Although the Nephite collapse would play out over several decades, this passage effectively marks its end. Ammaron was probably a judge (or king) but almost certainly, he was the last member of the dynasty that began with Nephi, the son of Nephi. (See 4 Nephi, Part 1: Context, Chapter 2, “Introduction to 4 Nephi.”) Ammaron did not die, nor did he pass on the record to his son or, in a son’s absence, another male relative, which he could have done even if the son was not righteous.
I therefore hypothesize that this line of righteous rulers has been removed from power, just as the righteous had lost their political influence at the end of the book of Helaman. In this case, Ammaron considers the usurper not only dangerous to him personally but also to the records; otherwise, he would not have buried them. Thus, 320 years after Jesus’s birth, the gospel is so scorned that even the traditional records are in danger. This development suggests a change in Nephite politics and religion of unprecedented proportions. Even when unbelievers threatened believers with death on the eve of the Savior’s birth, there is no indication that they viewed the records with any animus.
Chronology: Three hundred and twenty years correlates to A.D. 313.
Text: The book of Nephi ends here with the “end of the record of Ammaron.” But more than ending his personal record, it ends all of the material Mormon chose to present from Nephi3’s dynasty.
Conclusion to the Book of 4 Nephi: Fourth Nephi simply doesn’t behave like all of Mormon’s other books. Here is a brief comparison between the Mosiah–3 Nephi material and 4 Nephi.
• From Mosiah2 to the Savior’s arrival is less than 150 years. From the beginning of 4 Nephi to the end of 4 Nephi is 286 years.
• From the book of Mosiah to the end of 3 Nephi covers 331 pages. 4 Nephi covers 4 pages.
• In the earlier material, Mormon noted empty years, typically consecutively, but recorded specific events. In 4 Nephi, Mormon marks empty years but allows whole decades to pass. The marked years are suspiciously round numbers (50, 100, 200, 300 years), and usually he describes only generic events, often repeating, for all practical purposes, events from the previous set.
• Particularly in Alma, Mormon discussed the wars in detail, naming generals, describing battles, and spelling out the territory that changed hands. Mormon quickly passes over battles in 4 Nephi.
• The earlier material doesn’t dwell on politics, but Mormon describes the type of government and names the main governors. In 4 Nephi, Mormon is entirely silent on the topic.
What conclusions might we draw from all of these anomalous features? Why does Mormon suddenly change his entire approach to his task? (See 4 Nephi, Part 1: Context, Chapter 2, “Introduction to 4 Nephi” for a full discussion.)
Given Mormon’s conception of his book as a testament of Christ’s first coming and also his second coming, the significant story has already been told and the only task that remained was to recount the Nephite destruction. It seems likely that he intended Ether as an appendix, something like the 1 Nephi-Omni material. Both added important information but were outside his intended scope. Fourth Nephi merely fills in the gap between the Savior’s visit and the Nephite annihilation. As already discussed, Mormon slows his narrative before the Savior’s visit until he is writing what amounts to year-by-year detail. After that most important event, he speeds up dramatically.
This explanation, however, fails to explain in a satisfying way why the same historian created two very different types of history, before and after the visit of the Savior. Given the indications that he was writing either from an outline or from a earlier draft (see Mosiah, Part 1: Context, Chapter 2, “Mormon’s Structural Editing: Books and Chapters”), these choices were purposeful. He explains that he wrote his book testifying of Christ for a future generation. Therefore, he wrote 4 Nephi as he did because he was presenting a different type of message from the pre-3 Nephi material.
Mormon structured his history in two parts. The first tells how the Nephites came to be, reports their destruction by the Gadianton robbers, and describes the Savior’s visit. The second set begins with the re-creation of the Nephites and ends with their destruction by the Gadianton robbers. For Mormon, history repeated itself. Therefore, in the first section (pre-3 Nephi), he details the events that caused the Nephite destruction; but since the second section repeats the first, he simply uses key words and phrases to invoke the pattern.
The missing item from this reprise is the Savior’s second coming—and that is Mormon’s message to his future readers. They (we) must understand that the Savior will return and that we must be ready.