A Dictionary of the Book of Mormon/Shiblon, the son of Alma
SHIBLON, THE SON OF ALMA. Shiblon “was a just man, and he did walk uprightly before God, and he did observe to do good continually, to keep the commandments of the Lord his God." Such is the high encomium parsed upon the character of this son of Alma, by the sacred historian of the Book of Mormon.
Shiblon, like his brothers Helaman and Corianton, is first mentioned in the sacred pages in connection with the Zoramite mission. Of his birth and childhood we know nothing, but he was yet in his youth when his father called him to be one of the missionaries to the land of Antionum (B. C. 75). Like the rest of his fellow-servants of the Lord, he received the Holy Spirit under the hands of his father, and then went forth in the spirit and might of his calling to proclaim the Gospel to the misguided and stiff-necked Zoramites. He labored in their midst with energy, faith and patience, much to the joy of Alma, who, in the commandments he afterwards gave to his sons, commends Shiblon's course in the following language: "I say unto you, my son, that I have had great joy in thee already because of thy faithfulness, and thy diligence, and thy patience, and thy long-suffering among the people of the Zoramites. For I know that thou wast in bonds; yea and I also knew that thou wast stoned for the word's sake; and thou didst bear all these things in patience, because the Lord was with thee; and now thou knowest that the Lord did deliver thee.” These words of Alma are the only intimation that we have of the persecutions and sufferings endured by Shiblon at the hands of the followers of Zoram. The life of Shiblon appears to have been almost constantly occupied with the duties of his priesthood. We do not read of him acting in any secular capacity, though it is presumable that like his father and the rest of his brethren, he labored with his hands to sustain himself during the short periods that intervened between his numerous missions. After the death of his father he was intimately associated with his elder brother, Helaman, and appears to have stood next to him in authority in the Church. We have no account of him taking part as a military officer (as did Helaman), in the long-continued war that succeeded the apostasy of Amalickiah, but after the war was ended (B. C. 60), he ably seconded Helaman's efforts to re-establish the Church and set it in order. At Helaman's death, Shiblon took possession of the "sacred things" (B.C. 57). These he held until his death, which happened four years afterwards (B. C. 53); shortly before which event he conferred them upon his nephew, Helaman, the son of his elder brother.
The four years preceding Shiblon's death are principally noteworthy for the commencement of the Nephite migration to the northern continent. It was during this period that Hagoth established his ship-building yards on the borders of the land Bountiful.
In the year that Shiblon died the Lamanites made another incursion into the lands of the Nephites, but were quickly driven back to their own country after suffering great loss.
Shiblon must have died a comparatively young man. He was styled a youth when he went with his father to labor among the Zoramites, and died twenty-two years after.