Alma is commanded to return to a city that had flatly rejected him. It would be understandable if he traveled reluctantly, or, with measured assurance. Instead, Alma “returned speedily.” Understanding without question that the command had come from God, Alma went quickly to fulfill the Lord’s command.
The next three verses introduce us to Amulek. Alma enters the hostile city and we understand that Jehovah guided him to the particular person that Alma needed to meet. The laws of hospitality would require that anyone would give something to eat of anyone who asked. However, that was also one of the Nephite principles that was among the first to be abandoned in the forms of Nephite apostasy.
When asked for hospitality, Amulek responds: “I am a Nephite.” Why? This was Amulek’s declaration that he did believe in the religion of the Nephites as opposed to the more dominant Order of the Nehors present in Ammonihah. We will learn that Amulek has not always been a faithful Nephite, but at this moment he is, and has received a vision letting him know that he would meet a prophet of God and should take him under his care.
Amulek’s name is interesting. It clearly shows the mlk root with means “king” in Hebrew, and which frequently appears in the names of Nephite apostates who want to return to a monarchy. In this case, it perhaps signals that Amulek was not always a faithful, believing Nephite. The name hints at the past. Amulek’s story also declares that repentance is possible, and that the gospel can transform a person. Thus, Amulek becomes a powerful preacher, next to another repentant former apostate, Alma the younger.