Amulon's unnoticed bondage

8 And now it came to pass that Amulon began to exercise authority over Alma and his brethren, and began to persecute him, and cause that his children should persecute their children.

9 For Amulon knew Alma, that he had been one of the king’s priests, and that it was he that believed the words of Abinadi and was driven out before the king, and therefore he was wroth with him; for he was subject to king Laman, yet he exercised authority over them, and put tasks upon them, and put task-masters over them. (Mosiah 24:8-9)

This part has always been rather puzzling to me. It didn’t seem to make sense that Amulon would persecute and enslave Alma and his people just because they had believed Abinadi’s words and left. So I went looking for other factors that may have added to Amulon’s motivations.

Puzzling factor #1: Amulon is king. You’d think kings would feel secure in their place in the social hierarchy. Amulon has clearly advanced in station—priest to king--but he wears his kingship badly.

Problematic factor #1: Amulon may be king, but unfortunately he isn’t really at the top. He is at the top of the people in Helam, but he is subject to the demands and whims of King Laman back in the land of Nephi-Lehi.

Puzzling factor #2: In theory, as king, Amulon can command and those under his authority would obey.

Problematic factor #2: After escaping from King Noah, Alma told his people to trust no one to be a king or a priest over them except he be a man of God. Depending on how well Alma’s people remembered this counsel, it could be that they were not supportive of Amulon’s kingship. There’s a term “institutional inertia” which describes how people tend to resist complying with rules they do not support, and a person in charge can find themselves stone-walled if they make demands that their underlings don’t agree with. I would not be surprised if Alma and his people were resistant to Amulon’s attempts to rule them. This would be frustrating to Amulon, and he would naturally implement stronger and stronger measures to enforce obedience—from badgering persecution to coercion with physical enslavement.

It is interesting to note that Mosiah 23:39-24:9 describes the formation of Lamanite empire, through the organization and leadership of Amulon and his people. Somehow Amulon gained favor with King Laman (probably through flattering words) and got himself and his fellows put as teachers throughout ALL the Lamanite lands. (Mosiah’s son Ammon would have LOVED this kind of favor when he came to do missionary work.) They taught the language of Nephi throughout the Lamanite cities, which would have eased communication among a diverse people. They taught record-keeping, which would have enabled efficient administration and tallies of people and taxes. There’s something that is noticeably absent from the account here though, which would explain Amulon’s treatment of Alma and people—tribute. Amulon had not yet been under tribute, so it would have been very stressful to him to have to provide the Lamanites with however much they required. He had thought nothing of the 20% under King Noah’s reign especially since it contributed to his own living. But I bet you that the requirement to provide tribute to the Lamanites drove him wild. I bet that was part of what was behind his enslavement of Alma and his people. I bet that he felt sandwiched uncomfortably between the demands of King Laman and the quiet resistance of Alma and his people.

But maybe I am completely wrong and Alma and his people were not quietly resistant to Amulon. Maybe Amulon thought they were anyway though. This would explain his extreme reaction of threatening death to anyone who prayed to the Lord for deliverance from their afflictions. He would see it as rebellion against him and call it “speaking evil of the ruler of thy people,” (Acts 23:5; Exodus 22:28) a behavior prohibited in the Law of Moses.

Amulon’s position, if he was responsible for providing tribute, reminds me of the difficulty of facing punishment for actions over which you don’t have much control.

What does this teach us? Essentially it shows us that Abinadi’s prophecy of bondage for the people of King Noah was fulfilled in every particular. Even the wicked priests were brought into bondage to the Lamanites. It might look like Amulon had a cushy position as king, but it was just as much bondage as the other people. He wasn’t free to make his own decisions if they were contrary to the will of the king of the Lamanites.