Alma 8:1-5
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The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 8
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Contents |
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Questions
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Verse 1
- What does “order of the church” mean? Alma is said to have established it also in Zarahemla. There he did so by ordaining priests and elders (surprising that they didn’t already have them), baptizing repentant converts, and excommunicating unrepentant members (Alma 6:1-4). What kind of order does that suggest?
- What is the connection between the "order of the church" and the "order of the priesthood"?
- Why are we told that Alma taught "many things that cannot be written"? Why couldn't they be written? Is it just a matter of editing, i.e. not enough room on the plates? Or is it something else--perhaps temple covenants or other things that are not to be written down?
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Verse 2
- Why are we told that the judges "reign...over the people"? What is the difference between a judge and any other type of ruler?
- What do we know about how Nephite judges "reigned"?
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Verse 3
- Why are we told that Alma started his journey "in the commencement of the tenth year"? Why tell us at all? Is this just a way of marking time to carry the narrative, or is there something else going on?
- What do we know about the land of Melek, or the Melek for whom it was named? Is there any connection between Melek/Mulek?
- Why did Alma first go to Gideon and only after that go to Melek? What might have made him rank the order his journey from Gideon to Melek to Ammonihah?
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Verse 4
- What does it mean to teach "according to the holy order of God"? How might that differ from any other type of teaching or preaching? We learn more about this order in Alma 13, but does that tell us any more about how teaching is accomplished "according to" this order?
- How big was this land of Melek, that it warrants mentioning his teaching "throughout all the land"?
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Verse 5
- Why does it say that the people came to Alma, rather than that he traveled "throughout all the land"? What might this imply about how Alma did his teaching?
- What type of people were these who lived apparently outside of the city, throughout all the borders of the land?
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Lexical notes
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Exegesis
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Verse 5
- Throughout all the borders of the land. In Mesoamerican society, the elite rulers and priests lived in the city, and poorer farmers usually lived out in the smaller villages or hamlets. The people who came in to be baptized from "throughout all the borders of the land" may have been humble subsistence farmers, rather than the local elites--indicating that the gospel was taught to everyone, and not just the ruling classes.
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Related links
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