Geography: Alma’s second journey began early in the tenth year of the reign of the judges (approximately 83 B.C.). While his first journey consisted of the single stop in Gideon, this one will take him to Melek and Ammonihah. The order of travel is determined solely by geography. Melek is closer to Zarahemla, and Ammonihah is farther.
The geographical relationship of Gideon, Zarahemla, and Melek also explains why Alma returned to Zarahemla before traveling to Melek. The war between Zarahemla and the separatist Amlicites began on the east side of the Sidon (Alma 2). The Nephite army, which had been east of Sidon during this battle, returned to Zarahemla through the valley of Gideon (logically the location of the city Gideon).
Since Melek is west of the Sidon, Alma would have had to pass Zarahemla to travel from Gideon to Melek. Thus, it makes sense that Alma would return to Zarahemla to rest and attend to his duties there before departing again.
Sorenson notes: “Alma traveled ‘over into’ Melek, indicating at least crossing an intervening elevation; thus, it lay some distance from the river. The text also indicates that west, not some odd angle, was the primary direction of Alma’s journey: Melek was ‘on the west by the borders of the wilderness.’” He further suggests:
This place is implied in the several references to it to be some distance from Zarahemla (Alma 8:3, 45:18). On the western edge of the central depression of Chiapas one major settlement area stands out. Called the Frailesca, its name came from the fact that the friars of the Dominican religious order of the Catholic Church controlled this productive territory in Spanish colonial days. Near Villa Flores, the heart of the area, is an impressive ruined site now labeled Vera Cruz II. It is the largest settlement in the whole western zone that dates to the late second century B.C. when Alma made his journey. (However, the Book of Mormon never mentions any city of Melek, so no large center need be expected.) A primary route directly linked Santa Rosa/Zarahemla with this Frailesca/Melek region. The several adjacent valleys that together constitute the western zone would have constituted “all the borders of the land which was by the wilderness side,” whose people flocked together to hear Alma preach (Alma 8:5).