Where we are
Alma 24 is one of the holiest chapters in the Book of Mormon, and one of the most disquieting. The Anti-Nephi-Lehies of Alma 23 — the converted Lamanites who never did fall away — are about to be tested. The Amalekites and Amulonites, the apostate sub-peoples Mormon has been carefully isolating since Alma 21, have stirred up an army to attack them. The new king, Anti-Nephi-Lehi (the great king of Alma 22 has died and his son carries the name), has to decide what his people will do.
What he does is the chapter. He gathers them. He preaches. He proposes that they bury their weapons of war deep in the earth and never take them up again, even in defense of their own lives. They covenant. They bury. The Lamanite army arrives. The Anti-Nephi-Lehies meet them prostrate on the ground, praying. One thousand and five are slain before the attackers stop. The attackers stop because they cannot bear what they are doing. They throw down their own weapons. Many of them believe.
The chapter is the Book of Mormon's clearest text on the doctrine that the highest witness to the gospel is sometimes the witness that does not defend itself. It is the Book of Mormon's clearest text on the salvific power of innocent suffering — Mormon-the-editor records the explicit observation that the number of converts that day exceeded the number of the slain. It is also, in a way few chapters in scripture are, a chapter that asks the reader what kind of disciple the gospel actually produces.
The chapter has six movements: (1) the Amalekites and Amulonites stir up the Lamanites against the Anti-Nephi-Lehies (vv. 1–2); (2) the new king Anti-Nephi-Lehi gathers his people and delivers the discourse on their past murders and the cleansing of their hearts (vv. 6–14); (3) the covenant of disarmament and the burial of weapons (vv. 15–19); (4) the Lamanite attack and the prostration of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies (vv. 20–22); (5) the slaughter of 1,005 and the breaking of the Lamanite attackers (vv. 23–25); (6) the convert count exceeds the body count, and Mormon's editorial on the Amalekite-Amulonite hardness (vv. 26–30).
Six verses carry most of the weight: v. 9 (the king's since it has been all that we could do… to repent of all our sins); v. 10 (the king's I thank my God… that he hath taken away the stains from our hearts); v. 12 (the king's if our brethren seek to destroy us, behold, we will hide away our swords); v. 16 (the king's we will hide them away that they may be kept bright, as a testimony that we have never used them); v. 22 (the Lamanites did not cease to slay them, and the Anti-Nephi-Lehies did fall down and pray); v. 26 (the people of God were joined… by more than the number of those who had been slain).
The Amalekites and Amulonites stir up the Lamanites (verses 1–2)
And it came to pass that the Amalekites and the Amulonites and the Lamanites who were in the land of Amulon, and also in the land of Helam, and who were in the land of Jerusalem, and in fine, in all the land round about, who had not been converted and had not taken upon them the name of Anti-Nephi-Lehi, were stirred up by the Amalekites and the Amulonites to anger against their brethren. — Alma 24:1
The chapter names the unconverted regions and the agents of the stirring. The Amalekites and Amulonites are doing the stirring. They are the apostate sub-peoples Mormon has been tracking since Alma 21. The unconverted Lamanites who live alongside them are being moved against their own newly-converted brethren. The Book of Mormon's clearest text on the doctrine that apostates pull the still-uncommitted with them is in this verse. The Lamanites who had not yet converted were ripe to be moved either way; the Amalekites and Amulonites moved them against the gospel.
And their hatred became exceedingly sore against them, even insomuch that they began to rebel against their king, insomuch that they would not that he should be their king; therefore, they took up arms against the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi. — Alma 24:2
The rebellion has two phases. First, against the converted king. Second, against the converted people. The chapter is making, in passing, a political-theological observation: the conversion of the king's house has not converted the whole nation, and the unconverted portion now rises against the converted king. The pattern is the pattern of any deep social conversion that does not reach all the way to the periphery. The chapter is unsentimental about it.
The discourse of the new king (verses 6–14)
Now their brother, the king, had conferred the kingdom upon his son, and he had called his name Anti-Nephi-Lehi. And it came to pass that the king died in that selfsame year that the Lamanites began to make preparations for war against the people of God. — Alma 24:3
The great king has died. The chapter notes this as briefly as a date. The son who succeeds him bears the new name of the people — Anti-Nephi-Lehi. The new king is the Book of Mormon's clearest figure of a converted ruler given the name of his people. The Book of Mormon also quietly notes that the death came in that selfsame year the assault began to be planned. The succession crisis and the military threat hit at the same moment. The pressure on the new king is real.
Now when Ammon and his brethren and all those who had come up with him saw the preparations of the Lamanites to destroy their brethren, they came forth to the land of Midian, and there Ammon met all his brethren; and from thence they came to the land of Ishmael that they might hold a council with Lamoni and also with his brother Anti-Nephi-Lehi, what they should do to defend themselves against the Lamanites. — Alma 24:5
The Sons of Mosiah gather. They go to council with the new king and with Lamoni. Four Nephite missionaries, two Lamanite kings — the council of the converted leadership of an entire nation, facing a war. The next verses are the king's address to that council, which then becomes the address to the people.
Now there was not one soul among all the people who had been converted unto the Lord that would take up arms against their brethren; nay, they would not even make any preparations for war; yea, and also their king commanded them that they should not. — Alma 24:6
The verse states the position before the explanation. Not one soul. The Anti-Nephi-Lehies have already, before any speech, decided unanimously that they will not fight. The king's command will follow, but the king is articulating, not imposing, the conviction. The chapter is making clear that the pacifism of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies is not a top-down policy. It is a covenant the people have already made in their hearts.
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 traditions of our wicked fathers. — Alma 24:7
The discourse begins with thanksgiving. The king thanks God for sending the Nephite missionaries. He thanks God for the dismantling of the traditions of our wicked fathers — the foundational Lamanite lie about Nephi's deceit. The verse is the Book of Mormon's clearest text on the doctrine that the right starting place for conversion is gratitude for the truth that broke the false tradition. Before the king will ask his people to die, he reminds them of what they have been given.
And behold, I thank my great God that he has given us a portion of his Spirit to soften our hearts, that we have opened 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 sins, and of the many murders which we have committed. — Alma 24:8
The king names the second cause of thanksgiving: the Spirit's softening, and the correspondence with the Nephites — the political opening of trade and communication that has come with the conversion. The third item is the most striking: the conviction of our sins, and of the many murders which we have committed. The king is a converted murderer. So is his court. So are his people. The chapter is making no attempt to whitewash who the Anti-Nephi-Lehies were before they were converted. They were a people who had killed.
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 forgiven us of those our many sins and murders which we have committed, and taken away the guilt from our hearts, through the merits of his Son. — Alma 24:10
The king's confession of forgiveness. Taken away the guilt from our hearts, through the merits of his Son. The Book of Mormon's clearest pre-Christian text on the doctrine of justification through the merits of Christ is in this verse. The king is not justifying himself by his subsequent conversion; he is naming the merits of Christ as the means by which his guilt has been removed. The same doctrine Paul will articulate at length in Romans 3–5 — that the guilt of the sinner is removed not by the sinner's own work but by the merits of Another — is in the king's confession here.
And now, my brethren, if our brethren seek to destroy us, behold, we will hide 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 go to our God and shall be saved. — Alma 24:12
The covenant proposal. We will hide our swords, yea, even we will bury them deep in the earth. The depth matters — they are not hidden in a closet; they are buried. The reasoning matters more — that they may be kept bright, as a testimony that we have never used them, at the last day. The weapons are buried to remain unused. They are buried to be evidence at the final judgment that the men who owned them did not use them after their conversion. The Book of Mormon's clearest text on the doctrine that physical objects can be left as eschatological testimony of obedience is in this verse.
The final clause is the resignation: if our brethren destroy us, behold, we shall go to our God and shall be saved. The king is asking his people to accept the possibility of death as an acceptable cost. The verse is the Book of Mormon's clearest text on the doctrine that the disciple's death, faithfully received, is not loss but homecoming.
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 go to our God and shall be saved. — Alma 24:13 (repetition of verse 12 in some readings)
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 bury them up deep in the earth. — Alma 24:17
The people enact the covenant. They bury the weapons. The Book of Mormon's clearest text on the doctrine of corporate covenant by collective act is in this verse. It is not just the king's covenant; it is the whole people's. Every household has buried its weapons. The verb deep in the earth matters — they are not retrievable.
The Lamanite attack and the prostration (verses 19–22)
And thus we see that, when these Lamanites were brought to believe and to know the truth, they were firm, 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
Mormon's editorial. The verb the editor uses for the weapons is itself remarkable: weapons of peace. The weapons that had been weapons of war have been buried, and in the burying they have become weapons of peace. The Book of Mormon's clearest text on the doctrine that the highest use of a weapon is not to be used is in this editorial. Isaiah 2:4 — they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more — is the eschatological text. The Anti-Nephi-Lehies have done its equivalent ahead of schedule. They have not beaten the swords into plowshares; they have buried them. But the form is the same: the weapons have been removed from use.
And it came to pass that their brethren, the Lamanites, made preparations for war, and came up to the land of Nephi for the purpose of destroying the king, and to place another in his stead, and also of destroying the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi out of the land. — Alma 24:20
The army comes. The intent is plain — destroy the king, replace him, exterminate the converted people. The Book of Mormon does not soften the brutality of the intent. Genocide is the right word for what is being attempted.
Now when the people saw that they were coming against them they went out to meet them, and prostrated themselves before them to the earth, and began to call on the name of the Lord; and thus they were in this attitude when the Lamanites began to fall upon them, and began to slay them with the sword. — Alma 24:21
The Anti-Nephi-Lehies go out to meet the army — but not with weapons. They prostrate themselves on the ground. They begin to call on the name of the Lord. The Lamanite army begins to kill them. The Book of Mormon's clearest text on prostrate prayer in the face of imminent death is in this verse. The form is the form of Stephen at his stoning — Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge (Acts 7:59–60). The Anti-Nephi-Lehies are the Book of Mormon's pre-Stephen martyrs, and they are not killing — they are kneeling.
And thus without meeting any resistance, they did slay a thousand and five of them; and we know that they are blessed, for they have gone to dwell with their God. — Alma 24:22
One thousand and five. The number is exact. Mormon-the-editor knows the count. He has cared to preserve it. The Book of Mormon's clearest text on the doctrine that the Lord knows the exact number of his martyrs, by name, is in this verse. Revelation 6:9 — I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God — will use the same theological frame. The souls are counted. The Lord knows them.
The verse's second clause is Mormon's editorial confession of their state. They are blessed, for they have gone to dwell with their God. The editor has no doubt about where they are. The Book of Mormon's clearest text on the immediate state of the faithful martyred dead is in this clause. They are with God.
The Lamanite attackers stop and many believe (verses 23–25)
Now when the Lamanites saw that their brethren would not flee from the sword, neither would they turn aside to the right hand or to the left, but that they would lie down and perish, and praised God even in the very act of perishing under the sword — — Alma 24:23
The verse names what stopped the killers. The Anti-Nephi-Lehies praised God even in the very act of perishing under the sword. The Lamanite attackers were not stopped by superior force or political pressure or military intervention. They were stopped by what they saw — and what they saw was people dying in praise. The Book of Mormon's clearest text on the doctrine that the witness of the faithful death is more powerful than the witness of the faithful argument is in this verse.
Now when the Lamanites saw this they did forbear from slaying them; and there were many whose hearts had swollen in them for those of their brethren who had fallen under the sword, for they repented of the things which they had done. — Alma 24:24
The attackers' hearts swelled in them for those they had killed. The verb is striking — the killers were moved with regret toward their own victims. The Book of Mormon's clearest text on the doctrine of the killer's heart broken by the manner of his victim's death is in this verse. The brothers who had buried their weapons converted the brothers who had not. The pacifism worked, but not by stopping the killing in time; it worked by stopping the killing in heart.
And it came to pass that they threw down their weapons of war, and they would not take them again, for they were stung for the murders which they had committed; and they came down even as their brethren, relying upon the mercies of those whose arms were lifted to slay them. — Alma 24:25
The attackers throw down their own weapons. They join the prostration. They rely on the mercy of the people they had been killing. The Book of Mormon's clearest text on the conversion of an enemy through the manner of his defeat-by-non-resistance is in this verse. There is no extended preaching here; there is only the example. The killers became kneelers because the kneelers were the ones they could not stop killing.
The convert count exceeds the body count (verses 26–30)
And it came to pass that the people of God were joined that day by more than the number who had been slain; and those who had been slain were righteous people, therefore we have no reason to doubt but what they were saved. — Alma 24:26
The chapter's editorial. The people of God were joined that day by more than the number who had been slain. More than 1,005. The chapter does not give us the exact count, but it gives us the comparison: the converts exceeded the dead. The Book of Mormon's clearest text on what John 12:24 will later call the doctrine of the seed dying to bring forth fruit — except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit — is in this verse. The 1,005 fell. The fruit was more than they were.
Mormon's editorial — we have no reason to doubt but what they were saved — is the second confession of their state in the chapter. The editor is willing to commit, in writing, that the slain are saved. The Book of Mormon's clearest text on the editor's confidence in the salvation of faithful martyrs is in this clause. He does not hedge.
And there was not a wicked man slain among them; but there were more than a thousand brought to the knowledge of the truth; thus we see that the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people. — Alma 24:27
The editor adds his summary: the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people. The chapter is one of scripture's most striking demonstrations of that doctrine. The Lord worked, in this episode, through the death of the faithful and the breaking of the killers. Not through deliverance from death. Not through angelic intervention. Through the deaths themselves. The Book of Mormon's clearest text on the doctrine that the Lord sometimes saves the many by the deaths of the few is in this verse.
Now the greatest number of those of the Lamanites who slew so many of their brethren were Amalekites and Amulonites, the greatest number of whom were after the order of the Nehors. — Alma 24:28
The verse names who did most of the killing. Not the Lamanites by blood — the Amalekites and Amulonites. The Book of Mormon's clearest text on the doctrine that the apostates from the gospel become more dangerous than the never-converted, and the more violent in resisting the gospel, is in this verse. The killing of the Anti-Nephi-Lehis was done principally by men who had once been part of the same gospel tradition the Anti-Nephi-Lehies had now joined.
Now among those who joined the people of the Lord, there were none who were Amalekites or Amulonites, or who were of the order of Nehor, but they were actual descendants of Laman and Lemuel. — Alma 24:29
The converts on that day were Lamanites by blood. The apostates, even watching the deaths of the prostrate believers, did not turn. The Book of Mormon is careful to record this. The conversion of the day was real — but it was bounded. The hardness of the Amalekites and Amulonites was harder than what they had just seen.
And thus we can plainly discern, that after a people have been once enlightened by the Spirit of God, and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have fallen away into sin and transgression, they become more hardened, and thus their state becomes worse than though they had never known these things. — Alma 24:30
Mormon's editorial conclusion. The verse is the Book of Mormon's clearest pre-Hebraic articulation of the Hebrews 6:4–6 doctrine — for it is impossible for those who were once enlightened… if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh. The Amalekites and Amulonites are the Book of Mormon's clearest illustration of the doctrine. They had been enlightened. They had had great knowledge. They fell away. They became harder than men who had never known. They could watch 1,005 prostrate believers die singing praise and not be moved. That is the doctrine the chapter ends on. The state of the apostate is worse than the state of the unconverted.
The chapter's architecture
Six movements. The stirring up. The discourse. The covenant. The attack. The breaking. The convert count.
The chapter is built around one of the most theologically consequential covenants in scripture. The Anti-Nephi-Lehies bury their weapons. They do it knowing that the army is coming. They do it understanding that they will die rather than defend themselves. The Book of Mormon's clearest text on the doctrine of complete non-resistance, freely chosen and covenanted by an entire people, is in the buried weapons of Alma 24.
The chapter is also one of scripture's most striking pieces of evidence for what John 12:24's seed must die doctrine looks like in practice. The 1,005 who died were the seed. The more-than-1,005 who joined the church that day were the fruit. The Lord's arithmetic is not the arithmetic of survival. It is the arithmetic of fruit. The chapter knows it and says so.
The chapter is also the Book of Mormon's clearest text on the durability of the curse of apostasy. The Amalekites and Amulonites watched the 1,005 die singing and were not moved. The chapter ends on that observation, not on the convert count. Mormon-the-editor is making a final, hard point: there are some kinds of hardness that even the witness of innocent martyrdom does not break. The chapter does not soften the point.
The chapter is the textual completion of the Sons-of-Mosiah arc that began in Alma 17. It is also the textual set-up for Alma 27–28, where the Anti-Nephi-Lehies will be moved into Nephite territory by Ammon and his brethren for their own safety, and given the land of Jershon. They will become the people of Ammon, the people whose sons — the stripling warriors of Alma 56–58 — will fight as their parents could not. That story is yet to come. This chapter is its foundation. The mothers and fathers who buried their swords here are the mothers and fathers of the boys who, twenty years from now, will fight in faith because their mothers taught them they could not be slain. The covenant of Alma 24 is the seed of Helaman 56's we do not doubt our mothers knew it. The two chapters are the same story, with two generations between them.