Alma 10 gives us the first introduction into the legal profession among the Nephites. The similarities between Nephite lawyers and some of today's attorneys are truly striking. Inherent in the profession, is the ability to win an argument. A great lawyer can make his case whatever the case may be—whether right or wrong. The best can make a brilliant argument for one side on one day and make an equally brilliant argument for the opposing side on the next. The underlying motive, then, is not the pursuit of truth, but the ability to make one's position appear to be true.
Among the lawyers of Ammonihah, we see this same pattern. None of them are interested in the truth. Whether Amulek saw a vision or not is immaterial to them, their job is to make Alma and Amulek look foolish, to catch them in their words, and to win the argument with verbal sophistry. Their master is Satan who tells them:
'Deceive and lie in wait to catch, that ye may destroy; behold, this is no harm. And thus he flattereth them, and telleth them that it is no sin to lie that they may catch a man in a lie, that they may destroy him.
And thus he flattereth them, and leadeth them along until he draggeth their souls down to hell' (DC 10:25-26)
Hugh Nibley
"Alma 10 is the legalistic chapter. It's on legalism and lawyers. It packs a real wallop and shows immense insight. This was [translated] in 1829 before Joseph Smith had had any of his experience with lawyers. He was hauled into court and went through the routine 42 times. They were always bringing him to court. Americans were just as legalistic [then] as they are today. But remember that this was written before he had any of that experience at all. He knew nothing about lawyers or anything else; he had just lived on the farm all his life. This chapter is really something, and we're on verse 13 now. They began to question Amulek using 'cunning devices [that] they might catch them in their words, that they might find witness against them, that they might deliver them to their judges that they might be judged according to the law, and that they might be slain or cast into prison, according to the crime [they would make it all legal] which they could make appear or witness against them.'
"That's the whole business of lawyers-to make your side appear whatever it is. And that's the art of rhetoric, as Plato said, and that's why he damned it. The Greeks were shocked by this new art, the art of the lawyer, which…made the worse appear the better reason. That's the skill of rhetoric. You can take either side and make it win. Whether it was good or bad had nothing to do with it; you won the case. That's what you are supposed to do. To make the worse appear the better reason shocked everybody. That's what we have here." (Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Lecture 48, p. 311)
Joseph Fielding Smith
" We must be prepared to defend the truth, and as men holding the holy priesthood which was restored by the opening of the heavens and the laying on of hands by holy messengers sent from the presence of the Lord, be prepared to protect the members of the Church against the cunning devices that are being employed in opposition to the gospel, to wean away our members who are not sufficiently informed and who lack the abiding testimony which faithfulness and obedience will ensure to every soul.
"War, quietly, insidiously, and with some fear because of the spread of the truth, is being waged against the restoration of divine truth." (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 1, p. 311)