Alma 8-12

APRIL/MAY READING

April 30—Alma 13-16
May 7—Alma 17-22 (final class)

FOURTH DAY OF THIS SEVENTH MONTH

“On the fourth day of the seventh month,Amulek left home to visit close kindred (vv. 6– 7). Perhaps he and his family were on their way to celebrate a traditional Israelite feast with extended family, for the seventh month was a prime festival time on the annual calendar under the law of Moses. Indeed, if the Nephite calendar began the year in the fall, then their seventh month fell in the spring and was the month of Passover; otherwise, if their calendar began in the spring, the seventh month was in the fall, the time of Rosh Hashanah, the Feast of Tabernacles, and Yom Kippur. Assuming that Amulek was traveling to be with his close family relatives during the Passover season, perhaps he anticipated that Elijah was coming when the angel told him to return home to “feed a prophetoftheLord”(v.7). AlthoughthevisitorturnedoutnottobeElijahcoming before “the great and dreadful day of the Lord”(Malachi 4:5), Alma did come to announce the day of destruction in the city of Ammonihah. Indeed, in that very year, the destroying angel passed over only the few in that land who were willing to receive Alma’s message.”

John W. Welch, https://publications.mi.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=2238&index=9


LAW OF APOSTATE CITIES

“Alma 16:9-11 records the utter destruction of the wicked city of Ammonihah by Lamanite soldiers. Recent research has uncovered several striking affinities between that account and the ancient Israelite law regarding the annihilation of apostate cities.That law is found in Deuteronomy 13:12-16. Alma, who had been the Nephite chief judge, was most likely well aware of this provision, since the law of Moses was contained on the plates of brass, which were in his possession. Accordingly, Alma’s concept of justice would have included the idea that an apostate city should be destroyed in the specific way set forth in their governing law.
While Alma clearly lacked both the desire and the power to have the city of Ammonihah destroyed by a Nephite military force, and certainly no legal decree was ever issued calling for the extermination of the city,Alma carefully recorded and documented the fact that the inhabitants of Ammonihah had satisfied every element of the crime of being an apostate city.When the justice of God destroyed that city,Alma effectively showed in the record that this fate befell them in accordance with divine law.”

“Deuteronomy 13:12-16:
If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, . . . Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which we have not known; then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you; thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly. . . .And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit . . . : and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again.”

John W.Welch, https://publications.mi.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1110&index=50

“Recognizing the way this tragic story conforms to the law of apostate cities is evidence that both Alma and Mormon were familiar with the legal standards this section in the law of Moses required.Ammonihah was destroyed in fulfillment of the Israelite law governing the lands of promise. In observing the law of Moses strictly (Alma 30:3),Alma appears to have consciously acted according to each of its requirements, and then Mormon arranged his abridgement to emphasize the complete fulfillment of this law.This case both ties the text to the ancient world and indicates technical legal sophistication on the part of its authors. Understanding this background also illuminates the strong arm of the Lord’s justice.The people’s wickedness and the law of apostate cities provide the theological justification for the utter annihilation of Ammonihah.The narrative structure reinforces this theological reason for the event by placing it right after Alma and Amulek’s missionary efforts in Alma 9–10, withholding the Lamanites’ reasons for the attack until later (see Alma 25:1–2).”

https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/knowhy/why-was-the-city-of-ammonihah-destroyed-and-left-desolate
  
 GOD’S PURPOSES

“God does not seek our repentance or righteousness for his own glory, or deter our wickedness for his sake. He seeks our repentance for our sake.
The Prophet Joseph clearly taught: God “never has, he never will, institute an ordinance, or give a commandment to his people that is not calculated in its nature to promote that happiness which he has designed, and which will not end in the greatest amount of good and glory to those who become the recipients of his law and ordinances.”

Givens, Fiona and Teryl, The Christ Who Heals

DAY OF JUDGMENT

“That Day of Judgment will be a day of mercy and love—a day when broken hearts are healed, when tears of grief are replaced with tears of gratitude, when all will be made right.
I have confidence that we will not only be satisfied with the judgment of God; we will also be astonished and overwhelmed by His infinite grace, mercy, generosity, and love for us, His children.”

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, October Conference, 2016

REPENTANCE

“Our task on earth is to resist the conforming of our spirit to our natural environment with its allures and distractions, and to shape our affections, inclinations, and desires in the mold shown us by the Savior.This is repentance: a conscious choice, born out of contraries, to be shaped and directed into a genuine spiritual begetting after the image of God, in accordance with the seed of divine potential in all of us.”

Givens, Fiona and Teryl, The Christ Who Heals

ALMA’S TEMPLE TEACHINGS

“Alma knew that his opponents were serious challengers, and he gave them the strongest answers he could. As the High Priest of the temple in Zarahemla, he spoke powerfully of eternal truths. He drew on scriptures and sacred ordinances that the Nehorite priests would have known about to some extent. He invited them to repent .
Although easy to miss with just a quick or superficial reading, the temple themes presented do “suggest that Alma, and probably some of his contemporaries, were familiar with the ordinances, covenants, and teachings associated with temple rites of the Melchizedek Priesthood.”
The fullness of the rites alluded to by Alma are experienced in the temple itself, because of their highly sacred nature. Likewise, the sacred drama of the Creation, the Fall, and humankind’s journey back into the presence of God is more fully unfolded in the temple. Nevertheless, themes and symbols associated with temple ordinances appear in the scriptures, both ancient and modern. Just as Alma’s discourse at Ammonihah points the faithful today towards the house of the Lord and encourages them to make and keep the covenants necessary to receive the blessings of eternal life and exaltation, his words gave his opponents in that apostate city an unmistakable opportunity to understand and to repent.”

https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/why-did-alma-teach-his-opponents-about-the-temple

ENTERING GOD’S REST

“I once wondered if those who refuse to repent but who then satisfy the law of justice by paying for their own sins are then worthy to enter the celestial kingdom.The answer is no.The entrance requirements for celestial life are simply higher than merely satisfying the law of justice. For that reason, paying for our sins will not bear the same fruit as repenting of our sins. Justice is a law of balance and order and it must be satisfied, either through our payment or his. But if we decline the Savior's invitation to let him carry our sins, and then satisfy justice by ourselves, we will not yet have experienced the complete rehabilitation that can occur through a combination of divine assistance and genuine repentance.Working together, those forces have the power permanently to change our hearts and our lives, preparing us for celestial life.”

Hafen, Bruce, The Broken Heart