Rhetorical: This verse is a challenge to understand. Amulek makes a statement, then directly contradicts it, noting “I mistake.” There are two possible reasons why we have this contradictory information. The first is that he really did make a mistake, a slip of the tongue. The second is that this is an intentional contradiction.
The first option is certainly possible. In oral discourse, it is very easy for a speaker to insert a word that was not intended to be in the sentence. In this case, Amulek’s intention would have been to say “I have known much of the ways of the Lord…” and the “not” slipped in based on his knowledge that he had not always so believed. While this is possible, it is not as likely as the second scenario. The reason for discounting this possibility is that this is a recorded discourse, and Amulek or another redactor (Alma?) had ample opportunity to erase a slip of the tongue. Indeed, the chances of the recording of the oral event being so precise as to capture such a slip of the tongue is also remote. Finally, the sense of Amulek’s argument works better if we assume that he intended to make this contrast.
Amulek is speaking before a group of people who know him, a fact he is counting on and which led to the particular introduction he used. Amulek would also have been known as one who was not a particularly faithful follower of the Nephite religion, as he explains in the next verse. What he is doing here is setting up a contrast that will sharpen the interest of the crowd. His first statement is the one that they expect from their knowledge of him, that is, that he has “never have known much of the ways of the Lord.” When he immediately halts this expected sentence with the abrupt “I mistake,” the audience had to be caught in the unexpected remark, and their attention heightened. What he says is that even though he denied what he saw, the evidence for the ways of the Lord were all around him in the preservation of his people.
This reference to seeing the ways of the Lord around him sets up a very important basis for his discourse. He is telling his audience that just as he could have seen all of the evidence around him, but had not, so too they will be able to see when they have their eyes open to the ways of the Lord. Even more to the point, he saw the hand of God in their preservation. This is a very important point because Amulek is setting up protection under God, and destruction in denial of God. This has been the message from the Lord, that the people will be destroyed if they do not repent. Amulek is not only reiterating the warning, but making sure that they understand that it is not God who brings the destruction, but it is He who has been protecting them from it.