Comments on Alma 14 v1 "many of them did believe", while many believed they were still in the minority as the next verse states "the more part" wanted to kill Alma and Amulek. This faithful minority is who Alma was referring to in 10:23. v3 "put them away privily", i.e., dispose of them secretly. v5 suggests there was no division, or at least no significant division, between church and state at Ammonihah. The testimony the people level against them includes both secular and religious arguments designed to incite anger. If the judges hearing the case were completely secularized the people wouldn't have employed such arguments. Note in v. 16 the judge is "after the order and faith of Nehor". "the chief judge of the land", i.e, the land of Ammonihah, cf. v. 23. The chief judge over all the land of the Nephites is back in Zarahemla, cf. 4:16-17. v7-8 Casting the men out and then killing the women and children is in fulfilment of Alma's prediction in 10:17-23. That they cast out the men by threat of mob violence and then afterwards killed their wives and children shows their cowardice. The men do escape, cf. 15:1-2. v10 "let us stretch forth our hands...and save them from the flames", Amulek probably had an ulterior motive here as his immediate family would have been among those being martyred, cf. 10:11. We know from 10:11 that he had a wife and children. We learn later than he ends up abandoning Ammonihah altogether because he is rejected by his father and extended family and friends (cf. 15:16, contrast the family list here in v, 10 with that in 15:16 and note the lack of reference to wife and children there), but there is no mention of his wife and children rejecting him. It seems unlikely Amulek would abandon his wife and children in Ammonihah if they were alive. Thus, we can safely conclude his wife and children were among the martyrs. Also, in 15:18 we are informed Alma took Amulek to his own home to "administer to him in his tribulations". Losing his wife and family in such a hideous way would be certainly be a tribulation. v14 The irony of this verse is overwhelming. The judge has just witnessed his own people murdering their own religious minority by fire, and then he presents that as proof that he and his people will not burn in hell. In committing the act of murder they think they can prove Alma and Amulek are false prophets, when what they have really done is prove unequivocally that they are right. Even when people are this hardened, this spiritually bankrupt, and this destructive they still seek some kind of rationale to substantiate their actions. Logic and sophistry can be used to falsely justify just about anything, but "by their fruits ye shall know them". v15 "neither has God saved them", the judge's comments here contradict those of Alma in v. 11 concerning the people being taken up into God's glory. v17-18 "Alma and Amulek answered him nothing...they answered them nothing", when people are this irrational and this insanely destructive there is no point in discussion, cp. Isa. 50:6. v23 Note that the hierarchy of Ammonihah are mostly, if not entirely, present for this final interview. While Alma and Amulek might not have understood why they had to suffer so much for so long, in God's eyes it might have been expeditious to wait until the hierarchy were present to cause their entire destruction in one blow. v24 Again, the judge's words are terribly ironic. They challenge them to produce a sign from God, and they do, but the sign ends up killing them. They end up believing God will destroy the people, because they are immediately destroyed as a sign of just that. The Lord's anger against wicked teachers and leaders of His people is a persistent OT Prophet theme, cf. Isa. 28:7-16, Ezek. 34:1-10, Micah 3. It is no wonder given the opportunity to very selectively wipe them out He takes advantage of it. v25 "How shall we look when we are damned?", they had to have been making faces at Alma and Amulek when they were doing this. v29 The people of Ammonihah fear Alma and Amulek and see that their leaders have been wiped out, but they do not appear to repent as a result of it as they are subsequently annihilated by the Lamanites (cf. 16:1-3) as Alma warned would happen if they didn't repent (cf. 9:18). In this case the wickedness of the leaders and their society is punished rather quickly by the Lord. And, that pattern seems to follow regularly through the BofM. We might wonder why the Lord doesn't work so expeditiously today. The major reason for this difference is they were covenant Israel and the societies we live in today are not. Gentile nations are not under the stringent requirements of covenant theology, with explicit covenant curses following on the heels of wickedness, so the Lord deals with these populations differently. Copyright © 2001 by S. Kurt Neumiller . All rights reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form or by any means for commercial gain without the express written consent of the author. Digital or printed copies may be freely made and distributed for personal and public non-commercial use.