Alma 53-63 The War Chapters – Quotes and Notes

Quotes and Notes related to Episodes 64-65 on our Talking Scripture Podcast

The Formula of the War Chapters

Alma 58.10-15 illustrates how the Nephites were surrounded by numerous hosts of enemies. Yet, in 1 Nephi 14.12-13, hundreds of years before this war, Nephi teaches that in the last days there will be a battle and the forces of Satan will be massive and the members of the Church will be few! A very small group fighting a very large group spiritually!

Now we can see the physical battle here in Alma 58.8 – the followers of Christ today are contending against an enemy that is innumerable. The pattern for the entire 20 chapters discussing war can easily be distilled to this formula:

1. Alma 58.10 pour out your soul to God.
2. Alma 58.11 As you do this, God will give you hope for deliverance. This gave them courage – Alma 58.12.
3. We can fight with all our might – Alma 58:13. What was the result?
4. As they do this, they are victorious – Alma 58.37-40. If we follow this formula, God will be with us in our battles and we will have the peace that the Spirit brings and in the end, we will come off victorious.

The Book of Mormon is a Pattern

President Ezra Taft Benson

In the Book of Mormon we find a pattern for preparing for the Second Coming. A major portion of the book centers on the few decades just prior to Christ’s coming to America. By careful study of that time period, we can determine why some were destroyed in the terrible judgments that preceded His coming and what brought others to stand at the temple in the land of Bountiful and thrust their hands into the wounds of His hands and feet. 1

Sevenfold structure of the text

It has been observed by Grant Hardy that the book of Alma “divides fairly neatly into seven sections:

1. The Amlicite Rebellion: Alma 2:1–3:19.
2. The Nephite Reformation: Alma 4:6–16:21.
3. The Missionary Journeys of the Sons of Mosiah: Alma 17:5–27:15.
4. The Mission to the Zoramites: Alma 31:1–35:14.
5. Alma’s Testimony to his sons Alma 35:15–42:31.
6. The Zoramite War: Alma 43:1–44:24.
7. The Amalickiahite Wars : Alma 46:1–62:41. 2

When Is War Justified?

The “war chapters” in Alma cover some basic principles when it comes to war, when Christians are “justified” in entering a war, and the attitudes and motives that Christians should have when engaging in warfare.

The main principle that is taught in the “war chapters” could be stated this way: “When you enter a conflict the Lord’s way, you get the Lord’s help.”

Principles involving justified warfare

• Attitude

The Lamanite attitude toward warfare is much different than the Nephite attitude. In Alma 43:7-8 we read that the Lamanites were “stirred up” to have anger towards their enemy.

The Nephites (see Alma 43:13-14) were compelled, obliged, and with (see Alma 48:21) much reluctance did they contend with the Lamanites.  We read in Alma 48:21-23 that they were compelled reluctantly, and were sorry to be in conflict with the Lamanites (see also Alma 55:18-19). Righteous leaders of the Nephites did not desire conflict, and they were not quick to arms, rather they had been compelled to fight.

• Motives/Reasons

The Lamanites were seeking power over the Nephites (Alma 43:8), to put them into bondage (Alma 43:8) or under the tribute system, to destroy them (Alma 43:29), to me this seems to be used in the sense of culturally destroying their religious egalitarian system of belief. The Lamanites were power seeking (Alma 44:2), as well as seeking to destroy (Alma 43:10) and sought for revenge (Alma 54:24). 

The Nephites sought to preserve their rights, their lands and their liberty (Alma 43:9, 30), and this was their only desire. They fought a war to defend themselves (Alma 43:45-48, 44:5, 46:12) and that which was most dear to them (their wives, children, and their faith). The Nephites fought to protect their liberty and the things they valued most (Alma 46:12, 53:17)

• Not guilty of 1st or 2nd strike

Another general rule in warfare that we get in the war chapters is the idea that we are not to be guilty of the first or the second strike. We see this teaching illustrated in the Doctrine and Covenants (see Alma 43:46; D&C 98:22-44; 134:11).  This is a general rule that serves as a test for your heart.  The idea is that if someone attacks you and you immediately retaliate, you both deserve each other. By not becoming a “second striker,” you prove your motives, that you are willing to endure, if only for a time, unjust treatment. I do not believe or maintain that the pacifist approach under all circumstances is the right approach to conflict, and neither does the editor of the accounts of war in the book of Alma.  The war chapters in Alma show that defense is not only justifiable, but essential if we are to maintain liberty and protect the innocent.

• How Do You Fight A Justified War?

1. Righteousness more valuable than armaments:

Alma 44:3-4; 46:13, 18, 21-23, 27; 48:7; 50:21-23; Helaman 4:12-16; 12:2.

2. Must be led by men of God:

Alma 48:11-13; Jarom 1:7.

3. God prospers us according to our danger:

Alma 48:14-15.

Sometimes they are to submit: Mosiah 20:22; 23:28-29.
Sometimes they did bury their weapons: Alma 24:16-17.

4. A nation may be saved by the righteous within it:

Alma 10:22-23; Genesis 18.26-32.

• The Stripling Warriors

1. It was their idea to defend their homelands: Alma 53:16-17.
2. They chose a prophet to lead them: Alma 53:19.
3. They were referred to as “Sons”: Alma 56:10, 17, 27, 30, 39, 44.
4. They spoke of Helaman as their “Father”: Alma 56:46.
5. Obeyed with exactness: Alma 57:20-21.
6. Courage: Alma 53:20.
7. True: Alma 53:20.
8. Sober (serious, calm, quiet) Alma 53:21.
9. Thought more of parents: Alma 56:46-47.
10. Trust in God: Alma 57:26.
11. Remember God day to day: Alma 58:40.
12. To them we owe this victory: Alma 57:20-22.

The Stripling Warriors were loyal and true. This is something we as Latter-day Saints can emulate today. To me, this is an invitation in the text. We are invited to become like these warriors. How do we do this? I believe we can be loyal and true to the Lord’s representatives that he has sent to us personally, where we live. Elder Boyd K. Packer put it this way:

You can put it down … that if you will not be loyal in the small things you will not be loyal in the large things. If you will not respond to the so-called insignificant or menial tasks which need to be performed in the Church and Kingdom, there will be no opportunity for service in the so-called greater challenges. A man who says he will sustain the President of the Church or the General Authorities, but cannot sustain his own bishop is deceiving himself. The man who will not sustain the bishop of his ward and the president of his stake will not sustain the President of the Church. 3

Captain Moroni knew what he was fighting for. This quote encapsulates so much about the spirit of Moroni:

Perhaps the character of Faramir, the Captain of Gondor in The Lord of the Rings expresses it best. He possesses humility as well as great courage – a warrior with a “grave tenderness in his eyes” – who takes no delight in the prospect of battle. As such, he conveys a message that bears repeating at the present moment, in a world that is not stranger to the sorrows and ravages of war. “War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all,” he explains. “But I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.” 4

Which is more critical, armaments or righteousness?

President Kimball had much to say regarding this question. In a world that is concerned with safety and security, hoping for some kind of protection of the evils and uncertainties that surround us, his teachings prove powerful and true. These words are as relevant today as when he first uttered them. He stated:

No walls provide adequate security. The Great Wall of China with its fifteen hundred miles of unbreakable walls, with its twenty five-feet-high impregnableness, with its innumerable watchman towers, was breached by the treachery of men.

“The Maginot Line in France, these forts thought to be so strong and impassable, were violated as though they were not there. Strength is not in concrete and reinforcing steel. Protection is not in walls nor mountains nor cliffs, yet foolish men still lean on the ‘arm of flesh.’

“The walls of Babylon were too high to be scaled, too thick to be broken, too strong to be crumbled, but not too deep to be undermined when the human element failed. When the protectors sleep and the leaders are incapacitated with banqueting and drunkenness and immorality, an invading enemy can turn a river from its course and enter through a riverbed.

“The precipitous walls on the high hills of Jerusalem deflected for a time the arrows and spears of enemies, the catapults and firebrands. But even then wickedness did not lessen, men did not learn lessons. Hunger scaled the walls; thirst broke down the gates; immorality, cannibalism, idolatry, godlessness stalked about till destruction came.

“‘Experience is a dear teacher but fools will learn by no other.’ But we continue on in our godlessness. While the iron curtains rise and thicken, we eat, drink, and make merry. While armies are marshaled and march and drill, and officers teach men how to kill, we continue to drink and carouse as usual. While bombs are detonated and tested, and fallout settles on the already sick world, we continue in idolatry and adultery. While corridors are threatened and concessions made, we live riotously and divorce and marry in cycles like the seasons. While leaders quarrel, and editors write, and authorities analyze and prognosticate, we break the Sabbath as though no command had ever been given. While enemies filter into our nation to subvert us and intimidate us and soften us, we continue with our destructive thinking: ‘It can’t happen here.’

“Will we ever turn wholly to God? Fear envelops the world which could be at east and peace. In God is protection, safety, peace. He has said, ‘I will fight your battles.’ But his commitment is on condition of our faithfulness.”

“Men depend on armaments as on idols. O foolish men who think to protect the world with armaments, battleships, and space equipment, when only righteousness is needed.

“The answer to all of our problems — personal, national, and international — has been given to us many times by many prophets, ancient and modern. Why must we grovel in the earth when we could be climbing toward heaven! The path is not obscure. Perhaps it is too simple for us to see. We look to foreign programs, summit conferences, land bases. We depend on fortifications, or gods of stone; upon ships and planes and projectiles, our gods of iron — gods which have no ears, no eyes, no heads. We pray to them for deliverance and depend upon them for protection… like the gods of Baal.” 5

Hope We are on the Lord’s Side

President Abraham Lincoln’s attitude towards war and God:

The following story is told of President Lincoln during the darkest hours of the Civil War. As the President paced the floor wondering who would be the victor, North or South, his secretary said, “Mr Lincoln, I hope the Lord is on our side.” To this the President answered, “I hope that we are on the Lord’s side.” 6

President Benson’s argument:

Great nations do not fall because of external aggression; they first erode and decay inwardly, so that like rotten fruit, they fall of themselves. The strength of a country is the sum total of the moral strength of the individuals in that country. 7

Notes

1. President Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, Oct. 1986, p. 5.
2. Corbin Volluz, A Study in Seven: Hebrew Numerology in the Book of Mormon, BYU Studies 53:2. He writes, “Within this sevenfold architecture, additional seven-based structures may be seen.”
3. Elder Boyd K. Packer, “Follow the Brethren,” Speeches of the Year, BYU, 1965, pp. 4-5.
4. Joseph Loconte, A Hobbit, A Wardrobe, and a Great War, p. xix. See also: J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, p. 672.
5. The Teachings of Spencer of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 416-417.
6. Gilbert Charles Orme, The Four Estates of Man, Kessinger Publishing, 2010, p. 21.
7. Ezra Taft Benson, This Nation Shall Endure, Deseret Book, 1977, p. 95.