Page:A dictionary of the Book of Mormon.pdf/140

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Gideon, City of.
130

old. He was still actively engaged in the service of the Lord. He was a teacher in the Church, yet we cannot help thinking that, like many in these days, though acting as a teacher, he held a higher priesthood. One day he met, in the streets of the city of Zarahemla, an apostate named Nehor, who had grown very popular, and, with his popularity, very conceited, headstrong, and ambitious: he having built up a church composed of persons who accepted his pernicious doctrines. On this occasion Gideon plead with him to desist from his evil ways, and strongly remonstrated against the course he was taking. Nehor, ill-used to such opposition, drew his sword and slew the aged teacher. For this crime he was arrested, tried, convicted and executed. (B. C. 91.) Gideon's memory was held in great respect among the Nephites, and one of their most important cities was named after him.

GIDEON, CITY OF. An important city of the Nephites, situated in a valley of the same name on the eastern side of the river Sidon, and not far from the city of Zarahemla. (See land of Gideon.) It was named in memory of the aged patriarch, slain by Nehor. In B. C. 82, Alma, the High Priest, made this city a missionary visit, and set the Church therein in order, after which he returned to his home in Zarahemla. In B. C. 75, Korihor, the anti-Christ, visited Gideon, and for a short time taught his pernicious doctrines, but he was taken before the High Priest and Chief Judge of that land, examined, and sent over to Zarahemla, to be judged by Alma, the Chief Judge of all the Nephite lands. In B. C. 62, the king-men, under Pachus, drove Pahoran, the Chief Judge, out of Zarahemla, who established himself in Gideon, and issued a proclamation calling the people of the surrounding regions to arms. The patriots assembled at Gideon, where they were, ere long, joined by Moroni, the Nephite commander-in--