1 AND it came to pass that as many as would not hearken [ Hebrew "Shema" is translated here as hearken which means to "listen" and "obey". ] to the words of Helaman and his brethren were gathered together against their brethren.

2 And now behold, they were exceedingly wroth, [ What were they so worked up about? We sometimes want to share the gospel with others so bad that we become impossible to live with. We will not let our kids play with their kids, we can be judgemental the list goes on and that can be offensive. On the other hand those who have hardened their hearts tend to be pretty firm in that conviction; they have a hatred for anything that is good, anything that try's to be good or represents good = they absolutely hate that and such try to bring it down to destruction (in this case to kill them). When the new system was adopted, judges were called by the voice of the people in some type of popular vote. some Nephites may have believed that anyone who wanted to be elected could put themselves forward as a candidate. However, the system apparently operated most like the way appointees are sustained in the modern church rather than elected by campaigning. That is most likely what King Mosiah intended when he spoke of the role of the “voice of the people.” This background helps put Amalickiah’s case in perspective. There were many people in this society who could have been dissatisfied with the way things had gone. They were likely unhappy with Helaman telling them that they needed to repent. For an opportunist like Amalickiah, there were religious, political, economic, and personal dissatisfactions which he could use to his advantage. As a Zoramite, he saw his opportunity, and he took it. ] insomuch that they were determined to slay them.

3 Now the leader of those who were wroth against their brethren was a large and a strong man; and his name was Amalickiah. [ An imposing man and was able to push many people around. He was a Nephite. A point about his descent. Amalickiah was a Nephite, but remember that the group known as “Nephites” incorporated Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, and Zoramites. Do we know which of those groups Amalickiah came from? In fact, in Alma 54:23, his brother, Ammoron, tells Captain Moroni that he was a descendant of Zoram. Most of the Zoramites had formed an alliance with the Lamanites and gone down to the land of Nephi. There had been Zerahemnah’s attack, and while all that occurred, Amalickiah was apparently still living in the Land of Zarahemla. His trademark was treachery; he may have been biding his time for a moment when he could conquer Zarahemla from the inside. ]

4 And Amalickiah was desirous to be a king; [ So what is it that Amalickiah wants? He wants power, he wants to rule over people. We now know his motive for doing what he does. He wants to be A king, it really does not matter to him who he is king over, he just wants to be a king. ] and those people who were wroth [ Very angry; much exasperated. Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell. Genesis 4:5 ] were also [ They were part of the group. ] desirous that he [ Amalickiah. ] should be their king; and they were the greater part of them the lower judges of the land, [ So the particular group that is identified are the lower judges - those who are looking for more power, more say - I suppose they can see that they will have to wait some time for them to move up so overthrowing the King would give them a short cut to power. Something to watch out for, as the lower judges begin to pass laws that are against the righteous purpose of the law, when they bend the laws for their own gain whether that be money or power - look out as things are about to change, and change quickly. So now we have the reason why this group wanted to follow Amalickiah, so they could come into power quicker, get rid of the old and we are the new. ] and they were seeking for power.

5 And they had been led by the flatteries of Amalickiah, that if they would support him and establish him to be their king that he would make them rulers over the people. [ Government never changes - you scratch my back I will scratch yours. Malickiah achieved power by promising power. No dictator can survive alone. He gathers, maintains, and projects power through a coterie of followers who are promised authority and power over the people and a share in the extracted goodies. Once in power, such wannabes are tempted by the misuse of power as bluntly described in D&C 121: “It is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.” Toward the end of Willie Sutton’s infamous career, someone asked him why he robbed banks. His “duh” answer: “Because that’s where the money is.” Same with Washington – if you know the way, it’s a power magnet . In Washington today, you bide time in a bureaucratic slot or think-tank cubicle until fortune smiles and you grab that golden ring of high authority and low accountability – czardom. Obama appointed more than 30 czars – drug czar, health reform czar, TARP czar, salary czar, car czar, even a Guantanomo-closing czar – unelected special aides with considerable authority over public policy, and virtually no check-and-balance mechanisms such as senate confirmation. More government intrusion means more opportunities for the unelected to wield power – and abuse it. ]

6 Thus they were led away by Amalickiah to dissensions, notwithstanding the preaching of Helaman and his brethren, yea, notwithstanding their [ Helaman and his brethren. ] exceedingly great care over the church, for they were high priests over the church. [ What is the message here? Mormon whats us to know that the leaders were doing there job and trying hard to lead the people in a godly manner. When he referes here to the fact that they were high priests he does so with the suggestion that not only is that a calling but he almost referes to it as a character trait. As to the kind of men that they were. So we can assume that they were taking Alma 13 literally in their duties. ]

7  And there were many in the church who believed in the flattering words of Amalickiah, [ Zerahemnah has been defeated back in chapter 46, but Amalickiah has come to the throne. Amalickiah is a Nephite at this point and has not fully become a Lamanite king, but on their way out he flatters many in the church to dissent with him. Just like Korihor and like Sherem did - with flattery - telling them what they wanted to hear. What are things that dissenters tell us today that lead many away? The brethren are too old and have lost touch with the times. ] therefore they dissented even from the church; and thus were the affairs of the people of Nephi exceedingly precarious [ Depending on the will or pleasure of another; held by courtesy liable to be changed or lost at the pleasure of another. Uncertain; held by a doubtful tenure; depending on unknown or unforeseen causes or events. ] and dangerous, [ Why where they more dangerous? This inside knowledge of how the church works is actually used and planned for by Amalickiah. see Alma 47:36 ] notwithstanding their great victory which they had had over the Lamanites, and their great rejoicings which they had had because of their deliverance by the hand of the Lord.

8 Thus we see [ Mormon is teaching us a principle here. As Mormon abridged and edited the record, he often used the phrase, “and thus we see.” He could not restrain himself from letting the people know how all this happened; he already knew the end from the beginning. In Mormon’s own day, he said that the Nephites had become so wicked that he could do nothing but stand as an idle witness to their downfall. It must have been terribly heartbreaking for him to look back on these days and wish that his people could have been more like these stalwart people. He wanted that so badly that he named his son Moroni. It isn’t known how many sons Mormon had, perhaps not many, as he was very young himself when he was given formidable duties. He named his son Moroni after this Chief Captain Moroni who also was in the field as a military leader at a very young age. With this in mind, we can see the Book of Mormon becoming Mormon’s book much more powerfully than before. ] how quick the children of men do forget the Lord their God, yea, how quick to do iniquity, and to be led away by the evil one.

9 Yea, and we also see the great wickedness one very wicked man can cause to take place among the children of men.

10 Yea, we see that Amalickiah, because he was a man of cunning [ Knowing; skillful; experienced; well-instructed. Wrought with skill; curious; ingenious. Artful; shrewd; sly; crafty; astute; designing; Deceitful; trickish; employing stratagems for a bad purpose. ] device and a man of many flattering words, [ Tell someone he is better than someone else and he will likely believe it. Almost every villain in the Book of Mormon shared two traits: fluency of language and flattery of the people. To name a few: Sherem was “learned, that he had a perfect knowledge of the language of the people; wherefore, he could use much flattery” (see Jacob 7:4) Korihor demonstrated his power of language in an argument with Alma, who said it is better that Korihor be lost than souls be brought down to destruction “by thy lying and by thy flattering words” (Alma 30:47) Amalickiah, the villain of choice in king-men days, was “a man of cunning device and a man of many flattering words” (Alma 46:10) Even Alma the Younger, in his pre-angel-appearance days, “was a man of many words, and did speak much flattery to the people” (Mosiah 27:8) The essence of flattery is telling someone he or she is better than others, which pride-driven disease plagued the Nephites even before the first scrape of their boat on America’s shores. Flattery requires and builds on class distinctions – a shared sense of us versus them, the “them” being anyone the speaker chooses to demonize, especially those who have supposedly failed them in the past. Flatterers in the Book of Mormon enlisted others in their fight against church and/or government by telling their listeners that they deserved better. They gave them a sense of purpose, of being important, of participating in a great event – a sense of Kumbaya togetherness and belonging to something bigger than themselves. ] that he led away the hearts of many people to do wickedly; yea, and to seek to destroy the church of God, and to destroy the foundation of liberty which God had granted unto them, [ This is their reason for fighting. Destroy the liberty of the people by taking it away and replacing it with rules imposed by the king and his rulers. Control of people over Liberty. ] or which blessing God had sent upon the face of the land for the righteous’ sake.

11 And now it came to pass that when Moroni, who was the chief commander of the armies of the Nephites, had heard of these dissensions, he was angry with Amalickiah [ ] .

12 And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God, our religion, [ Our faith in God. ] and freedom, [ Our liberty, the ability to use our agency. ] and our peace, our wives, and our children— [ Our families, to stay together as a family unit. ] and he fastened it upon the end of a pole.

13 And he fastened on his head-plate, and his breastplate, and his shields, and girded on his armor about his loins; [ He got ready to do battle. He was ready to protect the ability to worship God as they wanted, the freedom to move about and live lives as they so desired, to use their agency, and to protect their families, this is their cause verses the cause of Amalickiah who was doing everything for his own power, greed! ] and he took the pole, which had on the end thereof his rent coat, (and he called it the title of liberty) and he bowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long as there should a band of Christians remain to possess the land—

14 For thus were all the true believers of Christ, who belonged to the church of God, called by those who did not belong to the church.

15 And those who did belong to the church were faithful; yea, all those who were true believers in Christ took upon them, gladly, the name of Christ, or Christians as they were called, because of their belief in Christ who should come.

16 And therefore, at this time, Moroni prayed that the cause of the Christians, and the freedom of the land might be favored.

17 And it came to pass that when he had poured out his soul to God, he named all the land which was south of the land Desolation, yea, and in fine, all the land, both on the north and on the south—A chosen land, and the land of liberty.

18 And he said: Surely God shall not suffer that we, who are despised because we take upon us the name of Christ, shall be trodden down and destroyed, until we bring it upon us by our own transgressions.

19 And when Moroni had said these words, he went forth among the people, waving the rent part of his garment in the air, [ The Hebraisms in the Book of Mormon help persuade us that it is authentic. The following story will illustrate. During the years 1968-71, I taught Hebrew at the University of Utah. My practice was to ask new students to respond to a questionnaire, giving some idea of their interests and linguistic background. One student wrote that she wanted to study Hebrew in order to prove the Book of Mormon was a fraud. She approached me after class to explain.

When I inquired why she felt the Book of Mormon was fraudulent, she stated that it was full of errors. I asked for an example. She drew my attention to Alma 46:19, where we read, "When Moroni had said these words, he went forth among the people, waving the rent part of his garment in the air." She noted that in the 1830 edition (p. 351), this read simply "waving the rent of his garment." In English, the rent is the hole in the garment, not the piece torn out of the garment. Therefore, Moroni could not have waved it. This was an error, she contended, and adding the word part later was mere deception.

This was my first introduction to variations in different editions of the Book of Mormon. Without a Hebrew background, I might have been bothered by it. But the explanation was clear when I considered how Mormon would have written that sentence. Hebrew does not have to add the word part to a verbal substantive like rent as English requires. Thus, broken in Hebrew can refer to a broken thing or a broken part, while new can refer to a new thing. In the verse the student cited, rent would mean rent thing or rent part. Thus, the "error" she saw as evidence of fraud was really a Hebraism that was evidence for the authenticity of the Book of Mormon.

(The Maxwell Institute - Hebrew Background of the Book Of Mormon - http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/books/?bookid=72&chapid=862). ] that all might see the writing which he had written upon the rent part, and crying with a loud voice, saying:

20 Behold, whosoever will maintain this title upon the land, let them come forth in the strength of the Lord, and enter into a covenant [ Suggesting that it was a two way promise, they asked the Lords strength to help them defend their liberty in exchange for the commitment on their part to be obedient to his commands. How can we use covenant power in our lives? ] that they will maintain their rights, and their religion, that the Lord God [ Hebrew - Yahweh ( or Jehovah which means "to become" or "to exist") translated as Lord; Elohim translated as God ("the Gods") which together the words mean "He will cause Gods to be". ] may bless them.

21 And it came to pass that when Moroni had proclaimed these words, behold, the people came running together with their armor girded about their loins, rending their garments in token, or as a covenant, that they would not forsake the Lord their God; or, in other words, if they should transgress the commandments of God, or fall into transgression, and be ashamed to take upon them the name of Christ, the Lord should rend them even as they had rent their garments.

22 Now this was the covenant which they made, and they cast their garments at the feet of Moroni, saying: We covenant with our God, that we shall be destroyed, even as our brethren in the land northward, if we shall fall into transgression; yea, he may cast us at the feet of our enemies, even as we have cast our garments at thy feet to be trodden under foot, if we shall fall into transgression.

23 Moroni said unto them: Behold, we are a remnant of the seed of Jacob; yea, we are a remnant of the seed of Joseph, whose coat was rent by his brethren into many pieces; yea, and now behold, let us remember to keep the commandments of God, or our garments shall be rent by our brethren, and we be cast into prison, or be sold, or be slain.

24 Yea, let us preserve our liberty as a remnant of Joseph; yea, let us remember the words of Jacob, before his death, for behold, he saw that a part of the remnant of the coat of Joseph was preserved and had not decayed. [ They used the scriptures to understand the time that they were in and as a result used them to give them the strength they needed. ] And he [ Jacob says. ] said— Even as this remnant of garment of my son hath been preserved, [ Now were do we find reference to this in the Old Testament? Did Joseph Smith get this one wrong as well? Because in Gen. 37:33 there is no real mention of the fact that Jacob give any hope for Joseph to be alive as he is shown the garment that has been dipped in blood, we are lead to believe that Jacob see's this and then the story just moves on. There is no reference to hope on Jacob's part for his son Joseph. So we have the Book Of Mormon disagreeing here with the Book Of Genesis, but if we combine the Book Of Jasher here it all starts to make more sense. ] so shall a remnant of the seed of my son be preserved by the hand of God, and be taken unto himself, while the remainder of the seed of Joseph shall perish, even as the remnant of his garment. [ Whence all this talk of trampling Joseph's garment? I's not from traditional Genesis, but comes from the plates of brass. In Genesis, the brothers aren't so creative: And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood; and trampled it in the dust. And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father. (Genesis 37:31-32) (See Jasher 43:13 for additional commentary. Nibley An Approach to the Book Of Mormon Pg 187-188 https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/mi/12/) Of coarse since Judah was the one who sold his brother into slavery, so of coarse the narrative told by the jewish scribes needed to be favorable to those of the tribe of Judah. These scribes could not handle the associated guilt. They know about this prophecy, or they know the real story of the garment from the brass plates and not from the Genesis account. ]

25 Now behold, this giveth my soul sorrow; nevertheless, my soul hath joy in my son, because of that part of his seed which shall be taken unto God.

26 Now behold, this was the language of Jacob.

27 And now who knoweth but what the remnant of the seed of Joseph, which shall perish as his garment, are those who have dissented from us? Yea, and even it shall be ourselves if we do not stand fast in the faith of Christ.

28 And now it came to pass that when Moroni had said these words he went forth, and also sent forth in all the parts of the land where there were dissensions, and gathered together all the people who were desirous to maintain their liberty, to stand against Amalickiah and those who had dissented, who were called Amalickiahites.

29 And it came to pass that when Amalickiah saw that the people of Moroni were more numerous than the Amalickiahites—and he also saw that his people were doubtful concerning the justice of the cause [ Either they knew it was not right and they just went along with the crowd, the vocal ones because of peer pressure or shame. However; in the end they were not really committed to that cause either. ] in which they had undertaken—therefore, fearing that he should not gain the point, he took those of his people who would and departed into the land of Nephi.

30 Now Moroni thought it was not expedient that the Lamanites should have any more strength; therefore he thought to cut off the people of Amalickiah, or to take them and bring them back, and put Amalickiah to death; yea, for he knew that he would stir up the Lamanites to anger against them, and cause them to come to battle against them; and this he knew that Amalickiah would do that he might obtain his purposes.

31 Therefore Moroni thought it was expedient that he should take his armies, who had gathered themselves together, and armed themselves, and entered into a covenant to keep the peace—and it came to pass that he took his army and marched out with his tents into the wilderness, to cut off the course of Amalickiah in the wilderness.

32 And it came to pass that he did according to his desires, and marched forth into the wilderness, and headed the armies of Amalickiah.

33 And it came to pass that Amalickiah fled with a small number of his men, and the remainder were delivered up into the hands of Moroni and were taken back into the land of Zarahemla.

34 Now, Moroni being a man who was appointed by the chief judges and the voice of the people, therefore he had power according to his will with the armies of the Nephites, to establish and to exercise authority over them.

35 And it came to pass that whomsoever of the Amalickiahites that would not enter into a covenant to support the cause of freedom, that they might maintain a free government, he caused to be put to death; [ Take no prisoners. Pretty strong action or was it? [ Remember there was no support structure for prisoners, no place to put them. So if you dismissed them today you would just have to continually fight them tomorrow. Remember they wanted their liberty, to worship how they wanted. Those that opposed them just wanted to tell them that they could not worship God. So unless they agreed to allow the saints to be able worship God there was really no choice. ] ] and there were but few who denied the covenant of freedom. [ So the protestors did not really believe in their cause to persecute the saints, or they at least agreed that the saints could worship God in order to live. This is an interesting model here. Those who would not allow others religious freedoms were killed. Either allow others their agency to worship or lose your agency to live. ]

36 And it came to pass also, that he caused the title of liberty to be hoisted upon every tower which was in all the land, [ What did keeping the standard or title of liberty out in the open do for the people? What are we instructed to do today as our stands or titles of liberty? President Kimball urged families to display a picture of the temple in their homes. We can also have a picture of the Savior to remind us of our baptismal and sacrament covenants. These visible reminders of spiritual commitments help us to remember what we are fighting for. ] which was possessed by the Nephites; and thus Moroni planted the standard of liberty among the Nephites.

37 And they began to have peace again in the land; and thus they did maintain peace in the land until nearly the *end of the nineteenth year of the reign of the judges.

38 And Helaman and the high priests did also maintain order [ How did the order help to promote peace in the land? ] in the church; yea, even for the space of four years [ Peace does not usually last for very long because pride is such a powerful instinct in man. ] did they have much peace and rejoicing in the church.

39 And it came to pass that there were many who died, firmly believing that their souls were redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ; thus they went out of the world rejoicing.

40 And there were some who died with fevers, which at some seasons of the year were very frequent in the land—but not so much so with fevers, because of the excellent qualities of the many plants and roots which God had prepared to remove the cause of diseases, to which men were subject by the nature of the climate—

41 But there were many who died with old age; and those who died in the faith of Christ are happy in him, as we must needs suppose.