Once the Nephites had
dealt with the threat from the Gadianton robbers, there is an indication that
they had major societal reforms.
4 And
they began again to prosper and to wax great; and the twenty and sixth and
seventh years passed away, and there was great order in the land; and they had
formed their laws according to equity and justice.
5 And now
there was nothing in all the land to hinder the people from prospering
continually, except they should fall into transgression. (3 Nephi 6:4-5)
I really wish I knew in what
ways they had great order in the land. Did they organize the use of natural
resources so there wasn’t any fights over that? Did they make sure everyone
knew the laws so everyone had realistic expectations of their rights and
privileges so no one infringed on others?
Did they have societal goals and go about to meet them in an orderly
manner? Did people act orderly
without pushing through lines or getting in fights? Did families form properly
and in the right way?
It’s hard to know exactly
what “great order” means, but at the same time it is broad enough to encompass
a bunch of different types of orderliness at every level of society. I guess it
can encourage us to try to imagine what great order looks like on a family
level, on a community level, on a church level, on an employment level, on an
industry level, on a regional, state, and national level. It also encourages us to imagine what
laws on each of those levels helped create that order.
The other impressive thing
it says is that nothing could stop them from prospering continually except
their own transgression.
Sigh. That’s always the rub, isn’t it? Humanity is astonishingly
skillful at self-sabotage. When things get too easy, we tend to forget our
blessings, forget to be diligent, forget the Lord, and look for shortcuts. Then
we fall and land ourselves in trouble again.
Because of the great order
in society, it bred a condition in which there were many merchants, lawyers,
and officers in the land. (3 Nephi 6:11)
The prosperity meant there was plenty of surplus with which to buy
things, so supply multiplied to meet the demand. Hence the many merchants. There were still disputes, but solving
it in an orderly way meant an increase in demand for advocates and experts in
law. Hence the many lawyers. And
keeping order tends to require checkpoints, gate-keeping, bureaucracy, lines,
waiting, etc., which helps people know what to expect and when and how, but
that would require a great number of officers to oversee. Which is helpful, but
progress can seem too slow with all that, and the human mind will then begin to
fantasize about breaking the order to get what one wants faster and easier.
My conclusion is that it
takes good, patient people to maintain that order over a long time. It’s also lovely that we have Mormon’s
assessment that with just and equitable laws it is only transgression that
hinders us from prospering.
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