slippery: This somewhat
enigmatic expression that their riches would become “slippery” is in part
explained by Samuel through careful restatements: “slippery, that ye cannot
hold them; . . . ye cannot retain them” (13:31), “slippery, that we should lose
them” (13:33), and “slippery, and we cannot hold them” (13:36). Mormon confirms
Samuel’s prophecy and likewise explains that “they could not hold them, nor
retain them again” (Mormon 1:18). Yet there seems to be more going on with the
term slippery in this context. Helaman 13:18 states that, for the wicked,
“whoso shall hide up treasures in the earth shall find them again no more,
because of the great curse of the land.” Note that it is the land that is
cursed because the people are burying their treasures in the earth. In
addition, it is expressly the unrighteous who, because of their practice of burying
riches, are condemned. There are indications in the text that sorcery is
involved in these caching rites, which is why they are denounced. Note that in
Helaman 13:36, after stating that “all things are become slippery, and we
cannot hold them,” the text immediately mentions that “we are surrounded by
demons” and “encircled about by the angels of him who hath sought to destroy
our souls” (v. 37). Further indication of sorcery comes from Mormon’s retelling
of these events, when he too says their treasures “became slippery” after hiding
them up and then straightway mentions that “there were sorceries, and
witchcrafts, and magics; and the power of the evil one was wrought upon all the
face of the land” (Mormon 1:18-19; note the deictic focus on “the face of the
land,” i.e., the place where the treasures were buried). Mormon then states
that all of this was in fulfillment of “the words of Abinadi, and also Samuel
the Lamanite” (v. 19). (Nicholas Jl Frederick, Kerry Hull, and Joseph M.
Spencer, “Scholarly Notes on Helaman 13-16,” in Charles Swift, ed., Samuel
the Lamanite: That Ye Might Believe [Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center,
Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book], 317-98, here, p. 338)
Further Reading
