Talk:Alma 12:31-37

From Feast upon the Word (http://feastupontheword.org). Copyright, Feast upon the Word.

Provocation

I wish I had some idea of what is meant by "last provocation" in verse 36. Does anyone have any ideas? --Matthew Faulconer 06:27, 12 Nov 2005 (UTC)

I found this on google-- Bryan Richards explains the first provocation as a reference to what Adam and Eve do in the garden of Eden [1]. Maybe if I tried to write up the commentary myself I could put the pieces together. To me I see now only very limited textual support for this. Still, it makes sense so maybe it is still the best explanation. Also see [2], --Matthew Faulconer 06:41, 12 Nov 2005 (UTC)

Rest of Lord, rest of God

Since we've just been talking about lexical notes vs. exegesis, here's a good example of where I felt my comment didn't belong in the exegesis section since I haven't said anything interpretive (yet)....

I'm actually looking at this passage trying to understand possible significance of the term "Lord God" in Alma 13:1. It might be a bit strained to read much significance in differentiated uses of the terms "Lord," "God," and "Lord God," but up to this point, Alma has only used the term "God" in his sermon, whereas here he starts to use the term "Lord" also. In the Old Testament, LORD represents the Tetragrammaton, which seems closely related to the revelation of Moses in Ex 3:14-15 (see commentary there for a few details).

Could use of the dual terms Lord and God be related to the duality of the first and last provocation? We often talk of temporal death vs. spiritual death. One view of the Tetragrammaton associates it with the eternal nature of God. Perhaps introducing the term Lord (LORD) is hinting at an eternal rest and/or death, as opposed to a more temporary rest or death, as the first provocation seems to entail (whether the first provocation refers to being kicked out of the Garden or wandering in the wilderness). If we can sort out these issues, they may help us better understand what "prepatory" means in Alma 13:3. --RobertC 13:51, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

Returning to this chapter

Robert and I had a marvelous discussion or two on this chapter over the phone (recorded and soon to be posted as podcasts online), and we decided it deserves careful attention here on the wiki. Anyone who would like to take this up, feel quite free to join us. --Joe Spencer 23:44, 19 September 2007 (CEST)

Joe, there's a good chance I'll be trying to explore a rather different direction here than what we discussed on the phone--just fair warning. Let me know if you think I'm going in a direction that doesn't look very productive. --RobertC 15:15, 20 September 2007 (CEST)