Alma 9 All

The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 9

Questions

Verse 1

• How did Alma view Amulek's role as his companion? Why does he speak of "tak[ing] Amulek?" Is this the language of God, or Alma's interpretation of it?

Verse 2

• What does although mean here?
• What are the people talking about here? Why are they talking about the earth passing away? Are they responding to something that Alma has said, or where does this come from?

Verse 3

• What does Alma mean when he says that the earth should pass away? Why would he even record this little exchange with the people of Ammonihah?

Verse 4

• Why wouldn't the people of Ammonihah believe Alma?
• Why do the people say they won't believe Alma if he "shouldst prophesy that this great city should be destroyed in one day"? Was this a response to something Alma had said?

Verse 5

• What does Alma mean by "hard-hearted" and "stiffnecked"? What scriptural precedences provide insight into these terms?

Lexical notes

• The although in verse 2 has confused some readers. To make sense of although here read it as even though (see the Oxford English Dictionary). Today we might say even if in place of even though. Under this interpretation the people are saying something like "do you expect us to believe something only one person tells us no matter how crazy it is?" See Mark 14:29 for another reference in the scriptures to where although is used to mean "even though" or "even if."

Exegesis

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The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 9

Questions

• Prophets in the Book of Mormon often begin their calls to repentance by reminding the people of what the Lord has done for their ancestors. (For example, Alma the Younger did this in his sermon in Alma 5.) Why? Were a modern prophet delivering a sermon like this, to what might he refer to remind us of what the Lord has done?

Verse 6

• What are the people saying here? What do they mean by "Who is God"? Are they belittling Alma's teachings about God? Do they seem to be mocking a god that would only send one messenger?

Verse 7

• How did Alma avoid being grabbed by the people?
• What does it mean for Alma to have "stood with boldness"

Verse 8

• What does Alma mean by calling the people a "wicked and perverse generation"?
• How is Alma using the word "generation"?
• What about this generation was so wicked and perverse?
• Did the people forget the tradition of their fathers, or did the actively reject it?
• What is the connection between the traditions of the fathers and the commandments? How might that connection be broken? In modern terms, how is it that this generation didn't get their own testimonies of the gospel? How were the traditions passed down? Were there weaknesses in how it was transmitted from one generation to the next?

Verse 9

• What does it mean to be brought "by the hand of God"? Is this just metaphorical, or is there something else going on here?
• Why does Alma switch from "our father" in the first question, to "they...all" in the second question?

Verse 10

• What does Alma mean when he says the people have "forgotten so soon"? It has been decades since the earlier generations, their "fathers", were brought out of bondage?
• What incidents is Alma referring to here, where the fathers were "delivered" and "preserved...from being destroyed by...their own brethren"?
• Who are the "our fathers" referred to here? Does this include Mulekite ancestors, or just literal descendants of Nephi?

Lexical notes

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Exegesis

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The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 9

Questions

Verse 11

• Why does Alma refer to God's power as "matchless"?
• What is the link between being "cut off from the face of the earth" and being "consigned to a state of endless misery and woe"?
• What is the state of endless misery and woe that Alma refers to? Can we translate that into our modern understanding of the spirit world, or does it refer to something else?
• What is woe? Does it mean the same as misery, or does it imply something more?
• Are misery and woe a common couplet, or is there something beyond just a literary style here in their use?

Verse 12

• What is the difference between being told to repent to "inherit the kingdom of God" or to avoid being utterly destroyed? Is Alma or the Lord trying to provide two different motivations to try and get the people to repent, or is there something else going on here?
• What is the place for such hellfire and damnation preaching in the modern church?
• What is the "fierce anger" of God mentioned here? How does this fierce anger jibe with our view of God as a patient and loving Heavenly Father?
• What does it mean for God to visit "in his anger" and "not turn away"? Is there a point at which it is too late to repent and God cannot turn back consequences for our actions?

Verse 13

• What is the nature of the promise to Lehi? Is this a covenant? How does this promise or covenant relate to land covenants in the Old Testament?
• What does it mean to prosper?
• Why is the reward for obedience a tangible prosperity, while the penalty for not keeping the commandments to be "cut off from the presence of the Lord"? Does this imply something about prosperity that we don't normally consider (cf. Mosiah 2:22)? Might there be a connection between "inheriting the kingdom of God (vs. 13) and prospering in the land here? If so, does that imply that the kingdom of God is here, and consists of the opposite of being "cut off from the presence of the Lord"?

Verse 14

• What does it mean that the Lamanites "have been cut off from the presence of the Lord"? What does that mean? Does this have anything to do with the literal presence of the Lord in the temple?
• What does Alma mean by the "presence of the Lord"?

Verse 15

• Why is the wording here so similar to this verse in the New Testament: "But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee" (Matt 11:24)?

Lexical notes

• Woe. According to Webster's 1828 dictionary, wo [sp] is a noun that means 1. grief; sorrow; misery; a heavy calamity, 2. a curse, and 3. is used in denunciation, and in exclamations of sorrow.

Exegesis

• Prosperity and the Kingdom of God. In these verses, Alma seems to link the concepts of prosperity, inheriting the kingdom of God, and being in the presence of God. It is possible to read these verses as providing the following oppositions:

A) Inherit the Kingdom, B) In the presence of God, C) Prosper in the land

vs.

D) Destroyed from off the face of the earth, E) Cut off from the presence of the Lord By this reading, prosperity should be seen as more than the accumulation of material success, but a quality related to living in the presence of God here on earth.

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The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 9

Questions

Verse 16

• Why are promises extended to the Lamanites? What are these promises?
• Why does ignorance provoke mercy?
• What does prolonging existence in the land have to do with the mercy or favor of God?

Verse 17

• Alma says that someday the Lamanites will learn the truth and, therefore, of the falsity of their fathers’ traditions. To what traditions is he referring? Does this mean that Native Americans will give up their cultural traditions when they are converted?
• What does Alma mean here by being saved?
• What does it mean to "call on" the name of the Lord?

Verse 18

• How does this statement by Alma about impending destruction manifest his preaching by the spirit of prophecy and revelation?
• Alma says the people will be destroyed by both the Lamanites and the "fierce anger of the Lord". How do the actions of the Lamanites represent the anger of the Lord?

Verse 19

• Why would the Lord prefer to have all the Nephites destroyed rather than allow them to continue in sin after he has blessed them? To unbelievers the Lord may sound petulant, like a “martyr-parent,” who says, “Since you are ungrateful after all I’ve done for you, I’ll show you.” How would you explain this to someone who saw these verses that way?
• What is the "light and knowledge" given unto the Nephites? Does this have anything to do with the further light and knowledge found in modern temple ceremonies?

Verse 20

• What does it mean to have been "highly favored people of the Lord"?
• In what way were the Nephites "favored above every other nation, kindred, tongue, or people"?
• What great blessings did the Nephites enjoy?
• How were "all things made known" unto the Nephites. Does this have anything to do with seership (cf. Mosiah 8)?
• What is the relationship between desire, faith, and prayer, and how do they lead to knowledge?

Lexical notes

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Exegesis

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The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 9

Questions

• How do these prophecies and Alma's teaching reflect the promise given to Lehi in 2 Ne 1:9-12?

Verse 21

• What does it mean to have been "visited by the Spirit of God"?
• How widespread was the visitation of angels in Nephite society?
• How were the people "spoken unto by the voice of the Lord"?
• How is preaching a gift?

Verse 22

• How were the people delivered "by the hand of the Lord"? Is this just another way of saying that the Lord did it, or is there something else referred to here?
• How were the people "saved from famine, and from sickness, and from all manner of diseases of every kind"? Is this referred to elsewhere in the Nephite record?
• How does Alma refer to both spiritual and temporal blessings? What is the relationship between spiritual and temporal blessings? Is there a difference?

Verse 23

• What does it mean to "transgress contrary to the light and knowledge" that you have? Don't we all do this sometimes?

Verse 24

• What does it mean to "utterly be destroyed from off the face of the earth"?

Verse 25

• Alma says that the Lord sent an angel to many people to tell them to come to this people and cry repentance. Does this "many" refer to more than Alma and Amulek? Does this have anything to do with the criticism the people make in verse 6 that God only sent one person?

Lexical notes

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• vs. 23 - There are only four uses of the phrase "light and knowledge" in all the scriptures. (Wouldn't you have thought it was a more common phrase?) See also Alma 39:6; Alma 45:12; D&C 77:4.

Exegesis

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The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 9

Questions

Verse 26

• How does this description of the Savior square with vv. 19-24?
• What is the glory of God? Is that the same as the "glory of the Only Begotten of the Father"? What does it mean for the Son of God to come in the "glory of the Only Begotten of the Father?
• What does it mean to be "full of" grace, equity, truth, patience, mercy, and long-suffering?
• In what ways is the Lord "quick to hear the cries of his people and to answer their prayers"? Who are "his people", members of the Church? In modern terms there a difference between how quickly he answers prayers of members of the Church ("his people") and others?

Verse 27

• How does Alma's teachings here about who the Lord will redeem compare with the teachings of Nehor (which the people of Ammonihah follow) found in Alma 1:3-4?
• What does it mean to have "faith on [the Lord's] name"?

Verse 28

• What is the way of the Lord? How are the people supposed to prepare the way?
• How does this teaching about rewards for works compare with the teachings of Nehor in Alma 1:3-4?
• What is the "power and captivation of the devil? How is that contrasted with the "power and deliverance" of Jesus Christ?
• What is the "damnation of...souls"?

Verse 29

• Alma claims that these teachings come from "the voice of the angel". Why is it important for Alma to declare that? In our modern preaching and teaching, how important is it for us to say where our message comes from?

Verse 30

• Why does Alma call these people his "brethren"?
• Why does he call them "beloved brethren" and then call them a "lost and a fallen people"?
• What does it mean for the people to have hearts that are "grossly hardened against the word of God"?

Lexical notes

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Exegesis

• Countering the doctrine of Nehor. We know that the leaders of the people in Ammonihah were followers of Nehor, and in vs. 26-28, Alma counters point by point the teachings of Nehor as recorded in Alma 1:3-4.

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The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 9

Questions

Verse 31

• If the people were going to be "wroth" with Alma for doing so, why did he call them hard-hearted and stiffnecked? When is it appropriate to hammer people with such unflattering portraits of their behavior? When is it inappropriate?

Verse 32

• Alma has really ticked these people off. Why did he have to say such harsh things against the people? Is there any sense in which this might have been counter-productive?

Verse 33

• How did Alma avoid being taken into captivity if everyone was trying to "lay their hands upon [him]"?

Verse 34

• Why weren't more of the words of Amulek written? To what degree should we take the teachings of Amulek, a recently converted missionary, as scripture for our day? What does taking his words as scripture imply about our own teachings in similar situations?

Lexical notes

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Exegesis

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