Alma 25:2 they…fell upon the people who were in the land of
Ammonihah and destroyed them
Ammonihah was the city of
Amulek. Alma and Amulek had warned them of impending destruction if they did not
repent. Their attitude was encapsulated in the following statement, We will not believe thy words if thou shouldst prophesy
that this great city should be destroyed in one day (Alma 9:4). The Lord
loves a challenge, and he met their challenge, for
they were destroyed; yea, every living soul of the Ammonihahites was destroyed,
and also their great city, which they said God could not destroy, because of
its greatness. But behold, in one day it was left desolate; and the carcases
were mangled by dogs and wild beasts of the wilderness (Alma 16:9-10).
Alma 25:3 they had many battles with the Nephites, in the which they
were driven and slain
The Lamanites were beaten so
convincingly in these battles that they began to wonder whether God was
preserving the Nephites. The battles being referred to here are found in Alma
16:3-8. This was the story of the chief captain, Zoram, who inquired at the
hand of Alma where he should go to rescue captive Nephites and meet the
Lamanite armies. Because of divine direction, they
came upon the armies of the Lamanites, and the Lamanites were scattered and
driven into the wilderness; and they took their brethren who had been taken
captive by the Lamanites, and there was not one soul of them had been lost that
were taken captive…And thus ended the eleventh year of the judges, the
Lamanites having been driven our of the land (Alma 16:8-9).
Alma 25:6-7 many of them…began to be stirred up in remembrance
When the Lamanite army came
upon the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi, they began to slaughter their brethren. It
is interesting, then to look at the effect of this atrocious act on the
perpetrators themselves. We have already discussed the group which were stung for their murders (Alma 24:25). They
threw down their weapons and converted on the spot.
A second Lamanite group
responded in anger. Their fury was exacted
upon the people of Ammonihah. However, subsequent battles with the Nephites
humbled them. They began to wonder how it was that the Nephites could be so
powerful in battle—as if the Great Spirit were protecting them. The result was
that they remembered the preaching of Aaron and Ammon and began to disbelieve the traditions of their fathers.
This shows how far-reaching the missionary efforts of the sons of Mosiah were.
The sower of the seed never knows when the seed will take sprout. Often the
seed lays dormant until the great Gardener gives the increase. In this case,
Ammon planted, Aaron watered; but God gave the
increase (1 Cor 3:6). It also shows the power of the missionary act of
the slaughtered Anti-Nephi-Lehies. Their willingness to die for the truth was
an act of missionary work, for thousands were brought to the knowledge of the
truth by their integrity and courage.
The third group which took
part in the vicious attack were the Amulonites and Amalekites. These dissenters
had no remorse. They were not stung by the murder of the Lamanites. They were
not influenced by the teaching of the sons of Mosiah (Alma 23:14). They did not
attribute the military successes of the Nephites to the power of God. They were
leaders among the Lamanites but had no love for them. Rather, as soon as these
Lamanites began to believe in the traditions of the Nephites, the Amulonites
had them killed. These wicked descendants of the priests of Noah were without
conscience. They would kill Nephites and Lamanites indiscriminately, especially
if they believed in God and the coming of his Son. It is hard to find examples
of people whose hearts were harder or necks were stiffer than these wicked men.
Alma 25:12 he said unto the priests of Noah that their seed should
cause many to be put to death
Mormon does a great job of
explaining how the words of Abinadi were fulfilled to the last detail, even to
the second generation. It is helpful to review what Abinadi said while he was
burning to death:
‘And now when the
flames began to scorch him, he cried unto them, saying:
Behold, even as ye have
done unto me, so shall it come to pass that thy seed shall cause that many
shall suffer the pains that I do suffer, even the pains of death by fire; and
this because they believe in the salvation of the Lord their God.
And it will come to
pass that ye shall be afflicted with all manner of diseases because of your
iniquities.
Yea, and ye shall be
smitten on every hand, and shall be driven and scattered to and fro, even as a
wild flock is driven by wild and ferocious beasts.
And in that day ye
shall be hunted, and ye shall be taken by the hand of your enemies, and then ye
shall suffer, as I suffer, the pains of death by fire.
Thus God executeth
vengeance upon those that destroy his people.’ (Mosiah 17:14-19)
Alma 25:15-16 the law of Moses
did serve to strengthen their faith in Christ
The difference between the Law
of Moses as understood by the ancient Israelites in the Old Testament and the
Law of Moses as taught in the Book of Mormon is fundamental. Two basic concepts
of the law are not explained in a plain and precious way in the Old Testament.
First, is that salvation did not come by the Law of Moses. Second, is that the
purpose of the Law of Moses was to strengthen their
faith in Christ. These two concepts are inextricably related but for the
sake of discussion, they will be dealt with separately. Notice that of all the
scriptures listed, only one comes from the Old Testament.
First, salvation does not
come by the Law of Moses:
‘To what purpose is the
multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt
offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of
bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats…
Wash you, make you
clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do
evil’ (Isa 1:11,16)
‘For the law having a
shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can
never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make
the comers thereunto perfect…
For it is not
possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.’ (Heb 10:1,4)
‘But Israel, which
followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of
righteousness.
Wherefore? Because they
sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they
stumbled at that stumblingstone;’ (Rom
9:31-32)
‘For the promise, that
he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed,
through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.’ (Rom 4:13)
‘For the law made
nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which
we draw nigh unto God.’ (Heb 7:19)
‘Therefore by the deeds
of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is
the knowledge of sin.’ (Rom 3:20)
‘And moreover, I say
unto you, that salvation doth not come by the law alone; and were it not for
the atonement, which God himself shall make for the sins and iniquities of his
people, that they must unavoidably perish, notwithstanding the law of Moses.’ (Mosiah 13:28)
Second, the Law of Moses is
to strengthen faith in Christ:
‘…harden not
your hearts, as in the provocation.
…And to whom sware he
that they (the children of Israel) should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed
not?
So we see that they
could not enter in because of unbelief.’ (Heb
3:15-19)
‘For unto us was the
gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit
them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.’ (Heb 4:2)
‘For Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.’ (Rom 10:4)
‘But before faith came,
we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith, which should afterwards be
revealed.
Wherefore the law was
our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by
faith.’ (Gal 3:23-24)
‘Behold, my soul
delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ; for,
for this end hath the law of Moses been given; and all things which have been
given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of
him.’ (2 Ne 11:4)
‘And behold, this is
the whole meaning of the law, every whit pointing to that great and last
sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God’ (Alma 34:14)
‘And for this intent we keep the law of
Moses, it pointing our souls to him; and for this cause it is sanctified unto
us for righteousness, even as it was accounted unto Abraham.’ (Jacob 4:5)
‘For, for this end was
the law given; wherefore the law hath become dead unto us, and we are made
alive in Christ because of our faith; yet we keep the law because of the
commandments.’ (2 Ne 25:25)
John Taylor
“So
firm a foundation having been laid for the faith of the Nephite people, we find
that in every period of their history they retained their reverence for the law
of Moses, though disputations sometimes arose, by reason of iniquity, with
regard to its symbolism or its saving quality.
The apostates, who separated themselves from the Church, occasionally
fell into the grievous error of exalting the law above the Gospel, and, whilst
maintaining its divine origin, they ignored its typical value and denied that
it was a preparatory system leading to a higher, holier and more perfect law;
they refused to recognize it as a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ.” (Mediation
and Atonement, chapter 14)
See also commentary for 2 Ne
11:4, 2 Ne 25:25, and Mosiah 13:28-30.
Alma 25:17 the Lord had granted unto them according to their prayers
The content of their prayers
is described in Alma 17:
‘…they fasted much and
prayed much that the Lord would grant unto them a portion of his Spirit to go
with them, and abide with them, that they might be an instrument in the hands
of God to bring, if it were possible, their brethren, the Lamanites to the
knowledge of the truth, to the knowledge of the baseness of the traditions of
their fathers, which were not correct.’
(Alma 17:9)