Chapter 10
Lehi descended from
Manasseh—Amulek recounts the angelic command that he care for Alma—The prayers
of the righteous cause the people to be spared—Unrighteous lawyers and judges
lay the foundation of the destruction of the people. About 82 B.C.
1 NOW these are the
words which Amulek preached unto the people who were in the land of Ammonihah,
saying:
2 I am Amulek; I am
the son of Giddonah, who was the son of Ishmael, who was a descendant of
Aminadi; and it was the same Aminadi who interpreted the writing which was upon
the wall of the temple, which was written by the finger of God.
3 And Aminadi was a
descendant of Nephi, who was the son of Lehi, who came out of the land of
Jerusalem, who was a descendant of Manasseh, who was the son of Joseph who was sold
into Egypt by the hands of his brethren.
4 And behold, I am
also a man of no small reputation among all those who know me; yea, and behold,
I have many kindreds and friends, and I have also acquired much riches by the
hand of my industry.
5 Nevertheless, after
all this, I never have known much of the ways of the Lord, and his mysteries
and marvelous power. I said I never had
known much of these things; but behold, I mistake, for I have seen much of his
mysteries and his marvelous power; yea, even in the preservation of the lives
of this people.
6 Nevertheless, I did
harden my heart, for I was called many times and I would not hear; therefore I
knew concerning these things, yet I would not know; therefore I went on
rebelling against God, in the wickedness of my heart, even until the fourth day
of this seventh month, which is in the tenth year of the reign of the judges.
7 As I was journeying
to see a very near kindred, behold an angel of the Lord appeared unto me and
said: Amulek, return to thine own house, for thou shalt feed a prophet of the
Lord; yea, a holy man, who is a chosen man of God; for he has fasted many days
because of the sins of this people, and he is an hungered, and thou shalt receive
him into thy house and feed him, and he shall bless thee and thy house; and the
blessing of the Lord shall rest upon thee and thy house.
8 And it came to pass
that I obeyed the voice of the angel, and returned towards my house. And as I was going thither I found the man
whom the angel said unto me: Thou shalt receive into thy house—and behold it
was this same man who has been speaking unto you concerning the things of God.
9 And the angel said
unto me he is a holy man; wherefore I know he is a holy man because it was said
by an angel of God.
10 And again, I know
that the things whereof he hath testified are true; for behold I say unto you,
that as the Lord liveth, even so has he sent his angel to make these things
manifest unto me; and this he has done while this Alma hath dwelt at my house.
11 For behold, he hath
blessed mine house, he hath blessed me, and my women, and my children, and my
father and my kinsfolk; yea, even all my kindred hath he blessed, and the blessing of the Lord hath rested
upon us according to the words which he spake.
Alma 10:1-11
As we begin chapter 10, it would be nice to remember the
words of Elder H. David Burton as he describes Alma and Amulek. “Alma and Amulek listened to the angel. They
responded to the call to missionary service, and they preached repentance. They
stood tall in the face of adversity and imprisonment. They are heroes whose
lives are worthy of emulation.”[1]
Amulek steps up and takes over from Alma.
Amulek begins by declaring his linage. He is the son of Giddonah, the son of Ishmael
and a descendant of Aminadi. Aminadi is
an unknown player in Nephite history.
This is the only time we hear of him.
We learn he saw “certain words seen on the wall of a Nephite temple had
been ‘written by the finger of God.”’[2]
We have no idea when or where this occurred.
From Aminadi, his lineage is through Nephi and Lehi. This means he was a descendant of Manasseh as
well as Joseph.
Amulek was known to the people as Ammonihah. He had a good reputation among his friends,
relatives, and associates. He has worked
hard and become rich through his labors.[3]
Amulek wasn’t all that interested in things of a religious
nature. He never knew about the Lord and
how he worked. Paul could have been
writing to Amulek when he wrote the Romans, “For I
would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should
be wise in your own conceits; that blindness [GR callousness] in part is
happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Romans 11:25).
However, he made a mistake.
He had seen the power of God in the preservation of the
Ammonihahites. He was called by God many
times, but had hardened his heart and did not hear him. Alma had people like Amulek in mind when he
said, “O ye workers of iniquity; ye that
are puffed up in the vain things of the world, ye that have professed to have
known the ways of righteousness nevertheless have gone astray, as sheep having
no shepherd, notwithstanding a shepherd hath called after you and is still
calling after you, but ye will not hearken unto his voice” (Alma 5:37).
He ignored the word of God and continued his rebellion. “Nevertheless,
thou hast seen great sorrow, for thou hast rejected me many times because of
pride and the cares of the world” (D&C 39:9). In his own way, he was like Saul. “And he
said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord
said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the
pricks” (Acts 9:5).
Amulek was travelling to see a relative. During his trip, he saw an angel. He was told to return home. He was to feed a prophet of the Lord who had
been fasting for days. The Lord’s blessings would fall upon his house.
He returned home, and Alma arrived. He recognized him as the holy man of God he
was told to host. He testified to people
that Alma was a holy man because he received the testimony of an angel.[4]
Amulek next testified that an angel
had told him that Alma was a holy man, and he swore with a solemn oath—"as
the Lord liveth"—that Alma spoke the truth (Alma 10:9–10). The swearing of
such an oath not only enhanced the seriousness of a witness's demeanor but also
exposed him to divine punishment should the testimony be untrue.[5]
He further testified Alma had blessed his house, himself and
my women[6],
children, father and kinsfolk.
[2]The
Image of the Hand of God in the Book of Mormon and the Old Testament, David
Rolph Seely, Maxwell Institute, accessed March 25, 2015.
[3] He
would eventually lose everything because he choose to serve the Lord. “And it
came to pass that Alma and Amulek, Amulek having forsaken all his gold, and
silver, and his precious things, which were in the land of Ammonihah, for the
word of God, he being rejected by those who were once his friends and also by
his father and his kindred” (Alma 15:16).
[4]
King Benjamin also testified to the truthfulness of his words. “And
the things which I shall tell you are made known unto me by an angel from
God. And he said unto me: Awake; and I
awoke, and behold he stood before me” (Mosiah 3:2).
[5] The
Legal Cases in the Book of Mormon – The Trial of Alma and Amulek, Maxwell
Institute, accessed March 25, 2015.
[6]
This probably refers to his wife and his mother/mother-in-law.
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