Chapter 2
Amlici seeks to be
king and is rejected by the voice of the people—His followers make him king—The
Amlicites make war on the Nephites and are defeated—The Lamanites and Amlicites
join forces and are defeated—Alma slays Amlici. About 87 B.C.
1 And it came to pass
in the commencement of the fifth year of their reign there began to be a
contention among the people; for a certain man, being called Amlici, he being a
very cunning man, yea, a wise man as to the wisdom of the world, he being after
the order of the man that slew Gideon by the sword, who was executed according
to the law—
2 Now this Amlici had,
by his cunning, drawn away much people after him; even so much that they began
to be very powerful; and they began to endeavor to establish Amlici to be a
king over the people.
3 Now this was
alarming to the people of the church, and also to all those who had not been
drawn away after the persuasions of Amlici; for they knew that according to
their law that such things must be established by the voice of the people.
4 Therefore, if it
were possible that Amlici should gain the voice of the people, he, being a
wicked man, would deprive them of their rights and privileges of the church;
for it was his intent to destroy the church of God.
5 And it came to pass that
the people assembled themselves together throughout all the land, every man
according to his mind, whether it were for or against Amlici, in separate
bodies, having much dispute and wonderful contentions one with another.
6 And thus they did
assemble themselves together to cast in their voices concerning the matter; and
they were laid before the judges.
7 And it came to pass
that the voice of the people came against Amlici, that he was not made king
over the people.
8 Now this did cause
much joy in the hearts of those who were against him; but Amlici did stir up
those who were in his favor to anger against those who were not in his favor.
9 And it came to pass
that they gathered themselves together, and did consecrate Amlici to be their
king.
10 Now when Amlici was
made king over them he commanded them that they should take up arms against
their brethren; and this he did that he might subject them to him.
11 Now the people of
Amlici were distinguished by the name of Amlici, being called Amlicites; and
the remainder were called Nephites, or the people of God.
12 Therefore the
people of the Nephites were aware of the intent of the Amlicites, and therefore
they did prepare to meet them; yea, they did arm themselves with swords, and
with cimeters, and with bows, and with arrows, and with stones, and with
slings, and with all manner of weapons of war, of every kind.
13 And thus they were
prepared to meet the Amlicites at the time of their coming. And there were
appointed captains, and higher captains, and chief captains, according to their
numbers.
14 And it came to pass
that Amlici did arm his men with all manner of weapons of war of every kind;
and he also appointed rulers and leaders over his people, to lead them to war
against their brethren.
15 And it came to pass
that the Amlicites came upon the hill Amnihu, which was east of the river
Sidon, which ran by the land of Zarahemla, and there they began to make war
with the Nephites.
No sooner did Alma deal with Nehor, he faced another
challenge from a man named Amlici. He was a follower of Nehor and was able to
convince many to follow him and his teachings. He began to become a powerful force
in Nephite society. His supporters wanted to make him king over the Nephites.
This raised concerns among church members as well as those
who refused to support Amlici. Their attempts to establish Amlici violated Nephite
law, requiring these things be established by the voice of the people. Mosiah
had made that process clear.
“Therefore, choose you by the voice of this people, judges,
that ye may be judged according to the laws which have been given you by our
fathers, which are correct, and which were given them by the hand of the Lord.
“Now it is not common that the voice of the people desireth
anything contrary to that which is right; but it is common for the lesser part
of the people to desire that which is not right; therefore this shall ye
observe and make it your law—to do your business by the voice of the people.
“And if the time comes that the voice of the people doth
choose iniquity, then is the time that the judgments of God will come upon you;
yea, then is the time he will visit you with great destruction even as he has
hitherto visited this land” (Mosiah 29:25-27).
The people were concerned of the consequences of Amlici, a
wicked man, becoming king. They knew he intended to destroy the church.
Later in Alma, Amulek will remind the people of Ammonihah of
Mosiah’s warning about the consequences of choosing evil leaders.
“Yea, well did Mosiah say, who was our last king, when he
was about to deliver up the kingdom, having no one to confer it upon, causing
that this people should be governed by their own voices—yea, well did he say
that if the time should come that the voice of this people should choose
iniquity, that is, if the time should come that this people should fall into
transgression, they would be ripe for destruction” (Alma 10:19).
The people assembled together to decide whether to support
or oppose Amlici. There were disputes and contentions. During His ministry to
the Nephites, Christ warned them, “For verily, verily I say unto you, he that
hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the
father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with
anger, one with another” (3 Nephi 11:29).
Finally, the decision was made. “[T]he voice of the people
came against Amlici, that he was not made king over the people” (Alma 2:7).
Those who opposed Amlici were happy with the decision of the
people; however, he would not accept the voice of the people. He gathered his
followers together and they consecrated Amlici king.
His first action was to order his followers to overthrow the
government so he could be king over all the people. Those who supported Amlici
became known as Amlicites. The rest “were called Nephites, or the people of God”
(Alma 2:11).
Learning of the intentions of the Amlicites, the Nephites
began to arm themselves, preparing for war. “They did arm themselves with
swords, and with cimeters, and with bows, and with arrows, and with stones, and
with slings, and with all manner of weapons of war, of every kind” (Alma 2:12).
“Some critics have termed the presence of scimitars in the
text of the Book of Mormon anachronistic. They base their claim on the mistaken
assumption that scimitars did not exist in the pre-Islamic Old World and
therefore could not have appeared among Book of Mormon peoples who claim an Old
World nexus with Iron Age II Palestine …
“There can be no question that scimitars, or sickle swords,
were known in the ancient Near East during the Late Bronze Period, that is,
about six hundred years prior to Lehi’s departure from Jerusalem. There have
been several early attempts to demonstrate this, but more recently Brent
Merrill has convincingly shown that scimitars existed in the Late Bronze Age.
In addition to the sources Merrill cited, Othmar Keel, on the basis of
artifactual and glyptic evidence, dated the use of the scimitar as a weapon in
the ancient Near East from 2400 to 1150 B.C., just a little after the
traditional 1200 B.C. closing date for the Late Bronze Age. Robert Macalister
found a late Bronze Age sickle sword at Gezer in Palestine (together with a
Mycenaean pot), which Maxwell Hyslop dated to the ‘14th century B.C.’ Yigael
Yadin discussed such swords in the context of warfare in the Near East,
including the curved sword in use from Egypt to Assyria during the Late Bronze
Age.”[1]
When the Amlicite army arrived, the Nephites were ready to
face them.
[1] Scimitars,
Cimeters! We Have Scimitars! Do We Need Another Cimeter? Paul Y. Hoskisson,
Maxwell Institute website.
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