The Church

Originally published by Covenant Communications, Inc., 2010

Chapter 5Twenty-four Lamanite Daughters

Now there was a place in Shemlon where the daughters of the Lamanites did gather themselves together to sing, and to dance, and to make themselvesmerry.

Mosiah 20:1

How could twenty-four Lamanite women become so devoted to their Nephite “enemy” husbands, that when the women were rescued, they chose to stay with their captors?

These Nephite men were the enemy, had been for centuries. The Lamanite women had been taken by force from their homeland and dragged away, only to be surrounded and controlled by a band of wild men-Nephites who were wicked enough to be cast out from their own city by their own people.

The band of Amulon was the worst of the worst. In fact, Amulon was one of the most “dangerous characters of the Book of Mormon.”[1]

The Lamanite women were dancing in Shemlon, possibly participating in a festival to celebrate one of their idols. During this era, the moon goddess Ix Chel was honored by young women, in order to ensure fertility. Ix Chel was also the goddess of weaving and medicine.[2] Fertility was a high priority in any young woman’s life in this culture, as in many others, and weaving was an almost sacred art.

The Lamanite daughters were certainly surprised and mortified to be abducted and forced to marry, but this practice dates back to the ancient custom of robbing brides. German anthropologists call this practice Frauraub, when the men were required to take brides outside of their tribe.[3] This practice continues today, although technically illegally, by the Kyrgyz tribe in Kazakhstan, who call it AlaKachuu.

As a distant parallel, in the Bible (see Judges 21) certain Israelite leaders “instructed the Benjaminites to kidnap the daughters of the Israelites who lived at Shiloh while the young women danced in the vineyards.”[4] These kidnapped virgins from Shiloh became the abductors’ wives.

Desperation

Who were these Nephite priests who dared to steal daughters of the enemy? Did the priests really expect to go undetected and unpunished? Desperation certainly played a role in their motivations. These men were outcasts of their own society. Some of these men had left behind their own wives and family, not daring to return for fear of death at the hands of their own people (see Mosiah19:11, 21; 21:23). Perhaps in their minds, a Lamanite wife was as good as the Nephite one they could not return to.

We know that two years had passed from the time of their witness of the fiery death of King Noah and their subsequent flight into the wilderness (see Mosiah 19:21).[5]Amulon was their leader, a man with very few scruples. As a former advisor to King Noah, he likely held seniority and took over leadership of this band of men as a natural course, which is demonstrated when they named their new community after Amulon

The wayward priests eventually discovered the place where the daughters of the Lamanites gathered to dance. A man who has been living in hiding with only other men in the wilderness for two years and is nearly starved for the company of a woman would likely need little provocation to take the next step-prudent or not. Amulon and his men certainly missed the skills and influence of women in their lives, not to mention companionship (Mosiah19:29).

Conceivably it was a combination of temptation and an innate desire for posterity that led these Nephite men to abduct the Lamanite women. Unless the priests were willing to join up with another community that did have women, they would ultimately die out. These men had lived for two years in a harsh wilderness, carving out their lives from scratch, but they were alone.

When the priests discovered the Lamanite gathering place, they “laid and watched” the women-apparently multiple times since “when there were but a few of them gathered” the Nephites came out of their hiding places and captured the women (Mosiah 20:4-5)-twenty-four in all. This might give us clues to how many men belonged to Amulon’s band. Or it might present a dilemma if there were more women than men, or vice versa. Of course we know that the Nephite priests of King Noah’s court were not adverse to taking more than one wife (see Mosiah 11:2).

One thing to take into consideration is that some of these young women may have already been betrothed, which means they were under strict marriage obligation. Not only were parents and families of these women certainly at a loss, so were any potential grooms. Therefore, the punishment of the crime rises to penalty of death, which may explain why both the Lamanite king and the Nephite King Limhi sent out a decree of death to the guilty (Mosiah 20:7, 16).[6]

Simple Lifestyle

The Lamanite daughters probably weren’t used to much grandeur unless there was a princess or two among them, but they had lived in greater civilization than what would be found in the community of Amulon. In the Nephite village they likely lived in the typical Mesoamerican house which consisted of “small, straight sticks (or even reeds or cornstalks) aligned vertically and tied to the house frame. The spaces between the sticks might be left open, allowing smoke from the cooking fire to disperse . . . Most roofs were of thatch.”[7]

Furniture was basically non-existent, and meals were eaten on the floor. Tables served as workbenches, supporting a clay griddle and a flat stone for grinding maize. Consistent with how their forefather Lehi slept, beds were likely floor mats, although a mat-covered pole platform or a hammock may have been used.[8]

In addition to growing a community through bearing children, women would have brought many benefits to the hamlet of Amulon, including taking over the tasks of preparing meals and making clothing. Freestanding looms or back-strap looms were used by ancient Mesoamerican women. Not only was weaving a revered talent, but it was also considered a necessary skill for women. “The life of a woman from birth to death centered around the production of beautiful, well-made textiles.'”[9] After two years of rough living, the kidnappers could discard their ragged clothing and benefit from new clothing.

Now the men could spend the day planting or harvesting “corn, beans, and squash,” then return home where the women had already ground cornmeal and prepared other food.[10]

Above and beyond the practicalities of men and women coming together in order to survive and raise families and a community, something extraordinary happened between those Nephite men and Lamanite women, something that later caused the women to beg for their husbands’ lives. We cannot know for sure what moved them to do so, but can only speculate upon their motivations. Perhaps fear of what their kidnapper husbands would do to them if they did not plead for mercy on the criminals was enough. Perhaps love was found among some of those forced marriages. Perhaps it was something else entirely.

A Chance for Escape

After the priests had fled the city of Nephi, the Lamanites controlled the city and King Limhi.

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So two years later, when the daughters went missing, the Lamanite king immediately assumed it was the people of Limhi (see Mosiah 20:6-7).[11]This “sudden disappearance of the young women led to an immediate rupture in [their] treaty.”[12]

A battle resulted, and by the time the misunderstanding was finally resolved, many were left dead on both sides (see Mosiah 20:8-12). Lives had been lost and blood shed over the abduction. Two more years passed, and many skirmishes later, Limhi’s people escaped the Lamanites with the Lord’s help. An army of Lamanites pursued, but became lost in the wilderness. As this lost army tried to find its way back to the city of Nephi, they stumbled upon Amulon’s hamlet. Much to the Lamanites surprise, they discovered their missing women.

Immediately, the Lamanites prepared to reclaim their women and take them home. Yet, something amazing happened. “The daughters of the Lamanites . . . [pled] with their brethren, that they should not destroy their husbands.” (Mosiah 23:33) This was not the first time in the Book of Mormon that a man’s heart has been softened by a woman’s entreating.[13] As discussed previously, centuries earlier, Nephi, held captive by his brothers, was released in response to a plea from two women (see 1 Nephi 7:19). Literature also echoed this practice in Lysistrata, a comedy of Aristophanes, when the women end war by pleading with the other side.[14]

Maybe the Lamanite women’s loyalty to their Nephite captors was a precursor to Stockholm Syndrome,[15] in which kidnapped victims sympathized with their kidnappers, or even the adage of falling in love with the “bad guy.” After all, to these women, the Nephites were definitely the bad guys. Combine that with the priests’ rebelliousness against their own people, and they were traitors as well as being kidnappers.

Or maybe the reason wasn’t so base after all, but something infinitely more. Possibly it was a desire to adhere to the marriage covenant, a loyalty to their marriage vows-vows that transcended race or religion. Perhaps it was simply devotion to the upcoming births or newly born children of the forced marriages. The apparent loyalty of these women confounds you and me, but in a broader sense it can be understood. A mother’s love for a child would transcend the circumstances of marriage in this case.

Possibly up to a year had passed between the abduction and the time that the Lamanites discovered the priests with their missing daughters, and some children had likely been born to or were being expected by the couples in that time.[16] A year is long enough for the abducted Lamanite women to have created little families and homes of their own. The women are referred to as “wives” and the priests as “husbands” (Mosiah23:33-34). Though the original act of capturing was illegal in both societies, the marriages were surprisingly honored in Lamanite society.[17]

The Lamanite warriors had compassion on the women. Not only did they spare the lives of the seditious Nephites, but enough affinity and trust was established that Amulon and his men joined the Lamanites in their search for the city of Nephi (Mosiah 23:35). Eventually these priests and their wives would re-enter Lamanite society.[18]

Interestingly, literature has echoed the theme of women falling in love with their captors, time and time again. In that light, the story of the twenty-four Lamanite daughters does not seem so unique. But the story of abducted young women falling in love with their captors is the premise of one of the most intriguing events in the Book of Mosiah.

Regardless of the reasons the Lamanite women turned down a chance at freedom and chose to stay with their Nephite husbands, in them we can find an example of dedication and love found in few other places.

Heather B. Moore is the Best of State award-winning author of Abinadi and Alma the Younger. Her next novel, Daughters of Jared, will be out May 2012. Non-fiction works include Women of the Book of Mormon, and Christ’s Gifts to Women co-authored with Angela Eschler. Visit Heather’s website for more information: www.hbmoore.com

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