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Pregunta: ¿Cuál fue el tamaño relativo de la población nefita en comparación con la población lamanita?
Revisión del 19:20 4 feb 2018 de RogerNicholson (discusión | contribuciones) (→The Lamanites' vast numerical superiority is repeatedly emphasized)
Pregunta: ¿Cuál fue el tamaño relativo de la población nefita en comparación con la población lamanita?
Despite the majority of the immigrants going with Nephi, the Lamanites are consistently mentioned as being much more numerous (at least double) than the Nephites
Despite the majority of the immigrants going with Nephi, the Lamanites are consistently mentioned as being much more numerous (at least double) than the Nephites. This includes the period before Mosiah I's exodus (See Jarom 1:6) and afterward, despite the introduction of Zarahemla's people (the so-called 'Mulekites') to bolster Nephite numbers. (See Mosiah 25:3, Helaman 4:25.)
There is one intriguing passage in which Mormon explains the numeric disparity as it applies to Captain Moroni's wars:
...thus the Nephites were compelled, alone, to withstand against the Lamanites, who were a compound of Laman and Lemuel, and the sons of Ishmael, and all those who had dissented from the Nephites, who were Amalekites and Zoramites, and the descendants of the priests of Noah. 14 Now those descendants were as numerous, nearly, as were the Nephites; and thus the Nephites were obliged to contend with their brethren, even unto bloodshed. [italics added] Alma 43:13-14.
Mormon here lists a variety of peoples under the rubric 'Lamanites,' and then indicates that these descendants almost match the Nephites in numbers. Yet, clearly, the 'Lamanites' (in a broader sense) always have a massive manpower advantage, as we are told just a few verses later in Alma 43:51.
The phrase "those descendants," by this reading, does not apply merely to the "descendants of the priests of Noah," since this is a tiny group of only 24 Lamanite women and their former-priest husbands. (See Mosiah 20:5, Mosiah 23:31-39.) These "Amulonites" had been decimated by angry Lamanites only a few years earlier, and were ever after persona non grata on both sides of the conflict. (See Alma 25:3-9.) Their numerical contribution to the Lamanite hordes was likely negligible.[1]
Mormon's point seems clear—all the 'Nephites': original Lehi/Nephi descendants, Zarahemla descendants, and any 'others' or client peoples—are nearly numerically matched simply by the descendants of Laman, Lemuel, Ishmael and a variety of Nephite descendants. To this must then be added the manpower "sink" which the Lamanites possess in the form of the 'others' which they control politically.
This is what makes the Lamanite invasion so dangerous, since as defenders the Nephites require fewer men to hold off an attacking army (See Alma 49:1-25, Alma 59:9). If the Nephites were "nearly" outnumbered by all the "Lamanites" (in the broader sense of those under Lamanite political control), then a Lamanite attack would be both foolhardy and of no great worry to a well-entrenched general like Moroni.
La superioridad nuérica lamanita es enfatizada repeditamente
Pero la superioridad nuérica lamanita es enfatizada repeditamente (véase Alma 43:51 y Alma 48:3-4).
Moroni tenía problemas para proveer a sus tropas con refuerzos y guarniciones satisfactorias (véase Alma 52:16-17, Alma 58:3-5 y Alma 58:32-36), mientras que los lamanitas podían conseguir continuamente nuevas tropas (véase Alma 51:9-11) Alma 52:12, Alma 57:17 y Alma 58:5).
Los lamanitas incluso buscan explotar su ventaja nuérica al iniciar una guerra por dos frentes distintos (véase Alma 52:13 y (Alma 56:10). Esta estrategia divide sus ejércitos y los arriesga a la derrota en detalle, lo cual sería imprudente si no disfrutaban de una marcada diferencia en número de soldados. Esta ventaja es claramente presente, dado que sus estrategias por poco tienen éxito (véase Alma 52:14, Alma 53:8 y Alma 58:2).
En resumen, Mormón declara el problema con claridad – los nefitas son dramáticamente superados en número – y explica que esto es porque los lamanitas y los disidentes juntos por sí mismos casi igualan a todos los nefitas, con el conocimiento que los pueblos bajo control lamanita desequilibran la balanza.
Ninguna otra interpretación tiene sentido en este texto, el cual es rigurosamente consistente.
Al dirigirse a los zoramitas disidentes, Alma ora diciendo “He aquí, sus almas son preciosas, oh Señor, y muchos de ellos son nuestros hermanos”
Al dirigirse a los zoramitas disidentes, Alma ora diciendo “He aquí, sus almas son preciosas, oh Señor, y muchos de ellos son nuestros hermanos” (véase Alma 31:35). Aun así, los nefitas se refieren a los lamanitas y a los mulekitas como sus “hermanos” (véase Mosíah 1:5, Mosíah 7:2-13 y Alma 24:7-8). Claramente, los zoramitas son un grupo mezclado entre aquellos que emigraron desde Palestina y un grupo diferente.
Mormón también menciona al “pueblo que se hallaba en la tierra de Abundancia” cerca a la estrecha brecha de tierra, de los cuales Moroni temía que se aliasen con los lamanitas en contra de los nefitas (véase Alma 50:32).
Demográficamente, hay mucho detalle más allá de los argumentos planteados por la crítica.
Notas
- ↑ An alternate explanation is that the Amulonites have also assimilated their own client peoples, increasisng their numbers. This is suggested in Plantilla:JBMS-1-1-2
Traducido por Esteban José Corzo Fajardo y Alberto Barrios y Andrew Miller.