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The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 30

Questions

Alma 30:2

• Why didn't the Nephites number their dead?
• Why was fasting and prayer necessary to the establishment of peace?

Alma 30:3

• What ordinances of God are referred to here as being "according to the law of Moses"?
• How does the Nephite understanding of the Law of Moses differ from that which you find in the Old Testament?
• How does the Nephite understanding of the Law of Moses affect our understanding of doctrines in the church today that appear to be temporary?

Lexical notes

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Exegesis

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Related links

• Brant Gardner's Commentary on Alma 30.
• Ben Spackman's page on Alma.
• User:Amberdawnwp comments on questions about Alma 30:1-5 here.

The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 30

Questions

Verse 6

• Apparently Korihor is not from the land of Zarahemla, as here he is described as coming "into the land". Where did Korihor come from?
• What is the exact meaning of the term "Anti"? We also see this term used in describing the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's who later became the people of Ammon.

Lexical notes

Verse 10

• This verse seems to be making a distinction between "stealing" and "robbery." Some have argued that this tracks a distinction in ancient Hebrew law between merely taking the property of someone else ("stealing") and attacking them on the highway and extracting property by threats of violence ("robbery").

Exegesis

Verses 7-10

Because these verses are the only place in the Book of Mormon where a specific legal rule is derived from a particular scriptural text they are an interesting place to gain insight into Nephite legal reasoning. In this case, the scriptural text is Josh 24:15, and the legal rule is that "if he [i.e. a man] did not believe in him [i.e. God] there was no law to punish him." This rule is contrasted with the prohibitions on murder, robbery, and adultery, all of which could be punished. (Note: The fact that adultery was punished gives lie to those who have attempted to interpret this as a libertarian proof text.)

Joshua 24 is sometimes referred to as the Shechem Covenant. It recounts how at the end of his life, Joshua gathered the Children of Israel at Shechem and rehearsed to them the history of God's dealing with them, how he brought them to the Promised Land and gave it to them. In Josh 24:15 (the verse relied on by the Nephite jurists), Joshua then asks the Children of Israel whether or not they will serve God. They reply in the affirmative, and Joshua then draws up an elaborate contract -- complete with legal formalities -- to make their promise binding.

The Shechem passage is interesting because it is one of the few places in the Old Testament where the Children of Israel are offered a choice of whether or not they will serve Yahweh rather than other gods. Elsewhere, the Children of Israel are chosen by God rather than vice versa. Hence, the passage is perhaps uniquely suited for providing a voluntarist justification for religious practice.

What is also interesting is that the Shechem passage contains explicitly legal materials, namely the covenant by Israel to follow God. Because of this, a more natural legal reading of the passage would be to construe the terms of this covenant as being binding upon all Israelites including, presumably, the Nephites. In that case, it would make sense to carefully analyze the terms of this contract to understand the resulting Nephite obligations. Instead however, the Nephites define their legal rule in reference to the Joshua passage as if they are themselves within the story having the same choice the Israelites there had.

Related links

"Nephite Legal Reasoning" (post at Times & Seasons by Nate Oman)

The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 30

Questions

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The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 30

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The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 30

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The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 30

Questions

Verses 27-28

• Are similar arguments used to today to criticize religious teachings? If so, by whom?

Lexical notes

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Exegesis

Verse 27

• Alma states in verse 32 that Korihor is wrong and knows he's wrong about church officials glutting themselves with the labors of the people.

Related links

• Verse 27: Elder Eyring explains this verse in his General Conference Address Finding Safety in Counsel (Ensign, May 1997, 24).

The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 30

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The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 30

Questions

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The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 30

Questions

Verse 44

• "Tempt." What does Alma mean by using the word "tempt" here? Where else in LDS scripture is this term used, and what are the connotations? How does this word differ from the related (at least in Hebrew) words prove and try? How are these words used in similarly and differently in LDS scripture, and the Book of Mormon in particular? (Cf. lexical note for James 1:13.)

Lexical notes

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Exegesis

We see over and over in the Book of Mormon that signs do not convert. Take Laman and Lemuel for instance. Over and over they experienced physical signs (i.e. visitations from angels, hearing the voice of the Lord, etc), however, they never became truly converted, and in the end they fell away from the truth.

In verses 41-42 Alma states that he knows these things are true, and that he knows that Korihor also knows the truth. One can picture Alma looking Korihor in the eye, feeling the Spirit witness the truth of what Alma has been teaching, and knowing that Korihor is also feeling the Spirit. Then in verse 44 Alma says 'Thou hast had signs enough...', listing all the various physical evidences, and in verse 46 he says '..that ye will still resist the spirit of the truth...' refering to the witness of the Spirit that Korihor is denying.

Related links

• See User:Brettferre/Alma 30:41-45 for quotes by George A. Smith and Michael Parson.

The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 30

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The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 30

Questions

Verse 51

• Why did the chief judge "write" to Korihor? Was Korihor struck deaf as well as dumb (v. 50)?

Lexical notes

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Exegesis

Even this "sign" that Korihor recieved (being struck dumb) did not convert him. Alma understood the concept that physical signs don't convert, but rather spiritual witnesses are necessary for conversion, and told Korihor that if his "sign" was reversed, he would go back to his old ways.

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The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 30

Questions

Verse 59

• What does it mean that Korihor was "run upon and trodden down...until he was dead?" Does this mean that he was trampled, as if by British soccer fans? Or is this a reference to something else? In Mesoamerica, imagery shows that war captives were frequently stepped on by their captors before being sacrificed to their gods. Is this verse reference to a similar practice of human sacrifice among the Zoramites?

Verse 60

• Why are Korihor's actions referred to as a perversion of the ways of the Lord, rather than an apostasy or turning away from those ways?

Lexical notes

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Exegesis

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Related links

• See User:Brettferre/Alma 30:56-60 for quote by Janette C Hales.

The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 31

Questions

Verse 1

Idols. Idols are mentioned here, but are not mentioned again in relation to the Zoramites. Why not? What is the point in mentioning the idols here?

Verse 2

• Separation: cause or result? Was the Zoramites' separation a cause of their subsequent pride and apostacy, the result, or both? Why is Alma sorrowful about this separation? (Cf. the word dissenters in verse 8.)

Verse 4

• Double standard on correspondence/separation? Here the Nephites "feared that the Zoramites would enter into correspondence with the Lamanites," presumably because the Lamanites would have a bad influence on the Nephites. In chapter 31 we read about the Zoramite rich separating themselves from the poor. It seems that implicitly the Nephites are doing the right thing in remaining separate from the Lamanites but the Zoramite rich are doing the wrong thing by separating themselves from the Zoramite poor. When is separation a good thing and when is it a bad thing?

Verse 5

• The sword. What does the reference here to "the sword" mean here? Is it related to the "correspondence with the Lamanites" referred to in verse 4? How? What effect can the sword have "upon the minds of the people"? Are there episodes in Nephite history that illustrate this?

Lexical notes

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Exegesis

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Related links

• See User:Brettferre/Alma 31:1-5 for quotes by Elder Packer and Ezra Taft Benson.

• See also Chapter 10 in Teaching, No Greater Call

The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 31

Questions

Verse 8

• "Therefore." If the Zoramites had not been dissenters, would the word of God not need to be preached? Is the focus here on the need that dissenters have for preaching or for the word of God?

Verse 9

• "But." The use of the contrasting word but seems a bit curious here since the previous verse has just described the Nephites as "dissenters," which seems a parallel idea to falling into error, not a contrasting idea. So it seems that the contrast is with the phrase in verse 8 "they had the word of God preached unto them." If this is correct, then the but here seems to underscore a separation between these two clauses in verse 8. Does this imply that the errors being described here occurred after the word of God was preached unto them? If not, what is going on here?

• "Observe to keep." In today's parlance, we typically talk of "observing the commandments" or "keeping the commandments," so this phrase incorporating both terms seems somewhat odd. What is the meaning and significance of this phrase?

Lexical notes

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Exegesis

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The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 31

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The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 31

Questions

• How could these people have been so deceived as to believe that God had manifested unto them that there should be no Christ?

Lexical notes

Verse 16

• "Elected." Interestingly, this is the only passage in the Book of Mormon that uses any form of the word elect. The word chosen is used many times in the Book of Mormon in a way that seems very similar to the meaning of the word elected (cf. bachiyr in Hebrew and eklectos in Greek). The reason this word is used here, and only here in the Book of Mormon, might be related to the theological connotations the word had to Joseph Smith's ears at the time of translation when, for example, a Pauline doctrine of election might have been heavily discussed, though more research on this would have to be done to give this idea anything more than a purely speculative basis.

Exegesis

Verse 17

"The same yesterday, today, and forever." It seems this is a true teaching that the Zoramites were familiar with (cf. 1 Ne 10:18; 2 Ne 2:4; 2 Ne 27:23), but had perhaps twisted to mean that, strictly and technically speaking, if God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, then he would remain without a physical, bodily presence in this world. So this phrase seems to more closelyl lnk the idea in verse 15 that God is a spirit, and "wilt be forever," to their conclusion that there would be no Christ. However, this seems a bit inconsistent with the idea that God electing the Zoramaties: if God is literally and technically taken to be the same yesterday, today, and forever, how can God elect a people who were split off from the Nephites? Is this election of a new people a new action on the part of God?

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The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 31

Questions

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Lexical notes

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Exegesis

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• See User:Brettferre/Alma 31:21-25 for a quote by Elaine Sorensen.

The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 31

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The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 31

Questions

• Verse 35: Why are only "many of them ...our brethren" and not "all" of them?

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Exegesis

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• See User:Brettferre/Alma 31:31-35 for quotes by Brigham Young and Elder Maxwell.

The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 31

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