Alma 44:1 we do not desire to be men of blood
By stopping the violence
when the enemy was completely vulnerable, we see the mercy and magnanimity of
Moroni’s soul. Although Moroni was an expert in inflicting death, he did not
enjoy it. He had a peaceful disposition and repeatedly renounced the violence
of war. Moroni understood that it is difficult to be “men of God” and “men of
blood” at the same time. This problem plagued king David, who was renowned for
his military conquests. David lamented, ‘I had
in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the
Lord, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building:
But God said unto me, Thou shalt not build an house for my name, because thou hast
been a man of war, and hast shed blood’ (1 Chron 28:2-3). The
privilege of building a temple was taken from David and given to Solomon
because it would be improper for a “man of blood” to build a house of God.
Hugh Nibley
“Here
was Moroni's chance to settle the Lamanite problem once and for all on the
spot; a vastly superior force had entered and ravaged a large part of his
country, bent on subduing it entirely, and now he had them, as he says,
completely in his power. Well might he have said, ‘Kill or be killed. It is
either you or us!’ and finished them off. But instead of that type of total
victory he did not even ask for unconditional surrender…All he asked of his
bloodthirsty foe was that they deliver up their weapons and promise not to
fight the Nephites anymore; then they could go their way in peace without
reprisals, punishment, hostages, or guarantees (Alma 44:6).” (Since Cumorah,
p. 298)
Alma 44:2 ye are angry with us because of our religion
It is a continual source of
amazement that a religion which espouses love, peace, and good-will toward men
would, in fact, engender so much animosity. This alone is one of the great
witnesses of the reality of Satan. He is the source of this undeserved and
unrequited anger and instills it carefully and methodically from generation to
generation.
Neal A. Maxwell
“Lest
we think that the lot of a disciple is likely to be one in which he comes
calmly to the cross and then carries it lightly to his own Calvary, there are
the sober words of Moroni, whose efforts to bring about peace illuminated the
basic and deep differences between the Lamanites and Nephites so clearly and
with such pathos that Moroni finally exclaimed; ‘Ye
are angry with us because of our religion.’ It is a reminder of John's
words: ‘Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate
you.’” (For the Power is in Them, p. 42)
Brigham
Young
“The
[sectarian] priests are angry because they are afraid that their religion is
nothing but a sandy foundation fabric; and whenever they meditate upon the
subject and humble themselves, and the Spirit of the Lord finds its way to
their hearts and convicts them, the truth then is made manifest before them,
and they begin to learn the falsity of their systems; and when that spirit
leaves them, they become angry. ‘Mormonism’ is declared to be true by hosts of
witnesses, and this makes the priests angry; for this Gospel bears its own
weight and testimony, and they know not how to gainsay it. True, I have aimed
to point out their errors; but it is not you or me that they are opposed to,
although they throw their darts at us: but it is the spirit of conviction that
goes with the report of this work; for wherever it goes it strikes conviction
to the heart, and that is what disturbs the priests and the people.” (Discourses
of Brigham Young, p. 75)
Alma 44:3 ye cannot destroy this our faith
John Taylor
“Many
have got angry with us, but that is nothing new; the wicked have always shown
anger when the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been upon the earth.
“Many
have tried to stay the progress of the work of God, but it has continued to
roll on in spite of all the opposition with which it has had to contend. The
prophet saw a little stone cut out of the mountain without hands, and it
continued to roll and smote the feet of the image made of clay, brass, silver, gold,
and iron, and it became as the chaff of the summer threshing floor; but the
little stone grew and increased until it became a great mountain and filled the
whole earth.
“It
will be so with this stone which God has hewn out in these last days; and though
men may combine to stay its progress and may set themselves in array against
the Lord and His anointed, yet He will come out of His hiding place and will
vex such people and nations, and He will overturn and overturn until Truth
shall prevail the wide world over, and until His kingdom shall reach from the
rivers to the ends of the earth; until all men shall bow to the sceptre of
Immanuel; until the wicked shall be rooted from the earth, and His kingdom
shall be established and given to His Saints to possess for ever and ever.” (Journal
of Discourses, 13:19)
Alma 44:7 ye are in our hands
Heber C. Kimball
“Brethren
and sisters, do not be the aggressors, always act on the defensive…remember
what you read in the Book of Mormon, where Alma tells his son not to be the
aggressor; also what Mormoni said to Zerahemnah, ‘…we
will spare your lives, if ye will go your way, and come not again to war
against us. And now, if we do not this, behold, ye are in our hands, and I will
command my men that they shall fall upon you, and inflict the wounds of death
in your bodies, that ye may become extinct; and then we will see who shall have
power over this people; yea, we will see who shall be brought into bondage.’
“That
shows the mercy and compassion of our God; although his enemies are in his
hands, he will have mercy upon them… Just look at it, and see what kind of a
God we are serving.” (Journal of Discourses, 4:180)
Alma 44:8 we will not suffer ourselves to take an oath…which we know
that we shall break
Zarahemnah was a wicked man.
He was an apostate from the truth who desired power and dominion. Why then
would he be so concerned about breaking an oath? Couldn’t he simply make an
oath to Moroni and then break it as soon as he and his troops were safe in the
Lamanite wilderness? In this instance, we see the importance of oath-making and
oath-keeping among the ancients. The same strict adherence to an oath can be
seen in the behavior of Old World societies (Judges 11:30-40, Josh 9:3-21, 1
Sam 14). This, in part, prompted the Savior to teach the wicked that they
should not take oaths, saying, Swear not at all…But
let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay (Matt 5:34,37).
In truth, oaths are to be
taken in holy and sacred situations—to bind one to a covenant made not with
man, but with God. Herein lies the irony, for the wicked Zarahemnah would not
dare to make an oath which he might someday break, yet thousands of latter-day
“saints” go to the temple and make oaths and covenants which they subsequently
break with little or no remorse. Apparently, many do not take their covenants
very seriously. But if the wicked Zarahemnah was concerned about breaking oaths
made with a man, how much more should we be concerned about breaking sacred
oaths made with God?
James A. Cullimore
“Some
of the facts that come to our attention in the line of our duty make me wonder
if we take as seriously as we should the covenants we have made as members of
the Church: The covenants made in baptism…Promises made to our spouse and unto
the Lord as we enter into the marriage covenant…All covenants made in the
temple…Promises made to our bishop and stake president, branch president or
mission president as we accept assignments to offices in the Church…The oath
and covenant of the priesthood. The obligations we accept as we are ordained to
the priesthood and act in its offices.
“The
Lord expects us to be obedient to our covenants. Great blessings are promised
us as we are obedient, both temporal and spiritual, the greatest of which is
eternal life. (D&C 59:23.) Likewise, condemnation follows disobedience. The
Lord expects us to be strong and conquering as we exercise our agency.” (Conference
Report, Apr. 1970, p. 88)
Alma 44:9 we do not believe that it is God that has delivered us
into your hands
Henry B. Eyring
‘You
can best understand how the ‘thus we see’ passages work by looking at an
example in which one person could see and one could not. You remember the time:
Captain Moroni had an army cornered. He could have slaughtered them, but
instead he offered them freedom and their lives if they would surrender their
arms and take an oath of peace. Here is what he said: (quotes Alma 44:4-6.)
“Now,
Zerahemnah had solid evidence for the proposition that something beyond human
power had him where he faced annihilation. But did he see what Moroni saw,
looking at the same set of facts? You remember his response: ‘We are not of your faith; we do not believe that it is
God that has delivered us into your hands; but we believe that it is your
cunning that has preserved you from our swords. Behold, it is your breastplates
and your shields that have preserved you.’ (Alma 44:9.)
“He
could not see the true connection, because his heart was not soft enough, not
changed enough, that the Holy Ghost could show it to him.” (To Draw Closer
to God, p. 148 – 149)
Alma 44:11 ye shall not depart except ye depart with an oath
“Captain
Moroni was steeped in covenant theology.
The word ‘covenant’ or its derivatives appear 26 times in the Book of
Alma chapters dealing with Moroni (Alma 43-62), while they appear only three
other times in the rest of the book. ‘Covenant’ appears seven times in Alma 46
and five times in Alma 44, a frequency surpassed only by the Lord's discourse
in 3 Nephi 20, where the term or a derivative appears ten times. Additionally, the term ‘oath’ appears twelve
times in the Captain Moroni chapters, while it doesn't appear at all elsewhere
in the Book of Alma. The closest match
is in the book of Mosiah, where it appears nine times. Clearly, realizing Moroni's fundamental
grounding in and adherence to covenants is necessary to understand him. Indeed, his words and his actions can only
be understood in the light of ancient covenant theology.” (Thomas R. Valletta, Book of
Mormon Symposium Series, Alma, edited by PR Cheesman, MS Nyman, and CD
Tate, Jr., 1988, p. 230)
Alma
44:12 one of Moroni’s soldiers…smote Zerahemnah that
he took off his scalp
“The question might be raised as to
whether or not the ‘scalping’ of the Lamanite leader, Zerahemnah, might have led
to the scalping tradition of the American Indian. (Alma 44:12-14.) However,
recent evidence would seem to indicate the American Indian did not have a
scalping tradition until after the coming of the white man -- that is, until
the seventeenth century A.D. Apparently it was the white man who started the
scalping custom, when some of the early colonists offered money for the scalps
or hair of dead Indians. In order to get even with the evil white men who
killed Indians just for their scalps (in much the same way as they would kill a
buffalo for its hide), the Indians started to kill and scalp the whites in
return.” (Daniel Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon,
p. 232)