Not long after the Lamanite King and a great portion of his people were converted unto the Lord, the Amalekites together with the Amulonites, by lies and deceit, fomented much trouble among their Lamanitish brethren who dwelt throughout the Land of Nephi. This trouble was stirred up between the Lamanites and the converted ones of their race; it soon turned into hatred which in itself is akin to murder. The Lamanites, instigated by the apostate Nephites, rebelled against the king. The apostates had refused to be governed by a Christian ruler in Zarahemla, and now they equally protested a like ruler in the Land of Nephi.
The King of the Lamanites was now getting old. He had seen much of the degradation into which his people had fallen, and now that new life and new energy had entered into their blood he very courageously and unselfishly abrogated his rights as their king, and appointed his son whom he called Anti-Nephi-Lehi to succeed him on the throne. The old monarch, whose name we do not know, undoubtedly felt that one who the years had not enfeebled should be the head of the government now in view of the new conditions that had rent his kingdom asunder. His choice of a successor at this time proved to be a wise and timely move on his part, because the aged king died that "selfsame" year.
The intense preparations that were made by the Lamanites to destroy their brethren the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi, were no doubt heralded throughout the whole land. News of it brought the sons of Mosiah hurrying to the land of Midian to discuss together the awful plight into which the believers in Christ had fallen. In their deliberations, they sought the help of the Lord. In Midian they could do nothing except blindly to plan, so they went over to the Land of Ishmael where they met with Lamoni and Anti-Nephi-Lehi, and with them held "council" as to what "they should do to defend themselves against the Lamanites."