Nephi’s first recorded communication with God contained a promise which became a central theme in the Book of Mormon: “inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper” (1 Nephi 2:20). This divine promise was referred to directly 18 times in the Book of Mormon (1 Nephi 2:20, 1 Nephi 4:14, 2 Nephi 1:9, 2 Nephi 1:20, 2 Nephi 4:4, Jarom 1:9, Omni 1:6, Mosiah 1:7, Mosiah 2:22, Mosiah 2:31, Alma 9:13, Alma 36:1, Alma 36:30, Alma 37:13, Alma 38:1, Alma 48:15, Alma 48:25, Alma 50:20), and indirectly many more times.
What does it mean to prosper?
The Book of Mormon records many times where this promise from God was fulfilled. From these, we learn that the promised prosperity is made evident in these three categories: wealth, health, and safety.
yea, and after having been delivered of God out of the land of Jerusalem by the hand of the Lord, having been saved from famine and from sicknesses and all manner of diseases of every kind; and they having been waxed strong in battle that they might not be destroyed; having been brought out of bondage time after time and having been kept and preserved until now; and they have been prospered until they are rich in all manner of things—
—Alma 9:22
Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold and in silver and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art, sparing their lives and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies, softening the hearts of their enemies, that they should not declare wars against them, yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people, yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts and do forget the Lord their God and do trample under their feet the Holy One—yea, and this because of their ease and their exceeding great prosperity.
—Helaman 12:2
This is what "prosper in the land" meant to the writers of the Book of Mormon. Sometimes the authors would only list one or two of them as evidence of prosperity, but from the passages above it seems clear that the most "prosperous" times would include all three. A more complete listing of usages of the word "prosper" in the Book of Mormon is given at the end.
The pride cycle
This promise of material wealth as a reward for righteous living is essential to what is now referred to as the “pride cycle”: a group of people who are humble and follow the commandments are blessed with prosperity. After a time, their increased wealth causes them to be proud and to stop thanking or following the Lord. This leads to wickedness, which in turn leads to a loss of their prosperity, often through war, crime, or famine. Eventually, it gets bad enough that the people begin to turn to the Lord again, and the cycle repeats. This cycle is recorded more than two dozen times in the Book of Mormon, and will be covered more in depth in a separate article. If the blessing of prosperity was not related in particular to wealth, then this cycle would not happen.
A contradiction
In Mosiah 2:22, king Benjamin tells us:
And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments. And he hath promised you that if ye would keep his commandments, ye should prosper in the land. And he never doth vary from that which he hath said, wherefore if ye do keep his commandments, he doth bless you and prosper you.
With this in mind, it should be impossible for someone who is righteous to not prosper—that would mean either that God broke his promise or that the Book of Mormon lies. Let's consider some examples.
- Ether was a righteous prophet, and he was a prince ... born in captivity who had to live much of his life as a fugitive hiding in a cave while watching his people be completely destroyed by war.
- Mormon was a righteous prophet, and he was a great general ... of a wicked army with more losses than wins before he was finally killed along with everyone else he cared about except for his son.
- Abinadi was righteous, and he ... was falsely imprisoned and then executed by burning to death.
What’s going on? These prophets, who were models of righteousness, as well as other righteous individuals both named and unnamed in the Book of Mormon, clearly were missing at least one of the promised blessings of prosperity. But king Benjamin tells us this is impossible, right?
Wrong. The key to understanding this is in the wording of the original promise.
A closer look
God spoke to Nephi while he was praying for his brothers because they would not believe that their father, Lehi, was commanded to flee Jerusalem. This is recorded in 1 Nephi 1:19-24, and is the first time that this promise appears in the Book of Mormon. In God's answer to Nephi's prayer is something very easily overlooked for those of us that speak modern English. Look at the difference between verses 20 and 22:
And inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper and shall be led to a land of promise, yea, even a land which I have prepared for you, a land which is choice above all other lands.
And inasmuch as thou shalt keep my commandments, thou shalt be made a ruler and a teacher over thy brethren.
In verse 20, God uses "ye" and "you". These are plural words, meaning that even though God was speaking to Nephi, he was speaking about everyone in the group. In verse 22, God uses the singular: now he's talking to Nephi alone. The requirement is the same: keep my commandments; but the blessing is different: the group was promised safe passage to the promised land, while Nephi was promised that he would rule over and teach his brothers.
In other words, no matter how righteous Nephi was himself, he was not going to "prosper and be led to a land of promise" without the rest of his family.
When we look at the scriptural account, that’s exactly what we see: whenever Laman and Lemuel rebelled, the still-righteous Nephi didn't prosper, in fact he suffered: he got beaten when Laman and Lemuel were mad about losing their wealth, tied up when they wanted to return to Jerusalem, starved when they complained about the last bow breaking, and got tied up (again) during a terrible storm when they got too wild on the boat. And every time, the journey to the promised land was stopped for all of them until those who were being disobedient repented and did what the Lord had asked.
A contradiction, resolved
The fact that many prophets did not prosper, and in fact were persecuted and killed, may seem like it contradicts God's promise that "if ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper in the land". Some may even try to argue that the blessing for those prophets was an eternal one, and they will have their reward in heaven—thus ignoring both the phrase "in the land" as well as the Book of Mormon's own interpretation of the promise. In reality, the solution is much simpler: the promise was made to groups, not individuals. Just as Nephi's righteousness could not qualify him for the blessing of being led to the promised land, an individual's righteousness does not qualify them for the blessing of prospering in the land—both were tied to the same plural-pronoun promise.
What a blessing that Joseph Smith was inspired to use the archaic pronouns that distinguish between the plural and the singular! It seems like such a simple thing and yet it elegantly resolves what is otherwise a clear contradiction in the Book of Mormon narrative.
Misunderstandings
Unfortunately, our unfamiliarity with the plural/singular distinction in second-person pronouns has led some to misunderstand this divine promise and attempt to apply it to individuals. Interestingly, there is a group in the Book of Mormon that also appears to have also lost the plural/singular distinction, at least partially, and fell into the same trap. After a group of Nephites fled the Lamanites the second time, they emigrated into a city called Zarahemla, which was populated by a group that spoke a language that they could not understand. The Nephite king Mosiah taught them the Nephite tongue, but there were more of the people of Zarahemla than the Nephites. Some of the Nephites were apparently not happy with their new living situation. They returned to the land of Nephi and made an agreement with the king of the Lamanites to live there. Unfortunately, the relationship wasn't always cordial.
After a couple generations, the people of Nephi probably spoke a pidgin language in order to communicate with their close neighbors/occasional overseers. If you look at my research into pronouns, you can see that Alma, the son of one of these immigrants (whose name was also Alma), had a significantly higher second-person pronoun error rate than his predecessors. This is consistent with pidgin languages tending to have simpler grammar than their parent tongues. What I did not mention in that article, but which I may discuss in a future one, is that the vast majority of the errors that Alma made were in confusing plural and singular forms: he got them wrong at least 1/3 of the time.
Keeping in mind this linguistic degredation, consider this passage in which this group of people defended their wicked king:
And now, O king, behold, we are guiltless. And thou, O king, hast not sinned. Therefore this man hath lied concerning you, and he hath prophesied in vain. And behold, we are strong; we shall not come into bondage or be taken captive by our enemies. Yea, and thou hast prospered in the land, and thou shalt also prosper.
—Mosiah 12:14-15
Notice that the people defend the wicked king Noah by quoting the promise God made with Nephi, but they got it wrong: they used the singular (thou) instead of the plural (ye)! By doing so, they incorrectly made the connection that because king Noah was personally wealthy (which he was), he must have been righteous (which he was not)—a clear misunderstanding of the plural pronouns within the promise. If you were still unconvinced whether perhaps the promise could apply to individuals as well, this is further proof that it does not: the Book of Mormon is quite clear that king Noah was wicked yet rich, and therefore the argument that righteousness=prosperity and wickedness=destruction can not apply to the individual. Some of you may think, "wasn't he eventually destroyed, though? Perhaps it was just delayed." Yes, he was. But his wicked priests (the ones who encouraged him in his wickedness when he wavered) lived on and became quite successful among the Lamanites despite being stubbornly unrepentant. Again, clearly the prosperity/destruction promise does not apply to individuals.
Another contradiction
The deaths of prophets and the prosperity of wicked people is not the only contradiction that a correct understanding of God's promise provides. Consider these two verses:
And now because of the steadiness of the church they began to be exceeding rich, having abundance of all things whatsoever they stood in need: abundance of flocks and herds and fatlings of every kind, and also abundance of grain and of gold and of silver and of precious things, and abundance of silk and fine-twined linen and all manner of good homely cloth.
—Alma 1:29
But woe unto the rich which are rich as to the things of the world, for because that they are rich, they despise the poor and they persecute the meek. And their hearts are upon their treasures; wherefore their treasure is their god. And behold, their treasure shall perish with them also.
—2 Nephi 9:30
If we take these two verses at face value, ignoring what we have learned so far, then we must believe that if we keep the commandments, God will bless us with wealth so that he can condemn us for being wealthy. The God that I know doesn't act this way.
There have been various efforts to resolve this contradiction, most of which will lead to weakening one or the other of these verses. Now that we understand the promise correctly, we do not need to diminish the importance of either passage, but can take each of them at face value.
Individual vs collective wealth
In the first passage, the church as a whole was righteous, and so the church as a whole was blessed with prosperity. But within the church, they did not have significant inequality:
And thus in their prosperous circumstances they did not send away any which was naked or that was hungry or that was athirst or that was sick or that had not been nourished. And they did not set their hearts upon riches. Therefore they were liberal to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, whether out of the church or in the church, having no respects to persons as to those who stood in need.
—Alma 1:30
The second passage is from a sermon by Jacob, the brother of Nephi. We can get more insight into his words by looking at another sermon he gave:
And the hand of Providence hath smiled upon you most pleasingly, that ye have obtained many riches. And because that some of you have obtained more abundantly than that of your brethren, ye are lifted up in the pride of your hearts and wear stiff necks and high heads because of the costliness of your apparel and persecute your brethren because that ye suppose that ye are better than they. And now my brethren, do ye suppose that God justifieth you in this thing? Behold, I say unto you: Nay. But he condemneth you; and if ye persist in these things, his judgments must speedily come unto you.
Think of your brethren like to yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you.
—Jacob 2:13-14, 17
Jacob isn't upset that the people are wealthy—he wants everybody to be wealthy! Jacob is upset that some of the people are struggling even though others have the resources to resolve their struggles. In other words, while collective wealth is a blessing from God, hoarding individual wealth is a sin.
I expect that this statement will immediately cause many people to doubt everything that I've said because they do not want it to be true or because the justification for individual wealth is so pervasive in our society. But before you go, consider this:
Modern verification
And again I say unto you, let every man esteem his brother as himself. For what man among you having twelve sons, and is no respecter of them, and they serve him obediently, and he saith unto the one: Be thou clothed in robes and sit thou here; and to the other: Be thou clothed in rags and sit thou there—and looketh upon his sons and saith I am just?
Behold, this I have given unto you as a parable, and it is even as I am. I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine.
—Doctrine and Covenants 38:25-27
Ironically, we have heard part of this passage regularly in recent conference talks, but always out of context. The Lord was specifically talking about wealth inequality (unequal rewards for equal effort).
Still not convinced?
But it is not given that one man should possess that which is above another, wherefore the world lieth in sin.
—Doctrine and Covenants 49:20
Wo unto you rich men, that will not give your substance to the poor, for your riches will canker your souls; and this shall be your lamentation in the day of visitation, and of judgment, and of indignation: The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and my soul is not saved!
—Doctrine and Covenants 56:16
I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens, and built the earth, my very handiwork; and all things therein are mine. And it is my purpose to provide for my saints, for all things are mine. But it must needs be done in mine own way; and behold this is the way that I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my saints, that the poor shall be exalted, in that the rich are made low. For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves. Therefore, if any man shall take of the abundance which I have made, and impart not his portion, according to the law of my gospel, unto the poor and needy, he shall, with the wicked, lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment.
—Doctrine and Covenants 104:14-18 (23 Apr 1834)
It bears noting that the "law of my gospel" refered to above was likely the law of consecration, given three years earlier and recorded in Section 42 (9 Feb 1831), wherein everything would be given to the church and redistributed according to individual wants and needs (see also Section 72:15).
In the words of Alma, "Now I need not rehearse the matter; what I have said may suffice. Behold, the scriptures are before you; if ye will wrest them, it shall be to your own destruction." (Alma 13:20)
Summary
It is possible for wealth to be both a blessing and condemned—there is no contradiction. The scriptures are consistent in condemning individual wealth when the society has people in need. If everyone is wealthy, which is what God wants, then there is no problem—because no one individual will be considered wealthy, either by themself or their peers.
Appendix: prosperity according to the Book of Mormon
Here are other passages which refer to prosperity in the Book of Mormon, divided into the category or categories they represent.
Wealth
And the Lord was with us and we did prosper exceedingly, for we did sow seed and we did reap again in abundance. And we began to raise flocks and herds and animals of every kind.
—2 Nephi 5:11
And it came to pass that we began to prosper exceedingly and to multiply in the land. And I did teach my people that they should build buildings and that they should work in all manner of wood and of iron and of copper and of brass and of steel and of gold and of silver and of precious ores, which were in great abundance.
—2 Nephi 5:13-14
And it came to pass that they began to prosper by degrees in the land and began to raise grain more abundantly and flocks and herds, that they did not suffer with hunger.
—Mosiah 21:16
And the Lord did visit them and prosper them, and they became a large and a wealthy people.
—Mosiah 27:7
And now because of the steadiness of the church they began to be exceeding rich, having abundance of flocks and herds and fatlings of every kind, and also abundance of grain and of gold and of silver and of precious things, and abundance of silk and fine-twined linen and all manner of good homely cloth. ... And thus they did prosper and become far more wealthy than those who did not belong to their church.
—Alma 1:31,33
And they did prosper exceedingly, and they became exceedingly rich. Yea, and they did multiply and wax strong in the land.
—Alma 50:18
And the people of Nephi began to prosper again in the land and began to multiply and to wax exceeding strong again in the land, and they began to grow exceeding rich.
—Alma 62:48
And thus it did come to pass that the people of Nephi began to prosper again in the land and began to build up their waste places and began to multiply and spread, even until they did cover the whole face of the land, both on the northward and on the southward, from the sea west to the sea east.
—Helaman 11:20
And he began to reign, and the people began to prosper; and they became exceeding rich.
—Ether 6:28
And the Lord began again to take the curse from off the land. And the house of Emer did prosper exceedingly under the reign of Emer. And in the space of sixty and two years they had become exceeding strong, insomuch that they became exceeding rich, having all manner of fruit and of grain and of silks and of fine linen and of gold and of silver and of precious things and also all manner of cattle, of oxen and cows, and of sheep and of swine and of goats, and also many other kind of animals which were useful for the food of man;
—Ether 9:16-18
Health (or population increase)
And we began to till the ground, yea, even with all manner of seeds: with seeds of corn and of wheat and of barley and with neas and with sheum and with seeds of all manner of fruits. And we did begin to multiply and prosper in the land.
—Mosiah 9:9
And it came to pass that they began to prosper by degrees in the land and began to raise grain more abundantly and flocks and herds, that they did not suffer with hunger.
—Mosiah 21:16
And it came to pass that they did multiply and prosper exceedingly in the land of Helam. And they built a city which they called the city of Helam.
—Mosiah 23:20
And the Lord did visit them and prosper them, and they became a large and a wealthy people.
—Mosiah 27:7
And they did prosper exceedingly, and they became exceedingly rich. Yea, and they did multiply and wax strong in the land.
—Alma 50:18
And the people of Nephi began to prosper again in the land and began to multiply and to wax exceeding strong again in the land, and they began to grow exceeding rich.
—Alma 62:48
And thus it did come to pass that the people of Nephi began to prosper again in the land and began to build up their waste places and began to multiply and spread, even until they did cover the whole face of the land, both on the northward and on the southward, from the sea west to the sea east.
—Helaman 11:20
And the Lord did prosper them exceedingly in the land, yea, insomuch that they did build cities again where there had been cities burned;
—4 Nephi 1:7
Safety
... And if it so be that they shall keep his commandments, they shall be blessed upon the face of this land. And there shall be none to molest them nor to take away the land of their inheritance, and they shall dwell safely forever.
—2 Nephi 1:9
... if ye shall keep the commandments of my son, or the commandments of God which shall be delivered unto you by him, ye shall prosper in the land, and your enemies shall have no power over you.
—Mosiah 2:31
And this was their faith, that by so doing God would prosper them in the land; or in other words, if they were faithful in keeping the commandments of God, that he would prosper them in the land—yea, warn them to flee, or to prepare for war, according to their danger—and also that God would make it known unto them whither they should go to defend themselves against their enemies, and by so doing the Lord would deliver them. ...
—Alma 48:15
And because of this their great wickedness and their boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength. Therefore they did not prosper, but were afflicted and smitten and drive before the Lamanites until they had lost possession of almost all their lands.
—Helaman 4:13
And now there was nothing in all the land to hinder the people from prospering continually except they should fall into trasngression.
—3 Nephi 6:5
... Nevertheless they did not gain power any more over Shule the king. And the people which were under the reign of Shule the king did prosper exceedingly and wax great.
—Ether 7:19
And because the poeple did repent of their iniquities and idolatries, the Lord did spare them; and they began to prosper again in the land. ...
—Ether 7:26
Church population increase
In addition to the above, the following passages refer to receiving converts to the church as a part of the church's prosperity. It is similar to population increase but because it is non-biological, it is not directly related to health:
And it came to pass that Alma did regulate all the affairs of the church. And they began again to have peace and to prosper exceedingly in the affairs of the church, walking circumspectly before God, receiving many and baptizing many.
—Mosiah 26:37
And it came to pass that in this same year there was exceeding great prosperity in the church, insomuch that there were thousands who did join themselves unto the church and were baptized unto repentance.
—Helaman 3:24
Considering these passages, population increase could be considered a separate category from health. That I didn't do it this way is honestly rather arbitrary—it seems to me like typical population increases are due to health, so they should be grouped together.