Dear Gramps,
In Alma 23:17, in the name Anti-Nephi-Lehi, what is the meaning of the word ‘anti’ here?
Thank you very much,
Senen, from the Philippines
Dear Senen,
No reference is given in the scriptures to the definition of the term Anti-Nephi-Lehi. However, we can use our imaginations. Nephi and the faithful who followed him were warned by the Lord to get away from the wicked Lamanites. They fled into the wilderness and found a new home and called the place Nephi (see 2 Nephi 5:5-8). That was within 30 years of the time that they arrived in the promised land. Now skip ahead to the time of Mosiah, sometime before 130 B.C., the Lord again had him and his righteous followers leave the land that was now called Nephi-Lehi because of the wickedness of the people and migrate to Zarahemla (See Omni 1:12). That left the land of Nephi-Lehi in possession of the wicked Lamanites. It was some of these wicked Lamanites that were converted by the four sons of Mosiah and made a covenant with the Lord to bury their weapons of war. They could well have taken the name Anti-Nephi-Lehites to separate themselves from the wicked Lamanites who were living in the land from which they came.
Gramps
