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This brings us to 72 BC, when
Amalickiah arrives in the land of Nephi. By this point the elite in the city of
Nephi had settled on a new king. His control over the seven cities may have
been very tenuous. The elements of power that must have existed in the city of
Nephi would have included those who were originally direct competitors of
Lamoni's father, the new elite who rose to power after the Anti-Nephi-Lehis
left, the Amalekites and the Zoramites, and the interests of the six other
cities in the alliance. The elites who were in control in Nephi would have been
entrenched there since the days of Lamoni's father, or longer, and were currently
in a semi-stable position since the Amalekite and Zoramite backed contender to
the throne, Zerahemnah, failed in his bid.
The new king, whose name is
never mentioned, would have been the one person holding the new alliance
together. It is possible that he was an outsider, meaning he was not from the
city of Nephi, but had been accepted by the elites in the city, possibly by his
marriage to the queen, who as we will see later had considerable control over
the city of Nephi and the elites who lived there. In effect he was acting as
the glue between the seven cities, but the connection was most likely tenuous.
Under the influence of
Amalickiah, with perhaps the backing of the Amalekites and the Zoramites, the
new king proclaimed his intention to invade the Nephite lands. The tenuous
alliance was immediately put to the test when some of the allied cities (we
have no idea which ones or how many) refused and banded together under the
leadership of Lehonti, who they proclaimed as their king (Alma 47:6). The power
base of Lehonti must have been the Lamanites who were not under the control of
the Amalekites and the Zoramites, and/or those who were not under the direct
control of the city of Nephi.
Thus the new king was in danger
of having his newly forged alliances come undone, but he could not attack the
rebels directly because then he would have lost even more influence in the
surrounding area. He was effectively in the same situation Lamoni was in when
Ammon arrived in the land of Ishmael. The king could not order an attack on the
army of Lehonti without risking civil war. But other influences were pushing
him towards war with the Nephites, and he needed the cities and troops under
the control of Lehonti. Thus Amalickiah, like Ammon, presented a way out. If Amalickiah
succeeded then the king could further consolidate his power, but if Amalickiah
failed then the Lamanite king could easily disassociate himself from the
attack. Perhaps the army sent with Amalickiah was composed mainly of Amalekites
and Zoramites, and those Lamanites that they could muster out. Thus if the
expedition was a failure then the Amalekites and the Zoramites, or whoever the
king sent with Amalickiah, would have been expendable allies, or at least
allies that were not considered essential to the elites in the city of Nephi.
So let us reconsider the
sociopolitical situation that Amalickiah was working with in and around the
land of Nephi. A previously cohesive alliance of seven, or more, Lamanite
cities had recently been broken up by the very public conversion of a
significant segment of the ruling class to the religion of the Nephites.
Certain groups, such as the Amalekites, had been exerting influence in Lamanite
society for a number of years, but were still considered outsiders. Others,
such as the Amulonites, had some influence, but lost it recently. The Nephite
dissenter axis was recently strengthened by the addition of the powerful
Zoramites, but the Amalekite-Zoramite coalition was not enough to gain control
of the seven cities, perhaps due to the loss of their main candidate for the
position of king, Zerahemnah.
The elites of the city of Nephi,
which we suppose had had control of the surrounding area and cities for some
time (i.e. a few generations), were unwilling to relinquish their positions of
influence to the Amalekite-Zoramite axis, but had to balance that against the
machinations and intrigue from the other six cities in the alliance. Despite
the fact that the elites may not have wanted a close relationship with the
Amalekites and Zoramites, they were constrained somewhat by the fact that the
Amalekites and Zoramites represented the mortal enemies of the Nephites.
Specifically they were the enemies of Moroni and his armies, which had entered
into an alliance with the people of Ammon, that is, the one group of people
that had someone who could legitimately lay claim to the title of King of the
Lamanites. Thus the elites in Nephi may have been relying on their alliance
with the Amalekites and Zoramites to help prevent the return of the legitimate
king, backed by a Nephite army.
After the death of Lehonti, and
the treacherous assassination of the king, Amalickiah was in command of an army
that was most likely made up of troops from the Amalekites and Zoramites, and
from the surrounding six Lamanite cities. There was apparently significant
loyalty in this odd assortment of an army to the king since Amalickiah could
use the death of the king to motivate
his troops. Also it is an indication of the rather tenuous position of
the king since Amalickiah could blame the king's murder on the king's own
servants and people would believe it. Perhaps his reasoning was somewhat along
the lines of, "The servants must have been agents of Anti-Nephi-Lehi who
remained in the land to kill the king." Thus giving the Lamanites another
reason to go along with the war against the Nephites and their new allies, the
Anti-Nephi-Lehis.
At this point the city of Nephi
is surrounded by a Lamanite army that most likely was not made up of men from the capital city, that is, the city was not
their home and they would have no objection to sacking the city. The army may
also have been looking for some sort of payment and the capital city may have
been a tempting target. Also the army may have contained troops from the
Amalekite-Zoramite coalition which were not Lamanites and would have no problem
with inserting themselves into the Lamanite power structure.
So in this rather explosive
situation the queen of the Lamanites asks Amalickiah to "spare the people
of the city", invites him to come into the city, accepts the evidence of
the king's murder, and in a move that allows her to maintain the independence
of the city and its elites, while preventing the sack of the city, and the
potential takeover by the Amalekite-Zoramite coalition, while at the same time
not giving preference to any one of the many Lamanite groups that were vying
for power, she agrees to marry Amalickiah and bring about a quick end of the
recent difficulties. Her ability to maintain her position is evident by the
fact that after Amalickiah dies in the subsequent war his brother must return
to the city of Nephi to report on his death and consolidate his power before
returning to the battlefield.
For the other competing groups
Amalickiah represented an acceptable candidate for king. The Amalekite-Zoramite
coalition would have accepted him as a fellow Nephite dissenter who was opposed
to the expansionist policies of Moroni. The Lamanites from the other six cities
would accept him because he was not
from the Amalekite-Zoramite coalition, or from any of the seven cities. Thus he
would not upset the new balance of internal power among the Lamanites who had
to reorganize their power structures after the flight of the Anti-Nephi-Lehis.
He was also opposed to Moroni, and Moroni's new allies the Anti-Nephi-Lehis.
If we look at Amalickiah's rise
to power in this context we see that there were many competing and complex
interests at work. For all these competing and complex interests Amalickiah
represented the ideal compromise. Even though he was not their man, more importantly he was no one else's man. In a society that had just four years before
gone through a major upheaval, Amalickiah was the one man who could be
everything to everyone and not disturb the new and still unsteady power
structures. Sometimes we forget or do not account for the impact that Ammon and
his brothers had on Lamanite society and power structure. It was only four
short years between the flight of the people of Ammon and the arrival of Amalickiah
in the land of Nephi. Lamanite politics and society were still in a flux and
Amalickiah, rather than being a conniving fiend who duped the easily deceived
Lamanites, was actually a significant stabilizing force in an otherwise
unsteady time for the Lamanites. It is unfortunate that Amalickiah used, and
squandered, his opportunity by perpetuating a war on the Nephites rather than
building a more stable and just society.
Now a good portion of what I
presented here is speculation and my own thoughts and interpretation of the
parts of history that we have in the Book of Alma, but it does provide a
different way of viewing the beginning of the Nephite-Lamanite war found in the
war chapters of Alma. I would be delighted if others can give additional insights
and commentary on this situation because I know that there are several things
that I did not cover or consider in writing this. For example, some of these
conflicts may have been more to do with control of trade routes, or rich mining
grounds, or farmland, than simple political intrigue. So there are definitely
more things to consider, but some of those we may be unable to know until we
can pinpoint the location of these events and consider the archaeological
evidence to give us more insight into what was happening at the time. Until
then we must rely on the text to give us the clues.
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