The Apostate Zoramites – A Type for Our Day

May 29, 2022

The Zoramites were Nephites who separated themselves and whose hearts were led by their leader Zoram to “bow down to dumb idols.”1 They were people who had the scriptures and yet purposively wrested them to justify their iniquity, resulting in a haughty self-assurance and a false perception of their supposed elect status. This is shown by the description that Alma received word “that the Zoramites were perverting the ways of the Lord,” and the later narration “yea, in fine, they did pervert the ways of the Lord in very many instances.”2 The word perverting is defined as “turning from right to wrong; distorting; misinterpreting; misapplying; [and] corrupting.”3 The Zoramites are thus a relevant example of apostasy. It was the underlying condition of their hearts that turned from right to wrong—from God and others to themselves and their status. Consider what their hearts were set upon, indicating what truly mattered to them:

“their hearts were set upon gold, and upon silver, and upon all manner of fine goods.”4
“their hearts were lifted up unto great boasting, in their pride.”5
“they cry unto thee, and yet their hearts are swallowed up in their pride.”6
“their costly apparel…and all their precious things which they are ornamented with; and behold, their hearts are set upon them.”7

Notice the vanity and pride, meanwhile they thanked “their God that they were chosen of him….and that their hearts were not stolen away to believe in things to come, which they knew nothing about.”8 The spirit of prophecy and revelation was not had among them, nor was it believed in. Anyone who spoke of things to come was quickly chided and brought back to the supposedly enduring reality, being told to ‘live in the moment.’ A belief in, and a focus on the coming of Christ was, to them, a “foolish tradition” that was restrictive, and as they claimed led their brethren’s “hearts to wander far from thee, our God.”9 They were of the mindset that when prophecy comes too close to home it needs to be superimposed on someone else, because if it detracted from the business of the day, it wasn’t for them. Surely their leader, Zoram, who led them “to bow down to dumb idols,” wanted it this way.10 If people are too worried about salvation, they will not perform the labor necessary to maintain the society that props up the elite—in this case Zoram and those he’d surrounded himself with. The people thus rejected the application of scriptural prophecy. This, mind you, while they ironically had no reservations with applying a perverted version of the doctrine of election to themselves:

“Holy God, we believe that thou hast separated us from our brethren…we believe that thou hast elected us to be thy holy children…and thou hast elected us that we shall be saved, whilst all around us are elected to be cast by thy wrath down to hell; for the which holiness, O God, we thank thee.”11

Just what was their definition of holiness? It was simple: if you were successful in business, and had many fine and precious things, then you were holy and favored of God. The more successful and the more adorned you were, the more righteous you must have been. While those lacking in financial success must have been less worthy of love as their priests despised and looked down upon others “because of their poverty as to the things of the world.”12 Hugh Nibley considered these people ‘the wickedest’ in the entire Book of Mormon, likening them to the Israelites in Isaiah’s day:

“The traits and the behavior Isaiah denounces as the worst of vices are without exception those of successful people. The wickedness and folly of Israel do not consist of indolence, sloppy dressing, long hair, nonconformity (even the reading of books), radical and liberal unrealistic ideas and programs, irreverence toward custom and property, contempt for established idols, and so on. The wickedest people in the Book of Mormon are the Zoramites, a proud, independent, courageous, industrious, enterprising, patriotic, prosperous people who attended strictly to their weekly religious duties with the proper observance of dress standards. Thanking God for all He had given them, they bore testimony to His goodness. They were sustained in all their doings by a perfectly beautiful self-image. Well, what is wrong with any of that? There is just one thing that spoils it all . . . ‘and yet . . . they cry unto thee’ and yet they are really thinking of something else. ‘Behold, O my God, their costly apparel, . . . all their precious things . . . their hearts are set upon them, and yet they cry unto thee and say—We thank thee, O God, for we are a chosen people unto thee, while others shall perish’ (Alma 31:27-28).”13

Surely the Zoramites would find these words of the Lord through Isaiah indicting: “these people approach me with the mouth and pay me homage with their lips, while their heart remains far from me—their piety toward me consisting of commandments of men learned by rote—therefore it is that I shall again astound these people with wonder upon wonder, rendering void the knowledge of their sages and the intelligence of their wise men insignificant.”14 Their worship was limited to what could be seen by others, and what was done in the synagogue once a week. They were ‘Sunday Mormons’ who thought they were so wise—that they knew it all because they were prosperous. Avraham Gileadi wrote about many similarities between these people and the Gentiles of the latter days:

“Upon closer examination we find that the Zoramites indeed typify much that Jesus and others predicted about the Gentiles, particularly their ultimate separation into two distinct groups. I will summarize how this occurred among the Zoramites. Alma notes that their ‘hearts were set upon gold, and upon silver, and upon all manner of fine goods’ (Alma 31:24). In other words, they idolized their wealth and material possessions, which was a sure recipe for spiritual blindness. . . By saying, ‘thou hast made it known to us that there shall be no Christ’ (Alma 31:16), they put their own false revelations above the revelations of the holy prophets. After Alma and Amulek preached to the Zoramites about the coming of the Son of God, quoting Zenos, Zenock, and Moses, their rulers, priests and teachers found out privily who believed in the words of Alma and Amulek and banished them from their lands (Alma 35:3-6). These outcasts joined the people of Ammon, who gave them new lands of inheritance (Alma 35:9, 14). Still not satisfied, the elitist Zoramites joined forces with the Lamanites and fought against the Nephites (Alma 35:10-13). In short, while one group of Zoramites hardened their hearts and experienced a complete cycle of apostasy (Alma 33:21; 34:31), the others humbled themselves, accepted the teachings of the prophets, and repented of their sins (Alma 32:6-8; 34:30-31; 38; 35:6).”15

What is the greatest lesson for us to learn from the Zoramites? The one Alma chose to focus on as he addressed the small persecuted group who had been cast out of their synagogues and “were truly penitent” was this:

“And now, because ye are compelled to be humble blessed are ye; for a man sometimes, if he is compelled to be humble, seeketh repentance; and now surely, whosoever repenteth shall find mercy; and he that findeth mercy and endureth to the end the same shall be saved. And now, as I said unto you, that because ye were compelled to be humble ye were blessed, do ye not suppose that they are more blessed who truly humble themselves because of the word? Yea, he that truly humbleth himself, and repenteth of his sins, and endureth to the end, the same shall be blessed—yea, much more blessed than they who are compelled to be humble because of their exceeding poverty. Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble.”16

A day of judgment is soon coming to this land. If we have not chosen to become humble, penitent, and repentant with our hearts knit to Jesus, we will indeed be compelled to be humble through our circumstances. It is clear from Alma that choosing to be humble before God is a more desirable state for us. In a landmark address that he chose to have read to the saints, rather than delivering it himself, Ezra Taft Benson wrote:

“God will have a humble people. Either we can choose to be humble or we can be compelled to be humble…Let us choose to be humble. We can choose to humble ourselves by conquering enmity toward our brothers and sisters, esteeming them as ourselves, and lifting them as high or higher than we are. We can choose to humble ourselves by receiving counsel and chastisement. We can choose to humble ourselves by forgiving those who have offended us. We can choose to humble ourselves by rendering selfless service…We can choose to humble ourselves by confessing and forsaking our sins and being born of God. We can choose to humble ourselves by loving God, submitting our will to His, and putting Him first in our lives. Let us choose to be humble. We can do it. I know we can. My dear brethren and sisters, we must prepare to redeem Zion. It was essentially the sin of pride that kept us from establishing Zion in the days of the Prophet Joseph Smith. It was the same sin of pride that brought consecration to an end among the Nephites. Pride is the great stumbling block to Zion. I repeat: Pride is the great stumbling block to Zion.”17

The city of Zion is coming to the American continent.18 If we wish to be a part of it then we must learn from the apostate Zoramites and opt for a life of humility, ridding ourselves of vanity, pride, and the idea that our mere membership in the Church has somehow earned us an elect and favored status.

The content for this post was taken from chapter 13 of my book Upon My House Shall It Begin. It is available in paperback and ebook.

1 Alma 31:2

2 Alma 31:1, 11

3 Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

4 Alma 31:24

5 Alma 31:25

6 Alma 31:27

7 Alma 31:28

8 Alma 31:22

9 Alma 31:17

10 Alma 31:1

11 Alma 31:16-17

12 Alma 32:4-5

13 Hugh Nibley, Great are the Words of Isaiah

14 Isaiah 29:13-14, Isaiah Institute Translation

15 Avraham Gileadi, Studies in the Book of Mormon, p. 110-111

16 Alma 32:13-15

17 Ezra Taft Benson, Beware of Pride, April 1989

18 D&C 84:2-4