Nephite Judges

After the time of the second Mosiah in the Book of Mormon, the Nephite people were led by a system of judges.  Mosiah described this proposed system that he set up to the people in this way: “Choose you by the voice of this people, judges, that ye may be judged according to the laws which have been given you by our fathers, which are correct, and which were given them by the hand of the Lord.”  There would be “higher judges” and “lower judges” that could check each other: “And now if ye have judges, and they do not judge you according to the law which has been given, ye can cause that they may be judged of a higher judge.  If your higher judges do not judge righteous judgments, ye shall cause that a small number of your lower judges should be gathered together, and they shall judge your higher judges, according to the voice of the people” (Mosiah 29:25, 28-29).  There was a “chief judge” that led the people who was also known as the “governor” (see Helaman 1:5).  A major role of the judges was “to judge those who were brought before them to be judged,” and at least the chief judge had the power to “enact laws according to the laws which had been given” (Alma 11:1, 4:16).  The judges were to enforce the laws given by Mosiah and his predecessors, but eventually Mormon noted that “the laws had become corrupted” because of the iniquities of the people (Helaman 5:2).  The wickedness in particular of their judges in many instances stand as a warning to us of the effects that the wickedness of our own judges and lawmakers may have in our day.

               Not long after the new system was implemented among the Nephites, the city of Ammonihah became very wicked and rejected the principles of righteousness their society had been founded on.  Alma lamented to them, “And now behold, I say unto you, that the foundation of the destruction of this people is beginning to be laid by the unrighteousness of your lawyers and your judges” (Alma 10:27).  They had become so degraded that the chief judge of the city used physical violence on Alma and Amulek and mocked them after casting them in prison: “After what ye have seen, will ye preach again unto this people, that they shall be cast into a lake of fire and brimstone?” (Alma 14:14) Alma’s prophecy proved to be correct very quickly, for the city was attacked within a few years when the Lamanites came down upon them “into the city of Ammonihah, and began to slay the people and destroy the city” (Alma 16:2).  At the time of Amalickiah it was judges again that initially caused contention among the Nephites: “And Amalickiah was desirous to be a king; and those people who were wroth were also desirous that he should be their king; and they were the greater part of them the lower judges of the land, and they were seeking for power” (Alma 46:4).  Later Nephi, the son of Helaman, lamented the wickedness of the judges in his day: “There were men who were judges, who also belonged to the secret band of Gadianton, and they were angry….  And those judges were angry with [Nephi] because he spake plainly unto them concerning their secret works of darkness” (Helaman 8:1, 4).  After Nephi miraculously prophesied of the death of the chief judge, these judges showed their animosity to faith: “And now it came to pass that the judges did expound the matter unto the people, and did cry out against Nephi, saying: Behold, we know that this Nephi must have agreed with some one to slay the judge, and then he might declare it unto us, that he might convert us unto his faith, that he might raise himself to be a great man, chosen of God, and a prophet” (Helaman 9:16).  The judges throughout Nephite history were often wicked and enemies to the true faith of God.  And surely Mormon had a reason for including these details in the record—we face many challenges as it relates to religious freedom because of the actions of judges and other leaders who help lay foundations of unrighteousness among us today.