Comments on Alma 45 This chapter records Alma's commission to his son Helaman and subsequent departure out of the land of Zarahemla. From the preceding chapters it is obvious Alma is not happy about the way thing are going with the Nephites and its to the point where it is dragging him down low, cf. 29:1-2, 31:1-2, 31:30, 39:1-12. His departure isn't all that surprising, especially when he ends up apparently heading off for the land of Melek. Melek is where the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's, the converted Lamanites, settled after moving out of Jershon, cf. 35:13. If Alma cannot deal with the mediocre Nephites, then where better to head than into the company of some remarkably zealous converts? v1 At the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th year of the reign of the judges the Nephites rejoice because the Lord has delivered them from their enemies yet again. They fast, and pray, and worship God by celebrating Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot. This verse is similar in content to 30:2 in that it is the end/beginning of a year attended by fasting and prayer. The difference is in 30:2 it is after a terrible war and great slaughter among the Nephites, whereas the present account is after a great Nephite victory. v2-17 give us an accounting of Alma's final acts before departing. He commissions his son Helaman to be the high priest (v. 2-8), he predicts the fall and annihilation of the Nephites (v. 9-14), and he invokes classic covenant blessings and curses upon the righteous and wicked (v. 15-17). v2-8 It is plain from 31:7 and ch. 37 that Helaman is the heir apparent. Here it is formalized by Alma with him questioning Helaman's beliefs and convictions. There is nothing more Alma can do except then elicit promises of faithfulness, so he does it. Note Alma closes his comments to Helaman in specific with a blessing of prosperity for his faith and convictions. Alma then goes in completely the opposite direction in v. 9-14 when he curses the Nephites for their lack of faith and wickedness. v9-14 Alma predicts the annihilation of the Nephites by war and famine as a result of falling into disbelief. Any remnants will either join in with the Nephites or be hunted and killed until there is no trace of them left. Alma's primary intent is to make it clear destruction will fall on the Nephites when they sin and rebel against the Lord. The secondary intent might be to put Helaman at ease concerning the stewardship of high priest he has just received. With Alma apparently leaving because he is sick and tired of the ministry among the Nephites, this would leave a Helaman with the seemingly grim task of doing what his father is unwilling to do. So, perhaps Alma is just letting Helaman know things won't go really bad for the Nephites until well after his watch. v13 "that great and dreadful day", Alma's prediction is couched in OT prophetic rhetoric. The final Nephite slide into apostasy took about 20 years and series of wars resulting in their annihilation took several years. It wasn't a single cataclysmic day as an overly literal interpretation of Alma's words here might suggest. v15-17 Alma closes his tenure as the high priest with a some classic OT covenant rhetoric (cp. Ps. 37:22) with a blessing on the righteous (v. 15) and cursing on the wicked (v. 16). He then blesses the church and the faithful, whom he had particular stewardship over (v. 17). v18-19 Alma leaves Zarahemla apparently heading for the land of Melek, but nobody knows what ever happened to him (v. 18). But, as everyone knew how righteous Alma was, the rumor in the church was that he was buried by the hand of the Lord as was Moses and that is why nobody knows anything about his death and burial (v. 19). Regarding Alma's departure, the chapter header in the 1981 edition BofM states "Alma is taken up by the spirit even as Moses" and then footnote b on v. 19 refers the reader to "Translated Beings". The folk doctrine that Moses was translated was largely popularized by Bruce McConkie, and persists through CES Institute manuals and even the Bible Dictionary in LDS Edition KJV. All of this is despite the fact the Scriptures state repeatedly that Moses died (cf. Joshua 1:1-3, Jude 1:9, Deut. 32:49-50, Deut. 34:5-6, and especially see the IV/JST on Duet. 34:5-6 which was omitted from the LDS Edition KJV) and there is nothing Scriptural saying Moses was translated as was Elijah (e.g., in D&C 110:13 Elijah is explicitly identified as translated while there is no comment of such in the D&C 110:11 reference to Moses). This folk doctrine of translation gets imputed upon Alma by the modern because a "saying", or in other words a "rumor", went around the ancient church wherein they "suppose", or in other words "speculate", the Lord took Alma unto Himself even as He took Moses unto Himself. So the modern church concludes that if the Lord translated Moses, well then He must have translated Alma too. Aside from modern speculation being built on ancient speculation, the phrase "the Lord took Moses unto himself" does not require translation at all. Compare D&C 136:38 where the Lord says of Joseph Smith after his martyrdom "I took him to myself". The Nephite folk tradition isn't that Moses and Alma was translated, but that both were buried by the hand of the Lord, not by the hands of men, and that is why neither of their burial sites are know. And, there is no implication whatsoever that being "buried by the hand of the Lord" means translation. This whole matter of Moses' translation and the seeming implication of Alma's as well is commonly a contentious one when discussed in a classroom setting. Division typically goes along the lines of who is and who isn't a fan of McConkie's writings, with little else substantive being discussed. If your class is prone to this sort of divisiveness, avoid the subject altogether. v19 "the scriptures saith the Lord took Moses unto himself", we have no ancient Scripture to equate Mormon's quote with. The IV/JST on Deut. 34:5-6 does provide a potential harmonization: So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. For the Lord took him unto his fathers, in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor; therefore no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day. The problem here is the IV/JST harmonizes on the "took" but then omits the "buried" which is present in the KJV and also referenced in v. 19. v20-22 Helaman keeps up Alma's tradition of traveling high priest and preaches the word to the Nephites (v. 20). This traveling and preaching is necessitated by the hardening of the Nephites as a result of the wars and numerous isolated dissensions (v. 21). Thus did Helaman and his brothers travel throughout the churches among the Nephites organizing priests and teachers, getting the church on a solid footing again (v. 22). v23-24 Despite the efforts to regulate the church, some of the recently appointed priests and teachers become prideful and vain. They refuse to listen to Helaman when he calls tells them to walk uprightly before God. The result is dissension within the church. Copyright © 2001 by S. Kurt Neumiller . All rights reserved. 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