And it came to pass that the curse was not taken off Korihor; but he was cast out and went about from house to house begging for his food.
A proclamation was next sent throughout all the land. In it the chief judge recited what had happened to Korihor, and called upon those who had believed in his words to speedily repent, lest the same judgments should come upon them.
This proclamation put an end to the iniquity of Korihor, for his followers were all brought back again to the truth. But Korihor, deserted by the devil, a vagabond and a beggar, still continued to beg his way from town to town, from house to house; until, one day, in a city of the Zoramites, he was run over and trodden down. The injuries that he received at this time were so great that he soon after died.
ZORAM AND THE ZORAMITES--THEIR PECULIAR HERESY--THE LAND OF ANTIONUM--THE RAMEUMPTOM--ALMA'S MISSION TO THESE PEOPLE--THOSE WHO RECEIVE HIS TEACHINGS PERSECUTED--THEY FLEE TO JERSHON.
In our last chapter we stated that Korihor, the anti-Christ was killed in a city of the Zoramites. Who was Zoram? and who were the Zoramites? are the questions that now present themselves.
There are two distinct classes of people called Zoramites in the Book of Mormon. The first, the descendants of Zoram, the servant of Laban, who accompanied Nephi from Jerusalem. The second were the followers of the apostate Zoram, whose defection and treason caused so much trouble and bloodshed in the Nephite republic.
Of the last named Zoram and his individual life we have no history. We only know him through his pernicious teachings, and the sad results thereof. But it is altogether probable that before he started out as a religious reformer on his own account, he was a follower of Nehor, as the majority of his adherents appear to have been gathered from that sect and to have belonged to that order.
Zoram assembled his people in a region of the South American continent, at that time but very thinly settled by the Nephites. It was called the land of Antionum, and lay to the east of the river Sidon, while it stretched from the land of Jershon in the north, to the great wilderness south, which was infested with the more savage, wandering Lamanites. To this broad land the Zoramites gathered, and there built their cities, erected their synagogues, and grew in material wealth; until, in the year B. C. 75, they had become an important, though undesirable portion of the Nephite commonwealth. As friends they were unreliable, as enemies formidable.