Alma 47

47:1-18 - Amalickiah has taken off into the land of the Lamanites, shedding anyone who wasn't absolutely essential, and now he wants what he wanted before... to be king. The plots and plans that he made are pretty complex, and as intriguing as they are, I think that there are a few spiritual points that can be made in this chapter. Amalickiah "had taken those who went with him, and went up in the land of Nephi amongst the Lamanites, and did stir 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." He hates the Nephites so much that he is trying to get the people who were just beaten by them to go and fight again, but here's the interesting part, "And it came to pass that when the proclamation had gone forth among them they were exceedingly afraid; yea, they feared 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 most part of them would not, obey the commandments of the king." Remember back when the most recent battle was ending and CM was giving the Lamanites an ultimatum, "give up your weapons, make a covenant of peace and depart, or die." And remember when I wondered what the reactions would be of the Lamanite soldiers who were allowed to leave, if they would stay true to their promise or if they would at least be remorseful when it came time to fight again, and I guess I have my answer now, maybe they weren't necessarily touched my the spirit of love that was offered them by the Nephites, but the effect was still there. So most of the army refused to fight and "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 compel them to arms. Now behold, this was the desire of Amalickiah; for he being a very subtle man to do evil therefore he laid the plan in his heart to dethrone the king of the Lamanites. 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." It's interesting because I saw this thing of Facebook the other day that said exactly what Amalickiah is doing here:

This is how Amalickiah got control over the army, by telling the Lamanite king what he wanted to hear, "let me go compel them to fight." Then he got support from those who were faithful to the king, surely by telling them of the injustice of having their treacherous brethren just run away." Now he's going to go to gain the favor of those who were disobedient to the king by presenting to their leader, Lehonti, a plan that will give Lehonti power and authority. He hasn't once put his own true intentions out there for others to see, he's only told them what they want to hear and what he can do for them. It's truly the way that Satan works, he doesn't come to us saying "follow me so you can be miserable," he says "follow me and I will give you everything you've ever wanted." Amalickiah told the Lamanite king that he would give battle to the dissenters, and surely he told the obedient troops the same thing, then he told Lehonti to "come down with his army in the might-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 leader over the whole army." Ok, Lehonti is ridiculous for believing Amalickiah for even one second. I'm a firm believer that "if they'll do it with you, they'll do it to you." If someone will gossip with you, then they will gossip about you, if someone will do service for others with you, then they will serve you when the need arises. So Lehonti should have seen Amalickiah coming to him betraying his king and his troops and known that nothing good was going to come of this, so no one should have been surprised when Amalickiah poisoned him.

47:18-36 - Ok, I'm out of time so I just want to sum up with a few other points from the chapter. Amalickiah betrayed his people on all sides, the troops he lead, the king he served, Lehonti to whom he'd sworn allegiance, etc. I guess the point here is that there in no loyalty among the wicked, and if you want to get caught up in their mess, then you can't be surprised when you end up face down in the dirt with a knife in your back, or in your heart, as was the case with the king of the Lamanites after Amalickiah's "servant" killed him. I also want to give some recognition to the Lamanite queen who, after hearing about her husband's death "sent unto Amalickiah, desiring him that he would spare the people of the city; and she also desired him that he should come in unto her... (and) Amalickiah sought the favor of the queen, and took her to him to wife." Surely Amalickiah, who betrayed all and seethed evil and hate, was not a gracious husband, surely the Lamanite queen was a pawn, and how awful to be married to a man who was as evil as him, mainly as a way to keep her people safe and alive. I'm sure that the queen loved her husband, even if he wasn't righteous himself, and I'm sure that she knew his servants personally, the servants that supposedly killed him, and I really don't think that she, knowing those servants, believed that they killed their king. But instead of making a scene and endangering the lives of all her people, she lamented, took a major hit for the team, and my guess, is that she suffered through that marriage to keep those people she loved safe. I think that many would look at her as a Lamanite queen and think that she's just as evil as the Lamanite king, and that might have been true, but compared to Amalickiah, I don't think she ranked that terribly, and I truly believe that her suffering companionship of Amalickiah for the sake of her people's safety was an amazing testament to her.