A Meditation on Mormon's Message for Modern Members of the Church

Book of Mormon Notes - Tuesday, September 12, 2023, Alma 24

The pure, natural Lamanites were mostly good at heart, even though they had been influenced by the wicked traditions of their fathers. But the Amalekites and the Amulonites, those who had been influenced by Nehor, Amulon, and wicked Nephite dissenters, were more hardened than their brothers. Mormon emphasizes the contrast between the converted Lamanites - the Anti-Nephi-Lehites, and the hardened and impenitent Amalekites and Amulonites. Why does Mormon emphasize this contrast? What message might Mormon have in mind for his latter-day audience, namely for you and for me?

The more hardened and impenitent groups of Lamanites were stirred up to anger by the Amalekites and the Amulonites, and their rage was so intense that they even began to rebel against their own king and their own people, particularly their king and their people who had been converted unto the Lord. King Lamoni’s father passed away, but not before conferring the kingdom upon his son who took upon himself the name Anti-Nephi-Lehi. Anti-Nephi-Lehi was the brother of King Lamoni, and he had also been converted unto the Lord because of the preaching of Ammon and his brothers.

Ammon, Aaron, Omner, and Himni, and all of their missionary brethren, which must have included Muloki and Ammah, gathered together with King Lamoni and King Anti-Nephi-Lehi and others to hold a council about what they should do to defend themselves against the Lamanites. The conversion of the king and the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi was so deep, sincere, and complete that they refused to take up arms anymore. They buried their weapons and covenanted with God to perish rather than to fight. Mormon moves from an abridgment of this story to what looks like a direct quotation of the King Anti-Nephi-Lehi. When Mormon provides a direct quotation from a king, I believe it is because he considers the king’s speech to be very important for his latter-day audience. The direct quotations of the Lamanite kings - Lamoni and Lamoni’s father, and the direct quotations of King Benjamin are just a few examples. And if we consider for a moment that the large plates of Nephi contained a more secular, but still sacred account of the Nephites, then it makes sense why these direct quotations from kings were so important in this record:

Upon the other plates should be engraven an account of the reign of the kings, and the wars and contentions of my people; wherefore these plates are for the more part of the ministry; and the ^aother plates are for the more part of the reign of the kings and the wars and contentions of my people. (1 Nephi 9:4)

But remember that even though the small plates contained a more sacred account of spiritual matters and the ministry, Nephi also considered that his large plates were sacred:

And after I had made these plates by way of commandment, I, Nephi, received a commandment that the ministry and the prophecies, the more plain and precious parts of them, should be written upon ^athese plates; and that the things which were written should be kept for the instruction of my people, who should possess the land, and also for other ^bwise purposes, which purposes are known unto the Lord.

Wherefore, I, Nephi, did make a record upon the ^aother plates, which gives an account, or which gives a greater account of the wars and contentions and destructions of my people. And this have I done, and commanded my people what they should do after I was gone; and that these plates should be handed down from one generation to another, or from one prophet to another, until further commandments of the Lord.

And an account of my ^amaking these plates shall be given hereafter; and then, behold, I proceed according to that which I have spoken; and this I do that the more sacred things may be ^bkept for the knowledge of my people.

Nevertheless, I do not ^awrite anything upon plates save it be that I think it be ^bsacred. And now, if I do err, even did they err of old; not that I would excuse myself because of other men, but because of the ^cweakness which is in me, according to the flesh, I would excuse myself. (1 Nephi 19:3-6)

Thus Mormon’s abridgment of the large plates of Nephi is also sacred, like Nephi’s small plates. However, Mormon often interjects in his abridgment in order to draw forth the sacred and spiritual lessons from the secular history that he records. Such is the case here with King Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s speech. Notice that Mormon not only quotes King Anti-Nephi-Lehi directly, but that he also provides “thus we see” and “thus we can plainly discern” statements that precede the sacred and spiritual lesson that Mormon wished to convey, perhaps first to his son Moroni, and then in the future to his latter-day audience, particularly the Lamanites of the last days, and also to us.

This is King Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s speech that Mormon appears to have recorded verbatim:

Now, these are the words which he said unto the people concerning the matter: I thank my God, my beloved people, that our great God has in goodness sent these our brethren, the Nephites, unto us to preach unto us, and to convince us of the ^atraditions of our wicked fathers.

And behold, I thank my great God that he has given us a portion of his Spirit to soften our hearts, that we have ^aopened a correspondence with these brethren, the Nephites.

And behold, I also thank my God, that by opening this correspondence we have been convinced of our ^asins, and of the many murders which we have committed.

And I also thank my God, yea, my great God, that he hath granted unto us that we might repent of these things, and also that he hath ^aforgiven us of those our many sins and murders which we have committed, and taken away the ^bguilt from our hearts, through the merits of his Son.

And now behold, my brethren, since it has been all that we could do (as we were the most lost of all mankind) to repent of all our sins and the many murders which we have committed, and to get God to ^atake them away from our hearts, for it was all we could do to repent sufficiently before God that he would take away our stain—

Now, my best beloved brethren, since God hath taken away our stains, and our swords have become bright, then let us stain our swords no more with the blood of our brethren.

Behold, I say unto you, Nay, let us retain our swords that they be not stained with the blood of our brethren; for perhaps, if we should stain our swords ^aagain they can no more be ^bwashed bright through the blood of the Son of our great God, which shall be shed for the atonement of our sins.

And the great God has had mercy on us, and made these things known unto us that we might not perish; yea, and he has made these things known unto us beforehand, because he loveth our ^asouls as well as he loveth our children; therefore, in his mercy he doth visit us by his angels, that the ^bplan of salvation might be made known unto us as well as unto future generations.

Oh, how merciful is our God! And now behold, since it has been as much as we could do to get our stains taken away from us, and our swords are made bright, let us ^ahide them away that they may be kept bright, as a testimony to our God at the last day, or at the day that we shall be brought to stand before him to be judged, that we have not stained our swords in the blood of our brethren since he imparted his word unto us and has made us ^bclean thereby.

And now, my brethren, if our brethren seek to destroy us, behold, we will hide away our swords, yea, even we will bury them deep in the earth, that they may be kept bright, as a testimony that we have never used them, at the last day; and if our brethren destroy us, behold, we shall ^ago to our God and shall be saved. (Alma 24:7-16)

Then Mormon adds his own abridgment of the story:

And now it came to pass that when the king had made an end of these sayings, and all the people were assembled together, they took their swords, and all the weapons which were used for the shedding of man’s blood, and they did ^abury them up deep in the earth.

And this they did, it being in their view a testimony to God, and also to men, that they ^anever would use weapons again for the shedding of man’s blood; and this they did, vouching and ^bcovenanting with God, that rather than shed the blood of their brethren they would ^cgive up their own lives; and rather than take away from a brother they would give unto him; and rather than spend their days in idleness they would labor abundantly with their hands. (Alma 24:17-18)

Then Mormon draws forth the sacred and spiritual lesson from the secular history for the benefit of his latter-day audience, the latter-day Lamanites in particular, but also for the benefit of Jews and Gentiles:

And thus we see that, when these Lamanites were brought to ^abelieve and to know the truth, they were ^bfirm, and would suffer even unto death rather than commit sin; and thus we see that they buried their weapons of peace, or they buried the weapons of war, for peace. (Alma 24:19)

Just a quick note about this last verse: notice that Mormon recorded “weapons of peace” and then rephrased the sentence “weapons of war, for peace”. It must have been difficult to erase anything that was inscribed on metal plates, and easier just to rephrase the sentence to clarify his meaning.

King Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s speech is a beautiful example of a record that supports the overarching purposes and themes of the Book of Mormon, which purposes and themes are clearly outlined in Mormon’s introduction to the Book of Mormon as well as in Moroni’s conclusion to the Book of Mormon:

Wherefore, it is an abridgment of the record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites—Written to the Lamanites, who are a remnant of the house of Israel; and also to Jew and Gentile—Written by way of commandment, and also by the spirit of prophecy and of revelation—Written and sealed up, and hid up unto the Lord, that they might not be destroyed—To come forth by the gift and power of God unto the interpretation thereof—Sealed by the hand of Moroni, and hid up unto the Lord, to come forth in due time by way of the Gentile—The interpretation thereof by the gift of God.

An abridgment taken from the Book of Ether also, which is a record of the people of Jared, who were scattered at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people, when they were building a tower to get to heaven—Which is to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever—And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations—And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ. (Title Page)

And,

Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how ^amerciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ^bponder it in your ^chearts.

And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ^aask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not ^btrue; and if ye shall ask with a ^csincere heart, with ^dreal intent, having ^efaith in Christ, he will ^fmanifest the ^gtruth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may ^aknow the ^btruth of all things. (Moroni 10:3-5)

Mormon and Moroni wanted the latter-day Lamanites, and the rest of us, to remember how merciful the Lord has been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam to the present. They wanted us to remember, ponder, and experience this mercy for ourselves. They also wanted us to know and to remember the great things that they Lord has done for our fathers, to know the covenants of the Lord, and to be convinced that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting Himself unto all nations. What better way to bring these things to our remembrance than to record the exact words of the great king Anti-Nephi-Lehi who, along with his people, had experienced the great mercies of the Lord. Mormon’s purpose built upon Nephi’s purpose, which was, in part, to reveal the tender mercies of the Lord:

But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender ^cmercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of ^ddeliverance. (1 Nephi 1:20)

Read King Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s speech again, and consider the primary attribute of Diety that the great king’s speech reveals. Is it not mercy? Is it not tender mercy? Another prominent feature of the king’s speech is gratitude. Notice how many times he thanks God specifically. Gratitude and mercy. Repentance. But all of these things come from Jesus Christ, because of His Atonement, because of the plan of salvation. Thus Mormon teaches us specifically about the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the very core of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the very core of the Book of Mormon, through the direct quotation of King Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s speech. Remember too that we are close to the exact center of the Book of Mormon here. The message in the exact center, the message in King Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s speech, the message of Nephi, Mormon, and Moroni, the message of the Gospel is that Heavenly Father loves our souls, that He prepared a plan of salvation that He makes known to us as well as to future generations, and that because Jesus Christ’s blood was shed for the Atonement of our sins, we can repent, become clean by His word, and have guilt and stains taken from our hearts through the merits of His Son. All of this is because of the great goodness and mercy of God, the same goodness and mercy for which King Anti-Nephi-Lehi praised and thanked God so profusely.

These are great things that the Lord has done for the fathers of the Lamanites, and these are ways that the Lord has been merciful unto the children of men from the creation of Adam even down to the present time. These are things to receive and to ponder in our hearts. But King Anti-Nephi-Lehi, Ammon and his missionary brothers, and especially Mormon didn’t just want us to know how merciful the Lord was to an ancient king and his people. Like Nephi of old, they wanted us to know that the Lord is merciful to us, and that these things apply to each one of us, personally, now:

And he surely did show unto the ^aprophets of old all things ^bconcerning them; and also he did show unto many concerning us; wherefore, it must needs be that we know concerning them for they are written upon the plates of brass.

Now it came to pass that I, Nephi, did teach my brethren these things; and it came to pass that I did read many things to them, which were engraven upon the ^aplates of brass, that they might know concerning the doings of the Lord in other lands, among people of old.

And I did read many things unto them which were written in the ^abooks of Moses; but that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer I did read unto them that which was written by the prophet ^bIsaiah; for I did ^cliken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our ^dprofit and learning.

Wherefore I spake unto them, saying: Hear ye the words of the prophet, ye who are a ^aremnant of the house of Israel, a ^bbranch who have been broken off; ^chear ye the words of the prophet, which were written unto all the house of Israel, and liken them unto yourselves, that ye may have hope as well as your brethren from whom ye have been broken off; for after this manner has the prophet written. (1 Nephi 19:21-24)

Mormon abridges the rest of the story of King Anti-Nephi-Lehi and his people, some of whom were martyred for their faith and their covenant. Mormon recounts how more Lamanites were converted than were martyred, and he draws forth more sacred or spiritual lessons:

Thus we see that the Lord worketh in many ^aways to the salvation of his people. (Alma 24:27)

Mormon notes that the Nehor-influenced Amalekites and Amulonites were the most violent and murderous whereas the truly penitent Lamanites were actual descendants of Laman and Lemuel, and Mormon draws forth yet another sacred and spiritual lesson, and a warning, from the more secular record:

And thus we can plainly discern, that after a people have been once ^aenlightened by the ^bSpirit of God, and have had great ^cknowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have ^dfallen away into sin and transgression, they become more ^ehardened, and thus their state becomes ^fworse than though they had never known these things. (Alma 24:30)

Mormon deliberately emphasizes the stark contrast between the penitence, humility, soft-heartedness, love, and enduring conversion to the Lord of the actual descendants of Laman and Lemuel because of the preaching of the sons of Mosiah on the one hand, and that impenitence, pride, hard-heartedness, hatred, and falling away of the Nehor-influenced Amalekites and Amulonites on the other hand. The obvious question, therefore, is why does Mormon do this? What might Mormon be teaching us today? Is there any modern parallel for truly converted Lamanites on the one hand and apostate Nephites on the other hand? Which group of people does Mormon hope that we will emulate? I am certain that Mormon, like Elder Renlund, encourages us to follow the great example of the former and to avoid the terrible fate of the latter.