Alienation: Zoramites, Ammonites, Amalekites, and Anti-Christs

Alienation is a common theme in these past few chapters of Alma, including the effects of previous separations just now coming to a head. The Zoramites are the most prominent example. They dissented from the Nephites because they felt they were more worthy, a chosen people because of their money. The Ammonites (or Anti-Nephi-Lehies), on the other hand, detached from the Lamanites because they needed protection against those Lamanites who would attack them. The Amalekites, who branched off from the Nephites long ago as apostates, are still causing trouble, and Korihor, though unsuccessful, also tried to cause dissension. All four incidents, when taken by themselves, seem to have little consequence, yet with the later events one can see their impact was great indeed.

Repentant Zoramites joined with the people of Ammon, separating themselves from the other Zoramites. This caused the Zoramites who did not repent "to mix with the Lamanites and to stir them up also to anger" (Alma 35:10). Thus the political situation of the land changes, with the Lamanites, who already outnumber the Nephites more than two to one, gaining even more numbers and at the same time a reason to go to war. In this war. "the number of their dead was exceedingly great, both on the Nephites and on the Lamanites" (Alma 44:21). It is interesting to note that "Zerahemnah appointed chief captains over the Lamanites, and they were all Amalekites and Zoramites" (Alma 43:5). The Lamanites also needed to be stirred up to go to war, implying that their hatred of the Nephites had perhaps lessened somewhat from earlier chapters, where they hardly needed an excuse to go to war. Or, it is possible that they needed the furious leadership of the Zoramites to compel them to go to war against those who had beat them several times before. Either way, the dissident Zoramites were the cause of much death among both Lamanites and Nephites.

Although they separated before this semester's reading, the effects of the Ammonites self-imposed segregation ripple throughout this reading. They cast out Korihor from Jershon, cutting his influence in their land short, and they also housed repentant Zoramites, leading in part to the war mentioned above. The conversion of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies and the impoverished Zoramites was also part of Alma the Younger's intense repentance process that weaves throughout these chapters. He has "labored without ceasing, that [he] might bring souls unto repentance" (Alma 36:24) to make up for having "murdered many of [God's] children, or rather led them away unto destruction" (Alma 36:14). This is similar to the Ammonites' repentance process, where they refused to shed blood to make up for having esteemed life too lightly before. Both examples emphasize the importance of action in addition to sorrow as part of the repentance process.

The Amalekites, though they split off about twenty years earlier, are still known to be "of a more wicked and murderous disposition than the Lamanites were" (Alma 43:6). They, like Zeezrom, were "after the order of the Nehors" (Alma 21:4) Korihor is an example of an unsuccessful dissension. He, like Zeezrom eight years earlier, denied the existence of God, thus removing any consequences, good or bad, for conduct. Three times he attempted to subvert the people, and though the Zarahemlites were led away into pride and immorality, the Jershonites and the Gideonites were not. However, once he was proven a false teacher, "they were all convinced of the wickedness of Korihor; therefore they were all converted again unto the Lord" (Alma 30:58), so his attempt to lead away the people was unsuccessful. Once again the Zoramites exert their influence as they trampled Korihor to death, unlike the former Anti-Christ Zeezrom, who was allowed to live. Korihor's teachings were probably a potent reminder to Zeezrom of his own former attitude and the many souls he brought to destruction, compelling him to join the quest to reclaim the Zoramites - yet another example of compensating for one's former sins.

Compensation for sin is often linked to these dissensions, as is war and rebellion against God. Each one had vital consequences for the people on this continent, whether for the welfare of their bodies, their souls, or both. Separation in each case is encouraged to remove changing people from those who would influence them back into their old ways, whether it is to make them "a peculiar people", as in the case of the Ammonites, or to encourage people to think they are better than their brethren, as in the case of the Zoramites. These separations (and one attempted separation) all affected the political, spiritual, and military status of the land at the time and for years to come.