The Spy King Zeniff

Zeniff, a Nephite soldier, disobeyed orders from his commander to destroy their enemy the Lamanites to begin a spiritual history and heritage lasting for centuries. Zeniff's actions facilitated the rise of Mosaic Christianity among the ancient Americans decades before the birth of Jesus Christ.

A small army of spies/operatives/colonists deployed from Zarahemla, the capital city of the Nephite government employed to gain intelligence on the Lamanite confederacy--how to destroy it. The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ chronicles the lives of key historical figures who helped to bring the culture, religion, and historical records of their society into existence. Zeniff's decisions provided the cultural context from which great men rose to power and shaped Nephite society.  

Zeniff received orders from his unnamed commanding officer to find weaknesses in Lamanite society to destroy them; however, after living among them, he and like-minded operatives decided there remained hope to reclaim the Lamanites who had rejected the Gospel due to incorrect information given to them from the foundations of their societies hundreds of years before. These spies/colonists did not want to act in a way to destroy their brethren, but to reclaim them.  Zeniff, by way of conscience, refused to hurt the Lamanites; and with a large number of supporters fought a battle with his leader and the rest of the colonists seeking to rid the Nephites of the Lamanite problem. Zeniff's revolted against his commander!

In his brief entry in the gold record of Nephi that is now The Book of Mormon, Amaleki accused Zeniff's leader of being obstinate. "There was a large number [of Nephites, who were the spies] who were desirous to possess the land of their [first] inheritance. Wherefore, they went up into the wilderness. And their leader being a strong and mighty man, and a stiffnecked man, wherefore he caused a contention among them; and they were all slain, save fifty, in the wilderness, and they returned again to the land of Zarahemla." (Omni 1:27-28)

He did not actively solicit followers, but Zeniff did not relent and submit to the command of his leader when told to act to harm their political rivals, an extermination order, in order to possess the lands. Zeniff and his followers prevailed in the battle and returned to Zarahemla to relate the tale to the citizens--especially the families of the dead colonists. Zeniff wanted "that our ruler should make a treaty with them," the Lamanites (Mosiah 9:2). The unnamed leader declined, "he being an austere and a blood-thirsty man commanded that I should be slain," (Mosiah 9:2) and the aforementioned battle commenced.

Zeniff's Faith 

After his report, Zeniff and his group of 49 recruited others to return to the Land of Nephi, as they called it, to inherit that land and possess it, as it once belonged to the Nephites who lost it through internal strife, apostasy, intrigue, and war to the Lamanites. He established an oasis kingdom of Nephites among their centuries-old enemies the Lamanites. 

Zeniff refers to himself as a zealous person in attempting to regain his claim to the lands of his inheritance. His desire to obtain title to lands the Nephites abandoned in flight from the Lamanites led Zeniff to make a rash action, petitioning King Laman to obtain the land of Nephi as an inheritance. Zeniff willingly admits his fault, a level of humility beyond the stubborn epitaph suggested in the record about this stiffnecked ruler attempting to murder him on his first journey. Zeniff admitted he contended with team members about the possibility of entering into a treaty with the Lamanites because he had a change of heart about destroying them by noticing their humanity. 

God favored Zeniff because of a blessing placed upon the Lamanites by their ancestor, Lehi. In his last act as Patriarch of his united family, Lehi pronounced blessings on all of his posterity and warnings, declaring that "inasmuch as ye shall keep [God's] commandments ye shall prosper in the land; and inasmuch as ye will not keep [God's] commandments ye shall be cut off from [God's] presence" (2 Nephi 4:4). God's presence, as described in the reference, includes His protection, among other things, from ANY type of extermination and still holds valid upon the Americas.

Lehi informed them, "I know that if ye are brought up in the way ye should go ye will not depart from it. Wherefore, if ye are cursed, behold, I leave my blessing upon you, that the cursing may be taken from you and be answered upon the heads of your parents. ...because of my blessing the Lord God will not suffer that ye shall perish; ...he will be merciful unto you and unto your seed forever," 2 Nephi 4: 5-7. 

The Lamanites would not be utterly destroyed if they did not keep the commandments but continue on and receive blessings and sorrow at the hand of Gentiles who would appear after the Nephites' destruction. God would not have allowed the Nephites' preemptive strike against the Lamanites to prevail on the merit of Lehi's blessing to the children of his sons Laman and Lemuel which extended to their posterity.

Zeniff was a man of God, and it was the Spirit of God that drove him to speak up in defiance of his commanding officer to avoid destroying the Lamanites. It was probably the only time in Nephite history that the Nephites could have had the advantage to bring the Lamanite nation to an end. 

All Hail King Zeniff

Because the founding father, Nephi, laid the foundation of a city and a temple in the city of Nephi, Zeniff boldly requested the lands from King Laman. Laman provided graciously the lands of Lehi-Nephi and Shilom to the eager settlers, which included cities both with respective names as the lands. The Lamanites who inhabited those areas vacated peaceably to allow the return of the descendants of the original owners. Lehi-Nephi may have been the place of the temple Nephi constructed similarly to Solomon's temple 400 years earlier, but there is no indication from the records that this is the case. The City of Nephi (presumably Lehi- Nephi) became the seat of the new monarch of Zeniff.

Zeniff recorded that he possessed a superior Nephite education, which included language education and a religious history. Knowledge of the Land of Nephi gave him power to negotiate properly for inheritance with King Laman, at least for those two parts of the land, Shilom and Lehi-Nephi. Being the foremost of the group of people who accompanied him to the Land of Nephi, he became the obvious choice for leader, for a king. 

The goodwill of King Laman came with subterfuge, Zeniff related. Laman placed this group of settlers in a long con. After 12 years of living in peace and prosperity with the Nephites, Laman acted on his deception to take the possession of the Nephites. Apparently, Zeniff was under the impression that Laman wanted to enslave them. Laman sent his people to attack the outlying areas of Shilom killing citizens and stealing property. Those who could flee ahead of the carnage sought refuge in the City of Nephi where King Zeniff resided.

Zeniff rallied his people in prayer to the Lord for deliverance, which they received by repulsing the Lamanite attacks. Following this loss, King Laman abandoned his efforts to enslave the Nephites and left them in relative peace until he died 20 years later. Laman's son had designs on conquering the Nephites as he encouraged his people to oppose them. 

Espionage Saves the Day

Zeniff did not allow his experiences with Laman to go to waste. When first he went to the king he did so with trust. After 12 years when the truth of Laman's intentions fully matured, King Zeniff took measures to prepare against another surprise attack. Using the methods for which he was known, espionage, Zeniff kept tabs on the Lamanites following the first war. 

When the son of Laman began his propaganda machine against the Nephites when he ascended to the throne, Zeniff was prepared to counter. Zeniff searched the cultural heritage of the Lamanites so that he could understand their mentality as a group. After over twenty years of searching, he provided an assessment of their central philosophies to deliver to his people to motivate them to fight valiantly against their encroachment. 

The Lamanites felt wronged by the Nephites; so, King Laman planned to use his treaty with the Nephites, though a small group only, to exact revenge on them for 400 years of what he considered injustices! Mosiah 10:11-17 details the understanding of the Lamanites Zeniff provided, which has set the standard of belief about Lamanite aggression from that point forward.

Mosiah 10:11-17 Politicks of the Lamanites

Zeniff related that "the Lamanites knew nothing concerning the Lord, nor the strength of the Lord, therefore they depended upon their own strength. Yet they were a strong people, as to the strength of men. They were a wild, and ferocious, and a blood-thirsty people, believing in the tradition of their fathers, which is this—Believing that they were driven out of the land of Jerusalem because of the iniquities of their fathers, and that they were wronged in the wilderness by their brethren, and they were also wronged while crossing the sea ... that they were wronged while in the land of their first inheritance, after they had crossed the sea, and all this because that Nephi was more faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord—therefore he was favored of the Lord, for the Lord heard his prayers and answered them, and he took the lead of their journey in the wilderness."

He provided this explanation to his people when they prepared to go to battle against the Lamanites to help them understand their enemy's motivations based on a misunderstanding, as opposed to the Nephites' motivations based on their faith in God. He continued, referring to Nephi and his brothers Laman and Lemuel. Laman and his followers felt "wroth with him [Nephi] because they understood not the dealings of the Lord; they were also wroth with him upon the waters because they hardened their hearts against the Lord. And again, they were wroth with him when they had arrived in the promised land, because they said that he had taken the ruling of the people out of their hands; and they sought to kill him." 

"And again, they were wroth with him because he departed into the wilderness as the Lord had commanded him, and took the records which were engraven on the plates of brass, for they said that he robbed them. And thus they have taught their children that they should hate them, and that they should murder them, and that they should rob and plunder them, and do all they could to destroy them; therefore they have an eternal hatred towards the children of Nephi. For this very cause has king Laman, by his cunning, and lying craftiness, and his fair promises, deceived me [Zeniff], that I have brought this my people up into this land, that they may destroy them; yea, and we have suffered these many years in the land."

Safety Before the End

Motivating his people to go against an army of people who surrounded them on all sides is what Zeniff had to do. Immersed in a deadly waiting game, the Nephites in the City of Nephi looked to God for their support instead of 400-year-old grievances to justify abuse toward their foes as the Lamanites did. The fact that the information was presented incorrectly to generations of Lamanites, who thought their interpretations were correct, meant utter destruction to this group of Saints unless they yielded to the wisdom of God, which they did.

Using his skills as a spy and his faith as a follower of Christ, Zeniff saved his people from the attacks of the Lamanites before the cold hand of death claimed him in his old age. Noah, his son, inherited the protected mini-kingdom of Nephites. The death of Zeniff ended the Messianic-Judac kingdom as Noah undid all that his father accomplished. Noah strived as zealously as his father except that King Noah reigned for the glory of his passions and desires and not the glory of God and his people.