Come, Follow Me August 12-18: Alma 43-52
In 2024, the Maxwell Institute will offer a weekly series of short essays on the Book of Mormon, in support of the Church-wide Come, Follow Me study curriculum. Each week, the Maxwell Institute blog will feature a post by a member of the Institute faculty exploring an aspect of the week’s reading block. We hope these explorations will enrich your study and teaching of the Book of Mormon throughout the coming year.
The Irreplaceable Weapon
By Jeffrey G. Cannon
Shortly after I started my PhD program at the University of Edinburgh, my parents came to visit us in Scotland. Walking along the busy Princes Street, my dad couldn’t take his eyes off of the iconic Edinburgh Castle, which sits atop an extinct volcano in the center of the city. On its north, west, and south sides, the castle walls rise up from rocky cliffs. Historically, the relatively gentle incline of the east side was the only plausible means for an attacking army to enter the castle, and so it was heavily fortified. As a former National Guard combat engineer, Dad silently considered the complex of buildings for a while, then gave his assessment of their defensive capabilities. They were impressive, he conceded, but they would have been made obsolete by artillery and aircraft. Although the castle remains an active military barracks, it has few defensive capabilities against modern technologies of war.
The Book of Alma’s so-called “war chapters” take up a considerable amount of space on the page discussing the Nephites’ preparations for battle under the heroic Captain Moroni. Those preparations included making armor for Nephite soldiers and building fortifications around Nephite cities. Both endeavors resulted in considerable advantages for the Nephites. When the Lamanites attacked without any armor of their own, “they were exceedingly afraid” (Alma 43:21) and “they durst not come against the Nephites” (Alma 43:22). However, the Lamanites later outfitted their own armies with similar armor (Alma 49:6). One imagines they also would have attempted to craft weapons that were capable of piercing Nephite armor, effectively starting a Nephite-Lamanite arms race. Consequently, what had worked for the Nephites in the past would not always work in the future. Whatever weapons, armor, or fortifications the Nephites made could be copied by the Lamanites and used against them.
Like the Nephites, we cannot always depend on how we have done things before. For example, President Spencer W. Kimball counseled that “In the past, having family prayer once a day may have been all right. But in the future, it will not be enough if we are going to save our families.” [1] President Russell M. Nelson has also taught that the future will require more of us. “In coming days,” he said, “it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.” [2]
Under Moroni’s leadership, the Nephite armies knew they couldn’t put all of their trust in the physical armaments that had previously been successful. At least by around AD 16, it had become “the custom among all the Nephites to appoint for their chief captains, (save it were in their times of wickedness) some one that had the spirit of revelation and also prophecy” (3 Nephi 3:19). The custom of conducting their wars through inspiration seems to have been in practice in Moroni’s days as well, though in his case Moroni deferred to Alma, as the head of the church, to petition the Lord for guidance. Mormon’s abridgement informs us that
"Moroni, also, knowing of the prophecies of Alma, sent certain men unto him, desiring him that he should inquire of the Lord whither the armies of the Nephites should go to defend themselves against the Lamanites. And it came to pass that the word of the Lord came unto Alma, and Alma informed the messengers of Moroni, that the armies of the Lamanites were marching round about in the wilderness, that they might come over into the land of Manti, that they might commence an attack upon the weaker part of the people" (Alma 43:23–24).
In response, Moroni took part of his army to Manti, prepared the people there, and waited for the Lamanites. When they arrived, Moroni and the Nephites were ready for them. Even though the text tells us that “never had the Lamanites been known to fight with such exceedingly great strength and courage” (Alma 43:43), the Nephites defeated them.
Under the influence of the Holy Ghost, we too can know—as Alma did—where our weak places are, which our enemies (i.e., Satan) may try to attack. Recognizing those weaknesses, we can prepare for the attacks we know will come, even unprecedentedly fierce attacks.
Undoubtedly, Moroni knew where the Nephites’ weak spots were. So did the Lamanites, who were led by Nephite dissenters (Alma 48:5). Moroni could have relied on his own military prowess, but he chose to humble himself and seek the Lord’s help and the prophet’s inspired guidance. Importantly, he also chose to follow it by preparing the people of Manti, recognizing that the inspiration that led him and his soldiers there was the one weapon his enemies could not duplicate or make obsolete.
[1] Quoted in James E. Faust, “The Greatest Challenge in the World—Good Parenting,” Ensign, November 1990, 33.
[2] Russell M. Nelson, “Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives,” Liahona, May 2018, 96.
IMAGES
Jorge Cocco Santángelo, Title of Liberty, 2019. The Book of Mormon Art Catalog, [bookofmormonartcatalog.org/catalog/title-of-liberty-2/].
Caleb Williams, There You Shall Meet Them, on the East of the River Sidon, 2019. The Book of Mormon Art Catalog, [bookofmormonartcatalog.org/catalog/there-you-shall-meet-them-on-the-east-of-the-river-sidon/].
