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 Exemption
From Military Duty
Based
on research by John W. Welch
The only Book
of Mormon group given an exemption from military service was the
famous people of Ammon. In repenting of their previous shedding
of blood, they had sworn an oath that they would never again take
up arms (see Alma 24:11-13). After they arrived in Zarahemla, they
were granted an extraordinary exemption from active military duty
if they would help to sustain the Nephite armies with provisions
(see Alma 27:23-24). Surprisingly, the grant of this exceptional
privilege was consistent with ancient Israelite law.
Normally one
duty of ancient peoples was to take up arms in defense of their
tribe or nation: "Among nomads there is no distinction between
the army and the people: every able-bodied man can join in a raid
and must be prepared to defend the tribe's property and rights against
an enemy. . . . This was probably true of Israel also."1
Saul called "all Israel" to take up arms against the Ammonites
and the Amalekites (see 1 Samuel 11:1-11; 15:4). Threats and curses
were pronounced upon anyone who would not join in the battle. Once,
Saul sent messengers to marshall the troops; he symbolically cut
a yoke of oxen into pieces in view of the people and proclaimed,
"Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so
shall it be done unto his oxen" (1 Samuel 11:7). Yaqim-Addu,
governor of Sagaratum, executed a criminal in prison and paraded
his head among the villages as a warning of what would happen if
the men did not assemble quickly for battle.2
The same basic
duty to serve in the army existed in Nephite law and society. Indeed,
Moroni had power to punish any person in the land of Zarahemla who
would not "defend [his] country" (Alma 51:15; Alma 46:35).
Like Saul and Yaqim-Addu, he symbolically portrayed the brutal fate
of those who would not fight (see Alma 46:21-22). Under extreme
and desperate circumstances, this duty fell even upon old men, women,
and children (see Mosiah 10:9; Alma 54:12).
Why, then, were
the able-bodied Ammonites granted exemption? There may be several
reasons. Unquestionably, their reason for not fighting was righteous
and bona fide. But beyond that, it may have been justified by four
specific provisions in the law of Moses, especially as they were
interpreted in traditional Jewish law.
1. The absolute
duty to go to war applied only in fighting against an enemy.
Deuteronomy 20:1-2, instructing the Israelite leader to speak
to his troops in a holy tongue when they go up to battle against
an enemy, was interpreted in the Talmud as not applying in
a conflict against other Israelites: "'Against your enemies'
but not against your brethren, not Judah against Simeon nor Simeon
against Benjamin."3 (The Talmud was a text reflected
older material. It was not translated into English until after the
Book of Mormon was in print.) A similar feeling may be reflected
in the Ammonite reluctance to "take up arms against their brethren"
(Alma 24:6, 18; 27:23; italics added).
2. The laws
of Deuteronomy afforded humanitarian exemptions for those who had
recently married, built a new house, planted a new vineyard, or
were "fearful or fainthearted" (Deuteronomy 20:5-9; 24:5).
Since everyone going to battle was likely "fearful; and fainthearted,"
the exemption undoubtedly had a narrow meaning in actual practice,
otherwise nearly everyone would be exempt. Indeed, as the Talmud
explains, this "alludes to one who is afraid because of
the transgressions he had committed."4 If a
soldier would cower in the face of enemy battle because of his previous
sins (fearing that his sins prevented God from defending him or
that he might die a sinner), he was deemed unfit for battle. Certainly
the Nephites would have recognized that the profound fears of the
Ammonites rendered them unsuitable for military duty under such
a rule.
3. The rabbis
limited the exemption for the "fearful" and fainthearted"
to "voluntary" exploits of the king; in a "compulsory
war" of national defense, even the fainthearted were obligated
to go into battle. A similar distinction may have contributed to
the Ammonites' feeling, several years later, that they cold no longer
claim their exemption in the face of the extreme "compulsory"
war that threatened the Nephites' entire existence. Moved by compassion
and no longer afraid, they were willing to take up arms (see Alma
53:13). Only Helaman's fear that they might lose their souls if
they were to violate their oath stopped them. Instead, they sent
their sons into battle (see Alma 53:15-17).
4. The men who
remained at home, however, continued to support the war behind the
lines. Their exemption was granted only on the condition that they
would contribute substance to maintain the army. This arrangement
is especially noteworthy, since the Talmud likewise holds that those
who are exempted from military service under the law of Moses are
"only released from actual fighting, but not from
serving in the rear: 'They must furnish water and food and repair
the roads.'"5
The exemption
granted to the Ammonites was logical, religiously motivated, and
consistent with the spirit of ancient Israelite law, which placed
a high civic obligation on all citizens to contribute, as appropriate,
to the defense of their country, their God, their religion, and
their people.
Notes
1. Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 2 vols. (New York:
McGraw Hill, 1965), 1:214
2. From the
royal archive in Mari, II, 48:15-20; cited in Victor H. Matthews,
"Legal Aspects of Military Service in Ancient Mesopotamia,"
Military Law Review 94 (1981): 143.
3. Babylonian
Talmud, Sotah VIII, 1, 42a.
4. Ibid., VIII,
3, 44a; italics added.
5. Ibid., VIII,
2, 43a; italics added.
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