Latest / Scripture Central / Alma 23–29 | July 8–14 | John W. Welch and Lynne Hilton Wilson | Come Follow Me Book of Mormon

Transcript

Alma 23–29 | July 8–14 | John W. Welch and Lynne Hilton Wilson | Come Follow Me Book of Mormon · Scripture Central

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Hello, Welcome back to Scripture Central.
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We're thrilled to be able to talk about the great book of
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Alma. Today.
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I'm Lynn Hilton Wilson. I'm Jack Welch and these
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chapters are amazing. Alma 23 to 29 is our scripture
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study this week. We start out with Limoni's
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father giving his proclamation, and we go all the way through
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the group of believers in the Lamanite communities being
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bonded together, having religious freedom, being killed
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for their beliefs, and then moving up to live in the land of
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Nephi with the Nephites and they give them land of Jershon.
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So that's the overview of what we're going to try to accomplish
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today. We hope that this motivates your
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own scripture study and motivates you to go back to the
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website and look at the no whys, go back to the website and
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search out more information and go to your scriptures and I hope
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that this will draw you closer to the Lord.
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We don't usually spend a lot of time with some of these
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chapters, so I encourage everyone to go a little slower
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and and not just turn the pages quickly because there's so many
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details and so much development going on in these.
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You can't really understand what's going to happen in the
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rest of the Book of Alma without seeing this dynamic.
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And of course, right after this, we're going to have Alma going
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to with these people going to the city of Antionum with the
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Zoramite problem. So what we have here is the
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beginning of religious liberty. Of course, that had begun with
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the law of King Mosiah back in chapter 29 of Mosiah, and now we
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have it also being introduced by Mosiah's sons.
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To the layman. And they adopt A version of
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religious liberty. And then the rest of the book of
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Alma is dealing with the ramifications of, of what that
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means in it's a major change in their civilization.
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So there's a lot of information that Alma gives us here.
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It becomes foundational for the rest of the book.
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Exactly. I started cutting and pasting
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the verses on my computer and I saw that we start out in chapter
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23 with this beautiful proclamation from King Limoni's
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father, and he does it in a parallel structure.
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There's actually 4 parallels of five points each.
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Starting in verse one, the king of the Lamanite sent a
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proclamation to his people and that they should not lay their
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hands on Ammon, Aaron, Omner, Himni, or other of their
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brethren. Then the fourth point is they
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should go forth preaching the word of God.
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And the 5th point in whatsoever place they should be in any part
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of the land. So that's verse one and then it
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repeats it in verse two and in verse three and in verse four.
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It's just beautiful how they in the same order.
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He has these parallels. You have to read slow to catch
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things like this. And So what?
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Why is he writing it this way? It's important.
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This proclamation is as important for these people as it
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was for King Mosiah, as it was for King Benjamin.
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This is something that is now going to affect their whole
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nation. In the ancient world, it was
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fairly common for people to show respect to dignitaries who came
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from other nations. Uh huh, of course.
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Partly because if you offended them, they'd go home and come to
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war against you. But it was also good policy to
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create bridges for economic and cultural and social reasons.
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When the four sons of Mosiah come, they don't wear their
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diplomatic badge. I am the son of the king or the
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past king. Yeah, yeah.
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While they don't do that, they they can't really hide who they
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are, they are people who have been raised in a leadership
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position. Educated Linguistics.
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And do they come with any texts that they teach these people?
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Well, you find the text all over the place.
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It says earlier that they were teaching them and reading them
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out of the Scriptures, but here we find so many exact quotations
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from the Psalms and from Isaiah. It's we'll get into that in
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Chapter 26. Yeah, but also King Benjamin's
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speech, and I think that's really significant when you see
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phrases and you say we've heard that before, where?
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Oh, back in King Benjamin's speech.
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This helps that you haven't had it memorized in the past, Jack.
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These four sons of Mosiah are grandsons of King Benjamin.
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And they may have memorized it, too.
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And so we have now the covenant of King Benjamin known to these
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people and, and they really appreciate and want to become a
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part of that. After these 4 parallels, we also
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have another beautiful chiasmus where they're describing that
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they will not take up their arms and that these people never fell
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away. The chiasmus, it's verses 6
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through 13, is that they were converted to the Lord.
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And then look at verse nine, we get the names of the lands.
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And I thought this was interesting that they had this
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as the center of the chiasmus cause the people that are
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believing are all in seven cities.
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Yeah. And I think that's significant
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that what you have here at the in the center of this framed
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proclamation, you have to say what cities and what lands does
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it pertain to. So you have to have a
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jurisdictional explanation of how far it goes.
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So does this mean that the father of King Limoni is only a
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leader over these seven cities? Is that what this means?
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No. I think there are other cities
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as well, but these are the cities that that he thinks will
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cooperate or maybe are closest administratively.
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I think the reason he lists the seven is because they are
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distinct and there may be others that weren't included.
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Obviously there are some people who will object to this.
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Oh, we hear a lot of those, yes. But we do have seven cities that
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are named specifically here, and seven at the middle of this
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chiastic structure. Is very significant because 7
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means from the creation of the world whole, complete.
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Credit goes back to the seven days of creation.
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Also goes back in Deuteronomy Chapter 7 to the seven nations
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that were cast out of the promised land.
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How convenient that it's Deuteronomy 77 to know its seven
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nations you. Can remember that well.
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And beside these Old Testament backgrounds, we also have in the
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Western Hemisphere a very strong ancient tradition of the people
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coming to the new land in seven ships.
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Oh, that's the ancient text of Popovu.
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The Popovu. I when I read it the first time,
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I was very careful looking at the footnotes and there's a, a
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wonderful Catholic Bishop or minister, a priest who is
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translating it and he writes in the footnote.
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These people think they are descendants of the Hebrew
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nations, and so he is recognizing as they came from
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the ancient world here, that they're claiming origins from
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the Bible. The number seven, of course, is
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a representative of a sense of completeness.
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That's the end of the chiasmus anyway.
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And now we get the in verse 14, a name that is mentioned a
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little bit earlier, but I want to talk about the Amalekites.
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So it says the Amalekites were not converted.
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Now back a few chapters we read about the analyst sites and I
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was so grateful that you had written up a know why on this.
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And I also went back and looked at the original manuscript text
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of the translation of the Book of Mormon where we see Oliver
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Cowdrey's handwriting that now is
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unavailablejosephsmithpapers.org. You can see it all there, and he
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spells it Amla site with AK, which is even more evidence, I
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think that these are the same group of people.
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And these are those who have fallen away from the Nephite
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tradition. They've joined the Lamanites.
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They do not believe in the traditions that were brought
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back by Nephite, and they are now fighting against the
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Nephites as apostates. Yeah.
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Or dissenters. Dissenters they.
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Haven't converted, but they also, however, give a name to
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the people who do enter into the covenant.
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And that's I think traditional. When you enter into a covenant,
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you take a new name. It's like King Benjamin.
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And when we're baptized, we take a new name, the name of Christ.
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But Jack, their name is so strange.
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It's in verse 17. It came to pass that they called
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their names anti Nephi Lehis. This is an interesting name.
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If I were in the 19th century I would think this meant I'm
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against Nephi and Lehigh Anti. In English by this time is is
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not meaning what it did in the ancient world.
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We do also have a know why. It's know why #131 that people
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can find readily and explains what's going on here, what may
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be going on. There's several possibilities
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for this initial element in the name Aunt Ant and what that
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might mean in Egyptian. One possibility is that Auntie
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means the one who. So it's talking about the ones
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who are of Nephi and Lehi. They are descendants of Lehi,
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but they have now adopted the ways of the Nephites.
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Well, I found this in in Nibley's writings, Auntie means
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a combination face to face. It comes from a NTE.
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It is the joining together with someone.
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Here the descendants of Lehi are joining together.
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So the name set them apart from the Lamanites, but it allowed
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them to be joined with the Nephites in a way they hadn't
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before. And I think both of these
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explanations result in the same thing that now they which the
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verse then concludes with they were no more called Lamanites.
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So they are not tracing their heritage back to Lehigh by going
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through Lehman. They're no longer Lamanites.
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They're now going through Nephi. And Lehi.
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Interestingly, verse 18 says that these people then with
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their new covenant and their new community become a very
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industrious people working together to help each other.
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And they then also were friendly, it says with the
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Nephites. Now, the word to be friendly
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means more than just, you know, liking each other.
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In the ancient world, to be a friend meant that you were an
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ally. And so there's more political
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language in this nice, but in their name when they are now of
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Nephi. They are allies.
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They are allies and they will now claim their heritage of Lehi
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through Nephi. And yet they're still living
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down with the Lamanites. And yet they're still claiming
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this. But that's why it says that they
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were no more called Lamanites. So they've taken on the Nephite
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name and at that point they open a correspondence with the
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Nephites, which means they are now opening trade.
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More than trade, they now have political recognition.
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Trade can't occur until you can go into another land, and you
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can't do that without political approval.
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Well verse 18 ends also by saying the curse of God did no
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more follow them, which to me means they are allowed to enter
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back into the Lord's presence. The curse was removing them from
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the Spirit and as Nephi described, and now they are
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allowed to feel the Spirit of God in their lives and they're
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able to have that extra blessing of having goodness and guidance
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by the gift of the Holy Ghost. I think that's beautifully said
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and you can understand why Alma would have wanted to include
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that. The curse was removed because
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they were faithful to that. And Alma wants to certify to all
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the people back in the land of Zarahemla that these people are
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acceptable. And remember that these will be
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then brought up to the land of Jershon.
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They will be given a land and that's coming up soon, but they
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are then worthy to become full-fledged members of that
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land of Zarahemla Kingdom. But before chapter 27 comes
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chapter 24 where King Lemona's father dies and his oldest son.
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I assume he gets a new name and he is Lemona's brother and they
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have so carefully crafted this. I don't know if the king
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actually wrote it in a beautiful chiastic parallel structure or
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if Alma recorded it this way, but chapter 24 is beautiful.
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The King's Speech is all poetic, with ideas repeated, and the
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messages of the repeats are so important.
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And one of the main messages is that in the past they had
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stained their swords with the blood of their victims and now
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they they are covenanting that they will not do that any
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longer. That's verse 12.
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And we have a know why also on that one that people may want to
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look at is know why 132 and asking the question, well, how
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could you stain a sword unless it might have been made of wood
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or something else that would because if it's just simply made
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of Flint or something like that, you can wash that off easily.
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But the staining of the swords for them had a permanent effect.
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But as the king gives this charge and he begins with
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saying, let's not stain our swords, he includes this
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beautiful message. I'll read verse 14 because God
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loveth our souls well as He loveth our children, therefore
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His mercy does visit us. And from that point, He's not
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just talking about we needed forgiveness, we need God's love.
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Now at that center point it turns to their posterity.
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It goes all the way down in verse 15 to the testimony of our
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God at the last day that we will be judged.
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And that's right where He started.
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We don't want to receive a judgment of God.
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And He ends in verse 16 by saying again at the last day our
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brethren may destroy us, but behold, we shall go to our God
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and we shall be saved. And I'm really grateful that he
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includes that because unfortunately, many of these
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people have entered this covenant, are destroyed.
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Yeah, and they will be granted the privilege of not having to
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fight when they are given the land of Jershon and the people
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attack them. They don't go out and fight
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because of the Covenant, but it is interesting that they do give
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support to the troops that are out there in the front.
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It says they're going to pay them in or give them supplies or
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something. Pay me by kind in order to
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support them. And this actually comes from
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Deuteronomy chapter 20. Oh, does it?
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Where there are certain people, even under the Law of Moses, who
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have a privilege of not having to go to war, For example, if
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you've just been married, you have an exemption where you can
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stay home to start your family. But those who do have exemptions
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still have to support the troops in the front.
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So financially or? Financially or with supplies or
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food or clothes, whatever they need.
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Interesting. And that's exactly what happens
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here in the the land of Jershon. Jack, you are so good about
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finding the Law of Moses in the Book of Mormon.
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Again, another witness, another testament that this is an
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ancient text. And I think as we all read these
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carefully to see the position and the number of times certain
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things appear, you you mentioned that at the center of this
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King's proclamation, he talks and emphasizes the point about
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the blood and staining. And that's the issue that they
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are trying to now overcome through their covenant and their
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righteousness. And the word for stain and the
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word for swords each appears seven times in that text of the
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kings. Now why is he doing that?
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Is it? You know, you think we got the
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point the first time. He's giving it in the storyline
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and then numerically as a second witness.
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And what does the number 7 mean? Complete whole.
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And so he's saying that this covenant is a complete cure for
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the problem and that the covenant will be kept completely
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by the people. And we will see in a couple
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chapters they will be attacked and they will not violate their
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own covenant. So this was a very solemn
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promise that they have made. And this number seven is, of
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course, of interest to Alma, who was the high priest and is
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eventually preparing these records.
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Because seven is used so often in the temple.
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So as the high priest, he's doing the temple service, and
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you sprinkle the blood seven times on the veil, and you put
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your hands on the altar and you all these things are done in
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sevens. And this statement by the King
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also then goes on to talk about the great God who has mercy upon
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us. Jack, I thought it was so
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interesting that this is the king who calls it the Great
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Spirit. Do you remember when Aaron comes
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to teach him the gospel and he says, do you believe in God?
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He said, do you mean the Great Spirit?
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He and Lamona use that same word.
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So he's using great again now from the Spirit to now the name
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that they were taught by their missionaries, the Great God.
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So he's saying his mercy will extend to even the worst and the
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the most difficult problem and the the most serious of
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transgressions. And it's not just for the King,
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It's for every descendant of Adam and Eve.
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This message of burying our swords applies to all of us who
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have sins. Any of our past transgressions
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can be buried. And how can we bury things,
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Lynn, do you think people could talk about in their discussions
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with others in classes or? Families.
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I know as a Bishop, I would often encourage people if they
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wanted to really repent and be sure that they had taken care of
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and not repeat when falling back into old ways.
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But they needed to clean house and if they had pictures or if
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they had books or if they had anything that was tempting to
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them, they should bury those and throw them away.
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If don't keep these old things, get rid of them.
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Put on now, since everything's on our phones if it's dealing
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with pornography or on our computers.
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Yeah, of course we do have the ability to block certain
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messages and to trash certain sources, and we should clean
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house on our phone if that's the problem.
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I also love in verse 19 where it says this is now the editor
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speaking and thus we see that they buried their weapons of
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peace, which I just thought was a powerful realization.
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This is not necessarily a weapon for war, he says.
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They buried their weapons of war for peace, that they were now
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peacemakers. They were not going to have
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contentions. They would rather lay down their
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lives than have contention. Blessed are the peacemakers.
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President Nelson agrees as wholeheartedly as he asked us to
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do the same. But they had to then actually
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put their lives on the line. The end of Chapter 24, we
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learned that people were attacked, they were killed.
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Who is there? Who is?
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Fighting against these people. The Order of Nihor is still
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around. Back from Alma chapter one,
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we've got this horrific group of the Amalekites and the
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Amulanites. They are the Nephite dissenters
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who have now infiltrated and stirred up the anger against the
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Nephite. And just as those very same
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people had put Alma and Amulek in prison and had killed the
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women and burned the books in Ammaniha, they have gone over
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into neighboring Lamanite lands. And they must have been awfully
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discouraged when, wait a minute, we thought we got rid of Alma
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over there. And here Ammon and his brothers
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are doing the same thing. So they react immediately and
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violently. The editor makes a beautiful
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summary of that statement too, in chapter 24 verse 30.
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And thus we can plainly discern that after people have been once
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enlightened by the Spirit of God and have a great knowledge of
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the things pertaining to the righteousness, and then have
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fallen away into sin and transgression, they become more
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hardened, and thus their state becomes worse than had they
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never known these things. Tragic.
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Just tragic. That's certainly a very accurate
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description of things that happen and will happen.
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And we see now Chapter 25 now begins discussing more about
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these horrific wars. However, the Lord uses difficult
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things to still bless people. And we have wonderful
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conversions. And we see more and more
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conversions coming out of the wars with these Lamanites over
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the next three chapters, which is just fascinating to me to see
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how terrible things can bring some people more anger and other
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people to their knees. It's interesting to see how
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carefully edited this text is. Here we are in chapter 25 and we
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have a reference back to Alma chapter 16.
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Do you remember when Alma the Younger was preaching to the
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wicked, wicked, wicked Amaniah and he prophesied that they're
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going to be destroyed? And here we are in verse two
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that the armies of the Lamanites are all mad and they took up
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their armies and went over to the borders of the land of Sarah
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Hemla and they fell upon the people who were in the land of
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Amaniah and destroyed them. And after that they were in more
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more battles and you know, on and on and on.
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But they're gone. They've prophecy was fulfilled
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chapter 16 to chapter 25. And this ends in an enormous
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praising the Lord by Ammon. And it's one of my favorite
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chapters on praise. And I'm so glad he can praise
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the Lord in spite of the fact that they have just seen the
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death of 1005 of their converts, because they see it eat from an
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eternal perspective. They can find joy in their hope.
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And this meeting is Alma Chapter 26.
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The whole chapter is Ammon with his rejoicing, and he rejoices
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over the fulfillment of promises and looks back what they were
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promised when they came as missionaries 14 years before.
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And look what has come of that. This is a great homecoming
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speech, usually. It is.
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It's a it's a missionary report, isn't it?
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Ammon also in this will echo some words we've talked about
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King Benjamin and Ammon will talk about I was in the darkest
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abyss or they were in, they were snatched.
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They saw the marvelous light. He talks about singing the
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redeeming love. These are all phrases from King
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Benjamin's speech. Maybe they did have it
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memorized. Jack, this is amazing.
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Well, I think they might have. It certainly has become a
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covenant speech that was written down and everyone remembered,
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and certainly those grandchildren knew that speech
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and used it. It's become a part of their
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vocabulary. I also noticed that he quotes
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other scripture in addition to King Benjamin's sermon.
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He does, and if you go to know why #133 you will.
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You'll learn why and which Old Testament passages Ammon will
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use here. He knows his scriptures.
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In that know why, you'll see a chart that lists several places
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where wording appears. There are 8 phrases that come
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from the Psalms. Different Psalms.
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There are six different psalms that he uses, but phrases like
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laugh to scorn or boasting in my God or the Lord God is mindful
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of. Now to us these phrases seem
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ordinary enough, but these are important passages, especially
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in psalms that would have been sung at a great celebration
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time. The Hallel Psalms are a part of
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this. And here we are in the 7th year
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when they are returning at the sabbatical time and I don't know
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what songs they are singing as they March along coming home,
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but they may have been singing these very songs.
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Well, the boasting in my God is how he Do you remember Ammon's
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little brother? Aaron says.
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I think you're getting a little extreme here.
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Are you turning into proudful? It sounds like he's quoting the
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Psalms. I'm boasting in my God, which is
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beautiful. And I love Psalm one O 6, verse
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47, where it talks about giving thanks to his holy name.
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And Ammon uses those exact phrases, giving thanks, being
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grateful. You have all these hardships
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that you've gone through, but here Ammon is grateful.
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I also appreciate that he quotes a lot of Isaiah everlasting
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salvation, Isaiah 45. This is in verse 15.
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Isaiah's so good about mentioning the salvation of our
26:04
Lord and this beautiful reference.
26:07
There is only one of many. The whole idea of being an
26:10
instrument is Isaiah instrument in the work of God.
26:14
That's Isaiah 5416 starting right in verse three.
26:17
I appreciate that. He says in verse 16, who can
26:21
glory too much in my God? And this is where he talks about
26:25
his joy being full. Ammon goes on to talk about the
26:27
natural man. And the natural man, of course,
26:30
is the central concept in King Benjamin's speech, that we must
26:34
put off the natural man. And here he is saying, Behold,
26:39
my brother, what natural man is there that can know these
26:42
things? That's verse 21.
26:44
He that repents and exercises faith, and brings forth good
26:47
works, and prayeth continually without ceasing.
26:50
And as he talks about God's mercy, that comes for that.
26:53
He calls it his great mercy. The sweet message of repentance
26:57
is a joyful, wonderful thing. It's not the difficult challenge
27:02
of getting on our knees. It's no, you want to feel God's
27:04
mercy. You've got to do this.
27:06
It's a happy time. And you're right about joy
27:10
coming then at the very end, the end of Chapter 26.
27:14
If this is boasting, Even so, I will boast.
27:18
He's answering his brother. In verse 36.
27:20
For this is my life and my light, my joy, my salvation, my
27:24
redemption from everlasting woe. And then in verse 37, God is
27:29
mindful of every people. 10 years before in Zarahemla they
27:34
had been thinking of these people, their arch enemies, but
27:36
the soft hearted sons of Mosiah saw the potential and felt the
27:40
whisperings of the spirit to go serve and wow, wow did they have
27:45
a successful mission. And receive that mercy.
27:47
This is my joy and my great Thanksgiving.
27:50
Yeah, I will give thanks unto my God forever.
27:54
Amen. So I read somewhere that in the
27:56
book of Alma, every time you see an Amen, there's a chiasmus
27:59
before. And so I have been looking for
28:02
those. And sometimes it takes hours and
28:04
hours, but this whole beautiful sermon is poetically organized
28:08
into parallel patterns that really to me testifies of the
28:13
not only antiquity of the book, but how much care was taken in
28:17
it. And so, as Jack mentioned
28:19
earlier, read it slowly and treasure every word.
28:29
So now, having expressed this great gratitude and joy down
28:34
there in the land of Nephi with his four brothers and all of
28:37
these converts, that's Alma chapter 26.
28:41
Now in chapter 27, the Lord tells Ammon to lead the people
28:47
out of the land of Nephi, to take these covenant people,
28:52
knowing that they will be persecuted and they will have
28:56
problems, bring them to the land of Zarahemla.
28:59
Yeah, I appreciate in verse two that the Amalekites were angry
29:03
and they were having revenge and they were stirring up the
29:05
people. And so they go to pray about it
29:08
and the lame. And I say there's no way we're
29:10
going to go up there. They're going to kill us too.
29:12
And he says, if God tells us, will you do it?
29:15
And that is such a powerful message.
29:18
Just go to the Lord. If the Lord directs you, you
29:21
will be enabled to do it His way.
29:23
Isn't this a great example of the principle of gathering?
29:26
Yes. Yes, they could have been left
29:29
in that land. They might have struggled.
29:31
We don't know how that would have turned out.
29:33
But the Lord knows best. And he says, for these people
29:37
gather, gather and go down to the land of Zarahemla.
29:42
And so then they say, Ammon answers in verse seven, I will
29:46
go and inquire of the Lord. And if he tells us, we'll go.
29:51
So he's not just going to go on the advice of the king, but he
29:55
wants to be sure. And he says, I will go and ask,
29:58
kind of sounds like Nephi, I will go and do so the going, I'm
30:03
not just going to ask right here.
30:05
I'm going to go and make a serious request of this and
30:09
whatever it takes, I will get the Lord's approval for what we
30:12
should do. Now, Jack, you said going down
30:15
to the land of Zarah hamlet, but it's north.
30:17
It's north, of course, but it's lower in elevation.
30:20
OK, so the land of Nephi is up in the Highlands and then we go
30:26
geographically N but elevation wise lower.
30:31
And what does the Lord say verse 12 get this people out of this
30:35
land that they perish not. And that again, is a beautiful
30:38
chiastic structure. Every time I see a statement by
30:41
the Lord, it's in parallels. Yeah, and you even have the word
30:43
gathering. And they gathered together all
30:45
their people and all the people of the Lord, and did gather
30:48
together all their flocks. And then they go to Zara Hemla.
30:51
So that he says I will preserve them.
30:54
And I don't think that's just for this life.
30:57
I believe there are ordinances that will allow us to be
30:59
preserved in the next life. And as they're going, who do
31:02
they run into? Ohh this is the most amazing
31:05
thing they actually run into Alma.
31:07
But they're on the road somewhere, and perhaps at a
31:10
crossroad or something. They.
31:12
Unbelievable the way God puts people in our lives.
31:15
And we can tell stories about that, and I hope people will
31:18
have a lot of their own stories. About the Lord putting people in
31:21
our lives at the right time. He goes on in verses 1718 and
31:25
19, and you can count the number of times that Alma has now
31:33
described that joyful meeting. Let me guess, Jack. 7 * 7 times
31:40
Joy Wow, the joy of Ammon was so great he was swallowed up in
31:44
joy. It was exceeding joy.
31:47
This joy was more than anyone can receive except you.
31:51
Be truly patient and a seeker of happiness now.
31:54
The joy of Alma was truly great, and the joy of Aaron and Omnar
31:59
and Hymni, all of them. And behold, their joy.
32:01
Was not that to exceed their strength?
32:05
Yeah, that's because what a great description.
32:08
Of the rejoicing they must have experienced, this particular
32:12
expression of this joy has not yet been set to music.
32:17
We will see in Alma 29 Oh that I were an Angel.
32:21
And in that text, Alma will use the word joy again seven times.
32:27
But the first couple verses of that have been set to music.
32:32
These words are lyrical. And the the text of the Book of
32:37
Mormon, it's in a lot of ways, you know, it's like a great,
32:41
masterful musical composition. It's like a Bach fugue.
32:45
Oh, Theme A is running in. That's how I see the parallels
32:48
is it's like a piece of music. The composition that goes with
32:52
it helps people as they are memorizing these texts because
32:57
realize that most people in the ancient world didn't have a
32:59
book, but these words will become standard words of their
33:04
culture. The next little parallels is
33:06
when they get the land of Jershon.
33:07
Well, let's go to that. That's verse 22.
33:10
So they ask the people of Nephi, will you allow these converts to
33:14
come and live with us? And in verse 22 they answer,
33:18
behold, we will give up our land of Jershon.
33:22
And that is then at the very end of verse 22, they gave up this
33:27
land for their inheritance. And the second thought is the
33:30
land. And then it interestingly, it
33:32
describes it on the East Sea, which joins the land Bountiful,
33:35
which is on the South of the land.
33:37
So we get these tiny little geographical details
33:40
periodically. We don't know exactly where
33:42
anything is, but it's helpful to make a look at maps that have
33:46
places in the Book of Mormon. So to help you keep things
33:48
straight, to help you understand how the story is going, it just
33:52
helps to look. So we've got a little map here
33:54
that the church is has on their website as well.
33:57
But we do know the relative position of these cities, and we
34:02
know now that this land of Chershon is in the east, maybe
34:08
the northeast, and it's east of the North Sidon.
34:11
That's right. It's east, and that river is
34:13
flowing and it's on the east of that.
34:16
We also know that the Lamanites had moved up into the
34:20
northwestern area, so they are to the West of Zarahemla, and
34:25
who is to the South? The Lamanites are to the South,
34:31
and so by settling these Ammonites to the east, of course
34:38
this isn't for military purposes, but that turns out to
34:41
be a contested land because the Lamanites want that.
34:45
By the way, the word chershan is an interesting one because
34:49
literally in Hebrew it means a place of inheritance.
34:53
Yersh on means inheritance place and they give them the land as a
34:59
place for their inheritance. Jack, the book is so.
35:03
That's a good one. The the evidences of its reality
35:07
as a ancient Hebrew text are on almost every page.
35:11
And from a legal perspective, when you have a land of
35:15
inheritance, it means that your children and your descendants
35:20
will have legal right to that land.
35:23
And so it's not just that we're putting you there as tenants.
35:26
We're not just putting you there for some immediate short term
35:29
purpose. Posterity long term, but I want
35:32
to go to verse 25. I'm still in chapter 27.
35:36
Alma also related unto them his conversion.
35:39
So Alma goes to the land of Jershon, the land of the
35:43
inheritance, and joins Ammon and, and in this great wonderful
35:49
celebration of bringing these people to a safe place.
35:53
And Alma is able to rejoice in their conversion.
35:56
This is important to me because he's had such a hard time with
35:59
his success as a missionary and amongst his people.
36:03
So now he goes and joins in their success, for a period of
36:06
time at least. And as new converts, they
36:09
manifest some of the wonderful virtues that we see when people
36:14
join the church and they're excited.
36:16
Look at verse 27. Well, first, what happens?
36:19
They are numbered among the people, and this is a numbering
36:22
of the covenants. So their names are now recorded
36:25
in the records of the land of Zarahemla and the church there,
36:29
and they were also distinguished, it says, for
36:31
their zeal toward God. Now, Jack, look at that verse
36:34
27, and then look at the last verse 30.
36:38
For thus they were zealous and a beloved people.
36:40
This is all one chiasmus, verse 27 to verse 30, and the center
36:45
of it is in verse 28. They did look upon the shedding
36:49
of blood of their brethren with the greatest abhorrence, and
36:52
they never could be prevailed upon to take up arms against
36:56
their brethren. They had this great hope in
36:58
Christ. Death was swallowed up to them
37:01
in victory. That's quoting Isaiah again.
37:03
You're right. This is coming from a passage in
37:05
Isaiah where it talks about having death being swallowed up
37:10
in victory. Babin and I had also used that,
37:13
but he talks about it being swallowed up in Christ, the
37:17
victor. And Ammon uses it, but he uses
37:21
it in saying you will be swallowed up in the hopes of
37:25
victory. And all of those different
37:27
meanings are actually embedded in the Hebrew word netzak, which
37:33
means not just victor, but victory and the joy of victory.
37:38
Here we have Ammon using Christ as well, so even though Isaiah
37:43
doesn't, we've got it. And that's of course the way
37:46
Abinadai had used it. And notice back in verse 27,
37:51
their zeal is defined. And how are they zealous?
37:55
They were perfectly honest and upright in all things.
37:59
I think that that is very important.
38:01
And it goes on to say they were firm in the faith of Christ even
38:06
unto the end. What does the word end there
38:09
mean? Even unto whatever the
38:14
completion of the task, they did it all.
38:17
Every jot and title of the law. You might say they were strict
38:20
in observing. Their zeal was with knowledge
38:26
and with with diligence. So we can be zealous.
38:29
And that then ends our accounts on these wonderful missionaries
38:35
with the to the Lamanites, with the sons of Mosiah.
38:38
And Chapter 28 is sort of an editorial summary and we have
38:42
evidence of multiple authorship here.
38:44
It ends the 15th year of the reign of judges.
38:47
So the mission took 14 years. They're now all established.
38:51
And then we have another war, and it says it's the worst
38:57
battle. This is verse two of chapter 28.
39:00
There was a tremendous battle. Yeah, even such as one as had
39:03
never had been known among all the people in the lands.
39:06
The time of Lehigh left Jerusalem, tremendous slaughter.
39:10
They talk about thousands, which is the largest number in Hebrew.
39:13
So it's always thousands of thousands.
39:16
Great morning. It sounds like there was more
39:18
killed on the Lamanite side, but verse six says that they began
39:24
fasting and praying. And as the 15th year ends, we
39:30
also end the account of Ammon. And where do you think that
39:33
battle took place? The armies of the Nephites were
39:36
set round about the land of Jershon.
39:39
That's verse. One verse one.
39:40
So this is a a full-fledged effort to try to take control of
39:45
that area NE on the seashore. It must be very strategic land.
39:52
And the Nephites, of course, have political reasons for
39:56
fighting, but they also want to keep the promises that have been
40:00
made to to be sure that these righteous converts.
40:04
Are protected and he ends this beautiful summary of this
40:09
editorial message of either Mormon or Alma.
40:13
And thus we see the great call of diligence of men to labor in
40:18
the vineyard of the Lord. And thus we see the great reason
40:21
of sorrow, and also rejoicing, sorrow because of death and
40:24
destruction among them, and joy because of the light of Christ
40:28
unto life. And our challenge as we live in
40:31
a time of death and destruction and sin and wickedness is to
40:36
focus so that we can feel the joy that comes from Christ.
40:44
So let's move on to oh, that I were an Angel.
40:47
And as I looked for parallels here, the very beginning, oh,
40:52
that I were an Angel was this beautiful chiasmus.
40:54
And I was so excited about finding it.
40:55
And then I asked Jack and he said, Oh yes, I found this years
40:58
ago. So I hope as you can't looking,
41:01
you can find beautiful structures too.
41:03
But the most amazing thing for me is, as Alma begins in this,
41:07
oh, that I were an Angel and could have the wish of my heart.
41:10
As we all know from music as well as the text itself, it
41:15
becomes his introduction, and each of these points are then
41:19
addressed in other poetic parallels throughout the rest of
41:23
this chapter. That's right, Lynn, this whole
41:26
chapter is a masterful composition.
41:29
I don't know what kind of a text it was.
41:34
Is it a soliloquy where after all of those deaths in the
41:38
battle and everything, Alma is sitting down and just reflecting
41:45
and writing his own feelings? Or Or was it something that he
41:51
wanted to share, especially with these four sons of Mosiah who
41:55
had experienced with him the visitation of that Angel?
42:00
Well, that's why it's so significant, isn't it?
42:02
Oh, that I were an Angel? Because he knows his Angel had
42:05
called them to repentance. And so now he's saying, I wish I
42:07
had that same ability to call the wicked.
42:10
Ammon has used some of the language that Alma had used in
42:13
describing that very event. So we know that Ammon remembers
42:17
when Alma described what had happened to him.
42:20
So this is a a very important event for both Alma and the four
42:25
sons of Mosiah. So I'm wondering, is he planning
42:29
to kind of communicate with them?
42:30
Welcome home. And now he's reflecting.
42:35
I wish I were an Angel. That's our next assignment.
42:39
We need to be able to do the kinds of things that that Angel
42:42
did. Well, I puzzled further because
42:46
that next line when it says that I might go forth and speak with
42:50
the trump of God, he never mentioned a trumpet when the
42:54
Angel appeared to him. But the trump in Hebrew, the
42:59
word for trump is Yobel, and we get the word jubal or jubilee
43:03
out of that. And so these trumpets, the
43:06
blowing of the trumpets are especially important on the 50th
43:10
year, the jubilee. Of course, every seven years you
43:13
have a sabbatical and the trumpets are blown.
43:15
But on the 50th year, it's a whole year of peace and
43:19
rejoicing. At the beginning of Chapter 30,
43:22
we will learn that the 16th and 17th years were years of
43:28
exceeding great peace. And even though there had been
43:33
this war for two years, you have first of all the 49th year from
43:39
the time of King Benjamin's speech, and the 50th year, the
43:44
49th year, is the 7th, 7:00, so that is the 7th sabbatical.
43:51
And then the 50th year is the year of Jubilee.
43:55
And we get this by adding up the 7th.
43:58
Well, right now we're in the 16th year of the judges, plus
44:01
the age that we told that the king lived 33 years, and that's
44:05
how we're getting 49 for this year.
44:08
And then next year in Chapter 30 is the 50th year.
44:13
It's a celebration of some kind and the trumpets are blown.
44:16
Now Alma 29, I divide into nine different points and I think
44:22
each one of them is profound and spiritually beautifully
44:26
motivating. The first one, as you say, is
44:29
the oh that I were an Angel and wishing that I could be more
44:32
than I am. But it ends with Alma
44:34
recognizing, but it's not my job.
44:37
And at the beginning of verse three he says, but behold, I am
44:41
a man and I sin in my wish. Now why is that a sin?
44:45
He says, Because I ought to be content with the things which
44:49
the Lord hath allotted unto me, I go to this verse all the time
44:53
when I say, Oh, I wish I could do this.
44:54
I wish I had this job. I wish I had this, I wish I had
44:57
that. And I just go back and say, God
45:00
knows what's best. My responsibility is to align my
45:04
will with God's will. And when you think of Alma's
45:08
situation, why might he have been a little bit envious of the
45:14
success of the four sons of Mosiah?
45:17
Well, they had success and he didn't.
45:19
I think it's pretty clear. Pretty clear, but he goes on in
45:22
his second part of this wonderful soliloquy and tells us
45:27
that we must realize the real nature of our personal
45:31
situation. That's step one.
45:35
I ought to be, he says, content with the things of the Lord and
45:39
what he has allotted unto me. I have my assignment and it's
45:43
what the Lord wants me to do. And I, I should not hurrow up,
45:46
he says. A firm decree of the Lord.
45:50
In other words, we've been called, and this is the Lord's
45:53
firm desire for us. And don't hurrow up in my
45:58
desires and try to. What does that mean?
46:01
Worrying about or wondering about?
46:03
What does God really want me to do?
46:05
Do what you've been told to do so far.
46:08
Don't hurrow that up. And why?
46:11
Because He says, I know that He grants unto men according to
46:16
their desire, whether it be unto death or life.
46:19
I know that that's true, that he allotteth unto men, and decreeth
46:24
unto them things that are unalterable, whether they be
46:28
unto salvation and unto destruction.
46:30
But what he's saying is, those kind of things that God will
46:34
then grant us our allotment, will be discovered in the next
46:38
life, and we will then be judged.
46:41
And will it be unto salvation or unto destruction that will be
46:46
our allotment, that we will then learn, but we don't know it
46:49
quite yet. And when Alma wrote this out
46:51
because of the ease of cutting and pasting on a computer,
46:55
they're all in beautiful parallels.
46:57
We've now shifted. Instead of just talking about
46:59
what I know about myself, Alma now shifts to I know what all
47:05
people have been given. And what is it they've all been
47:09
given? The universal reality of agency.
47:12
To know good from evil. And those that know not good
47:16
from evil is blameless, but he that knoweth good from evil, to
47:20
him it is given according to his desires, whether he desireth
47:23
good or evil, life or death, joy or remorse of conscience.
47:27
So now he's saying, indeed, just like I am, all of us have this
47:33
agency. And Lehigh, of course, had told
47:35
us that man is that he might have joy by choosing good or
47:41
evil, and there must needs be an opposition in all things.
47:45
And he's hoping that Layman and Lemuel, of course, will choose.
47:47
But this proposition about choice is going way back into
47:53
the very foundations of Nephite religion.
47:56
It all depends on our agency. We can choose good or evil, and
48:00
we can just rejoice that we have a just God.
48:03
Next, Alma says that he is willing to admit the error of
48:08
even these questions. He begins by saying, Seeing that
48:11
I know these things, why should I desire more than to perform
48:15
the work which I've been called to do?
48:17
Why should I desire that I were an Angel?
48:20
Recognizing that the Lord grants unto all nations in their own
48:24
tongue, and teaches the Word to all, that they might all have
48:29
counsel and wisdom and do according to that which is just
48:33
and true. So now he wants to be sure that
48:35
everyone realizes the divine reality of the Lord's justice
48:40
and truth, and he gives Full disclosure and full information
48:44
to everyone. And that's of course through the
48:46
proclaiming of his gospel of Jesus Christ throughout all the
48:50
world. And that changes the whole
48:52
question about justice and mercy and God's behavior.
48:57
If everyone knows enough or will eventually know enough to make
49:01
this choice, none of God's children will be then left
49:07
without the ability to succeed in every way that they have been
49:13
brought to this earth to do. And one of those things, of
49:20
course, is to accept God's commands.
49:24
And so Alma then dwells on that for the next point in verses 9
49:30
and 10. That I know that the Lord hath
49:33
commanded me, and I glory in it. I don't glory in myself, but I
49:37
glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me.
49:39
And this is my glory, that I might be an instrument in
49:42
bringing some to God and bringing them to repentance.
49:45
And this is my joy. And behold, I see my brethren
49:48
truly penitent, coming to the Lord their God.
49:50
And then is my soul filled with joy.
49:53
Well, guess how many times Alma uses the word joy here?
49:56
I think you gave me a sneak preview earlier.
49:58
Is it 7? It's 7.
49:59
And that's in verses 13 through 17.
50:04
And there are five there, and there are two more at the very
50:08
end. And Alma Van says, Then do I
50:11
remember what the Lord has done for me?
50:13
He's heard my prayer. Then do I remember his merciful
50:16
arm? I remember the captivity of my
50:18
Father's. He remembers the goodness of how
50:22
they were delivered out of bondage.
50:24
These are words, of course, that Alma will use in Alma Chapter
50:26
36, describing his own conversion.
50:29
And he's already used them back in the first record of his
50:33
conversion where he says the Angel came to him and said,
50:36
remember the captivity of your father's.
50:38
That's one of the key messages that he does remember before he
50:42
passes out. Exactly.
50:43
And so in verse 12 here in Alma 29, yeah, I have always
50:48
remembered the captivity of my father's.
50:51
And that same God who delivered them out of the hands of the
50:54
Egyptians did deliver them out of bondage.
50:56
Yeah. And that same God did establish
50:59
his church among them. In the final segments of Alma
51:02
29, Alma returns to now appreciate the fullness of joy
51:07
and how that comes by recognizing the success of
51:11
others. And he says, My joy is full, but
51:14
my joy is more full because of the success of my brothers,
51:19
those who have been in the land of Nephi and have brought forth
51:21
much fruit. Now when I think of the success
51:24
of these my brothers, my soul is carried away even unto the
51:28
separation of it from the body as it were, so great is my joy.
51:34
And he concludes them with a prayer asking for the eternal
51:39
welfare of all the righteous. Any praise.
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And thou May God grant unto these my brethren, that they may
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sit down in the Kingdom of God. Yeah, and also all those who are
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the fruit of their laborers, that they may go out no more,
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but that they may praise him forever.
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And May God grant that it may be done according to my words, even
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as I have spoken. Amen.
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And as we look back on Alma chapter 29, I want to testify
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that these words are translated miraculously.
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They were written and composed with great diligence and worked
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out by someone like a High priest, Alma, who knows his
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texts and knows that during the Jubilee he will then be offering
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blessings upon all of his people.
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Maybe This is why he takes such time to to express this in the
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words and phrases. Each time these words are used
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are significant. Some of the words in this
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soliloquy appear 3 * 3 times. Repentance, three times earth,
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three times out of bondage, and three can sometimes represent
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the physical world. But then he goes on to four
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times and there are actually 7 words that appear four times in
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this text. Good and evil, the liver.
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Remember glory, brethren, God granting and success 7 * 4 for
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the four sons, and a complete celebration of them coming back.
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And then we have words that appear seven times, echoing the
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seven joys that Ammon himself used.
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And here Alma uses the word joy seven times along with seven
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times knowing and seven times the word for the Lord Jehovah,
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that sacred name, which was only pronounced at the Day of
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Atonement. And now with the day of Jubilee,
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it gets 7 references here. So like we said at the
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beginning, it's it's like an elaborate musical composition.
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But this is the song of the heavens.
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These are the angels. This is the Angel choir singing
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these wonderful words. And I hope someday this will all
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be set to angelic music. Maybe we have to wait to hear
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that. But in the meantime, I know that
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this is not a text that was just dashed off in a matter of a
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couple hours. It is so elaborately and
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delicately and with such inspiration and real experiences
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that now are being brought together by Alma and his four
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friends as they are reunited, having been instruments in the
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hands of God. And what an added testimony this
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can be for all of us, that the Book of Mormon is indeed the
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word of God, the testimony of Jesus Christ, which Alma and his
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brethren so successfully taught to them and to us.
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I'm so grateful for this, thankful for it.
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In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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And with Alma's voice we add ours, that we may praise God
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forever, in the good times and in the bad times, as we look at
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the success of others, and as we look unto our God.
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In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.