Things Get Worse for Alma and His People

The king of the Lamanites appointed Amulon and the other wicked priests of Noah to be the teachers of his people in Shemlon, Shilom, and Amulon.  This was a real tragedy because Amulon and his brethren had been teaching false doctrine to the Nephites and were now spreading the same claptrap amongst the Lamanites.  Amulon did everything in his power to curry the favor of the Lamanite king, until he was given almost a free reign over these lands, including the land of Helam where Alma lived.

 

In the 24th chapter of the Book of Mosiah, we read the good news and the bad news of this state of affairs.  The good news was that the Nephite language was taught to the Lamanites.  This would be a true blessing years later when righteous Nephite missionaries went among the Lamanites.  They also taught them to start keeping written records, which helped the Lamanites in trade amongst themselves.

The bad news was as follows:  The Lamanites knew not God; neither did the brethren of Amulon teach them anything concerning the Lord their God, neither the law of Moses; nor did they teach them the words of Abinadi. (v. 5) They also
began to increase in riches, and began to trade one with another and wax great, and began to be a cunning and a wise people, as to the wisdom of the world, yea, a very cunning people, delighting in all manner of wickedness and plunder, except it were among their own brethren.(v. 7)

Even though Amulon was subject to the will of the king, he brazen enough to assume more authority than he had been given.  He exercised unrighteous dominion over Alma because he hated him due to the fact that Alma had been a priest of Noah and had left to follow the teaching of Abinadi.  Not only did he persecute Alma and his people, he cause[d] that his children should persecute their children. (v. 8)  He assigned taskmasters over the captive Nephites and thus laid heavy burden on their shoulders.  When the Nephites began to cry out to go for deliverance, Amulon told them to stop and instructed his Lamanite guards to put to death any Nephite found praying!  So the people poured out their hearts to God in their minds.

But we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)  That was just as true then as it was more than a century later when Paul wrote to the Romans.  These tribulations may seem like cruel and unusual punishment on the part of God, but Alma and his people were blessed in their bondage and, in the meantime, the Lamanites were learning to read and write and speak Nephite, for which Alma's son and his friends would be truly grateful as they spread the Word of God among the Lamanites a generation later!

Do we ever feel like our experiences are cruel and unusual punishment?  I have on many occasions, only to look back and see that God had the bigger picture in mind all along.

Copyright August 2013, Gebara Education

 

Pictures:

King Laman and Amulon from www.bookofmormonbattles.com

Others from www.lds.org

• TG - Pattern
• IN - God
• TG - Evil
• IN - Good
• IN - Evil
• GS - Faith
• IN - Heart
• IN - Follow, Follower
• IN - Revelation, Reveal
• IN - God, Power of
• TG - Uprightly
• TG - Zeal, Zealous
• IN - Reward