Aminadi and the Writing on the Wall

As Amulek stood up to teach the people of Ammonihah for the first time, he introduced himself with these words, “I am Amulek; I am the son of Giddonah, who was the son of Ishmael, who was a descendant of Aminadi; and it was that same Aminadi who interpreted the writing which was upon the wall of the temple, which was written by the finger of God. And Aminadi was a descendant of Nephi, who was the son of Lehi, who came out of the land of Jerusalem” (Alma 10:2-3). This story is not mentioned elsewhere in the Book of Mormon, but as the footnote suggests, this description of writing on the wall is reminiscent of the story of Daniel and Belshazzar. That Babylonian king had this experience: “In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote” (Daniel 5:5). It was Daniel who was able to interpret the strange writing, prophesying of the destruction of Babylon and the downfall of the king. That very night the king was slain and the Persians took over Babylon, fulfilling the prophecy from this writing on the wall. The Nephites would not have known that story, but perhaps the writing on the temple for them contained a similar warning for their people.   

Given the fact that Mormon included this reference without any other explanation perhaps indicates that he had already written about Aminadi in his abridgment of the Nephite history which we no longer have. In other words, I’m guessing that he wrote about this in what became the lost 116 pages, which would mean that it happened before the time of the book of Mosiah in our current text. And thus when he mentioned it in his quotation of Amulek’s speech he expected his readers to already know it. If this writing did indeed contain a warning about the destruction of the Nephites, then perhaps the event took place shortly before King Mosiah I led the faithful to the land of Zarahemla. Under that scenario the writing on the temple—Nephi’s temple—would have served the purpose of warning the faithful and helping them see the need to indeed flee with Mosiah. Aminadi then would have been a prophet who helped motivate the faithful to leave their homes and avoid the impending destruction. This is the account of that people we have: “[Mosiah] being warned of the Lord that he should flee out of the land of Nephi, and as many as would hearken unto the voice of the Lord should also depart out of the land with him, into the wilderness—And it came to pass that he did according as the Lord had commanded him. And they departed out of the land into the wilderness, as many as would hearken unto the voice of the Lord; and they were led by many preachings and prophesyings” (Omni 1:12-13). Aminadi may have been one who gave unto them the voice of the Lord to hearken to as he interpreted words of warning on the temple wall. Though the Book of Mormon doesn’t record it, from the text it seems clear that the Nephites were indeed destroyed after Mosiah left because we only ever hear of Lamanites making up the group they left (besides perhaps the Amalekites). And thus, perhaps, the warning of the writing on the wall interpreted by Aminadi was fulfilled in that way.  

If this were all the case, then Amulek’s telling of this story would have been in fact the perfect introduction to his words to the wicked Nephites of Ammonihah. He told them that destruction was coming for them if they did not repent, just as it came for those Nephites who hearkened not to the voice of the Lord in the days of Mosiah I: “Yea, and I say unto you that if it were not for the prayers of the righteous, who are now in the land, that ye would even now be visited with utter destruction; yet it would not be by flood, as were the people in the days of Noah, but it would be by famine, and by pestilence, and the sword. But it is by the prayers of the righteous that ye are spared; now therefore, if ye will cast out the righteous from among you then will not the Lord stay his hand; but in his fierce anger he will come out against you; then ye shall be smitten by famine, and by pestilence, and by the sword; and the time is soon at hand except ye repent” (Alma 10:22-23). So Amulek perhaps was implicitly telling them, “My ancestor prophesied of the destruction of the Nephites when he read the writing on the wall of the temple, and now today I am prophesying of your impending destruction if you too don’t heed the voice of the Lord.” They of course did not for the most part, and they like their ancestors were destroyed by the Lamanites. But his words in the Book of Mormon stand as a warning to us all—“The foundation of the destruction of this people is beginning to be laid” for us as well by our own unrighteousness, and our greatest security as communities and nations is to repent.