24 And now it came to
pass that the people were more angry with Amulek, and they cried out, saying:
This man doth revile against our laws which are just, and our wise lawyers whom
we have selected.
25 But Amulek
stretched forth his hand, and cried the mightier unto them, saying: O ye wicked
and perverse generation, why hath Satan got such great hold upon your
hearts? Why will ye yield yourselves
unto him that he may have power over you, to blind your eyes, that ye will not
understand the words which are spoken, according to their truth?
26 For behold, have I
testified against your law? Ye do not
understand; ye say that I have spoken against your law; but I have not, but I
have spoken in favor of your law, to your condemnation.
27 And now behold, I
say unto you, that the foundation of the destruction of this people is
beginning to be laid by the unrighteousness of your lawyers and your judges.
28 And now it came to
pass that when Amulek had spoken these words the people cried out against him,
saying: Now we know that this man is a child of the devil, for he hath lied
unto us; for he hath spoken against our law.
And now he says that he has not spoken against it.
29 And again, he has
reviled against our lawyers, and our judges.
30 And it came to pass
that the lawyers put it into their hearts that they should remember these
things against him.
31 And there was one
among them whose name was Zeezrom. Now
he was the foremost to accuse Amulek and Alma, he being one of the most expert
among them, having much business to do among the people.
32 Now the object of
these lawyers was to get gain; and they got gain according to their employ.
Alma 10:24-32
After Amulek finished his words, the people were quite angry
with him. He had done the unspeakable! He had questioned their laws “which are just” and, even worse, their
lawyers.[1] “They would lay their legal traps, and if
they failed to work, became righteously indignant … Such men are dangerous
enough on their own, but when their position becomes official (either in
education or government) they have a powerful lever for achieving their aims by
force…”[2]
When he saw what was going on, Amulek stretched out his hand
and “cred the mightier unto them.” He called them a “wicked and perverse generation.”
Satan had taken hold of their hearts. “When Satan claims you as his, there is
indeed a horrible oneness; for he too will embrace you to get power over you … He will hold you in his strong embrace, having
a great hold over you (Alma 10:25; 12:17; 27:12; Helaman 16:23).
Joseph Smith felt that power, and it was not an imaginary
power at all, a power many have felt since (JS-H 1:16).”[3]
They are yielding to the power of the devil. He has blinded their eyes. Paul told the Corinthians, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them
that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them
which believe not, lest the flight of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4).
The Lord told Enoch, “And
he heard a voice from heaven, saying: Enoch, my son, prophesy unto this people,
and say unto them—Repent, for thus saith the Lord: I am angry with this people,
and my fierce anger is kindled against them; for their hearts have waxed hard,
and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes cannot see afar off” (Moses
6:27).
Because Satan has blinded them, they will not listen to nor
understand the ways of the Lord nor the words His servants speak.
During his mortal ministry, the Savior had to deal with
lawyers like those in Ammonihah, constantly trying to trip Him up. “But
when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they
were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a
question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in
the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all
thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew
22:34-39).
Amulek then turns things back on the lawyers. He points out that not only has he not
testified against their laws, he speaks in support of them. He speaks in support of their law to their
condemnation. The fact they failed to
obey their laws will be the foundation of the destruction. The foundation had been laid by their lawyers
and judges.
In response, Amulek adamantly
denied the charge that he had reviled their law (Alma 10:26). He claimed,
instead, to have spoken in favor of their law, although to their condemnation,
by reminding the people that they were indeed free to govern themselves by
their own voice, but that Mosiah had also said that "if the time should
come that the voice of this people should choose iniquity, . . . they would be
ripe for destruction" (v. 19). Amulek admitted, however, that he meant
what he had said about "the unrighteousness of [the] lawyers and [the]
judges" (v. 27).[4]
This made the people even angrier with Amulek. They called him a “child of the devil.” This is
not an unusual tactic used by the wicked. “He
that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory
that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. Did not
Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me? The people
answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee?” (John 7:18-20).
Amulek, they cried, has lied to us! Why, he claims he has spoken for the law, but
not against it. Even worse, he condemned
their lawyers and judges.
Amulek was then accused of lying
for claiming that he had not spoken against the law when in fact he had (Alma
10:28). This charge of lying seems to have subsumed the prior accusation of
reviling the law, for in the next verse the people seem to drop or diminish the
reviling charge, which may have simply transmuted into the charge of reviling
the lawyers, and now they accused Amulek of reviling not only "our lawyers"
but also now "our judges" (v. 29).[5]
Mormon then lets us in on a secret. Guess who was responsible for rousing the
rabble? That’s right! The lawyers and judges!
The lawyer who was to question Amulek was Amulek’s chief accuser. He was one of the best. His intent was to take down Amulek.
[1]
This was exactly the attitude Nephi found in his brethren. “And it
came to pass that I said unto them that I knew that I had spoken hard things
against the wicked, according to the truth; and the righteous have I justified,
and testified that they should be lifted up at the last day; wherefore, the
guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center”
(1 Nephi 16:2).
[2] An
Approach to the Book of Mormon – The Way of the "Intellectuals",
Hugh Nibley, Maxwell Institute, accessed March 31, 2015.
[3] Approaching
Zion – The Meaning of the Atonement, Maxwell Institute, accessed March 31,
2015.
[4] The
Legal Cases in the Book of Mormon – The Trial of Alma and Amulek, Maxwell
Institute, accessed March 31, 2015.
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