Chapter 24
Amulon persecutes Alma
and his people—They are to be put to death if they pray—The Lord makes their
burdens seem light—He delivers them from bondage, and they return to Zarahemla.
About 145–120 B.C.
1 AND it came to pass
that Amulon did gain favor in the eyes of the king of the Lamanites; therefore,
the king of the Lamanites granted unto him and his brethren that they should be
appointed teachers over his people, yea, even over the people who were in the
land of Shemlon, and in the land of Shilom, and in the land of Amulon.
2 For the Lamanites
had taken possession of all these lands; therefore, the king of the Lamanites
had appointed kings over all these lands.
3 And now the name of
the king of the Lamanites was Laman, being called after the name of his father;
and therefore he was called king Laman.
And he was king over a numerous people.
4 And he appointed teachers
of the brethren of Amulon in every land which was possessed by his people; and
thus the language of Nephi began to be taught among all the people of the
Lamanites.
5 And they were a
people friendly one with another; nevertheless they knew not God; neither did
the brethren of Amulon teach them anything concerning the Lord their God,
neither the law of Moses; nor did they teach them the words of Abinadi;
6 But they taught them
that they should keep their record, and that they might write one to another.
7 And thus the
Lamanites began to increase in riches, and began to trade one with another and
wax great, and began to be a cunning and a wise people, as to the wisdom of the
world, yea, a very cunning people, delighting in all manner of wickedness and
plunder, except it were among their own brethren.
Mosiah 24:1-12
After joining the Lamanites, Amulon met the king. The Lamanite king, named Laman, liked
Amulon. He decided Amulon and the other
priests would be teachers over all his people in every land. “In gaining the
favor of the Lamanites, these priests clearly lost favor with God. There is a
note of disapproval in the narrator's words when he says that the people of
Amulon not only found favor in the eyes of the Lamanite king, but also that the
king appointed these men to be teachers over all his people (see Mosiah
24:1).”[1]
Amulon’s group taught the Lamanites the Nephite language and
then taught them in the Nephite language.
“This ‘language’ was probably a script, not a spoken language. It is
hard to believe that a new tongue could be taught so quickly and widely as is
implied here, or that the Lamanites would accept the notion of using their enemy's
actual tongue, if it was different, even for commerce.”[2]
“Their teaching seems not to have been explicitly religious…”[3] They taught nothing about the Lord, the Law
of Moses, and most especially the words of Abinadi.
“[T]hey did promote
literacy among the varied Lamanite groups, by means of which trade was
fostered, whereupon they ‘began to increase in riches’ (Mosiah 24:7).”[4] They did this through trade with each
other. They became and cunning and wise
people. They began to plunder others, “except it were among their own brethren.”
Mosiah 24:7 reports the
Lamanites' practicing "all manner of wickedness and plunder, except
it were among their own brethren." Now, given this verse's context,
those plundered do not appear to have been Nephites. Who is referred to?
Possibly the statement means that the Lamanites considered it acceptable to
plunder any community other than those involving immediate relatives or
neighbors, but such a limited sense of "their own brethren" is
without precedent in the text. Rather it seems to me that this expression tells
us that certain portions of the Lamanites classified other segments of the
population in their lands as being of different origin and thus subject to less
protection. That … could mean that Lamanites were plundering
"Lamanites" not of that bloodline, and vice versa. Amulonites and
Amalekites could have fallen into the target category as well as the
Zeniffites, who certainly were "plundered" (see Mosiah 9:14). Yet it
seems to me that plunderable "others," of non-Lehite stock, may have
been at odds with "the [real] Lamanites" and thus have come into
conflict with them (compare Mormon 8:8). That could explain Helaman 5:21, where
there is mention of "an army of the Lamanites," whose existence in
their homeland is strange since no war against the Nephites was going on or
threatened.[5]
[1] The
Stealing of the Daughters of the Lamanites, Alan Goff, Maxwell Institute,
accessed November 30, 2014.
[2] The
Book of Mormon as a Mesoamerican Record, John L. Sorenson, Maxwell
Institute, accessed November 30, 2014.
[3] Religious
Groups and Movements among the Nephites, 200-1 B.C., John L. Sorenson,
Maxwell Institute, accessed November 30, 2014.
[5] When
Lehi's Party Arrived in the Land, Did They Find Others There? John L.
Sorenson, Maxwell Institute, accessed November 30, 2014.
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