Difference between revisions of "Alma 5:33-62"

Revision as of 21:33, 27 October 2015

The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 5

Questions

• v. 46: To what does the phrase “these things” here and v. 45 refer? Is their antecedent in v. 44? How does Alma’s testimony that he has fasted and prayed many days to know these things square with the story of his conversion (see Mosiah 27:8-32 and Alma 36:6-23), in which he seems to have gained a testimony quickly and without fasting and prayer?

• v. 47: What particular words of the fathers does Alma have in mind? Does the context answer that question?

• v. 48: Was Alma influenced by 2 Ne 25:12, John 1:14, or both when he wrote this verse?

Lexical notes

• Click the edit link above and to the right to add lexical notes

Exegesis

Verses 49 - 50: Expanding Audience for Sermon

Commeting on these verses on page 122 of Feasting Upon the Word (a book, not this wiki), Richard Dilworth Rust says the following about Alma's specification of his intended audience:

“In a message frequently personalized by reference to ‘you,’ Alma also amplifies his audience from ‘my beloved brethren’ to everyone in the land—from ‘you the aged, and also the middle aged, and the rising generation’ to ‘all the ends of the earth’ (Alma 5: 49 – 50). The effect is the one achieved in essentially every Book of Mormon sermon—an immediate application to the modern-day reader.”

Related links

Verse 45-46

• Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "The Power of a Personal Testimony," Ensign, Nov 2006, pp. 37–39. Elder Uchtdorf testified: "My dear brothers and sisters, Alma received his witness by fasting and prayer more than 2,000 years ago, and we may have the same sacred experience today."