Page:A dictionary of the Book of Mormon.pdf/335

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Sebus, Waters of.
325
Seezoram.

Spirit of God, and when he was charged with the murder, and blood was found on his garments, he first denied, but afterwards confessed that he was guilty. We are not informed whether or not he suffered the consequences of his crime, but it is highly probable that, owing to his influence and the prevailing iniquity of the people, he escaped punishment.

SEBUS, WATERS OF. A watering place in the Land of Ishmael, which, in the time of Lamoni, was used to water the king's flocks. On its banks occurred the conflict between Ammon, the son of Mosiah, and the Lamanite robbers, who sought to scatter the royal cattle.


SEEZORAM. A member of the Gadianton band, elected by the Nephites, during the times of their degeneracy, to be their Chief Judge. The date of his election is not given, but he probably succeeded the son of Cezoram, who was assassinated. (B, C. 26.) Seezoram himself was murdered in the year B. C. 23, in the city of Zarahemla, by his brother Seantum, who desired to obtain the chief judgeship.

The three years preceding the death of Seezoram are dark ones in the history of the Nephites. The people were rapidly growing in iniquity—they gave succor and support to the Gadianton bands, whose members held the chief offices in the gift of the people. Justice was travestied, the law was administered in the interest of the wicked and of those who would bribe or buy the judges; while the righteous were persecuted, abused and robbed in its name. It thus became an engine of oppression to the good or uninfluential, and an instrument to aid and protect the vile and the influential in all their evil-doing.

The prophet Nephi was the first who informed the people of the death of their chief magistrate. He was preaching from a tower in his garden at the time the foul deed was perpetrated. By the