pgs. 314 and 315...the word of the Lord came unto Alma, and Alma informed the messengers of Moroni...

THE BOOK OF ALMA
THE SON OF ALMA

CHAPTER 43

Alma and his sons preach the word—The Zoramites and other Nephite dissenters become Lamanites—The Lamanites come against the Nephites in war—Moroni arms the Nephites with defensive armor—The Lord reveals to Alma the strategy of the Lamanites—The Nephites defend their homes, liberties, families, and religion—The armies of Moroni and Lehi surround the Lamanites. About 74 B.C.

1 And now it came to pass that the sons of Alma did go forth among the people, to declare the word unto them. And Alma, also, himself, could not ^arest, and he also went forth.

2 Now ^awe shall say no more concerning their preaching, except that they preached the word, and the truth, according to the spirit of prophecy and revelation; and they preached after the ^bholy order of God by which they were called.

3 And now ^aI return to an ^baccount of the wars between the Nephites and the Lamanites, in the *eighteenth year of the reign of the judges.

4 For behold, it came to pass that the ^aZoramites became Lamanites; therefore, in the commencement of the eighteenth year the people of the Nephites saw that the Lamanites were coming upon them; therefore they made preparations for war; yea, they gathered together their armies in the land of Jershon.

5 And it came to pass that the Lamanites came with their thousands; and they came into the land of ^aAntionum, which is the land of the Zoramites; and a man by the name of ^bZerahemnah was their leader.

6 And now, as the ^aAmalekites were of a more wicked and murderous disposition than the Lamanites were, in and of themselves, therefore, Zerahemnah appointed chief ^bcaptains over the Lamanites, and they were all Amalekites and ^cZoramites.

7 Now this he did that he might preserve their ^ahatred towards the Nephites, that he might bring them into subjection to the accomplishment of his designs.

8 For behold, his ^adesigns were to ^bstir up the Lamanites to anger against the Nephites; this he did that he might usurp great power over them, and also that he might gain power over the Nephites by bringing them into ^cbondage.

9 And now the design of the Nephites was to support their lands, and their houses, and their ^awives, and their children, that they might preserve them from the hands of their enemies; and also that they might preserve their ^brights and their privileges, yea, and also their ^cliberty, that they might worship God according to their desires.

10 For they knew that if they should fall into the hands of the Lamanites, that whosoever should ^aworship God in ^bspirit and in truth, the true and the living God, the Lamanites would ^cdestroy.

11 Yea, and they also knew the extreme hatred of the Lamanites towards their ^abrethren, who were the ^bpeople of Anti-Nephi-Lehi, who were called the people of Ammon—and they would not take up arms, yea, they had entered into a covenant and they would not break it—therefore, if they should fall into the hands of the Lamanites they would be destroyed.

12 And the Nephites would not suffer that they should be destroyed; therefore they gave them lands for their inheritance.

13 And the people of Ammon did give unto the Nephites a large portion of their substance to ^asupport their armies; and thus the Nephites were compelled, alone, to withstand against the Lamanites, who were a compound of Laman and Lemuel, and the sons of Ishmael, and all those who had dissented from the Nephites, who were Amalekites and Zoramites, and the ^bdescendants of the priests of Noah.

14 Now those descendants were as numerous, nearly, as were the Nephites; and thus the Nephites were obliged to contend with their brethren, even unto bloodshed.

15 And it came to pass as the armies of the Lamanites had gathered together in the land of Antionum, behold, the armies of the Nephites were prepared to meet them in the ^aland of Jershon.

16 Now, the leader of the Nephites, or the man who had been ^aappointed to be the ^bchief captain over the Nephites—now the chief captain took the command of all the armies of the Nephites—and his name was Moroni;

17 And Moroni took all the command, and the government of their wars. And he was only twenty and five years old when he was appointed chief captain over the armies of the Nephites.

18 And it came to pass that he met the Lamanites in the borders of Jershon, and his people were armed with swords, and with cimeters, and all manner of ^aweapons of war.

19 And when the armies of the Lamanites saw that the people of Nephi, or that Moroni, had ^aprepared his people with ^bbreastplates and with arm-shields, yea, and also shields to defend their heads, and also they were dressed with thick clothing—

20 Now the army of Zerahemnah was not prepared with any such thing; they had only their ^aswords and their cimeters, their bows and their arrows, their ^bstones and their slings; and they were ^cnaked, save it were a skin which was girded about their loins; yea, all were naked, save it were the Zoramites and the Amalekites;

21 But they were not armed with breastplates, nor shields—therefore, they were exceedingly afraid of the armies of the Nephites because of their armor, notwithstanding their number being so much greater than the Nephites.

22 Behold, now it came to pass that they durst not come against the Nephites in the borders of Jershon; therefore they departed out of the land of Antionum into the wilderness, and took their journey round about in the wilderness, away by the head of the river Sidon, that they might come into the land of ^aManti and take possession of the land; for they did not suppose that the armies of Moroni would know whither they had gone.

23 But it came to pass, as soon as they had departed into the wilderness Moroni sent spies into the wilderness to watch their camp; and Moroni, also, knowing of the prophecies of Alma, sent certain men unto him, desiring him that he should ^ainquire of the Lord ^bwhither the armies of the Nephites should go to defend themselves against the Lamanites.

24 And it came to pass that the ^aword of the Lord came unto Alma, and Alma informed the messengers of Moroni, that the armies of the Lamanites were marching round about in the wilderness, that they might come over into the land of Manti, that they might commence an attack upon the weaker part of the people. And those messengers went and delivered the message unto Moroni.


In our reading of Alma so far we have learned about several groups of people. Two of these groups were the Zoramites (the apostates who had the Rameumptom tower) and the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's (the Lamanite converts who escaped to the land of Zarahemla after joining the church.) These two groups are beginning a war against each other and so we begin the "war chapters" of Alma. The war chapters are a little notorious for being long and hard to get through but I recently read this list of the things we learn from these chapters and it is leading me into this with a different perspective. Here is the list of questions we will find the answers to as listed in Your Study of the Book of Mormon Made Easier by David J. Ridges:

1. Under what conditions is it appropriate for a nation to go to war?
2. In times of relative peace is it okay to produce and stockpile weapons in case of attack?
3. What should be done about individuals of military age and capability who enjoy the freedoms of a country but refuse to go to war to defend those privileges?
4. What should a commander in chief do about government leaders and groups who refuse to support the defense effort?
5. Is it ever proper to go after the leaders of enemy forces as part of a defense strategy?
6. What if an enemy force surrenders but has no intention to sign and keep a peace treaty?