-third year of the reign of the judges. We do not know much about this man. Why? Well, may we all be blessed to live a boring life! When all was peaceful, what do the historians have to say? What do newsrooms have to report? Helaman2 died when he was about thirty-five years old. If his son, Nephi, was born when Helaman was twenty, that Nephi would have been about fifteen years old when his father died. There was not a lot of father-to-son continuity in this situation. This young Nephi barely knew his father and Helaman’s second son, Lehi, had known him fewer years.
The commentary on Helaman2’s time in office, however, pointed out that he followed in the footsteps of his father: “Helaman did fill the judgment-seat with justice and equity; yea, he did observe to keep the statutes, and the judgments, and the commandments of God; and he did do that which was right in the sight of God continually; and he did walk after the ways of his father, insomuch that he did prosper in the land” (v. 20). A similar commentary on the nature of the reign of Nephi2 likewise stated, “He did fill the judgment-seat with justice and equity; yea, he did keep the commandments of God, and did walk in the ways of his father” (v. 37).