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CHAPTER 47Amalickiah uses treachery, murder, and intrigue to become king of the Lamanites—The Nephite dissenters are more wicked and ferocious than the Lamanites. [72 B.C.] |
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1 NOW we will return in our record to Amalickiah and those who had
afled with him into the wilderness; for, behold, he had
taken those who went with him, and went up in the bland of
Nephi among the Lamanites, and did cstir up the Lamanites
to anger against the people of Nephi, insomuch that the king of the Lamanites
sent a proclamation throughout all his land, among all his people, that they
should gather themselves together again to go to battle against the Nephites.
2 And it came to pass that when the proclamation had gone forth among them they were exceedingly afraid; yea, they afeared to displease the king, and they also feared to go to battle against the Nephites lest they should lose their lives. And it came to pass that they would not, or the more part of them would not, obey the commandments of the king. 3 And now it came to pass that the king was wroth because of their disobedience; therefore he gave Amalickiah the command of that part of his army which was obedient unto his commands, and commanded him that he should go forth and acompel them to arms.
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1a
Alma 46:33 b 2 Ne. 5:8; Omni 1:12; Alma 49:10 c Alma 27:12; Alma 35:10; Alma 43:8; Hel. 1:17; TG Provoking 2a Alma 43:54 (49-54) 3a Alma 47:16 (16, 21)
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4 Now behold, this was the desire of Amalickiah; for he being a very
asubtle man to do evil therefore he laid the plan in his
heart to bdethrone the king of the Lamanites.
5 And now he had got the command of those parts of the Lamanites who were in favor of the king; and he sought to gain favor of those who were not obedient; therefore he went forward to the place which was called aOnidah, for thither had all the Lamanites fled; for they discovered the army coming, and, supposing that they were coming to destroy them, therefore they fled to Onidah, to the place of arms. 6 And they had appointed a man to be a king and a leader over them, being fixed in their minds with a determined resolution that they would anot be subjected to go against the Nephites.
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4a
2 Sam. 13:3-14 b Alma 47:35 (8, 35) 5a Alma 32:4 6a Alma 44:19 (8, 19)
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7 And it came to pass that they had gathered themselves together
upon the top of the mount which was called Antipas, in
preparation to battle.
8 Now it was not Amalickiah's intention to give them battle according to the commandments of the king; but behold, it was his intention to gain favor with the armies of the Lamanites, that he might place himself at their head and dethrone the king and take possession of the kingdom. 9 And behold, it came to pass that he caused his army to pitch their tents in the valley which was near the mount Antipas.
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10 And it came to pass that when it was night he sent a secret
embassy into the mount Antipas, desiring that the leader of those
who were upon the mount, whose name was Lehonti, that he should
come down to the foot of the mount, for he desired to speak with
him.
11 And it came to pass that when Lehonti received the message he durst not go down to the foot of the mount. And it came to pass that Amalickiah sent again the second time, desiring him to come down. And it came to pass that Lehonti would not; and he sent again the third time. 12 And it came to pass that when Amalickiah found that he could not get Lehonti to come down off from the mount, he went up into the mount, nearly to Lehonti's camp; and he sent again the fourth time his message unto Lehonti, desiring that he would come down, and that he would bring his guards with him.
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13 And it came to pass that when Lehonti had come down with his
guards to Amalickiah, that Amalickiah desired him to come down with his army
in the night-time, and surround those men in their camps over whom the king
had given him command, and that he would deliver them up into Lehonti's
hands, if he would make him (Amalickiah) a second aleader
over the whole army.
14 And it came to pass that Lehonti came down with his men and surrounded the men of Amalickiah, so that before they awoke at the dawn of day they were surrounded by the armies of Lehonti. 15 And it came to pass that when they saw that they were surrounded, they plead with Amalickiah that he would suffer them to fall in with their brethren, that they might not be destroyed. Now this was the very thing which Amalickiah desired.
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13a
Alma 49:10
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16 And it came to pass that he delivered his men,
acontrary to the commands of the king. Now this was the
thing that Amalickiah desired, that he might accomplish his designs in
dethroning the king.
17 Now it was the custom among the Lamanites, if their chief leader was killed, to appoint the second leader to be their chief leader. 18 And it came to pass that Amalickiah caused that one of his servants should administer apoison by degrees to Lehonti, that he died.
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16a
Alma 47:3 18a Alma 54:7
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19 Now, when Lehonti was dead, the Lamanites appointed
Amalickiah to be their leader and their chief commander.
20 And it came to pass that Amalickiah marched with his armies (for he had gained his desires) to the aland of Nephi, to the city of Nephi, which was the chief city. 21 And the king came out to meet him with his guards, for he supposed that Amalickiah had afulfilled his commands, and that Amalickiah had gathered together so great an army to go against the Nephites to battle.
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20a
Alma 46:29 21a Alma 47:3
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22 But behold, as the king came out to meet him Amalickiah caused
that his servants should go forth to meet the king. And they went and
abowed themselves before the king, as if to reverence him
because of his greatness.
23 And it came to pass that the king put forth his hand to raise them, as was the custom with the Lamanites, as a token of peace, which custom they had taken from the Nephites. 24 And it came to pass that when he had raised the first from the ground, behold he stabbed the king to the heart; and he fell to the earth.
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22a
Mosiah 7:12
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25 Now the servants of the king fled; and the servants of
Amalickiah raised a cry, saying:
26 Behold, the servants of the king have stabbed him to the heart, and he has fallen and they have fled; behold, come and see. 27 And it came to pass that Amalickiah commanded that his armies should march forth and see what had happened to the king; and when they had come to the spot, and found the king lying in his gore, Amalickiah pretended to be wroth, and said: Whosoever loved the king, let him go forth, and pursue his servants that they may be slain.
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28 And it came to pass that all they who loved the king, when
they heard these words, came forth and pursued after the servants
of the king.
29 Now when the aservants of the king saw an army pursuing after them, they were frightened again, and fled into the wilderness, and came over into the land of Zarahemla and joined the bpeople of Ammon. 30 And the army which pursued after them returned, having pursued after them in vain; and thus Amalickiah, by his afraud, gained the hearts of the people.
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29a
Alma 55:5 b Alma 43:11; Alma 62:17 30a Alma 55:1; TG Fraud
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31 And it came to pass on the morrow he entered the city Nephi
with his armies, and took possession of the city.
32 And now it came to pass that the queen, when she had heard that
the king was slain—for Amalickiah had sent an embassy to the queen
informing her that the king had been slain by his servants, that he had
pursued them with his army, but it was in vain, and they had made their
escape—
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33a
TG
Witnesses
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34 And it came to pass that Amalickiah took the same servant that
slew the king, and all them who were with him, and went in unto the queen,
unto the place where she sat; and they all atestified unto
her that the king was slain by his own servants; and they said also: They
have fled; does not this testify against them? And thus they satisfied the
queen concerning the death of the king.
35 And it came to pass that Amalickiah sought the afavor of the queen, and took her unto him to wife; and thus by his bfraud, and by the assistance of his cunning servants, he cobtained the kingdom; yea, he was acknowledged king throughout all the land, among all the people of the Lamanites, who were dcomposed of the Lamanites and the Lemuelites and the Ishmaelites, and all the dissenters of the Nephites, from the reign of Nephi down to the present timea. 36 Now these adissenters, having the same instruction and the same information of the Nephites, yea, having been instructed in the same bknowledge of the Lord, nevertheless, it is strange to relate, not long after their dissensions they became more hardened and cimpenitent, and more wild, wicked and ferocious than the Lamanites—drinking in with the dtraditions of the Lamanites; giving way to eindolence, and all manner of lasciviousness; yea, entirely forgetting the Lord their Goda.
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35a all the dissenters of the Nephites,
from the reign of Nephi down to the present time When the Book
of Mormon took the jump from the small plates of Nephi back to Mormon's
abridgement of the large plates of Nephi due to the lost 116 pages by Martin
Harris, there remained some question as to what had happened to all the
Nephites who had not harkened unto Mosiah's warning voice and fled with him
north into the land of Zarahemla. Here we have a strong hint as to what
happened to a major part of those Nephites. It would seem that either the
Nephites who had been left in the land of Nephi, had either been destoryed
or had 'dissented' and had joined themselves with the Lamanites. And just as
the Nephite dissentions had been time and again since the days of Alma and
the wicked priests of king Noah, it would also appear that from the very
days of Nephi until the days of the first King Mosiah, that various groups of
Nephites had been dissenting over to the Lamanites, forsaking God and choosing
the ways of wickedness.
36a entirely forgetting the Lord their God The nature of this 'Nephite' dissention would be that as they would so dissent from the Nephites that they would also completely remove themselves from anything to do with the Lord, 'entirely forgetting him'. If this was the order and nature of the Nephite dissentions which occured in the days of Mormon, then anything that has come down and remained, as corrupt as it may be, concerning Jesus Christ in the native American civilization, it would have been preserved by the Lamanites as a 'sort of reference' and very much a 'corruption of' the full truth concerning Jesus Christ. And thus it would seem that we may very well be looking through the eyes of the pagan Lamanites at what they chose to keep concerning anything to do with Christ. This would be the Mayan images and such today, not the Nephite images as the Nephites who would dissent followed a pattern of completely forgetting the Lord and turn in total away therefrom. |
34a
TG
False;
TG
Lying 35a Prov. 19:6-7 b TG Conspiracy; TG Tyranny c Alma 47:4 d Jacob 1:13-14 36a TG Appostasy of Individuals b Heb. 10:26-27; Alma 24:30 c Jer. 8:12 d TG Peer Influence e 3 Ne. 4:5
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