Alma 54

Alma 54:1

1 And now it came to pass in the commencement of the twenty and ninth year of the judges, that Ammoron sent unto Moroni desiring that he would exchange prisoners.

Alma 54:2

2 And it came to pass that Moroni felt to rejoice exceedingly at this request, for he desired the provisions which were imparted for the support of the Lamanite prisoners for the support of his own people; and he also desired his own people for the strengthening of his army.

Moroni had given orders that the prisoners should be kept so that they might be exchanged (Alma 52:8). Ammoron now opens that opportunity.

Social: The ravages of war may be seen in the reasons Mormon gives for Moroni’s joy at the offer of exchange. One of the reasons for joy is that he will no longer need to feed the Lamanites, and may use that food for other people. This is a telling reminder that this has been a hard year for the crops, and that there is some level of famine in the land. Moroni does not begrudge feed the Lamanites because they are prisoners, but because there are Nephites who are also in need who could be fed with what is going to the Lamanite prisoners. The depletion of Nephite military strength is also implied in Moroni’s joy at the prospect of bringing back Nephites who might return to the lines.

Chronological: The beginning of the twenty-ninth year would be approximately 65 BC in the correlation used in this commentary.

Alma 54:3

3 Now the Lamanites had taken many women and children, and there was not a woman nor a child among all the prisoners of Moroni, or the prisoners whom Moroni had taken; therefore Moroni resolved upon a stratagem to obtain as many prisoners of the Nephites from the Lamanites as it were possible.

The types of battles the two leaders have been fighting are quite different. Moroni has all males because they fought an army. Ammoron has a number of women and children because they had attacked and captured cities. It is certain that there were men in those cities, but there would also have been large numbers of women and children who were unable to escape before the capture of their city. Moroni understands this, and attempts to find a way to increase the number of able-bodied men who are released.

Alma 54:4

4 Therefore he wrote an epistle, and sent it by the servant of Ammoron, the same who had brought an epistle to Moroni. Now these are the words which he wrote unto Ammoron, saying:

Social: Mormon introduces an inserted letter from Moroni. We do not know how widespread literacy was among the Book of Mormon peoples, but certainly Moroni is literate (or has access to scribes, a possibility even though it is not mentioned). It is also assumed that Ammoron will be literate, or at least have access to someone who can both read and right. Finally, there is the expectation that the language and script will be able to be read by Ammoron. We cannot tell whether this presumption of understanding comes because Moroni knows Ammoron is a Nephite apostate, or because there was some type of lingua franca between the Nephites and Lamanites.

Alma 54:5

5 Behold, Ammoron, I have written unto you somewhat concerning this war which ye have waged against my people, or rather which thy brother hath waged against them, and which ye are still determined to carry on after his death.

Moroni begins by placing the blame of aggressor on Ammoron, and previously his brother Amalickiah. Of course neither of them would contest the fact that they were the aggressors. For them, this is not an accusation but a statement of fact.

Alma 54:6

6 Behold, I would tell you somewhat concerning the justice of God, and the sword of his almighty wrath, which doth hang over you except ye repent and withdraw your armies into your own lands, or the land of your possessions, which is the land of Nephi.

Alma 54:7

7 Yea, I would tell you these things if ye were capable of hearkening unto them; yea, I would tell you concerning that awful hell that awaits to receive such murderers as thou and thy brother have been, except ye repent and withdraw your murderous purposes, and return with your armies to your own lands.

Alma 54:8

8 But as ye have once rejected these things, and have fought against the people of the Lord, even so I may expect you will do it again.

Moroni would like to put fear into Ammoron, and the thing that Ammoron should fear the most is the judgment of the God he has rejected. Moroni indicates that he knows that Ammoron has rejected these teachings (v.8). This suggests that Moroni does know that Ammoron is an apostate Nephite. Therefore he ought to fear the justice of God, but Moroni knows that he will not. Regardless of whether or not Ammoron fears God’s justice, it will nevertheless be visited upon him.

Alma 54:9

9 And now behold, we are prepared to receive you; yea, and except you withdraw your purposes, behold, ye will pull down the wrath of that God whom you have rejected upon you, even to your utter destruction.

Alma 54:10

10 But, as the Lord liveth, our armies shall come upon you except ye withdraw, and ye shall soon be visited with death, for we will retain our cities and our lands; yea, and we will maintain our religion and the cause of our God.

Moroni provides a direct threat. We do not know how well Ammoron understood Moroni’s military situation. With a growing famine and troops that have had to march across the land twice, Moroni was sounding more threatening that he probably was. It would not be surprising to find that this was a fairly standard tactic in a letter to an opposing general, to attempt to intimidate through bluster.

Alma 54:11

11 But behold, it supposeth me that I talk to you concerning these things in vain; or it supposeth me that thou art a child of hell; therefore I will close my epistle by telling you that I will not exchange prisoners, save it be on conditions that ye will deliver up a man and his wife and his children, for one prisoner; if this be the case that ye will do it, I will exchange.

Why does Moroni suppose that he might insult Ammoron by calling him a “child of hell,” and then have Ammoron acquiesce to a demand that he exchange three for one? Moroni is attempting to negotiate from the most powerful position. He has said that he is ready to destroy Ammoron, so Ammoron’s trade of three for one would simply be the recognition that Moroni was in the stronger position, one that was able to dictate terms.

Alma 54:12

12 And behold, if ye do not this, I will come against you with my armies; yea, even I will arm my women and my children, and I will come against you, and I will follow you even into your own land, which is the land of our first inheritance; yea, and it shall be blood for blood, yea, life for life; and I will give you battle even until you are destroyed from off the face of the earth.

Moroni now ups the ante of his bluster. Not only does he threaten to defeat Ammoron, he now suggests that he will destroy Ammoron with an all out war. Ammoron should see that he has the option to exchange prisoners according to Moroni’s terms or be destroyed from off the face of the earth.

Alma 54:13

13 Behold, I am in my anger, and also my people; ye have sought to murder us, and we have only sought to defend ourselves. But behold, if ye seek to destroy us more we will seek to destroy you; yea, and we will seek our land, the land of our first inheritance.

Alma 54:14

14 Now I close my epistle. I am Moroni; I am a leader of the people of the Nephites.

Moroni ends the letter with his declaration that he is the leader of the people of the Nephites. This is important for it lets Ammoron know that Moroni has the authority to back up his threats.

Alma 54:15

15 Now it came to pass that Ammoron, when he had received this epistle, was angry; and he wrote another epistle unto Moroni, and these are the words which he wrote, saying:

Moroni has hoped for intimidation, but was probably smart enough to realize that Ammoron would not be intimidated. Ammoron is angry, and in his anger he responds to Moroni.

Alma 54:16

16 I am Ammoron, the king of the Lamanites; I am the brother of Amalickiah whom ye have murdered. Behold, I will avenge his blood upon you, yea, and I will come upon you with my armies for I fear not your threatenings.

Moroni opened with his justification for waging war with Ammoron. Ammoron counters with his own reason for waging war on the Nephites. While we might attempt to judge one over the other, such a comparison is useless. This is a formal response, and the accusation that Moroni’s war is justified is met with Ammoron’s claim of the justification of revenge.

Alma 54:17

17 For behold, your fathers did wrong their brethren, insomuch that they did rob them of their right to the government when it rightly belonged unto them.

This is an interesting phrase to come from Ammoron, who was a Nephite not all that long ago. Clearly this is a standard bone of contention that may be brought out whenever needed to justify war.

Alma 54:18

18 And now behold, if ye will lay down your arms, and subject yourselves to be governed by those to whom the government doth rightly belong, then will I cause that my people shall lay down their weapons and shall be at war no more.

Ammoron counters Moroni’s request that they cease fighting with his own request. Rather than accept defeat at the hands of Moroni’s armies, Ammoron suggests that it is Moroni who should accept defeat and allow the “rightful rulers” to take over. Of course this invokes the Lamanite liet-motif of the theft of right of leadership by Nephi of old.

Alma 54:19

19 Behold, ye have breathed out many threatenings against me and my people; but behold, we fear not your threatenings.

Ammoron is quite correct that they do not fear Moroni’s threats. Moroni had to make them, but Ammoron also had to understand that they were more formal that real.

Alma 54:20

20 Nevertheless, I will grant to exchange prisoners according to your request, gladly, that I may preserve my food for my men of war; and we will wage a war which shall be eternal, either to the subjecting the Nephites to our authority or to their eternal extinction.

Ammoron readily agrees to the exchange. While Ammoron is in a position of strength, he is also at the end of long supply lines, and it is not surprising that he would also want to be conservative with the food available. By exchanging at least three to one, he gains military men, and removes the need to feed and care for a larger number of people.

Alma 54:21

21 And as concerning that God whom ye say we have rejected, behold, we know not such a being; neither do ye; but if it so be that there is such a being, we know not but that he hath made us as well as you.

Alma 54:22

22 And if it so be that there is a devil and a hell, behold will he not send you there to dwell with my brother whom ye have murdered, whom ye have hinted that he hath gone to such a place? But behold these things matter not.

Ammoron now responds to Moroni’s threats of eternal retribution. He suggests that he has no fear because he does not believe in God. As with many who have rejected God, Ammoron makes the assumption that because he does not know that there is a God, Moroni cannot know either. Of course that is a foolish logic, for one man’s lack of understanding does not guarantee a similar lack in another.

Finally, Ammoron suggests, based on his knowledge of the Nephite God, that God made all men, both the Nephites and the Lamanites. He suggests that since God made them both, then he would send Moroni to hell for the murder of Amalickiah.

Ammoron’s letter is an ingenious response to all of the issues mentioned in Moroni’s letter, with all of the elements turned against Moroni save one, the exchange of prisoners, which is agreed to as Moroni had wished.

Alma 54:23

23 I am Ammoron, and a descendant of Zoram, whom your fathers pressed and brought out of Jerusalem.

Alma 54:24

24 And behold now, I am a bold Lamanite; behold, this war hath been waged to avenge their wrongs, and to maintain and to obtain their rights to the government; and I close my epistle to Moroni.

Ammoron closes with a discussion of authority, just as Moroni did, but it is a very different kind of authority. It is an authority of separation, and distance from his Nephite roots. Ammoron notes that he is lineally from Zoram. Even thought he and his brother had been part of the Nephite political world before their defection to the Lamanites, he declares that he was never really Nephite, but rather a Zoramite, and one who remembers the wrong done against Zoram by Nephi. Ammoron is now a “bold Lamanite.” This is a war that is justified by the ancient grudges from nearly six hundred years prior.

Textual: There is no chapter break at this point in the 1830 edition.