Amalickiah Stirs Up the Lamanites
We will return in our story to Amalickiah and those who ran away with him into the wild places. He took those who went with him and traveled to the land of Nephi. He lived among the Lamanites and made them angry at the Nephites. The king of the Lamanites sent a message all through his land. He told all his people to gather together again to fight against the Nephites. When the message went out to them, they were very scared. They were afraid to make the king angry. But they were also afraid to fight against the Nephites. They didn’t want to die. Most of them would not obey the king’s command. The king was angry because they did not obey. He gave Amalickiah command of the part of his army that obeyed. He told him to go and force the others to pick up weapons.
Amalickiah’s Evil Plan
This was exactly what Amalickiah wanted. He was very clever at doing evil things. He had a plan in his heart to remove the king of the Lamanites from power. He got command of the Lamanites who were on the king’s side. He tried to win over those who did not obey. He went to a place called Onidah. All the Lamanites had run away to that place. They saw the army coming and thought they were coming to destroy them. So they ran to Onidah to the place where they kept their weapons. They chose a man to be their king and leader. They made up their minds that they would not be forced to fight against the Nephites. They gathered together on top of the mountain called Antipas. They got ready for battle. Amalickiah did not plan to fight them like the king told him to. He wanted to win over the Lamanite armies. Then he could become their leader, remove the king, and take over the kingdom. He had his army set up their tents in the valley near Mount Antipas.
Tricking Lehonti
When it was night, he sent a secret message to the mountain. He wanted the leader who was on the mountain to come down. His name was Lehonti. Amalickiah wanted to talk with him at the bottom of the mountain. When Lehonti got the message, he was afraid to go down. Amalickiah sent a message a second time asking him to come down. Lehonti would not go. Amalickiah sent a third message. When Amalickiah saw that he could not get Lehonti to come down, he went up the mountain almost to Lehonti’s camp. He sent a fourth message to Lehonti. He asked him to come down and bring his guards with him.
Lehonti came down with his guards to meet Amalickiah. Amalickiah asked him to come down with his army at night. He wanted Lehonti to surround the men that the king had given Amalickiah to command. Amalickiah said he would give them to Lehonti if Lehonti would make Amalickiah the second leader over the whole army. Lehonti came down with his men and surrounded Amalickiah’s men. Before they woke up at sunrise, Lehonti’s armies had surrounded them. When they saw they were surrounded, they begged Amalickiah to let them join their brothers. They didn’t want to be killed. This was exactly what Amalickiah wanted. He gave up his men. This was against the king’s commands. But this was what Amalickiah wanted. It was part of his plan to remove the king from power.
The Lamanites had a custom. If their top leader was killed, they would make the second leader the new top leader. Amalickiah had one of his servants give poison to Lehonti little by little. Lehonti died. When Lehonti was dead, the Lamanites made Amalickiah their leader and top commander.
The King Is Murdered
Amalickiah marched with his armies to the land of Nephi. He went to the city of Nephi, which was the most important city. He had gotten what he wanted. The king came out to meet him with his guards. The king thought Amalickiah had obeyed his commands. He thought Amalickiah had gathered a big army to fight against the Nephites. As the king came out to meet him, Amalickiah sent his servants to meet the king. They went and bowed down before the king. They acted like they were honoring him because he was so great. The king reached out his hand to lift them up. This was the custom with the Lamanites. It was a sign of peace. They learned this custom from the Nephites. When he lifted the first one from the ground, that servant stabbed the king in the heart. The king fell to the ground.
The king’s servants ran away. Amalickiah’s servants shouted: “Look! The king’s servants have stabbed him in the heart! He has fallen! They have run away! Come and see!” Amalickiah told his armies to march and see what happened to the king. When they came to the spot and found the king lying in his blood, Amalickiah acted angry. He said: “Whoever loved the king should chase his servants and kill them.” All the people who loved the king heard these words. They went and chased the king’s servants.
When the king’s servants saw an army chasing them, they got scared again. They ran into the wild places. They went to the land of Zarahemla and joined the people of Ammon. The army that chased them came back. They had chased them but couldn’t catch them. This is how Amalickiah used his lies to win over the people’s hearts.
The next day, he entered the city of Nephi with his armies and took control of the city.
Amalickiah Becomes King
The queen heard that the king was killed. Amalickiah had sent a message to the queen. He told her that the king had been killed by his servants. He said he chased them with his army but couldn’t catch them. He said they got away. When the queen got this message, she sent a message to Amalickiah. She asked him to not hurt the people of the city. She also asked him to come to her. She wanted him to bring people who could tell what they saw about the king’s death. Amalickiah took the same servant who killed the king and the others who were with him. They went to the queen where she sat. They all told her that the king was killed by his own servants. They said: “They have run away. Doesn’t this prove they did it?” This made the queen believe what happened to the king.
Amalickiah tried to win over the queen. He married her. By lying and using his clever servants, he got control of the kingdom. He was made king over all the land. Everyone among the Lamanites accepted him as king. The Lamanites included the real Lamanites, the Lemuelites, the Ishmaelites, and all the people who left the Nephites from the time of Nephi up to now. These people who left the Nephites had the same teaching and information as the Nephites. They had learned the same things about the Lord. But it is strange to say that not long after they left, they became harder and wouldn’t change. They became more wild, evil, and mean than the Lamanites. They believed the wrong things the Lamanites believed. They became lazy and did all kinds of bad things. They forgot all about the Lord their God.