In spite of the righteous Three Nephites, Mormon describes an apostasy in the precise 231st year (v. 35). While his source material no doubt recorded a related event, we should take this timing cautiously for the reasons discussed above.
Note what happened in the thirty-first year: “And the people saw it, and did witness of it, and were angry with him because of his power; and he did also do many more miracles, in the sight of the people, in the name of Jesus. And it came to pass that the thirty and first year did pass away, and there were but few who were converted unto the Lord; but as many as were converted did truly signify unto the people that they had been visited by the power and Spirit of God, which was in Jesus Christ, in whom they believed” (3 Ne. 7:20–21). Precisely two hundred years earlier, the people had a righteous prophet, but few new converts resulted. The two events are not directly parallel, but they are significantly similar and have been connected through the precise two-hundred-year difference. It is also a more-than-remarkable parallel that this verse emphasizes tribes (Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, Zoramites, Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites). As part of the Nephite destruction prior to the Messiah’s visitation, the Nephite polity was destroyed and reverted to tribes in the thirtieth year (3 Ne. 7:1–4). In the pseudo-millennialistic aftermath of the visitation, there were no tribes. Two hundred years later, the precise tribal divisions of the pre-millennialistic period reappear.
Mormon is obviously shaping this passage as a literary antithesis to the unity (v. 17) that prevailed during the two hundred years of perfect peace. Mormon’s purpose is very clear. Historically, however, we need to know how to read these apparently “lineal” divisions.
A key to this litany of tribal affiliations is in Mormon’s statement: “And it was because of the wickedness and abomination of their fathers, even as it was in the beginning. And they were taught to hate the children of God, even as the Lamanites were taught to hate the children of Nephi from the beginning” (v. 39; emphasis mine).
The repetition of “beginning” signals that Mormon is identifying a structural pattern and that this event is another of its symbolic components. This disunity is the antithesis of “nor any manner of -ites” (v. 17). The new world formed after the Messiah’s visit returns to the old world that had existed from Nephite beginnings.
Jacob 1:14 explains the non-lineal usage of lineal categories: “I shall call them Lamanites that seek to destroy the people of Nephi, and those who are friendly to Nephi I shall call Nephites, or the people of Nephi.” Mormon labels his divisions in exactly the same way: “There arose a people who were called the Nephites, and they were true believers in Christ” versus “they who rejected the gospel were called Lamanites, and Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites.”
The key element in determining whether a given person is a Nephite or a Lamanite is belief in Christ, not parentage. While kin groupings certainly remained during the Nephite golden age, actual genealogy was not the issue. The difference was unity or disunity indicated by the Nephite/Lamanite label. The return of social divisions brings the revival of Nephite/Lamanites designations, even though biology remained unchanged.
It is interesting that the Zoramites are listed among the Nephites. History of the “beginning” associated Zoram with Nephi1, but the Zoramites were also an infamous apostate group, responsible for wars against the Nephites before the Savior’s birth (Alma 35:10–11). This proximity suggests that they would have been associated with the new Lamanites; consequently, finding them with the Nephites refers to that founding generation—another indication that this is an artificial construction rather than a reporting of precise lineages.
Mormon’s narrative shows the symbolic return to previous unrighteousness. His meta-theme is comparisons of the first and second Nephite destructions. Since an element in the first destruction was the conflict between Nephites and Lamanites, Mormon makes certain that the Lamanites are present for the second destruction.
Chronology: Two hundred and thirty one years in the Nephite chronology corresponds to 225 A.D. in our calendar.