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The initial Lamanites descended from Laman and Lemuel, the two oldest sons of Lehi and Sariah. The rebellion of these two sons against their father Lehi and their brother Nephi began soon after the family departed from Jerusalem on the way to the land of promise.

Nephi indicated that his brothers wished to return to Jerusalem. Lehi made a conscientious effort to help these two sons understand the importance of their journey. When they arrived at the first stopping place in the wilderness, for example, Lehi named the nearby river after Laman and the valley after Lemuel. No doubt Lehi was trying to encourage these two sons to change their attitude, become an integral part of the family, be cheerful about the journey they were undertaking. Nephi stated that Lehi did this “because of the stiffneckedness of Laman and Lemuel; for behold they did murmur in many things against their father” (1 Nephi 2:11).

The first chapters of the Book of Mormon contain a litany of murmurings by Laman and Lemuel against parent and brother. It greatly saddened Nephi that “Laman and Lemuel would not hearken unto my words; and being grieved because of the hardness of their hearts I cried unto the Lord for them” (1 Nephi 2:18).

The history of the Lehites is practically one long battle between the opposing Nephite and Lamanite factions. The spiritual damage caused by these two older brothers over the course of the history of the Nephite civilization is incalculable and serves as a witness as to the long-­term effect that a rebellious family member has over his own posterity and others over a period of many generations. Enos, for example, in his prayer in behalf of the Lamanites, said, “Wherefore, I did pour out my whole soul unto God for them . For at the pres­ent our strugglings were vain in restoring them to the true faith. And they swore in their wrath that, if it were possible, they would destroy our records and us, and also all the traditions of our fathers” (Enos 1:9-14).

Father Lehi knew from his dream concerning the tree of life (1 Nephi 8) that his two oldest sons would not remain faithful nor choose righteousness in the long run, yet he repeatedly tried to teach and warn them of the dangers they would face if they continued in their rebellion. But, he was unable, even in his last sermon to them, to turn them from their chosen course. They continued the persecution of Nephi until finally the Nephites were forced to separate from their brothers to a land named after Nephi. Much of Lehi’s last counsel to his posterity was a chastisement of his wayward sons. He pleaded with them to follow their younger brother: “Rebel no more against your brother, whose views have been glorious,” but his plea was in vain (2 Nephi 1:24).

Lehi taught the family the overall principle: “Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; and inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence” (2 Nephi 4:4). Then, in an effort to negate or minimize the effect of waywardness of the two oldest sons on their posterity, Lehi blessed Laman’s children that they would not be swept off the land:

But behold, my sons and my daughters, I cannot go down to my grave save I should leave a blessing upon you; for behold, 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.

Wherefore, because of my blessing the Lord God will not suffer that ye shall perish; wherefore, he will be merciful unto you and unto your seed forever. (2 Nephi 4:5-7; italics added)

To the children of Lemuel, Lehi gave a similar promise:

Today we are see large numbers of Lamanites coming into the Church, particularly in Mexico and in Central and South America. It appears that the blessings Lehi left upon his grandchildren are being realized today. One profound instance of the ­latter-­day fulfillment of prophecy to Lehi’s seed by a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles came through Elder Melvin J. Ballard when he dedicated South America for the preaching of the gospel.

Elder Melvin J. Ballard’s grandson M. Russell Ballard, also a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, stated:

How profoundly the Church has been affected by the growth of Church membership among the Lamanites. Elder H. Verlan Andersen observed concerning the work among the Lamanites in South America:

During the past few years, my wife and I have served as missionaries in Latin American countries .It has been deeply satisfying to work with those lovable and believing people and to see the prophecies of the Book of Mormon being fulfilled as hundreds of thousands of the descendants of Lehi join the Church. The day of the Lamanites has truly arrived.

The history of the Lamanites just before the Lord’s first appearance on this continent reveals an interesting parallel between what occurred then and what is happening today. Commencing about the year 92 b.c., the Lamanites began coming into the Lord’s Church by the tens of thousands. That conversion miracle, which took place just shortly before the Lord’s first advent, is being repeated now just prior to his second coming. (“Missionary Work Is the Lifeblood of the Church,” 23)

Preserving the Lamanites in the Land

There were times in the Book of Mormon account when the Lamanites were more righteous than the Nephites. “Ye have done greater iniquities than the Lamanites, our brethren,” Jacob chastised his people (Jacob 2:35). “Behold, the Lamanites your brethren, whom ye hate because of their filthiness and the cursing which hath come upon their skins, are more righteous than you” (Jacob 3:5; italics added). Then he predicted that the Lamanites would be preserved in the land: “Wherefore, because of this observance, in keeping this commandment, the Lord God will not destroy them, but will be merciful unto them; and one day they shall become a blessed people” (Jacob 3:6).

Then, in a particularly severe rebuke, Jacob compared the behavior of the Nephite men to that of the Lamanite men: “Behold, their husbands love their wives, and their wives love their husbands; and their husbands and their wives love their children; and their unbelief and their hatred towards you is because of the iniquity of their fathers; wherefore, how much better are you than they, in the sight of your great Creator?” (Jacob 3:7). Jacob’s rebuke came hundreds of years before the Savior visited the Nephites.

During the mission of Alma and Amulek to the people of Ammonihah, Alma rebuked the wicked of that city, saying, “It would be far more tolerable for the Lamanites than for them” in the day of judgment. For, he said, “The promises of the Lord are extended to the Lamanites, but they are not unto you if ye transgress” (Alma 9:23-24).

A few decades before the appearance of the resurrected Lord at Bountiful, Nephi, the son of Helaman, explained the consequences of the Nephites‘ wickedness in contrast to the Lamanites:

Nephi revealed the source of this inspired insight:

It appears that the Lamanites were not destroyed, in part because they did not have access to scriptural records throughout most of their history and in part because they had few prophets among them. Thus, they were not as spiritually accountable as were the Nephites, who had both the written record and living oracles. Nephi explained that the promises of the Lord were extended to the Lamanites because had the Lamanites had the gospel rather than the Nephites the outcome would have been different:

The Lamanites Were Preserved

There are several reasons why the Lamanites were preserved in the land. First, Lehi and later prophets prayed mightily to God to preserve them. They asked the Lord to preserve a record so that at some future day the Lamanites would learn the gospel. These servants of the Lord asked Him to turn their hearts to the gospel in their day as well as in the latter days.

Second, the Lamanites, during several periods of history were more righteous than the Nephites (Helaman 6:1, 34, 36; 13:10). The Nephites had possession of the scriptures and were blessed of the Lord initially, but eventually they apostatized from the truth and ripened to such a state of iniquity that the Lord used the Lamanites to sweep the Nephites from the land, as He had indicated to Nephi that He would (1 Nephi 2:21-24).

Unfortunately, after they swept the Nephites from the land, the Lamanites remained in a state of apostasy and became more primitive for centuries without the gospel or the priesthood in their lives. “The Lamanites are at war one with another,” Moroni explained, “and the whole face of this land is one continual round of murder and bloodshed; and no one knoweth the end of the war. And there are none save it be the Lamanites and robbers that do exist upon the face of the land” (Mormon 8:8-9).

When the destruction of the Nephites was complete, the Lamanites remained scattered, which was their condition when Columbus found them. From that point on, the Lamanites suffered great destruction at the hands of the advancing Gentile civilization in both North and South America. Native Americans in the United States were killed outright, moved off lands, placed on reservations, and treated shabbily by the incoming settlers, just as Lehi had predicted (2 Nephi 1:11). This outcome was foreseen by ancient ­prophets – ­Isaiah (29:1-4) as well as Lehi, Nephi, and their successors upon this continent.

Mormon lamented the great loss and the fate of the Lamanites: