Alma Ch. 46

Read it HERE.

Summary: Amalickiah conspires to be king—Moroni raises the title of liberty—He rallies the people to defend their religion—True believers are called Christians—A remnant of Joseph shall be preserved—Amalickiah and the dissenters flee to the land of Nephi—Those who will not support the cause of freedom are put to death. Between 73 and 72 B.C.

I love this chapter. I love hearing about the Title of Liberty and the greatness of Captain Moroni.

Hugh Nibley wrote a great summary of the military aspect of this chapter. It is lengthy but good:

To check Amalickiah’s move, ‘Moroni thought it was expedient’ to force a peace on the dissenters with all possible haste. Moving with his usual dispatch, he intercepted them before they got out of the country, made them surrender to him, and required them to take an oath, ‘a covenant to keep the peace’ and not fight against their own government. ( Alma 46:35 .)
No citizen could give less, and those who refused were knowingly accepting the status of combatants, and could expect to be treated as such. At the time Moroni was acting with special military powers given him ‘by the chief judges and the voice of the people,’ ( Alma 46:34 ) and accordingly put to death as an enemy in arms those who refused to lay down their arms; but these were only a few ( v.35 ); instead of a blanket order for the execution of all Amalickiahites as traitors, in the modern fashion, Moroni merely exacted from them a promise to support the government during a dire national emergency” (Since Cumorah: The Book of Mormon in the Modern World, pp.340–41).


Of course, we have a great section in here about the Title of Liberty. Reading what was on the title makes me grateful for the armed forces we have in this country, and that those men are willing to sacrifice it all to protect the wives, families, peace, and religions of our country.

Elder Ezra Taft Benson said:

“Human liberty is the mainspring of human progress.

“The one great revolution in the world is the revolution for human liberty. This was the paramount issue in the great council in heaven before this earth life. It has been the issue throughout the ages. It is the issue today....

Then Moroni rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole, and hoisted it up upon every tower in the land.

“‘... (and he called it the title of liberty) and he bowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, ...’ (46:12–13 .)

“While this incident occurred some seventy years B.C. , the struggle went on through one thousand years covered by this sacred Book of Mormon record. In fact, the struggle for liberty is a continuing one—it is with us in a very real sense today right here on this choice land of the Americas” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1962, pp.14–15).



One final thought: the verse that stood out to me in this chapter the most was verse 30:

Now Moroni thought it was not expedient that the Lamanites should have any more strength; therefore he thought to cut off the people of Amalickiah, or to take them and bring them back, and put Amalickiah to death; yea, for he knew that he would stir up the Lamanites to anger against them, and cause them to come to battle against them; and this he knew that Amalickiah would do that he might obtain his purposes.

It strikes me that this is what we, as families, must do to combat Satan in our homes--we must cut him off. We can't tolerate him, even a little. It also strikes me that this would be the same reaction Satan would have to us cutting his presence off ("stir[red] up to anger against [us], and [. . .] to come to battle against [us]).

We need to be increasingly smart, increasingly strong, and increasingly wise in our efforts to disregard Satan's influence. I know for my family, this means we need to be better about having family scripture study (among other things). What do you think you and your family need to do to have a better defense against Satan? What do you do that works for you now?

Elise