When Abinadi came the second time to preach to the Nephites in Shilom and Nephi, he had to come in disguise. He told them that, as they had not repented, they would be going into bondage, but that if they would repent, they could avoid total destruction. As they all would learn, the Lord honors what His prophet says, but He also blesses His people when they turn to Him for deliverance. They also learn that there is BONDAGE and then there is bondage.
1) There were three separate groups of people from that area who went into bondage. The first, we talked about yesterday. When Noah told the men to leave their families and flee, some of them chose to stay with their wives and children. Others who fled came to their senses and chose to return. These become the people led by Noah's son, Limhi. Over the 24 years of their bondage to the Lamanites, three times they tried to free themselves by going to war with the Lamanites. All three times, they were defeated and the terms of their bondage worsened. The Lamanites put Limhi in bondage in revenge for the kidnapping, not knowing that it was Noah's priests and not Noah's son who perpetrated the crime.
2) The next group consisted of the false priests of Noah. When Noah refused to turn back, the people turned on him and he was duly executed. His priests feared for their lives at the hands of the people and they fled into the wilderness in a different direction. Their leader was a man named Amulon. They were the men who came across the Lamanite daughters and kidnapped them to be their wives. Some years later, the Lamanites found the wicked priests, whose leader now was a man called Amulon. The Amulonites had married the Lamanite women and had been with them long enough for the women to grow in affection for their Nephite husbands. They went to their Lamanite brethren to plead for the lives of their husbands. The Lamanites softened their hearts and allowed this group of Nephites to join them. Because the men of Amulon had been Nephites, they had a lot of inside information about Nephite culture that the Lamanites exploited.
3) The third and most blessed group was comprised of those people who had followed Alma into the wilderness. These people repented before the Lamanites came. They made covenants with the Lord and were blessed with a good land. They named their city Helam and they prospered in the land. Alma's people were prospering but remember, they had also been promised bondage. A group of Lamanites came to the borders of the Land of Helam. Alma recognized that his people were not in a position to defend themselves. Instead, they turned to God. With God's guidance through Alma, the people went out to meet the Lamanites and entered into a treaty with them. While it is true, Alma's people were in bondage to the Lamanites, it was not as onerous as the bondage of the people of Limhi because, unlike Lemhi's people, Alma's people knew and trusted the Lord.
Meanwhile, the Lamanite King Lamon appointed Amulon's men as rulers over various parts of his kingdom. Amulon was appointed to rule over Alma's people. Because of his personal enmity, Amulon placed heavy burdens on Alma's shoulders such that he and his people turned immediately to God and He made their burdens light
Final Outcomes
1) The people of Limhi suffered a long time. They learned that the Lord was slow to listen to their pleas because they had been slow to listen to His. It took 24 years for them to humble themselves enough that the Lord prompted a man named Ammon in Zarahemla to seek permission to look for them. It was these rescuers who came up with a plan to make the Lamanite guards drunk which so that Limhi and his people could sneak away in the night. Their rescuers took them to Zarahemla.
3) The people of Alma trusted in the Lord throughout the 24 years. They prospered and the burdens eventually place upon them were light. When Amulon came to rule over them and began to place heavy burdens upon them, they turned immediately to the Lord. He caused a deep sleep to come upon the Lamanite guards and Alma and his people were able to flee. The Lord led them to Zarahemla. God was quick to answer their prayers because they were quick to turn to Him in the time of their need.
2) It seems from the narrative that all this took place immediately. I don't think it did. These apostate priests were with the Lamanite wives long enough to establish families such that their wives pled that they be saved and allowed to provide for those families.
I'm sure it also took time for Amulon and his fellows to work their way into leadership positions so that Amulon could have been appointed to govern the land of Helam. They never returned home; they never returned to God.
To me, this means that for most of the 24 years, Alma's people avoided bondage. Limhi's people suffered, but Alma's people, not so much. And Noah's priests? They suffered the worst bondage of all: the bondage of sin and spiritual death; the eternal separation from the very God that they rejected.
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Where do I turn in times of trouble? Where can I turn for Peace? Alma knew.
© May 2020 Dr. Kathleen Rawlings
Buntin Danielson
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