Samuel the Lamanite arrived in Zarahemla on this occasion in the eighty-sixth year of the reign of the judges. This was only sixteen years after the famine prescribed by Nephi, the son of Helaman, had caused the Nephite people to repent. However, after that things had gone downhill very rapidly—the Nephites were now very wicked. In Helaman 6:1, we had already learned “when the sixty and second year of the reign of the judges had ended, … the Lamanites had become, the more part of them, a righteous people, insomuch that their righteousness did exceed that of the Nephites, because of their firmness and their steadiness in the faith.” The righteous and converted Lamanites were now preaching to the Nephites, and “many of the Lamanites did come down into the land of Zarahemla, and did declare unto the people of the Nephites the manner of their conversion, and did exhort them to faith and repentance” (Helaman 6:4).
What can be discerned or surmised about where Samuel came from? Might he have been one of those early Lamanite missionaries who came among the Nephites as “missionaries and witnesses” to “the land of Zarahemla,” perhaps not so much to the city, but to the villages round about? They also went northward to teach, and Nephi and Lehi went with them (Helaman 6:6). It appears that until Samuel’s call by God, missionaries may not have been called to preach in the great city of Zarahemla. However, now, in the eighty-sixth year, the Lord then directed Samuel that it was time to go, not only to teach, but to warn the people of impending doom if they did not repent.
It appears that Samuel was the first of the Lamanite missionaries to visit the city of Zarahemla, resulting in their anger and desire to evict him. My supposition is this: I think that Samuel the Lamanite may have been a leader among the Lamanites who had joined the church in the city of Nephi in Helaman 5, and probably had been there on the day that Nephi and Lehi converted the 300 people, as recorded in their missionary account. These Lamanites “did observe strictly to keep the commandments of God, according to the law of Moses” (13:1), and these new converts had laid down “their weapons of war” (Helaman 5:51; 15:9), as had the Lamanites who had previously followed Ammon. Samuel was now a great religious leader among his own people.
Thus, it appears that Samuel had a close relationship with Nephi, the son of Helaman. He had missionary experience. He belonged to a group of converts who were especially diligent in keeping the law of Moses and laying down their weapons in the interests of peace.