Literature: Alma counterattacks by focusing on Korihor’s charge of priestcraft. Alma not only says that the accusations are untrue, but that Korihor knows it. This interesting assertion is diametrically opposed to what Korihor has said. Alma asserts that Korihor knows something on a deeper level than Korihor says he knows. This point will become an issue later as well. Alma’s prompt use of this tactic suggests that something about Korihor provides Alma with this insight. I have already suggested that Korihor may be a Lamanite. Alma’s assumption that he knows what Korihor really believes, underneath his rhetoric, suggests that Korihor may have been an apostate Nephite but is now a Lamanite politically and religiously. This combination of Nephite upbringing but Lamanite connection satisfies both conditions apparently posed by the text. If Korihor were known to have once been a Nephite (politically and therefore religiously), then Alma would naturally have information about his belief system before his “conversion” to Lamanitism.
Both the Amulonites and Amlicites (Amalekites) were also in this category. It would be particularly ironic if this mission from the Lamanites came from the Amulonites, the descendants of Noah’s priests. Mormon shows Alma, the descendant of a converted priest of Noah, confronting Korihor, the descendant of an unconverted priest of Noah.
This hypothesized conversion to Lamanitism would provide an even stronger contrast with Mosiah’s sons, a point Mormon would not have missed. Mosiah’s sons were not only fighting against the church but were themselves apostate, which means that they had probably been Lamanite sympathizers. Once converted, they took their new belief to the people whose ways they had formerly adopted. Korihor would be their mirror-image, a Nephite who converted to Lamanitism, then attempted to bring the Lamanite “gospel” to the people with whom he had formerly sympathized (the Nephites). I therefore argue that Mormon’s structural use of Korihor, though not explicit, is purposeful. To his contemporaries, the concepts discussed would have marked Korihor as a Lamanite sympathizer without the need for editorializing.
Culture: Alma describes the division between politics and religion among Zarahemlaites, spelling out that he had been paid as a judge but not as a priest (v. 33). Thus, there is not only a formal division between church and state but also an economic one. In his religious position, Alma specifically states that he “labored… with mine own hands for my support” (v. 32).
Benjamin had articulated this ideal and, combining both government and religion chief positions, also modeled it. The increasing complexity of Nephite society would have made greater time demands on the political leaders, proved by the fact that judges received compensation. Nevertheless, social equality, represented by laboring with one’s own hands, remained a religious and social ideal, as manifest in not paying religious leaders.
How, then, could Korihor charge the Nephite priests with priestcraft and expect the people to believe him? Probably most Nephite priests were also community leaders. Alma had been a judge in addition to his responsibilities as high priests (v. 33). In Jershon and Gideon, the judges were clearly believers and probably priests. Thus, while the division between church and state existed, probably in many locales, the “natural” leader held both positions. As judge, they received compensation, and the people may not have made a clear differentiation between roles and, therefore, reason for payment.