Today my scripture study brought me to a book and chapter found in the Book of Mormon (BofM): Alma 51. I have to admit, the war chapters found in the BofM are usually a blur to me and I usually try to just skim through them. Well today as I was studied instead of just skimmed through, I found this chapter was amazing.
A big theme that seemed to stick out to me in this chapter was the destruction PRIDE can cause (surprise, surprise).
:1-5 The chapter starts out talking about some of the people of Nephi wanting the way government is ran along with it's laws to be changed. Their request for the laws to be altered is denied to by the chief judge Pahoran. So this makes these people angry and they begin to call themselves "king men" because they desire power over the government.
:6 Now the thing that stuck out to me is found in verse 6: "And those who were desirous that Pahoran should remain chief judge over the land took upon them the name of freemen..."
It is interesting to me that the men who were willing to follow the laws of the land called themselves "freemen" or free men. As I thought about this, I realized that is how I feel as I follow the commandments in my faith: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. At times when I am not so quick to keep the commandments I feel "damned", stuck, unhappy as I lose hope, help, and blessings.
:8- The "kingmen" on the other hand continued to feel prideful because they viewed themselves as greater than the law because of the "high birth" they came from. In other words they had PRIDE which sets them up to be imprisoned or killed later on in the chapter because of the division they created among their people and their unwillingness to defend their land and liberty.
:9-"But behold, this was a critical time for such contentions to be among the people of Nephi (kingmen vs freemen); for behold, Amalickiah had again stirred up the hearts of the people of the Lamanites against the people of the Nephites, and he was gathering together soldiers from all parts of his land, and arming them, and preparing for war with all diligence; for he had sworn to drink the blood of Moroni."
:10- "But behold, we shall see that his promise which he made was rash: nevertheless, he did prepare himself and his armies to come to battle against the Nephites."
Amalikiah had pride and viewed himself as better than others and thought he deserved power over them. His PRIDE was leading him to violent actions. Now even though he had a strong desire to kill Moroni and even though a good number of Moroni's people were against him, we can see from verse 10 that they don't have success bringing Moroni down. Even though these men sought for power, man is nothing compared to God. And God's plan was to preserve Moroni.
:34- "And it came to pass that Teancum stole privily into the tent of the king, and put a javelin to his heart; and he did cause the death of the king immediately that he did not awake his servants."
Amalikiah's pride that caused him to want to destroy others actually led to his own destruction. Also a lot of the kingmen were also killed or put into prison because a war started in their own community because of their PRIDE. Had they been willing to defend their land and liberty, God would have helped them and as a community they would have been stronger.
So to sum up this chapter PRIDE destroys and people who follow the commandments and laws feel free. Laws protect and liberate us while pride destroys us.
Love,
Becky joy
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