CHAPTER 22
PRISON
Nephi was lowered by the rope tied
around his ankles. This time he was
dropped into a deep, dark pit through a narrow crack in the rocks so small that
his head repeatedly hit the hard sides every few feet. He lost consciousness after three sharp blows
in succession. His head hit the bottom
of the pit first, and the rest of his body fell hard afterward. He lay crumbled, face down, on the cold, hard
stone at the bottom of the pit for a while without moving.
When he awoke, he had no idea how long he had been
in the pit, how deep it was, or what was in it.
He couldn’t see a thing. No
blindfold had been placed over his eyes; no blindfold was needed. The dungeon was pitch black.
With a groan of pain, he managed to roll over onto
his side. He slowly pulled his knees up
to his stomach and struggled to curl himself into a sitting position. The cords had been removed from his wrists
and ankles so he was able to hold his aching head in his hands. He felt blood oozing down the side of his
face.
Somewhere in the darkness above him, he heard the
thumps and crashes echo from the rocks as they lowered Hantuman into the
pit. Hantuman fell beside Nephi where he
moaned in agony. Nephi didn’t have to
move to reach over and feel Hantuman’s shoulder and arm. Only by physical touch and voice, not sight,
did he know that Hantuman was at his side.
Nephi helped Hantuman roll over and pulled him up by
the shoulders until he was able to sit at his side. They leaned on each other to rest and they
each held their heads and grimaced in pain.
The rock they were on was cold and wet.
The pit stank like a cesspool.
“Are you going to be all right?” Nephi
asked cautiously. His own head felt like
it had been split apart.
“Yes.
… No. … I
don’t know,” answered Hantuman.
“Honestly, I’ve been better.”
“Me too,” added Nephi. “This is the vilest prison I’ve ever been in,
I think. And believe me, I know, I’ve
been in a few. I can’t see how badly
you’re hurt. Can you tell me where it
hurts the most?”
“We’ve shared better prisons together
in the past, brother.” Neither Hantuman
nor Nephi had spoken! Somebody else,
invisible and unseen, had spoken to them!
“Who are you!? Where are you!?” Nephi and Hantuman questioned in unison.
“I am …, I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to suffer this for me.”
“Lehi!!”
Hantuman and Nephi shouted together in joyful recognition. “You’re alive!!”
“So I am.
Although at times I’ve wondered if it wouldn’t be better if I just
passed on.” Lehi’s voice did sound weak
and shaky. “I’ve prayed to live long
enough to see you again. And now the Lord has blessed me to hear you again, even if I can’t see you
as well as I would like.”
Lehi reached out his hand and touched
Nephi on the arm. Nephi felt his
brother’s touch and grabbed his hand with his.
They clasped their hands together and then they threw their arms around
each other’s shoulders in an affectionate embrace. Nephi had the impression he was hugging a
skeleton.
Lehi and Hantuman also embraced one
another.
“Let me untie the ropes from around
your ankles,” offered Lehi. He removed
the rope tied to Nephi’s ankles and started to do the same for Hantuman. Their captors merely dropped the ropes after
lowering the prisoners into the pit.
Even with the ropes, there was no way to climb back out and escape. Nephi attempted to stand on his feet in the
darkness.
“But don’t try to stand up.” Lehi’s advice was too late.
To his dismay, Nephi’s already battered head struck
a rock before he was fully upright.
“Ouch, watch it! There’s not
enough room to even stand up down here.”
Their dungeon was no larger than a small
closet. The three prisoners barely had
enough room for them to all sit down at the same time without being on top of
somebody else.
Nephi’s eyes adjusted to his new
prison enough to barely discern the silhouette of his brother sitting next to
him. He did not like what he thought he
saw. Lehi was thin, very very thin. He was a skeleton in rags with a long,
scraggly beard covering his face.
“Lehi! You’re
nothing but skin and bones!” Nephi cried
in dismay.
“Let
us help you. There must be something we
can do.”
Lehi joked unsuccessfully about his starved
appearance. “You know, at first I
couldn’t untie the binding cords from my ankles when they dropped me in here. But after a while, I just slipped my feet out
of them.”
“How long have you been in here?” Hantuman asked. And probably the unspoken question he had in
mind was how could Lehi still be alive after being down in this pit for so
long.
“I think it’s been around a month or so,” Lehi
answered. “It’s hard to keep track of
time down here. Days and nights are the
same. Before this, I was in a regular
prison for two months. They discovered
that the other prisoners started to believe the things I told them. I taught them that the Savior could redeem
them from their sins. I testified that I
knew the prophecies were true that Christ would come. I explained how His infinite atonement goes
further, deeper, and into the darkest of prisons to pay for the sins of those
who repent. I think that’s why they put
me in here by myself after that.”
The joy of finding Lehi alive faded rapidly. The reunion of brothers was not the happy
celebration it should have been. The
reality of their desperate situation brought extreme sorrow instead.
Lehi told his companions about life as a prisoner in
this pit. He had tried to climb out
several times without success; the walls were too steep and too high, the pit
was too dark, and the rocks were too slippery.
He had scaled his way up a considerable distance three or four times by
putting his back against one wall and pushing with his feet on the opposite
wall. But each time he managed to get as
high as maybe a third of the way up, his feet had slipped on either wet rock or
mud and he came crashing all the way back down to the bottom. He considered himself lucky that no bones
were obviously broken.
Lehi explained that a guard would lower a rope once
a day with a pot of questionable contents for food. Every now and then, the guards threw down
some straw that he tried to sleep on. To
remove his waste, he would have to put it in the same pot they lowered with the
food.
Lehi’s condition weighed heavily on
Nephi’s heart. “Why do you think,
dearest brother, they have kept you alive at all? If I could have taken your place to keep you
from suffering so much, I would have gladly done so.”
“Oh, Nephi. I
don’t need to remind you what you and I have already gone through
together. Those experiences were for our
good.” Lehi proved his humility.
“Besides, there is only One who can take my place
when I am brought to final judgment,” Lehi testified. “I know in Whom I can trust. Does not Christ take upon Himself all our sufferings
and afflictions? The Son of Man will descend
below all things, and suffer more than this horrible pit, are we greater than
He?
“As He has done before, can He not do
again? And will He not compensate us for
every little sacrifice that we may be required to give. Yea, even if that sacrifice should be the
giving of our very lives.
“Now, I do not know all things. And I do not know why I am still alive. But this much I do know. I know that some think that the time has come
and gone for the sign to be given which was spoken by the prophet Samuel five
years ago.
“Samuel said that there would be a day, and a night,
and another day without darkness. Those
who keep the calendar have counted the number of moons since Samuel
prophesied. They question if the five
years have not already passed.
“As a result, a day has been agreed upon. When that day comes, unless the sign appears,
all those who believe in Christ shall be put to death. This agreement has been made for all the
people upon the face of the whole earth; yea, from the west to the east, and
for people both in the land north and the land south.
“In this way, they hope to prove beyond a doubt, to
the believers and even more to themselves, that they are justified in refusing
to believe in the true prophecies given by the holy prophets regarding our
Savior and God.”
Hantuman listened to Lehi’s words and
declared what they implied. “Therefore,
they are perhaps willing to keep us alive until that day arrives. Then they will kill us also, along with our
families and friends.”
“I presume so,” whispered Lehi.
Nephi asked, “When is this agreed upon
day for the martyrdom of the believers?
Do you know how much longer it will be before it comes?”