Alma 53-55

Alma 53

We are entering one of my favorite stories in the Book of Mormon. But to understand the story we need to rewind. Remember Ammon and his brothers who went on a mission to the Lamanites? They were the sons of King Mosiah who used to be trouble-makers until an angel appeared to them and told them to shape up, and then they totally turned their lives around and had incredible success in converting thousands of Lamanites to the Lord, including their king. Then those Lamanites—who called themselves the people of Ammon—made a covenant with God to never fight or kill again, so they buried all their weapons deep in the earth, and moved in with the Nephites for protection because the not-converted Lamanites now hated them (see Alma 17-25 for a refresher). 

Well, the people of Ammon are now second-guessing their covenant to never fight again, because the Nephites and Lamanites are engaged in this big war, and the people of Ammon want to help the Nephites. They consider breaking their vow, but Helaman and other church leaders convince them not to.

But there is an alternative solution! The people of Ammon now have sons who are old enough to fight, and the sons never made the vow with God not to fight. So these young sons sign up for the army—2000 of them in total—and become known as the 2000 Stripling Warriors. These boys are my heroes. You’ll read about their heroic acts later, but this chapter gives us a glimpse into their heroic hearts.

20 And they were all young men, and they were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all—they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.

21 Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him

We will learn later that the young warriors' faith is so great because their mothers taught them

Alma 54

If you were to write a letter to a man who was causing a war against your people—an unjust war for the sake of power and greed—what would you say?? Captain Moroni writes to King Ammoron (brother of the late King Amalekiah who started this war) about exchanging prisoners of war. Neither of these men are softies, and they don’t sugar-coat.  Give it a read! What insights into the characters of these men do you gain from reading their letters?

Alma 55

Moroni decides not to exchange prisoners with Ammoron because he doesn’t want the Lamanite army to have any more power. Instead, he devises a plan to free the Nephite prisoners. First, he finds a small group of converted Lamanites within his army. These Lamanites pretend they have escaped from the Nephites, and approach the city Gid (where the Nephite prisoners are guarded) during the night, carrying “stolen” wine. The Lamanite guards are excited about their escaped comrades, and especially about the wine, and they drink up! The wine is strong, and quickly knocks the Lamanites out in a drunken stupor. 

Cue Moroni, who quietly enters the city with his army, and they pass weapons into the prison to all the Nephite prisoners, including the women and children. Then the army retreats and surrounds the city. When the Lamanites wake up in the morning, Moroni’s army has them surrounded on the outside, and all the prisoners on the inside are armed. Naturally, the Lamanites surrender and Moroni takes over the city Gid, and most importantly he frees all the Nephite prisoners.

An important insight to Moroni’s character and motivations is given in verses 18-20 when the Nephite army is secretly handing weapons to the prisoners while the Lamanites are drunk:

 18 But had they awakened the Lamanites, behold they were drunken and the Nephites could have slain them.

 19 But behold, this was not the desire of Moroni; he did not delight in murder or bloodshed, but he delighted in the saving of his people from destruction; and for this cause he might not bring upon him injustice, he would not fall upon the Lamanites and destroy them in their drunkenness.

Alma 51-52

Alma 51

Summary of Events:

The Nephites experience an internal fall-out as a portion of the people want the law to be changed to incorporate a king. These “kingmen,” however, are outnumbered by the majority of the people, who classify themselves as “freemen,” and vote to keep the judges system as it is. Even though freedom in the law prevails, this is a bad time for an internal conflict, because Amalekiah and the Lamanites wage war again. The kingmen see this as an opportunity to boycott in revenge, and they refuse to fight. Moroni’s armies are weakened enough that the Lamanites take over at least 7 cities, “all of which were strongly fortified after the manner of the fortifications of Moroni; all of which afforded strongholds for the Lamanites (v. 27).” Bad news—very bad news. Amalekiah would have succeeded in taking over even more cities, except he is stopped by Teancum and his army, who are basically super warriors, and they stop Amalekiah’s army in their tracks. In the middle of the night, when both armies are camped after an intense day of battle, Teancum covertly sneaks into the Lamanite’s camp and puts a javelin to the heart of Amalekiah, killing him on the spot. Teancum successfully sneaks back to his camp and wakes up his army so they will be ready in the morning when the Lamanites wake up and discover their king is dead. 

Spiritual Insights:

I think the story of the kingmen is a powerful illustration of the destructive consequences that can come from a lack of unity. Our modern society really values individualism and personal rights and the freedom to rebel against the majority, and in many cases that is a good thing, but it can also go too far and be damaging to everyone. I believe there is a line at which personal freedom should not trump the freedom of the whole.

Alma 52

Summary of Events:

Moroni creates a clever strategy to reclaim one of the cities taken by the Lamanites—Mulek. The city’s fortifications are too strong for the Nephites to attack it directly, so they need to somehow coax the Lamanites out onto the open plains to fight. 

There are 3 different players on the Nephite team: (1) Teancum’s army, which is stationed in the part of the land where Mulek is, (2) Moroni’s army, which secretly travels from a different part of the country to join Teancum, and (3) Lehi’s army, stationed in the land Bountiful. 

So the strategy plays out like this: first, Teancum’s little army marches past the land Mulek. The Lamanites just can’t resist coming out of their fortifications to squash this little army, and they start chasing Teancum’s men, who start running toward the land Bountiful. Meanwhile, once the Lamanites are out of site, Moroni and his army have been hiding in the wilderness, and they emerge and attack the few Lamanites who are left to guard the city Mulek and easily take it. Moroni leaves half his army in Mulek, and takes the other half to chase after the Lamanites who are pursuing Teancum.

Teancum’s men reach the city Bountiful, and the Lamanites realize that Lehi is there and his men are strong and fresh, whereas the Lamanites are exhausted from their chase, so the Lamanites turn on their heals and rush back toward Mulek. Lehi’s men chase them until the Lamanites collide with Moroni’s men who have been chasing from behind, and the Lamanites are surrounded on both sides by Nephites and are forced to surrender. So the Nephites reclaim their city Mulek and also take an army of Lamanite prisoners.

Spiritual Insight:

I'll admit the spiritual insight isn't as obvious to me on this one, although the episode is very clever and intriguing. I suppose there is a lesson here on the power of teamwork in the battle against evil. You could also say that it's easier to defend/maintain moral ground than it is to regain it after it has been lost... but it IS possible. Do you have any insights to add? 

Alma 49-50

Alma 49

Summary of Events:

The war begins! Amalekiah’s army of Lamanites marches to the Nephite city of Ammonihah. They are decked out with armor (they learned their lesson from the last battle), and they expect to easily conquer their target because they easily destroyed it in the past (see Alma 16). 

8 But behold, to their total astonishment, [the Nephites] were prepared for them, in a manner which never had been known among the children of Lehi. Now they were prepared for the Lamanites, to battle after the manner of the instructions of Moroni.

Under Moroni’s leadership, the Nephites have erected walls and dug ditches around their entire city (like the picture), making it nearly impossible to enter the city except by the narrow entrance gate. The Lamanites have never seen anything like it! They are scared to attack (as they should be), and decide to attack a different city first.

 13 For they knew not that Moroni had fortified, or had built forts of security, for every city in all the land round about; therefore, they marched forward to the land of Noah with a firm determination; yea, their chief captains came forward and took an oath that they would destroy the people of that city.

 14 But behold, to their astonishment, the city of Noah, which had hitherto been a weak place, had now, by the means of Moroni, become strong, yea, even to exceed the strength of the city Ammonihah.

 15 And now, behold, this was wisdom in Moroni; for he had supposed that they would be frightened at the city Ammonihah; and as the city of Noah had hitherto been the weakest part of the land, therefore they would march thither to battle; and thus it was according to his desires.

Clever Moroni! He also placed Lehi in command at the city of Noah, and the Lamanites are afraid of Lehi because he walloped them in the last battle. But because the Lamanite commanders had promised each other to attack at this next city, they give it a try. And they fail miserably! No one succeeds in getting over the walls of the city or through the narrow passage. Over 1000 Lamanites are killed, and not a single Nephite is killed.

Spiritual Insights:

The time to prepare to defend/protect yourself against spiritually destructive forces is BEFORE they attack. Identify your biggest weaknesses, and defend those the most, because you can count on them being attacked first.

Alma 50

Summary of Events:

Moroni’s armies continue to strengthen the fortifications of all their cities, and the Nephites build many new cities. These are happy and prosperous times for the Nephites, even though they know the Lamanites could come to war again any day.

The biggest conflict the Nephites deal with during this time is internal. The people in the city Morianton claim land that belongs to a new city named Lehi, and they are ready to fight for it. “But behold, the people who possessed the land of Lehi fled to the camp of Moroni, and appealed unto him for assistance; for behold they were not in the wrong (v. 27).” Morianton’s army is obviously scared of Moroni’s army because they are no competition for them, so they plan to take off and possess the land northward. But before the plan occurs, Morianton loses his temper with a maid and beats her, and she flees to Moroni and tells him all about Morianton’s plans. 

Moroni sends an army led by an awesome guy named Teancum (we will hear more about him in future battles) to intersect Morianton’s people in their flight, and of course Teancum’s army wins. Morianton is killed, and the rest of the people return to the city of Morianton in peace.

Spiritual Insights:

One of the reoccurring themes of the Book of Mormon is that you will prosper in life if you keep God’s commandments, and your life will eventually fall apart if you don’t. This point is illustrated in the lives of the Nephites and Lamanites throughout the Book of Mormon, and this is one time in which the Nephites exhibit prosperity due to their righteousness and the Lord’s blessings:

 17 And in these prosperous circumstances were the people of Nephi in the commencement of the twenty and first year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi.

 18 And they did prosper exceedingly, and they became exceedingly rich; yea, and they did multiply and wax strong in the land.

 19 And thus we see how merciful and just are all the dealings of the Lord, to the fulfilling of all his words unto the children of men; yea, we can behold that his words are verified, even at this time, which he spake unto Lehi, saying:

 20 Blessed art thou and thy children; and they shall be blessed, inasmuch as they shall keep my commandments they shall prosper in the land. But remember, inasmuch as they will not keep my commandments they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord.

 21 And we see that these promises have been verified to the people of Nephi; for it has been their quarrelings and their contentions, yea, their murderings, and their plunderings, their idolatry, their whoredoms, and their abominations, which were among themselves, which brought upon them their wars and their destructions.

 22 And those who were faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord were delivered at all times, whilst thousands of their wicked brethren have been consigned to bondage, or to perish by the sword, or to dwindle in unbelief, and mingle with the Lamanites.

Another important point—if you are faithful in following the Lord and keeping His commandments, it is possible to be happy and to thrive in life even in non-ideal circumstances. The Nephites know that the Lamanites are preparing for war and could attack at any time, and yet they seem to be the happiest they have ever been.

 23 But behold there never was a happier time among the people of Nephi, since the days of Nephi, than in the days of Moroni, yea, even at this time, in the twenty and first year of the reign of the judges.