7 Now, these are the words which he said unto the people concerning the matter: I thank my God, my beloved people, that our great God has in goodness sent these our brethren, the Nephites, unto us to preach unto us, and to convince us of the traditions of our wicked fathers.
8 And behold, I thank my great God that he has given us a portion of his Spirit to soften our hearts, that we have opened a correspondence with these brethren, the Nephites.
9 And behold, I also thank my God, that by opening this correspondence we have been convinced of our sins, and of the many murders which we have committed.
10 And I also thank my God, yea, my great God, that he hath granted unto us that we might repent of these things, and also that he hath forgiven us of those our many sins and murders which we have committed, and taken away the guilt from our hearts, through the merits of his Son.
Alma 24:7-10 (Emphasis mine)
King Anti-Nephi-Lehi begins speaking to his people.
He begins by expressing his thanks to “my great God” (verse 8) for all he has done for them. He thanks God for softening their hearts, for convincing them of their many sin, for allowing them to repent of their sins, for forgiving them of their many sins, and for taking away the guild in their hearts.
He acknowledges that all this happens through “the merits of his Son.” (verse 10)
9 To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;
Daniel 9:9 (Emphasis mine)
11 And now behold, my brethren, since it has been all that we could do, (as we were the most lost of all mankind) to repent of all our sins and the many murders which we have committed, and to get God to take them away from our hearts, for it was all we could do to repent sufficiently before God that he would take away our stain—
12 Now, my best beloved brethren, since God hath taken away our stains, and our swords have become bright, then let us stain our swords no more with the blood of our brethren.
13 Behold, I say unto you, Nay, let us retain our swords that they be not stained with the blood of our brethren; for perhaps, if we should stain our swords again they can no more be washed bright through the blood of the Son of our great God, which shall be shed for the atonement of our sins.
14 And the great God has had mercy on us, and made these things known unto us that we might not perish; yea, and he has made these things known unto us beforehand, because he loveth our souls as well as he loveth our children; therefore, in his mercy he doth visit us by his angels, that the plan of salvation might be made known unto us as well as unto future generations.
Alma 24:11-14 (Emphasis mine)
The king reminded them that they had to repent for the “man murders which we have committed.” (verses 9 – 11) It appears they had been a violent people and their murders were more than deaths in war. Duane Boyce writes:
“Eventually, many of the Lamanites became converted to the Lord and repented … Exactly what did they think they had done wrong … the “murders” and even “the many murders” they had committed against the Nephites. This does not seem to be a metaphorical usage of the term. Again, the record tells us more than once that the Lamanites delighted in shedding Nephite blood. Think, for example, of Ammon’s encounter with Lamoni’s father, the king over all the Lamanite land. Seeing his son with ‘this Nephite, who is one of the sons of a liar,’ he ‘commanded [his son, Lamoni] that he should slay Ammon with the sword, ‘and then, when Lamoni refused, attempted the slaying himself (Alma 20:10–20). That life was extremely cheap among the Lamanites (and not just for Nephites) is further evidenced by Lamoni’s own history of punishing with death any of his servants who allowed his flocks to be scattered (Alma 17:28–29).
“So reference to the term murder in Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s speech is not surprising … In their repentance, then, the Ammonites were not repenting of acts of killing that had occurred in conventional war … the Ammonites’ repentance was for acts that had been motivated by hatred and by a desire for Nephite blood, and that they explicitly describe as ‘murder.’ “ [i] (Emphasis mine)
Because they had been such a bloodthirsty people, there was fear that, if they fight (even to defend themselves), they might return to their old ways. The king told the people to stain their swords with blood no longer.
When we think of swords, we think of objects made of metal. How could their swords be stained? It wouldn’t be too hard to stain if they were made of wood.
“… metals were not generally thought of as becoming stained. Staining was a term that generally applied to wood, cloth, or other substances subject to discoloration. Reference to staining swords with blood is not found in the Bible … if the Nephite sword were the Mesoamerican macuahuitl with a wooden shaft, blood would naturally stain and discolor the wood when an enemy was wounded. Furthermore, if a metal weapon becomes bloody, the blade can be easily wiped clean. Removing a bloodstain from wood is virtually impossible since the blood soaks into the fibers of the wood.” [ii]
[i] Were the Ammonites Pacifists? Duane Boyce, Maxwell Institute, accessed September 25, 2011.
[ii] Swords in the Book of Mormon, William J. Hamblin, and A. Brent Merrill, Maxwell Institute, accessed September 25, 2011.
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