After describing the Lamanites’ conversion as an example of a difficult and perhaps unimaginable conversion (at least to the Nephites), Samuel again chides the currently apostate Nephites. They must repent or be destroyed. They have had mighty works done among them. With these great opportunities come greater responsibility and greater danger of destruction from rejecting the truth. “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more” (Luke 12:48).
The Nephites fall into this category. The Lamanites do not. The Lamanites will be preserved and the Nephites destroyed. For Yahweh the difference is their opportunities. The Nephites’ rejection of the Atoning Messiah is a much greater sin than the Lamanites’ prior disbelief. The Nephites had to turn their backs on the Messiah, but the Lamanites did not really know him.
When Aaron began to teach Lamoni’s father, he asked the old king if he believed in God: “And the king said: I know that the Amalekites say that there is a God, and I have granted unto them that they should build sanctuaries, that they may assemble themselves together to worship him. And if now thou sayest there is a God, behold I will believe” (Alma 22:7).
Lamoni’s father did not know whether Yahweh existed. He knew only that he had heard of Yahweh from Ammon. The king never rejected this God; he had never truly known him. In contrast, the Nephites knew and rejected Yahweh. It was this active turning away from the gift of understanding that brought the devastating penalty upon them.
Text: There is no chapter break at this point in the 1830 edition. Samuel’s sermon, however, ends here.