Text: The 1830 version of the Book of Mormon has no chapter break at this location. While there is a shift in context, in the original, the literary contrasts were more evident when the contrasting sections followed each other directly. The separation into chapters misses the structure of the original.
History: The separation of church and state in Zarahemla allows for the underlying tensions to become explicit. Once there is a separate entity that is not conterminous with the government, it is easier to disagree with that entity. Resistance flourishes rapidly—so rapidly, in fact, that is suggests that the tensions have never really gone away. Despite Benjamin’s attempt to unify his people under Yahweh-Messiah’s name, that unity has disappeared only one generation later. The religious tensions that cause the internal strife noted at the end of Words of Mormon have returned with a vengeance.
It is valuable to identify social conditions in Zarahemla as best we can. First, Zarahemla is the chief city, but probably exists in a system with dependent cities. One way of understanding this arrangement is Alma’s seven churches. It makes the most sense to have seven churches in seven communities, rather than seven churches within Zarahemla. Mesoamerican cities have ceremonial centers, but the living areas are typically widely dispersed around the ceremonial center. Comparatively few cities from this time period would have been large enough to accommodate seven “churches” in a single ceremonial center. There was also no need for further divisions inside a single community. Everyone was either in or out, a church-man or a non-church-man. (See commentary accompanying Mosiah 25:23.)
Second, we know that the land of Zarahemla is composed of at least four groups: Nephites, Zarahemlaites/Mulekites, the people of Limhi, and the people of Alma. These last two entered Zarahemla as cohesive units. It seems likely that they were larger than could be easily absorbed into Zarahemla. Almost certainly these peoples would have been assigned a separate location. As Alma’s group had already created one city (Helam), it would not be surprising if they were to found another city in the land of Zarahemla. The city of Gideon is the most likely candidate (Alma 2:20).
Thus, we have a picture of Zarahemla as the chief of a confederation of cities. Because of travel times, each city would have its own organization and government. This trait will become more obvious in the book of Alma during the section on Alma2’s travels. With all these divisions, it is not surprising that entire city organizations would coalesce as pro- or anti- “church,” as happened in Ammonihah and with the Zoramites in Antionum.
Third, a Mesoamerican heritage would have been strong among the Zarahemla-Mulekites and reinforced through trade contacts. Thus, competition between the Mesoamerican culture and the Nephite culture would always be present. The fact that this very conflict resurfaces so frequently in exactly the same form suggests that the Nephite culture and religion was continuously opposed by a competing alternative culture/religion. To some extent, the law of Moses seemed easier for this competing religion to accommodate, as that variation appeared in the city of Lehi-Nephi under Noah. Indeed, some of the intense hostility against the Nephite religion may be explained if the competing religion is a variant of the law of Moses. Typically, it is in religions that are close in beliefs and therefore in direct competition that the gravest and most dangerous feelings arise. (See “Excursus: Religion of the Nehors,” following Alma 1.) The persecutions suggest some of this closeness.