Amalickiah Gains Power

Now we will return to our record of Amalickiah and of those who ran into the wilderness with him. They joined the Lamanites in the land of Nephi, and as Moroni had predicted, they made the Lamanites angry with the Nephites. The Lamanite king sent a message throughout all his land, telling his people to prepare for war against the Nephites. When the Lamanites heard this message, they were very afraid to displease the king, yet they were also afraid to fight the Nephites. Most of them decided not to obey the king’s command.

This made the king very angry. He gave Amalickiah command of those who would fight and told him to force the other Lamanites to fight. This is exactly what Amalickiah wanted the Lamanite king to do, for he was cunning and had an evil plan to take the king’s throne and become king himself.

As commander of part of the Lamanite army, Amalickiah had a plan to gain the support of the Lamanites who had refused to obey the king’s orders. He and his army went to Onidah, a place where the weapons were kept. All the rebelling Lamanites had gone there, thinking that Amalickiah’s army was coming to kill them.

The rebels had appointed Lehonti as their own king, and were determined not to be forced to fight the Nephites. They prepared to defend themselves from the top of Mt. Antipas.

Amalickiah had no intention of fighting the rebels as the king had commanded him to do. He wanted to gain favor with all the Lamanite men, and thereby obtain an army to take the king’s throne and take control of the kingdom.

Amalickiah had his army camp in the valley near Mt. Antipas. By night, Amalickiah sent a secret embassy to the top of Mt. Antipas, asking the rebels’ leader, King Lehonti, to come down and talk with him. Lehonti would not dare go down, so Amalickiah sent another message to him, again asking him to come down. Lehonti refused again, and also a third time. Seeing that Lehonti would not come down, Amalickiah went up near Lehonti’s camp and sent his fourth message to him, asking him to come down, and to bring his guards with him. Lehonti finally came down with his guards.

Amalickiah told Lehonti that if he brought his army down that night and surrounded the men under his command, he would deliver them into Lehonti’s hands, providing that he, Amalickiah, would be made second in command.

Lehonti came down with his men and surrounded Amalickiah’s army before they awoke. When the men saw that they were surrounded, they begged Amalickiah to allow them to join their brethren, and not be destroyed. This was exactly what Amalickiah wanted them to do. He delivered his men, contrary to the commands of the Lamanite king, as part of his plan to dethrone him.

Now according to Lamanite custom, if their chief leader was killed, the second in command was made chief leader. So Amalickiah had a servant give small doses of poison to Lehonti, until he died. Amalickiah was appointed to be their leader and chief commander. Then he marched with his armies to the land of Nephi—to the capital city of Nephi. The king came out to meet him with his guards, thinking that Amalickiah had fulfilled his commands by gathering this great army to go against the Nephites. As the king came out to meet him, Amalickiah sent his servants ahead. They bowed before the king, as if to reverence him because of his greatness.

The king held out his hand to raise them. This custom—a token of peace—had been taken from the Nephites. As the king raised the first servant, that servant stabbed him in the heart, and the king fell dead. Frightened, the king’s servants ran away, and Amalickiah’s servants shouted, “The king’s own servants have stabbed him and have run away. Come and see!” Amalickiah commanded his army to go and see what had happened to the king. When they found the king dead, Amalickiah pretended to be angry, and said, “Whoever loved the king, let them chase his servants and kill them.”

Then all those who loved the king chased the king’s servants. When the servants saw an army pursuing them, they were frightened again and ran into the wilderness. They went into the land of Zarahemla and joined Ammon’s people. The Lamanite army returned, having pursued the servants in vain. This is how Amalickiah, by his fraud, gained the confidence of the people.

The next day he entered the city of Nephi with his armies and took possession of it. Amalickiah sent an embassy to the queen informing her that the king had been murdered by his servants, and that he had chased them with his army but had not caught them. When the queen received this message, she sent a message to Amalickiah, asking him to spare the people of the city. She also wanted him to come to her with witnesses to testify of the king’s death. Amalickiah brought the same servant who had stabbed the king, and the others who were with him, and went to the queen. They all testified to her that the king was killed by his own servants, whose guilt was proven by the fact that they had run away. The queen was satisfied with their story.

Then Amalickiah sought the favor of the queen and married her. This is how by his fraud, and by the assistance of his cunning servants, he obtained the kingdom. He was acknowledged as the king throughout all the land, among all the Lamanites, which included Lemuelites, Ishmaelites, and all the Nephite dissenters since the days of Nephi.

Now these dissenters had been taught about the Lord. But it is strange to relate that not long after they dissented, they became more stubborn, unrepentant, wild, wicked and ferocious than the Lamanites. They embraced the Lamanites’ false traditions, and gave way to all types of sin, completely forgetting the Lord their God.