Difference between revisions of "Alma 36:1-5"

Revision as of 11:06, 15 September 2005

What is the parallelism that is going on throughout this chapter? The Hebrew writing style was used a lot in the form of poetry. They used lots of symbolism and imagery to convey meaning. Alma 36 supports this idea with Alma’s use if chiasm. Chiasm is a type of inverted parallelism where two lines that contain certain ideas are placed in relationship. For example, verse one and thirty are parallelisms of each other. In verse one, Alma says, “…inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the land.” This parallels itself in verse thirty when Alma tells Helaman the exact same things, “…inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the land.” The parallelism occurs throughout the entire chapter. The middle verses are 17 and 18 and it fans out to the beginning and the end. See if you can find other verses where Alma parallels himself.

Why does Alma begin to counsel with all of his sons individually? Alma obviously loves his sons because he tells each of them things that he wants them to remember throughout their life. He gives them guidance, counsel, and expresses his love of Jesus Christ. But why does he all the sudden do it right in the middle of everything that is taking place? A war is about to happen and Alma makes sure that he talks to his sons. Why? After he is finished with each of them, Alma disappears. Nobody knows where he went. Some say that he was taken up into heaven, but we don’t know what happened to him. We do know however, that the reason why he spoke to each one of his sons, expressing the concerns and passions that were in his heart, is because he knew he was leaving and wouldn’t see them again. He wanted them to know how he felt.

Why do our minds sometimes get blurred and we forget that Jesus is always there for us? In verse three, Alma says, “…for I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day.” Sometimes we get so caught up in worldly problems, such as school, family trials, relationships, and work, and we start to stress and worry about things that could happen or that might happen. We forget that if we just go to the Lord and ask Him to give us comfort and love that everything will work out in the end. We might not get the outcome that we would hope for but if we humble ourselves and tell the Lord that we need His help, He will help us. He doesn’t want to see us suffer, which is why He tells that if we us that if we just put our trust in Him, we will be lifted up at the last day. We will be just fine.

Lexical notes

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Exegesis

In verse 1 Helaman tells his son that by keeping the commandments he will prosper in the land. Note that in the last verse of the chapter, Helaman repeats this promise--that he will prosper in the land if he keeps the commandments. Most of what happens between the first and last verse of this chapter is that Helaman tells the story of his conversion. One way of reading this is that Helaman uses the story of his own life as an example of how someone who keeps the commandments of God prospers in the land. This reading suggests that the phrase "prosper in the land" isn't strictly about having material blessings like lots of flocks, riches or posterity. Why? Because instead of talking about these material blessings, Helaman tells his son how by following the Lord he received spiritual blessings, for example, the blessings of great joy (verses 20-21; 25)and the blessing of support through trials (verse 27).

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