Wow, the "Come Follow Me" recommended chapters for last week, Alma 43-52, covered so much turmoil and contention, so many lives lost, that I'm exhausted! These chapters cover the 19th year to the 26th year of the Reign of the Judges, when judges were called upon to keep peace in the land, to protect the land from a king that could become greedy.
During this timeframe:
- Alma the Younger instructs his sons, including Helaman, one last time before he disappears, presumably taken up by the hand of the Lord ) (See Alma 45)
- Evil Amalickiah tries to become king in a land that has agreed the want judges not a single king. (See Alma 46).
- Moroni writes the "title of liberty" on his rent coat and has it hoisted upon every tower in the land to remind people to maintain their rights, their religion, that the Lord God will bless them. (See Alma 46).
- When Amalickiah is unsuccessful in becoming King because the vast majority of the Nephites choose God and liberty, Amalickiah takes the Nephites that he was able to flatter away and seeks to get the Lamanities to come back and destroy the Nephites. (See Alma 46-47).
- Amalickiah gets himself into a place of trust with Lehonti, the King of the Lamanites, and then has Lehonti poisoned by slow degrees to make himself the new king. (See Alma 47).
- Moroni, at age 25, is a man of God who begins to prepare his people to "support their liberty, their lands, their wives, and their children, and their peace, and that they might live unto the Lord their God." (See Alma 48:10). In other words, he makes sure they are safe from a Lamanite attack.
- Toward the end of the 19th year of the reign of the judges, the Lamanites try to attack the Nephites but are unsuccessful because of Moroni's preparation, even though the Lamanites have bigger armies. (See Alma 49).
- The chief judge Nephihah dies and his son Pahoran becomes the new chief judge. Both are good men of God. However, the land is weakened by contention caused by the city of Morianton trying to steal into the land of Lehi. (See Alma 50).
- Once Pahoran becomes the new chief judge, "kingmen," men of high birth, try to change the laws to put a king in place. "Freemen" overule this but it weakens the land. The kingmen refuse to fight to protect the land when the Lamanites come again and as a result, Moroni has to waste time and resources on internal disputes, putting down the kingmen, which allows the Lamanites to overtake many of their cities. However, the good leader Teancum successfully defends Bountiful, who kills King Amalickiah in his sleep. (See Alma 51).
- Moroni works with Teancum to lure the Lamanites out of Mulek to get that stronghold back. They take more Lamanites prisoners than were slain on both sides.
I really feel like the "Come Follow Me" covers key insights from these chapters particularly well.
I want to highlight a few key things that really stood out for me as I was studying.
Moroni Prepared His People
Moroni prepared extensively. He prepared himself, he prepared his people spiritually, and he prepared his people physically.
In Alma 46, he wrote the Title of Liberty on his rent coat to always remind his people:
"In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children." (Alma 46:12).
It says in Alma 48:7 that while Amalickiah was using fraud and deceit to grow in power, Moroni was "preparing the minds of the people to be faithful unto the Lord their God." In addition to preparing them spiritually and mentally he was strengthening armies, erecting forts, building walls of stone around the cities, prepping how soldiers would protect those forts with stones and arrows for anyone that should try to breach their walls, having thick garments of skins, and shield and breastplates made for his soldiers, and preparing strategic plans for where he thought the Lamanites would go, and where he needed to have his soldiers places for maximum protection. He was only 25!
The Lamanites tried to learn from Moroni's preparation and when they attacked again, in Alma 49:6, it explains that they thought they were prepared this time because they also made shields and armor but they were met by fortifications and planning that showed exceeding preparation.
This level of preparation might seem familiar to us today but clearly this was new strategy back then, for it says "the Lamanites ... were exceedingly astonished at their manner of preparation for war." (Alma 49:9).
I think it's important to remember too that Moroni was prepared because he was a man of God. It says in Alma 48:11-12,
"And Moroni was a strong and mighty man; he was a man of a perfect understanding; yea, a man that did not delight in bloodshed; a man whose soul did joy in the liberty and the freedom of his county; and his brethern from bondage and slavery. (12) Yea a man whose heart did swell with the thanksgiving to his God ..."
Initial Preparation Alone is Not Enough. Prepare Always.
Moroni never stopped preparing and planning. This reminds me of the analogy of our muscles. If you lift weights until you have strong muscles, then stop, the muscles begin to atrophy. You can't just build a fort and walk away.
"... Moroni did not stop making preparations for war, or to defend his people against the Lamanites." (Alma 50:1)
Once he finished one defense, he began working on other defenses. He continued to build up strongholds. In doing so, he also increased the confidence of his people, which resulted in even greater armies "because of the assurance of protection which his works did bring forth unto them." (See Alma 50:12).
What was the result of this preparation? By the 21st year of the reign of the judges:
"And those who were faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord were delivered at all times ... But behold there never was a happier time among the people of Nephi, since the days of Nephi, than in the days of Moroni." (See Alma 50:22-23).
Unfortunately, by the end of this section of scriptures, King Amalickiah and his Lamanites were able to successfully take over some of Moroni's cities that he had shored up and strengthened but the reason was because some of the Nephites had forgotten to focus on God and preparation. They were focused on their greed, on overtaking land that didn't belong to them (Morianton trying to take Lehi land) and greedy kingmen who thought themselves better than their fellow citizens had tried to put a king in place . from "their" people, and when that didn't happen, refused to defend their people against the Lamanites. Moroni had to stop his preparations to deal with the dissension in the land, and in doing so, the Lamanites were able to get a foothold on their land and their liberties, and many, many people died as a result.
Moroni, again in a show of incredible leadership and preparation, planned how to take back some of the land with the head of one of his armies, the leader Teancum. They were successful but it was heartbreaking to see the Lamanites kill and take over some of their lands because some of the Nephites forgot their God and were focused on greed and pride.
How I Liken this to Today
This year has brought home the value of preparation more than ever. We saw it as the store shelves emptied during a great panic that continues at a low simmer, and we see it as the world is torn part by finger-pointing and angry words.
If we can remember to prepare always and turn to God, not man, we can protect ourselves from the slow poison of beguiling, flattering words. We can be happy as we focus on how to prepare ourselves spiritually and physically.
We can remember that during Moroni's time, the world was filled with much war and death but
"those who were faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord were delivered at all times ... there never was a happier time among the people of Nephi, since the days of Nephi, than in the days of Moroni." (See Alma 50:22-23).
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