Latest / Scripture Central / Mosiah 29–Alma 4 | June 3–9 | John W. Welch And Lynne Hilton Wilson | Come Follow Me Book Of Mormon

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Mosiah 29–Alma 4 | June 3–9 | 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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I'm Lynn Hilton Wilson. And I'm Jack Welch.
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Today we get to finish the book of Mosiah with this wonderful
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proclamation of Mosiah the Second as he steps down from
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being a king to change the monarchy into a judgeship.
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And then we see how that rolls out for the first nine years in
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chapters one through 4 of Alma. And there's some really
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interesting material here, lots of personal lessons, but public
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lessons and religious lessons, church related.
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It's. And identifies who the antis are
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too, and how you can identify those that are.
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Also, what we see here is a transition, a peaceful
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transition in process, which usually doesn't happen in the
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history of the world. Very unusual.
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Yeah. So there are things that made
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that possible and lessons we can learn from it.
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I thought it was interesting that the king sent out a
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proclamation to see who they wanted to be king and it wasn't
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his first born son. Yeah, it's Aaron that they.
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And at least in the list before he's the second, I thought this
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was in why are they even? He's even asking them Who do you
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want to be the king? I thought that was interesting.
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Well. I think he wants to involve them
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because this is the being ruled by the voice of the people.
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Mosiah wants to start this new system with some kind of popular
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support. I don't think he's giving them a
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vote on who should be next, but he's polling the people.
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Yeah, I see it in steps. We talked about how Alma the
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Elder had begun that, saying no, I will not be a king.
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And those seeds were planted in the people as they heard that
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story. And now we have the next step
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and the next step. But the bottom line is all four
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sons are gone on a mission already.
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They've decided to leave and they are not available to serve
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in the political world because they want to go down South and
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preach the gospel to. And I wondered if that may be
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played into the selection of Aaron as the one who is more
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popular. They may have said, we know that
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Ammon is the leader of that missionary effort.
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OK. Can we have Aaron then?
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Maybe. And so, but more than that, I
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think it's also giving the people of of Zara Hemla, the
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Mulekites a chance for them to express if they have a leader,
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someone that they would like. Because they're in the majority,
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it says there's more Mulekites than there are people of Nephi.
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But they all came back with Aaron for whatever reason.
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At least The Who, whoever he's asking, came back with Aaron.
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Yeah, yeah. So that's verses chapter 29,
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verse two. And then we've got this
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beautiful explanation of a proclamation that was sent out,
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and whether that was carved into stone or steel or written on
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papyrus, I don't know, but it is long.
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Verses 5 to 32 is Mosiah the Second's proclamation to say
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it's time to change our government from a kingship to a
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judicial system. Exactly.
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Very interesting. And as I look back at the
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history of the Israelites, do you remember after Moses, they
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had a system of judges. And then unfortunately, over the
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years, they went into the desiring a king.
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And so we have Saul, David and Solomon before the splitting of
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the Kingdom. And here we're doing just the
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opposite. We started with Kings in the New
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World, and now we're going back to the.
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That's very interesting that society does start out with good
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principles, and if you have a good king and the king is
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righteous and people thrive under that, that can be a, that
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can be a good system. Yeah, he says it right here.
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But things tend to degenerate, and I think that's part of the
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human condition that if things can get worse, they probably
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will. And as problems arise and and
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maybe sometimes as certain interest groups become very
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powerful, the old system needs an overhaul.
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Well, I think also they have the perspective also of the Jaredite
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nation, where one king is in captivity for two generations
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and then comes back and overthrows.
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And they've just seen so many bad examples of kings that
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they're saying let's get rid of this.
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Yeah. And I think not only that, but
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of course, they've had the bad experience with King Noah and,
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and Alma has been told that he should not be a king.
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And so there's also in this group divine authorization to do
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something other than kingship. And I think all of those
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patterns, all of those factors help to justify this
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proclamation that Mosiah will be sending out.
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And I noticed verse 11 is in a beautiful poetic parallels,
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letting me know that he's really worked on on this verse.
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What? Have you found there?
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Let us appoint judges to be judges of this people according
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to our law, that we may newly arrange the affairs of this
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people. And then he wants to go back and
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say to him even a little bit differently, for we will appoint
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wise men to be judges he doesn't want.
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He's identified, yes. He's identifying on each one
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that will judge this people according to the commandments of
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God. So we're not just living by
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human choice, we're living by commands of God.
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And later on in the book of Helaman I found chapter 4,
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Helaman says Mosiah's new laws were revealed from God.
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So I think they still have the basis of the law of Moses, but
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the additional laws came by revelation.
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And that's just what he says here in verse 11 of chapter 29
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in Mosiah. And we read again in Helam in
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chapter 4, and he keeps going. This is a very long
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proclamation. He lists the sins of the people.
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Verse 14. If you do it this way, if you do
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it this way, you're going to be punished.
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And as he goes through the atrocities of wicked kings, he
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talks about God coming in and having to deliver the people.
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And he's talking about the people of Alma the Elder and the
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people of Limhai. He goes through their stories
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and he's using this as examples. Yeah, and what are the problems
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that he sees with a certain kind of kingship that they've
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experienced? Look at verse 21.
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You can't dethrone an iniquitous king except through much
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contention. And bloodshed, usually.
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So you you don't have the opportunity of changing
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leadership. And here Mosiah is voluntarily
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stepping down. And as his father Benjamin had
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stepped aside when it was time, Benjamin lives for three more
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years. And so there's a kind of Co
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Regency and I think Mosiah is following that example of his
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father. To an even to a higher degree
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of. That's right, we're changing.
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And in first verse 25 says therefore choose you by the
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voice of the people judges, that you may be judged according to
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the laws which have been given you by our fathers.
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So they're talking about the law of Moses as well, which are
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correct and which are given by the hand of the Lord.
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So there's the new law, as I mentioned before.
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Healman 4/22. And doing this will prevent the
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kind of problems that we find in verse 22 that I think are also
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warnings that any country should watch out for.
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If you have a leader who has his friends in iniquity, you have to
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watch out for people who have their personal or friendly
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interest in mind more than the welfare of the whole people.
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He keeps his guards about him and there's there's not public
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access. You can't get to meet some of
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these people. And that's one of the
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restrictions that they experienced there and.
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He's frustrated. With he tears up the laws of
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those who have reigned in righteousness before him.
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So the the precedential value of laws that have worked before and
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that people have depended upon, He just discards lightly.
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And finally he tramples under his feet the commandments of
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God. So that's a very clear list of
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the indictment that Mosiah felt motivating him to abandon
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kingship. But he wants to change the
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government system. It's not going to be like what
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we refer to as a land of liberty in America, in the United
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States. He's referring to something
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different. Verse 29 of chapter 29.
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If your higher judges do not judge righteous judgments, they
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shall 'cause that a smaller number of your lower judges
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should be gathered together, and that they shall judge your
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higher judges according to the voice of the people.
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Now, Jack, this is very interesting, isn't it?
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You've never been a judge, but you're a lawyer.
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The lower judges can judge the higher judges if they feel like
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they're out of place. I think that's a very insightful
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creation here. They haven't had this reign of
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judges before, but what they know is that they want people to
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have access to the judges. And so there have to be these
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lower judges. But you're going to have at
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least one chief judge and maybe others.
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But then who will regulate the chief judge?
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And the answer is, will you take and select somehow, maybe by the
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voice of the people or maybe randomly from among the lower
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judges. And judicial review then happens
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as the lower judges look at what the chief judge has done and
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they can reverse a decision of the chief judge.
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That's an interesting thing. None of the this system has
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created what we might call a legislative body.
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So it's not a branch of government, but there is a need
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for checks and balances. Between the lower judges and the
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higher judges. And this is a brilliant system
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because it will create uniformity and even the the
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higher judge I assume could also correct lower judges or if they
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get out of line with each other. Or.
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Or are handing down different kinds of rulings.
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The higher judge would also then have some kind of uniformity so,
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but it's all within the judicial process.
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And in the same context of that judicial process is when he
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calls this a lands of liberty because he's saying the kings
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have the responsibility over your sins and your iniquities.
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This is verse 31. Therefore their iniquities are
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answered upon the heads of the kings.
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But then in verse 32, he says halfway down, I desire that this
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land should be a land of liberty, that every man may
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enjoy his rights and privileges alike so long as the Lord sees
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fit that they live in liberty. So especially among this people,
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they are going to have a slightly different definition of
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liberty than what I would define.
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But coming from what they had before, they now have a choice,
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avoiding who's going to be their judges.
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I think that's right and we don't know what is meant by
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enjoying his rights, but probably personal rights, maybe
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contractual rights, property rights, family rights and so on.
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They don't have a Bill of Rights.
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The as as as we have in the United States.
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Many countries don't have a Bill of Rights like that, but there
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are individual and personal rights that are enforceable
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under common law or contract law or something like that.
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And the Law of Moses recognizes those privileges as well.
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So I think what he's incorporating here is
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recognizing that still individual people shouldn't be
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trampled upon. Everyone has their personal
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rights and those rights should be respected.
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And it's just what King Benjamin taught.
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It's what Mosai. I just feel like this has all
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been in preparation for three generations in coming.
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And he finishes his proclamation in verse 32.
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And then we have a little more summary, a little more there
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about what the wicked kings do. And that's that's not very
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helpful. But then he goes back in verse
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38. Every man should have an equal
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chance throughout the land. Yeah.
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Every man expressed a willingness to answer for his
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own sins. He's not necessarily talking
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about every human being in Zarah Hamlet can vote, but every man
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has to take responsibility for his own sins.
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I still don't know. I don't, I just, it doesn't ever
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say women can vote. I don't know.
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I don't know. But he definitely wants to
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emphasize that, just like King Benjamin said, we need to be
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responsible for our own sins. Yeah, that's right.
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And I think that there's a really important point here that
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when you think about it, any right or privilege comes with a
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duty or a responsibility. If the government is giving you
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and the society is giving you certain rights, that gives you
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some kind of power, some kind of opportunity.
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And morally and ethically, you really owe something to the
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people who have given you those powers and opportunities.
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And I think that's what it's talking about when it says every
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man may bear his part. And that means you have to be
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loyal as a citizen. You have to do your duties.
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And one of those duties is a willingness to answer for your
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own sins or crimes or misdeeds. And the person who's giving them
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these rights in this case is God, because we are not yet
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separating church and state at this point.
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That's correct. And so it is God who's been
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giving them. And that's repeated in verse 32
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and 39. Anyway, it's it's all over the
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place in the ending here. These are all gifts from God.
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And This is why they grow to love Mosiah so much.
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And then how this will work in verse 39, we're told that
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somehow the local judges will be elected.
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Casting their voices concerning who should be their judges.
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And they will judge according to the law which is given unto
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them. So they don't have here law
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making or innovative powers, but they will judge individual cases
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and and so on. Jack, I'm so glad you brought
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that out, because sometimes I've heard attacks against the Book
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of Mormon that we're just adopting an American system.
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This is nothing like the American system at this point
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for sure, but they do have more liberty than they had, and
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because of that they grow to love King Mosiah.
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The second verse 40, they did wax strong in their love towards
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Mosiah. Yay, they did esteem him more
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than any other man, you know. They just love this.
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And then skipping down a little bit still in verse 40, He had
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established peace in the land, and He had granted unto His
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people that they should be delivered from all manner of
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bondage. Therefore they did esteem him
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yet exceedingly beyond measure. I just love this.
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So how does Alma then, who is already the high priest?
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He's been appointed the high priest by his father.
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How does he get to be the chief? Well.
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It says he was appointed to that as well, and so perhaps it was
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the voice of the people or perhaps it was an appointment, I
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don't know. It could be appointed by Mosiah
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the king, who has the power. When you're then appointed, he
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would then be given all the royal records.
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He's been given some of those before.
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Yes, he has. But the the sort of Laban, the
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Liahona, maybe those came with the high priesthood.
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We don't know exactly how these things, but they're now all
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consolidated in Alma the Younger as the high priest and as the
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chief judge. And as we'll learn in the book
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of Alma, he's also the head of the military.
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But it does say that his father dies shortly thereafter and does
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Mosiah. This is verse 45.
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The king dies at age 63 and Alma dies at age 82, and they die
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shortly after this change of leadership.
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And I wonder if Mosiah didn't see this coming, that he might
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not have been particularly well. If he dies very shortly
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afterwards. Maybe he's preparing for a
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smooth transition again, as his father Benjamin had done.
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The result is that everyone in verse 38 now enjoys what they
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call equality. They were exceedingly anxious
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that every man should have an equal chance.
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Equality is a very important value, equal dignity.
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Every individual person has an equal right for life and certain
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important values, and especially from our point of view, the
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rights to worship and to progress and to answer the
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dictates of their own conscience with respect to worshipping
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their God. And I think they had those
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rights too, because they're described in the book of Alma in
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the next chapter. Yeah, I think that Mosiah and
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following what Benjamin had taught is trying to eliminate a
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lot of class distinctions as well, the differences between
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those who are proud and the clothing that they wear and.
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That comes with a lot of. Alma And we'll see this in many
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places, but that's one of the big values that they they see
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behind this word equality is that we aren't going to have
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social distinctions or people looking down on other people or
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having to look up. Well, at least it's their goal,
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but it's been their goal for a long time, I think.
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Like since the time of King Benjamin, they've been striving
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to create a Zion society. They've been trying to live the
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law of consecration. We saw it in the people of Alma
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and Lim High, and now we're going to see it again.
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And I think what we're seeing then is Mosiah has learned from
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all of these past precedents and I think he is now trying to
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institutionalized these values. And it will work for several of
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the people, but there will be some who don't buy into this.
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Let's move to the book of Alma. That's.
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Alma chapter one. Alma Chapter One So just a
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little brief overview of this wonderful book.
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We learn about Alma the Younger's text from chapters 1
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to 44, and then his son Helen continues on in the same book.
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We also have some a very short period of time in these 44
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chapters of Alma, and yet it covers about 2224% of the entire
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Book of Mormon. So even though we're only going
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through 18 years of history, it takes a lot of space.
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The editor Mormon loved this stuff.
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I think it applies to our day and age very well.
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The book was written for our day and age and This is why we have
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these chapters here. Well, and of course, Mormon will
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name his own son Moroni after Captain Moroni and, and we'll
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have the war chapters in the second-half of the Book of Alma.
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So we can see that Mormon would have particular interest in all
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of these things, but he also wants to explain to us where
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these wars are coming from. These wars are not just economic
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or territorial kinds of things. He blames them on disobedience
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from God. It is a question of obedience,
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and who defines what obedience consists of.
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So starting in chapter one of Alma, in verse two, we read that
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in the reign of out, the first year of the reign of Alma, there
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was a man brought forth to be judged.
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So it hadn't been very long since we've gone from a king to
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judge when this Nihor guy shows up and he's known for much
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strength, it says. And then in verse 3.
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He had gone about among the people, preaching to them that
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which he termed to be the word of God.
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So I think this is a counterfeit because our satanic counterfeits
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are constantly trying to adjust God's Word to something that
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will take us away from God, but very subtly.
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He's a very strategic person trying to gain an importance and
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power. I want to just ask about the
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word Nahor, do you remember it? Is it Jaredite name?
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It's clear back in in the book of Ether, the land of Nihor, the
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city of Nihor, and we've I I'm wondering if this is an example
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of possibly a Jaredite descendant still being around or
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something. Or perhaps after King Mosiah
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translates the 24 gold plates and people now know of that
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culture, they're very curious and interested in it.
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It may be that they take on some of those names.
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Because it was a recent, he just read them within a a few years.
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Yeah, that's interesting. If he is saying I'm not a part
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of this world of Lehigh, I'm not claiming my understanding, my
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rights, my privileges from the Law of Moses, from the reign of
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kings that have come down through the Nephite world, I am
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now claiming, and maybe it's a political kind of statement, I
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am more like the original people who were here and they of course
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didn't have that law and they had a very different system,
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which we learn about in the Book of Ether.
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Well, his fault system that he's trying to purport here is that
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the priests, this is still in verse 3.
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The priests and teachers ought to be popular, meaning they
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ought to not labor with their hands, but they ought to be
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supported by the people. He wants paid clergy, paid
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administration. And you, you might understand
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why he might say that, because back in the book of Mosiah we
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learned that the scribes and the officers working under the king
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were paid. So certain people who are public
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administrators do get paid. But if you're working in
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religion, Alma had said, has said, that priests shall not be
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paid. But what's Nahor doing?
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He is rejecting that ecclesiastical system and he
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wants all of his people to be popular, meaning we will mix
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church and state and the right to be paid as a state worker now
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should apply to logically people who are ministers of.
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Popular has nothing to do with being well known, it has to do
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with being paid. So we don't know, but do you
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think that might kind of be Nahor seems to be a smart
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person. And he he doesn't just stop at
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the money issue. He's very clever.
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He goes on to the theology as well.
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And goes after that with distinction.
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And so I think also here he must be aware that there are rules
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over on the other side of the fence against paying priests and
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ministers. But verse four says he said you
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don't need to fear and tremble. You don't need to worry about
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what God does. Then halfway through the Lord
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God hath created all men and had redeemed all men and in the end
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all men should have eternal life.
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So I think he's he's saying something that is so common in
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our religious world. Now, don't worry, God will save
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everybody. You don't need to worry about
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anything. Do what you want.
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And in the end, and he uses the word, interestingly, all men
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should have eternal life. He's not saying everyone's going
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to be resurrected here. He's claiming everyone's going
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to have a life of ease. Don't worry about the
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commandments. Don't worry about it.
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It's it's to me, this is a falsehood that Satan has used
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over and over and over. We are obviously in a temporal
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world, but he does believe that somehow God created this world
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and we will then be also brought back into with all people back
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to wherever we were before. But then you have to wonder,
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well, what's the purpose of this life if we're just getting
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restored in that sense? And Alma makes it clear that the
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meaning of the word restoration doesn't mean that it means to be
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given just for that which is just and righteous for that
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which is righteous, and so on. But enough people started
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following Nahor in chapter one, verse six that they began to be
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prideful. And this is the first time we
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see the phrase very costly apparel.
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This is an Alma phrase. He loves it.
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He uses it all the time. That's what he uses to
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distinguish the people here and they want to establish their own
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church with his preaching. Well, Gideon, the old general
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who is such a help under Limhai, is confronting him and says
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you're out of you're out of line.
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And that's where in verse nine it says they get in a fight and
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Nihor kills him. At that point, Nihor is is
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arrested, you might say, or captured, and they take him
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straight to Alma the Younger, the chief judge.
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And you might wonder, well, why don't they take him to one of
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the lower judges? I don't know.
25:09
Why does this case go straight to the the highest?
25:13
Maybe it took, I don't know. What do you think?
25:16
I think there may have been a rule that if the case involves
25:20
capital punishment. There's been a murder.
25:22
That there's some kind of Not all crimes will go to the
25:27
highest judge, but I think capital offenses would have.
25:31
That's just my my guess. Yeah, and we aren't given the
25:34
whole account here, but the bottom line is he's a he's
25:37
before Alma. And it says in verse 12, behold,
25:40
this is the first time that priest craft, meaning being paid
25:44
for preaching, has been introduced among the people.
25:47
And Alma is just furious about it, especially since he's
25:51
enforcing it in verse 13 by the shedding of a righteous man of
25:55
innocent blood. That's right.
25:57
And that those words are, I think, legally very significant.
26:01
Oh, tell me more about. That, well, go back to verse 11
26:04
for just a second, OK? Because you have to recognize
26:07
that it came to pass that Nahor stood before Alma and pleaded
26:12
for himself with much boldness. So I'm not sure what he would
26:16
have argued. He might have argued because he
26:20
was going about trying to now organize and gather and preach
26:24
and so. On and.
26:26
Gideon is standing in his way somehow.
26:29
Maybe he's saying this violates my right to be equal.
26:34
After all, I read right in Mosiah's proclamation that we
26:37
should all have equal opportunities.
26:40
And so maybe he's pushing back a little on Gideon.
26:44
We don't know whether Gideon on this occasion was in some kind
26:49
of ceremonial clothes. Maybe he was wearing his armor.
26:54
We don't know. It doesn't say that he has his
26:56
sword. But if if he had any kind of
26:59
weapon or tool that he's now using to stop Nahor, Nahor has
27:05
his sword and he then uses it. Maybe there his argument, maybe
27:13
not just interference with his religious freedom, but maybe
27:17
somehow he felt threatened and he needs to be, he needs to be
27:22
able to act in his own self-defense.
27:24
But you know, there's another argument he might have made and
27:27
that is that under the law of Moses, in order to be an actual
27:32
culpable homicide, it needed to be premeditated and pre planned.
27:37
Something that was intentional, not accidental or spontaneous.
27:44
He hadn't been lying in wait. He hadn't planned to kill
27:47
Gideon. So he might have argued that he
27:50
wasn't acting out of premeditation and therefore it
27:56
was not a first degree homicide and should then be reduced in
28:00
some way in terms of punishment. We don't know what he argued,
28:05
but he was smart enough and he argued boldly that I think Alma
28:10
then matches that with Alma's brilliance as a judge.
28:16
Yeah, because he doesn't convict Nahor of homicide.
28:20
No, he doesn't. He says you are guilty of
28:24
enforcing priest craft with a sword.
28:28
Yes. And it's clear that that's what
28:30
Nahor was trying to do. But at least Alma's decision is
28:34
clearly based on the facts of the case and having judged that
28:39
and having authority to rule in capital cases, I think it would
28:44
have been unlikely that lower judges, who we're assuming
28:48
didn't have the right to do that, wouldn't be available.
28:53
Nahor couldn't say, well, I'm going to have a lower judge
28:55
review your decision anyway. They do take him.
28:59
And they take him to a mount Manti or hill, a hilltop named
29:02
Manti. And it says in interestingly
29:04
that in verse 15 there he was caused, or rather did
29:09
acknowledge between heavens and earth, that what had he had
29:13
taught to the people was contrary to the word of God.
29:17
Because back in three he was trying to say this is what the
29:20
word of God means. And now he's saying, actually I
29:23
was not. Good point.
29:24
And he's not saying I was wrong, he's just saying I'm contrary to
29:28
the Word of God, whatever that might be.
29:30
And it also sounds like there was a little bit of interest.
29:34
I don't know if he's choosing to testify or if he is being forced
29:39
to testify. Did 'cause?
29:42
I think they offered to him. We need you to confess because
29:48
in, in most societies, you don't put someone to death without
29:51
first giving them the right to speak last to, to clear their
29:56
name with God or whatever they wish to do.
29:58
And under biblical law, a confession like that was usually
30:02
extended. Now what he does, I think he's
30:07
probably been told this is what we would like you to confess
30:12
because you have been, as you pointed out, you have been
30:14
claiming that what you're teaching is the word of God.
30:16
Now we want you to say what you've been teaching is not what
30:19
we understand the word of God to be.
30:21
You shouldn't be using that phrase.
30:23
He might have pushed back and said, well, I don't want to say
30:25
that. And they might have said well.
30:28
And that's why it said if you don't caused.
30:30
If you don't, we have painful ways to put you to death and we
30:33
have quick ways. So we we don't know exactly how
30:36
he was executed, but it was up on the top of a hill.
30:40
Could have been stoning. And stoning is usually done at a
30:43
high place so that you can push the person off the hill, then
30:46
push the stones down upon him. But in any event.
30:52
He dies. There are ways to make that more
30:55
painful. Yes.
30:56
Then in other ways. And, and it says there he
30:59
suffered an ignominious death. Yeah, what does that word
31:02
ignominious mean? Disgraceful.
31:07
And so he he is now being shamed.
31:11
And so we don't want people to think of him as a hero.
31:16
And even though he is gone it it Alma immediately says in verse
31:20
16, nevertheless, this did not put an end to the spreading of
31:25
priest craft. So unfortunately, all of the
31:27
efforts there didn't work. And he has a few verses where he
31:33
talks about their laws. You know, it's you have to be
31:35
punished for lying in verse 17, but you do not be punished for
31:39
what you believe. That's also verse 17.
31:42
So the church is going to be persecuted.
31:45
And in verse 20 he goes and talks again about the church
31:50
members are humble because they're being afflicted, but
31:54
they still I love this second-half of verse 20 because
31:58
they was not proud in their own eyes and because they didn't
32:02
impart the word of God one to another without money and
32:05
without price, they're able to grow and they were strict and
32:08
obeying the laws and they did not let anyone go without food
32:13
and things there. So the people who are converted
32:15
are living in a consecrated Zion society where they're trying to
32:20
endure, but they're getting persecuted for it.
32:22
There's many proud in verse 22, and they're even fighting each
32:26
other about it with their fists in the end of verse 22.
32:29
So there's a real trial that's going on here.
32:31
There's a lot of persecution, yeah.
32:32
Anytime you're establishing some kind of a new regime, they're
32:36
going to be uncertainties and people who liked it the old way
32:39
or think that these are their entitlements are going to push
32:43
back against that. So what we're seeing here, I
32:45
think is understandable as human behavior doesn't justify it, but
32:52
that Alma would say, you know, we had problems.
32:54
This wasn't just clear sailing. Yeah, yeah.
32:57
And I think life is that way. And we in our lives have to
33:02
recognize that there will be these problems there.
33:05
There will be difficulties that will come up.
33:07
You handle them the best you can.
33:09
And he says the answer is the word of God.
33:11
He uses it again. Look at verse 26.
33:13
Three times he says the priest would go and teach and when they
33:16
would leave their labours to impart of the word of God.
33:19
The people left their labours and I'm to hear the word of God,
33:22
you know, and then I love verse 27.
33:25
They did impart of their substance.
33:27
Every man according to that which he had to the poor and the
33:30
needy, the sick, the afflicted and they did not wear costly
33:35
apparel. He really is going to go into
33:38
this. In fact, we have a change here
33:41
in verse 29 where he says the Lord is buzzing us with peace
33:45
and abundance when we're living this consecration and we even
33:48
have, and he begins listing gold, silver, precious things,
33:52
silk, fine twined Linden, and all manner of goodly homely
33:56
cloth. So I like textiles, and this is
33:58
fascinating to me that once they are living a lifestyle where
34:03
they're helping each other, the Lord blesses them with plenty to
34:08
cover their nakedness. And I assume that that's still
34:11
very, very sparse compared to the world that we now live in.
34:15
But I'm really touched by the fact that all of these things
34:18
have been discovered. We've been able to find so many
34:21
of these ancient sources here. Now the Book of Mormon
34:25
archaeology societies have found so many of these things.
34:29
Going to continue on in verse 30.
34:31
Therefore they were liberal to all, both old and young, bond
34:36
and free, male and female. They were out of the Church or
34:40
in the Church, having no respect to persons who stood in need.
34:43
I just love this. I really feel like their
34:46
understanding of the law of consecration is to a degree that
34:49
we are striving to live now in the Church.
34:51
For those who would abide by these rules, they prosper, and
34:57
they actually become wealthy. Prosperity can mean more than
35:00
just having wealth. Prosperity can mean doing well
35:05
and in many senses. But then in verse 32 we have a
35:09
description of the behaviors of people who didn't belong to the
35:12
church. And finally, Alma adds an
35:15
interesting little human element here, and that is that in verse
35:19
33 people understood that they would be punished if they
35:25
committed wickedness, but they durst not commit any wickedness
35:30
if it were known. So.
35:33
And that will become a big factor in these secret
35:35
combinations. And they realize that if we can
35:38
just be sure that there are no witnesses, if no one knows what
35:41
we're doing, then we can get away with things.
35:45
And thus ended the fifth year of the reign of the Judges, or
35:48
Chapter one of Alma. There we go.
35:55
Unfortunately, we have another bad guy and I'm fascinated with
36:00
the name Amlasai. Now we pronounce it Amlasai, but
36:04
take out the vowels and it's again MLK.
36:09
It's King Joseph Smith got these names exactly right.
36:13
We have a man who's trying to put himself up as a king, and
36:16
his name is something about a king.
36:19
We could say Amlasai in English, but interesting.
36:24
It says he's very powerful. He says he drew away many people
36:27
and he wants to be king over the people.
36:29
Chapter 2. Verse 2.
36:31
Yeah, but he was very cunning and wise as to the wisdom of the
36:35
world. But he wanted to deprive them of
36:37
their rights. In verse four, he.
36:39
But the scariest part for me is the very last line in verse
36:42
four. His intent was to destroy the
36:45
church. So what does Alma do well?
36:48
I I love this. He's in verse six it was laid
36:52
before the judges, and in verse seven it came to pass that the
36:55
voice of the people came against Amlasai and he was not made
37:00
their king. So he made a run at it and lost.
37:03
There was a vacancy. No one had become a king.
37:06
They've eliminated kingship. But he says, I don't think the
37:08
vote was accurate. I'm going to go back.
37:10
And he gathers his people in verse 11.
37:13
They're called the people now of Amlasai, and he's attacking the
37:17
people of God. And he wants to prepare them
37:21
with war. And it says in verse 12 they get
37:22
their armor on. And in verse nine, it had said
37:26
that the people gather themselves together and
37:29
consecrated Amlakai to be their king.
37:33
So quickly they arm themselves with all of the traditional
37:39
these. In verse 12, we have all of
37:41
these weapons that are mentioned and these are the typical
37:43
weapons of war that are used throughout the ancient Americas.
37:48
But Alma is able to see that they're coming.
37:51
So he is also able to gather an army quickly.
37:54
And it says they're they gather on the hill on the east side of
37:59
the River Sidon. That's verse 15.
38:01
This is such an interesting river.
38:03
So it goes up through Zarahemla. And if we follow the River Sidon
38:08
in the book of Alma, we see that the waters are fast enough to be
38:13
able to take thousands of bodies and flow downstream.
38:16
And yet the waters are also low enough that they can Ford across
38:21
it. And in certain seasons you do
38:24
have. A change, yeah, especially
38:26
without dams in those days. But the Amalicite war then goes
38:30
from verses 15 all the way to verse 38, and it's a terrible
38:36
slaughter on both sides, thousands on both sides.
38:40
But it's doubly worse for the Amalicites than it is for the
38:44
Nephites. I'm just amazed that there were
38:46
this many people that Amlasite gathered.
38:49
It says 12,532 were slaughtered. That's a lot of people he
38:53
gathered in the first five years of the reign of the judges or
38:57
something, I don't know. Well, they probably are from
39:00
different villages and places, not right in Zarahemla itself.
39:04
And the land of Zarahemla is much larger.
39:06
Well, as far as the the war and the battle are concerned, I do
39:09
think it's interesting in verse 30 that Alma, who is now there
39:16
in the battlefield and he's a general being a man of God being
39:21
exercised with much faith, cried saying, Oh Lord, have mercy and
39:27
spare my life, that I may be an instrument in thy hands to save
39:32
and preserve this people. And so he was strengthened in so
39:36
much he slew Amlasai with the sword.
39:39
And so there they are in front of all these soldiers, and we
39:44
don't know at what point exactly in the battle all of this
39:47
happens. It says they're on the Bank of
39:49
the sea of the river. We have the two leaders, Alma
39:51
and Amlakai who need to do hand to hand combat with each other.
39:54
And yet there's a lot of people being killed here too.
39:57
We have 6000 Nephites killed here too, Yeah.
39:59
But at some point, the battle was not decisive.
40:03
Until the king is killed. And so until the king is killed,
40:06
they're all this skirmishing that's going on.
40:08
And hopefully the king doesn't have to do this.
40:11
If his troops can prevail, then the war is over.
40:15
But what happened here was the troops couldn't prevail on
40:18
either side. What happens is Alma kills
40:21
Amlachi, but he then next contends with the king of the
40:24
Lamanites, and the king of the Lamanites flees.
40:27
Yeah, because the Amlachites had joined with the Lamanites and.
40:30
And then we have a enormous battle.
40:32
Yeah. And then of course, the Nephites
40:34
have the upper hand. Amlachi is dead and they pursue
40:38
the people, the Lamanites, out of their land as they flee out
40:41
of the land. Now Alma invoked the power of
40:45
God to give him the strength to do this.
40:48
As we're fighting our battles, we need to invoke the power of
40:52
God if they are divinely directed.
40:55
And people in the ancient world saw the outcome of these battles
40:59
as manifestations of the heavenly hosts, the word host
41:03
our soldiers, yes. So the the heavenly hosts are
41:07
there to support and strengthen. And even though there are few on
41:11
Earth like Elijah's group, you know you don't.
41:14
Have many in heaven. And many, many are with us more
41:18
than against us. Chapter 3 is interesting.
41:26
They're bearing, they're dead. It was interesting the the
41:29
enemy's bodies are just thrown in the river, as I mentioned
41:32
earlier. But in chapter 3 it begins that
41:34
they are going to bury the Nephite people in the Israelite
41:37
world. That's very important, but I'm
41:40
touched by the fact that the the idea of the Amlasites probably
41:48
looking similar to some of the Nephites, so they had to mark
41:51
themselves in the battle. And so Alma goes into a few
41:54
little details talking about the marking of these people.
41:58
And I want to emphasize that because he's put it in a
42:01
beautiful Chiasma. So I think it's important to him
42:04
this conversation from chapter 3, verse six to eight in a
42:08
beautiful chiastic structure. He starts out by saying, now the
42:12
Lamanites skins were dark. And then the second point is a
42:16
mark was set upon them. And the Third Point he says,
42:22
which was a curse upon them. And I want to come back to that.
42:26
The continuation of the chiasmus though, is that there's
42:29
transgressions with their rebellion against their
42:32
brethren. And their brethren they're
42:34
referring to is clear back with Nephi, Jacob, Joseph and Sam.
42:38
And they were just and holy men. That's the center of the
42:41
chiastic. And then as it turns and comes
42:43
out, their brethren were seeking to destroy them, therefore they
42:46
were cursed. And the Lord did set a mark upon
42:49
them. Yeah, upon laymen and Lemuel,
42:52
and also the sons of Ishmael and the Ishmaelite ish women.
42:55
And he continues on in verse nine there.
42:57
And now he's quoting, I think he's quoting Nephi in verse 8.
43:02
And this was done that their seed might be distinguished from
43:05
the seed of their brethren, that thereby the Lord God might
43:09
preserve his people, that they might not mix their with
43:12
incorrect traditions which would prove to their destruction.
43:15
Now that part is quoting from Second Nephi chapter 5 or citing
43:20
similar things. But the part that I think is
43:23
mistaken is when he says it's a curse.
43:26
Because if we go back to when the Lord is first, pronouncing
43:30
that in Second Nephi chapter 5, the curse is a removal from
43:34
God's presence. It's because of their wickedness
43:36
there's cursed. It's because of their witness
43:38
they become and idolatrous people.
43:41
It's not because of their skin color.
43:42
But they also want to be distinguished in their own way,
43:46
so they are voluntarily separating themselves.
43:50
And that mark might have military significance because as
43:55
you go into battle, you want to know who's on your side and
43:58
who's not. And the amylocytes mark
43:59
themselves. And not only do they mark
44:01
themselves, I wonder when it says it was with or as a curse.
44:07
When you mark yourself with that red mark on your face, then you
44:13
might be saying if we are not fighting for God or if we are
44:19
not righteous, may we be defeated with a they may be
44:23
invoking a curse upon themselves.
44:26
And this is the sign of that cursing.
44:29
People did that sort of thing. I just wanted to emphasize that
44:33
Nephi was very careful to say the curse is their choosing to
44:38
remove themselves from God, and so then they have to pay the
44:40
consequences of not having the Spirit of God.
44:43
The curse had nothing to do with the skin color.
44:45
But now hundreds of years later, it's a little less clear.
44:52
And I think that's interesting to see how the Lord's messages
44:56
need to be read in their original form.
44:59
That is very well said, and of course, our natural inclination
45:03
is to read these words the way we hear them in our daily or
45:07
ordinary culture. Thank you for bringing these
45:09
points up, and we've added together to come up with other
45:12
alternatives for how these words might be understood.
45:15
So back to the end of the story here.
45:17
I think it's interesting that these people then Marshall their
45:22
troops and in verse 20 of chapter 3, they come back for
45:26
another battle. And where is that battle?
45:30
Only the Lamanites come back. That's right.
45:32
And and it's this is so interesting.
45:35
I just think they didn't give themselves hardly any time at
45:38
all. But where?
45:40
Is the reinforcement. Where is the battle?
45:42
It says another army of the Lamanites came in upon the
45:47
people of Nephi in the same place where the 1st Army met the
45:51
Amalekite, the hill Amnihu right in that area.
45:55
For some reason this is a strategic point.
45:57
Maybe there's a gap you enter into the land, maybe there's a
46:01
an important Rd. that goes by here, or maybe it's a religious
46:06
site. Interesting.
46:08
But whatever it is. Same place.
46:10
They come back there. And it's the same year even too.
46:14
They're still in that same year, it says in verse 25.
46:17
That's right, Alma is afflicted with a wound, so he doesn't go
46:21
to battle, but he does Marshall a numerous army against them and
46:26
they went up and were able to drive them from their borders.
46:30
This is the ones where it says there's 10s of thousands of
46:33
souls sent to the eternal world in verse 26.
46:36
It's this battle that has that many people.
46:43
And then our last chapter for today is chapter 4.
46:46
And this to me reminds me of all post wars where there is hunger
46:50
and mourning and sorrow and they humble themselves enough to turn
46:55
to God. And the end result is we have
46:58
the baptism of 3500 people in the land.
47:01
Yeah. And when does that happen?
47:03
Verse five, In the seventh year of the reign of Judges, there
47:07
were about 3500 souls that united themselves to the church.
47:11
A 7th year. This is a kind of sabbatical.
47:15
Because it's the 7th year of the reign of the judges.
47:17
OK. Yeah, starting all.
47:20
That's right, but when they're starting a new rule every 7th
47:23
year, probably there was some recognition that our our
47:27
government, our church, our world, let's stop what we're
47:31
doing and have a have a party and would have been a good time
47:36
for all these baptisms to have been then performed.
47:40
He also, though, mentions that pride is still an issue, the
47:43
costly apparel is still an issue, that money is still an
47:46
issue. And so he decides, I have got to
47:50
spend full time as a high priest.
47:52
I, I got to get rid of some of these responsibilities.
47:54
You know, I can't be both the head of the church and head of
47:57
the government and head of the military.
47:58
So it says that he selected, this is verse 16.
48:02
He selected a wise man who among the elders of the church and
48:07
gave him power according to the voice of the people.
48:11
So this is a very unusual election in in my sphere, but
48:14
it's probably common in the ancient world how the how the
48:18
names were selected. But a man named Nephi Ha is
48:22
given the reign as the chief judge.
48:24
So with this Nephi Ha will take over.
48:26
He inherits, of course, a lot of problems, but he will now take
48:30
over the judicial function. Then we've learned a couple
48:33
things here to close this particular session.
48:37
One is that, as you've mentioned, there was a lot of
48:39
wickedness and a lot of problems that arise there in the city of
48:44
of Zarahemla. The church becomes an example
48:49
and but there are unbelievers. Alma will come and his first big
48:54
speech given as High priest will be to the people in the land of
48:57
Zarahemla and these are the problems that he will be
49:01
addressing in chapter. Five and it's the he finishes 9
49:04
years. And so I think that's
49:07
significant too that that sort of the length of a stake
49:11
president kind of a time period. It's almost a decade and he
49:14
hasn't had the sons of Mosiah there to help him.
49:16
But now Nephi is helping Nephi. Haw is there to help him.
49:19
And Alma will lay aside all of his legal training, all of his
49:24
judicial point of view, and what he will do is he will bear down
49:31
in pure testimony against those who are not doing the things
49:37
that they should. Verse 19.
49:39
And I think that's an important word for us to stop and think
49:43
about. And in our come follow me
49:46
reflections, what what does that mean to bear pure testimony?
49:51
And I think that word pure can mean a lot of things.
49:53
What? What do you think it might mean?
49:55
For me, a pure testimony is a testimony that's based in Jesus
49:59
Christ, a testimony that's based in my Savior's redemption.
50:04
And in the secondary to that, of course, would be the fact that I
50:09
believe that our Savior has restored his Kingdom on earth
50:12
through scripture and prophets and the Holy Ghost and the way
50:17
the Kingdom moves forth. For me, that's a pure testimony.
50:21
But I, I think this word pure helps us to know that is pure
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and undefiled. I think that it is a testimony
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that isn't cluttered with lots of other elements or factors.
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I think that it is pure in the sense of being pure in heart and
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having a pure spirit and being a priest who is pure, who has been
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purified. So all of these factors help us
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to be effective in communicating the testimonies that we bear and
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Alma is able to do that. And I think I would say his
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testimony was pure in every sense of the word.
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His testimony will not be self-serving, it will not be
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manipulative, it will be straightforward, it will be
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clear. All of those things are
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important. We talk about pure water when we
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know that it is not defiled, but it's pure.
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And I think Alma's testimony of Jesus Christ, the living water,
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will be pure in every one of those senses.
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And I testify of that with purity.
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I hope in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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Amen.