“Once elected, [Alma] never again submitted himself to the people. After being proclaimed chief judge by the voice of the people, Alma enjoyed life tenure. When he chose to resign because of internal difficulties he selected his own successor (see Alma 4:16). That seems to have been the beginning of a dynasty. In the next succession, the judgeship passed to the chief judge’s son and thence ‘by right’ to the successive sons of the Judges (see Alma 50:39; Hel. 1:13). Although democratic elements were there—the Judges were confirmed by the voice of the people—the ‘reign of the Judges,’ as the Book of Mormon calls the period, was a far cry from the republican government Joseph Smith knew” (Bushman, “Book of Mormon and the American Revolution,” 14–16).
How was time reckoned by the Nephites? (29:44) “After Lehi left Jerusalem, time was reckoned according to the date of his departure—e.g., ‘fifty years after Lehi left Jerusalem.’ … With the establishment of the system of the judges we encounter a new reckoning of time among the Nephites—the ‘first year of the reign of the judges,’ the ‘fifteenth year of the reign of the judges,’ and so on. This system would be in effect until the sign of the birth of Christ would be given, when they would begin reckoning their time from that point (see 3 Nephi 2:8)” (McConkie and Millet, Doctrinal Commentary, 2:320).
Alma, often called Alma the Younger by modern readers to distinguish him from his father, became a powerful missionary and teacher after his conversion (see Mosiah 27). His book covers less than forty years of history, from about 91 B.C. to 53 B.C., but its pages compose nearly a third of the Book of Mormon. “The book of Alma … breaks down into three logical divisions according to its authorship. The text abridged by Mormon was therefore the product of a father [chapters 1–44] and two of his sons, Helaman [45–62] and Shiblon [63], being sons of the younger Alma” (Sperry, Book of Mormon Compendium, 324).
An important teaching in the book of Alma is that the word of God is more powerful than the sword in bringing people to the Lord (see Alma 31:5). Equally important is the teaching that rejecting God’s word leads to war and bloodshed.
The superscription to the book of Alma, which appears just under the title, was part of the ancient record translated by the Prophet Joseph Smith and dictated by him to his scribe (see also, for example, 2 Nephi, Mosiah 9, and Alma 5). In contrast to other books within the Book of Mormon, the book of Alma contains “an unusually large number of superscriptions,” which appear above “chapters 1, 5, 7, 9, 17, 21, 36, 38, 39, and 45. These superscriptions are of more than passing interest. The fact that they are found over the chapters enumerated and over no others [in the book of Alma] would seem to indicate that Mormon took them from Alma’s original text” (Sperry, Book of Mormon Compendium, 324).