In speaking of the children of Israel under Moses, Joseph Smith explained: “Their government was a theocracy; they had God to make their laws, and men chosen by Him to administer them; He was their God, and they were His people. Moses received the word of the Lord from God Himself; he was the mouth of God to Aaron, and Aaron taught the people, in both civil and ecclesiastical affairs; they were both one, there was no distinction.” (Teachings, p. 252, )
Presumably the Nephite theodemocracy was not unlike the ancient theocracy. Alma was appointed to be the first chief judge and governor over the land (see Alma 2:16; Alma 60:1) and was at the same time the high priest over the Church, having been called to serve as successor to his father in the latter capacity. There were some distinctions between civil and ecclesiastical matters-as in the case of the adoption and perpetuation of falsehood or doctrinal error, practices which were declared to be beyond the scope of the civil law (see, for example, Alma 1:17; Alma 30:7)-but for the most part their chief judges were men not only with political acumen but also with priestly and prophetic stature. The chief judge received his office with soberness, “with an oath and sacred ordinance to judge righteously, and to keep the peace and the freedom of the people, and to grant unto them their sacred privileges to worship the Lord their God, yea, to support and maintain the cause of God all his days, and to bring the wicked to justice according to their crime” (Alma 50:39).