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Book of Mormon Commentary
Alma Chapter 21
The Nephites had prospered even to becoming exceedingly rich, and "they grew proud" and did
not "walk up- rightly before God" (28): The rebellious ones united and be- came so angry "that
they were determined to slay" their brethren. The leader of this dissident group was Amalickiah,
"a large and a strong man" (31). He was ambitious to be king and by flattery and cunning led
many from the church to follow him.
Alma 21:37 Thus we see how quick the children of men do forget the Lord their God; yea, how quick to
do iniquity, and to be led away by the evil one; yea, and we also see the great wickedness one very
wicked man can cause to take place among the children of men;
It had been only a year since the Nephites had been given a great victory over a superior force of
Lamanites. Yet one cunning man with flattering words, seeking to destroy the church, "led away
the hearts of many people to do wickedly" (38, 39).
MORONI'S ARMY INTERCEPTS THE DESERTERS, VER. 40-77
Alma 21:40 And now it came to pass that when Moroni, who was the chief commander of the armies of
the Nephites, had heard of these dissensions, he was angry with Amalickiah.
Moroni was angered and took dramatic action to show his feelings. "He rent his coat; and he took
a piece thereof, and wrote upon it" (41). The word "rent" is the past tense of the verb "rend,"
meaning to tear violently (I Sam. 15:27). Moroni wrote on this piece of cloth, "In memory of our
God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children”. He fastened it to a
pole and displayed it as a banner, calling it "the title of liberty" (42). Then he prayed to the Lord
for the blessing of liberty for his band of Christians, and went among the people waving his
banner, calling on his people to "enter into a covenant that they will maintain their rights, and their
religion" (48, 49).
Alma 21:54 Moroni said unto them, Behold, we are a remnant of the seed of Jacob; yea, we are a
remnant of the seed of Joseph, whose coat was rent by his brethren, into many pieces;
The record reads that Jacob was shown before his death that a "remnant of the coat of Joseph was
preserved, and had not decayed" (56). This record is not in the Bible, but Jacob prophesied that so
should "a remnant of the seed of my sons be preserved by the hand of God" (57, 59). Moroni
suggested that the dissenters were like the part of the coat which perished (60).
Then Moroni sent word to all parts of the land where the dissenters were and called the people
together, asking for volunteers of those who would "maintain their liberty" to stand against the
dissenters. When Amalickiah saw that most of the people were with Moroni, he took his followers
and "departed into the land of Nephi" (62).
Moroni knew that he would stir up the Lamanites to war, and therefore thought it expedient "to cut
off the course of Amalickiah in the wilderness" (66). He succeeded in this effort; however,
Amalickiah and "a small number of his men" escaped. Those who surrendered "were taken back
into the land of Zarahemla" (68). A few refused to "covenant to support the cause of freedom" and
they were put to death (70).