Difference between revisions of "Alma 14:16-20"

Revision as of 19:34, 5 August 2011

The Book of Mormon > Alma > Chapter 14

Questions

Verse 16

• What is the order and faith of Nehor? Is there a difference between the faith of Nehor and the order of Nehor? Why is it significant that the judge was a Nehorite?

• How is the word “faith” being used in this verse? Is Mormon talking about a religious faith/sect, or some other kind of faith.

Verse 17

• Why didn't Alma and Amulek answer the judge? Is their silence a strategic form or passive aggressiveness or it is something else?
• Who are these officers that deliver the prisoners into prison? What is the nature of their office? What can we infer about the organization of Ammonihah society based on the presence of "officers"?
• What do we know about Nephite or Nehorite prisons?

Verse 18

• What do we know about the position of lawyers, judges, priests, and teachers in this society?

• What does "who were of the profession of Nehor" modify--lawyers, and judges, and priests, and teachers or just a subset of these; perhaps just teachers or priests and teachers? What does the "profession" of Nehor mean, and how is it related to the "order" and "faith" of Nehor (v.16)?

• What kind of information were they trying to get out of Alma and Amulek as they sat in prison?

Verse 19

Did Alma and Amulek refuse to answer the judge because of Alma's revelation from the Lord that they still had work to do? Did their silence mean anything?

Are the words "power" and "command" in this sentence used to highlight and contrast the judge's (earthly) authority against Alma and Amulek's message of Jesus Christ, the true Judge who possesses all true Power and who authors all Commands?

Lexical notes

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

Exegesis

Order and Faith of Nehor At this point in the story we are finally told the nature of the politico-religious rebellion taking place in Ammonihah--the leadership of the city is "after the order and faith [and profession] of Nehor" (v16, 18). Nehor had advocated for the establishment of priestcraft--paid religious leadership--and here we find that his system was actually implemented in Ammonihah. Nehor taught that "all mankind should be saved at the last day" Alma 1:4, here in Ammonihah the Nehorites appear to be challenging the idea of a Christ rescuing only the repentant--showing to their mind the futility of such a belief by casting the religious followers into flames where they were not saved.

Profession of Nehor In v18 we are told that some of the leaders are not just of the "order and faith" of Nehor, but are of the "profession" of Nehor. Based on the current punctuation it may be impossible to know if the "lawyers, and judges, and priests, and teachers" were all "of the profession of Nehor" or if that phrase should just refer to a subset of these. As Nehor had originally taught that priests and teachers should be paid Alma 1:3, perhaps we could read v18 as "there came many lawyers and judges, and priests and teachers who were of the profession of Nehor." This raises interesting questions about the relationship between Nehor's philosophy, paid priesthood, and the political leadership of the breakaway apostate Nephites/Mulekites society in Ammonihah and elsewhere (such as Jerusalem near the Land of Nephi Alma 21:4). Judges and lawyers were paid for their time according to the law of Mosiah Alma 11:1, but presumably Nehorite priests and teachers in Ammonihah were also paid as Nehor had advocated.

Smote them...on their cheeks In Alma 1:22 we learn that those who followed Nehor were prone to contending with the believers, "even unto blows; yea, they would smite one another with their fists." Here the Nehorite judge assaults Alma an Amulek in the same manner.

Related links

• See the end of the essay, "Ammonihah," by Kent Brown for some interesting comments on why the enemies of Alma and Amulek felt they had to return again and again to demand that the prisoners speak.