The Idols of the Zoramites

The description of the Zoramites’ main problem at first glance doesn’t seem to match the problems that Alma described on his visit to Antionum. Alma was told “that the Zoramites were perverting the ways of the Lord, and that Zoram, who was their leader, was leading the hearts of the people to bow down to dumb idols” (Alma 31:1).  When Alma and his missionary companions went to their city they found that the Zoramites were full of pride, worshiped God in a rote once-a-week manner, persecuted the poor, and rejected Jesus Christ.  There is no mention of actually worshipping idols.  It’s possible that the text simply does not mention this aspect of their apostasy but that it really was taking place.  Or it may be that the communication that Alma received describing the sins of the Zoramites wasn’t quite accurate.  Or perhaps the language is not quite as literal as it seems to appear.  The verse does not say that the Zoramites bowed down to idols; rather it says that Zoram was “leading the hearts of the people to bow down to dumb idols.”  So maybe we should read this simply as a statement of the condition of their hearts; their hearts were set on the things of the world—their idols—instead of upon the true God. 

           This last explanation seems more in line with the rest of the Nephite culture; unlike the House of Israel in Jerusalem, there seemed to be very little problem with the physical worship of idols among the Nephites and Lamanites.  The Old Testament prophets—particularly Isaiah—were constantly calling the House of Israel to give up their false gods and idols and return to the worship of Jehovah alone.  It would appear that the big problem of the Nephites and Lamanites was the same kind of idol that we struggle with in our day: the love of money.  This certainly was a great stumbling block of the Zoramites.  They had “their hearts set upon gold, and upon silver, and upon all manner of fine goods” (Alma 31:24).  When Alma pled with the Lord for help in his missionary labors he described them this way: “Behold, O my God, their costly apparel, and their ringlets, and their bracelets, and their ornaments of gold, and all their precious things which they are ornamented with; and behold, their hearts are set upon them” (Alma 31:28).  Wealth and fine clothing was their true god, even if they professed one day a week to worship a different being.  In fact they badly treated those who did not have wealth: “The poor class of people… were cast out of the synagogues because of the coarseness of their apparel.  Therefore they were not permitted to enter into their synagogues to worship God, being esteemed as filthiness” (Alma 32:2-3).  Clearly riches were the real god of the Zoramites, and it is largely the predominant idol for our society today.  It is surely one of the great challenges we face to live in this world and not let our hearts likewise—if only symbolically—bow down to the riches of the world.