In one of my earlier posts, I referred to the end of an order with King Mosiah II setting up judges to rule the Nephites after his death. This post comments on another change in the evolution of the Nephite government. In this passage, Alma renounces the judgeship to focus upon his role as High Priest over the church. With few exceptions, the Nephite religious and political leaders are not the same person. The aristocratic nature of the society manifests it self in that all the leaders come from the same group of people.
He did this because of a crisis he faced: the general membership of the church was becoming more wicked than the larger society they lived within. It’s things like this which are, in my opinion, the hallmarks of an actual historical narrative. What author would have as part of his story, the “good guys” becoming more wicked than the other players? It’s a fairly sophisticated plot ploy. Ol’Joe doesn’t mention a peep about it tho’ which strengthens the case the Book of Mormon is what it claims to be, the history of an ancient people.
This is a book full of the messiness we humans are prone to cause. The Nephites are on display for us to critique and comment on. It gives more weight to the ominous admonition at the end of the book where Moroni asks that we be more wise than they were. In short, it is a history of humans and of God’s dealings with them.
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