These verses set up Alma’s prayer that is recorded in the next verses. The prayer is triggered by seeing that the Zoramites were so completely removed from the foundational tenets of Nephite belief. In keeping with Mormon’s use of Antionum as the name for the city, Alma notes that “their hearts were set upon gold, and upon silver, and upon all manner of fine goods.” This is the first aspect of Nephite apostasy throughout the Book of Mormon, and the Zoramites are far beyond only beginning to set their hearts upon wealth and status. They are “lifted up unto great boasting, in their pride.”
The fact is that they were wealthy. It wasn’t that the wealth was bad, but that they had made the social differences into a religion that emphasized the visible worship of wealth and status. We will learn how that affected those who did not have that wealth in the next chapter.
Although it may or may not have been intentional, it is highly appropriate that the Zoramites be described as being “lifted up unto great boasting,” as their boasting was literally done at the top of a stand that lifted them above the rest of the congregation.