"In A.D. 30, the last chief judge of the once-great Nephite nation was assassinated by a secret combination of judges, lawyers, and apostate high priests. That murder ended the sole republic of the Nephite record and continued a process of social disintegration halted only by the coming of the resurrected Christ. In that process, the unrighteous Nephites destroyed what remained of governmental regulation and divided their society into tribal units. One large band selected 'one of the chiefest who had given his voice against the prophets who testified of Jesus' to be their king. (3 Ne. 7:10.) The reign of the judges had lasted only 120 years." (James R. Moss, Ensign, Sept. 1977, 61)