Alma 36-38
Chiasmus:
It is sometimes called inverted parallelism. It is a Hebrew
literary form where words or ideas are arranged in a certain
order and then repeated in reverse order. This repetition
emphasizes important ideas and words. In addition, the
writer’s main idea is often located at the center of the
chiasmus.
Alma 36 is a good example of chiasmus.
v. 1 & 30
v. 4 & 5 with v. 26
v. 3 & 27
v. 16 & 17 with 22
Alma 36-37
Given to Helaman. The central message of the chiasmus focuses on
the time in Alma’s life when he experienced great pain and sorrow
and turned to Jesus Christ for relief (Alma 36:17-18)
Alma 36:3
Hear my words and learn of me, and if you do you will be supported
in your trials and afflictions and eventually lifted up!
Alma 36:11-19
Godlike Sorrow!
Conviction brought sorrow to repentance through torment-racking
memory. His sins were exquisite and bitter. Alma had convinced
himself (Miracle of Forgiveness, 157-58).
(Alma 38:8)
“There can be no forgiveness without real
and total repentance, and there can be no
repentance without punishment. This is
as eternal as is the soul….’It is so easy to
let our sympathies carry us out of
proportion; and when a man has
committed sin, he must suffer. It is an
absolute requirement” (Spencer W.
Kimball, Ensign, May 1975, 78).
“We must remember that repentance is
more than just saying, ‘I am sorry.’ It is
more than tears in one’s eyes. It is more
than half a dozen prayers. Repentance
means suffering. If a person hasn’t
suffered, he hasn’t repented…He has got
to go through a change in his system
whereby he suffers” (Spencer W.
Kimball, Teachings, 99).
Elder Richard G. Scott explained one of
the reasons for godly sorrow: “The
painful consequences of sin were
purposely put in His plan of happiness by
a compassionate Father in Heaven so that
you need not follow that tragic path in
life. A sinner will not only suffer in this
life, but sins that have not been forgiven
through true repentance will cause
anguish beyond the veil (C.R., Oct. 2002,
94).
Alma 36:12
What are the meanings of “harrowed up” and “racked”?
The prophet chose very graphic words.
Racked means “tortured.”
Anciently a rack was a framework on which the victim was laid with
each ankle and wrist tied to a spindle which could then be turned to
cause unbearable pain.
A harrow is a frame with spikes through it.
When pulled across the ground, it rips and tears into the soil (Boyd K.
Packer, Ensign, May 2001, 23).
How do you know if you’ve really been forgiven?
(Mosiah 4:3)
“Repentance involves not just a change of actions,
but a change of heart” (President Benson, “A
Mighty Change of Heart,” Ensign, Oct. 1989, 2).
Alma 36:24
Taste the fruit of the tree!
A central theme of the Book of Mormon.
Alma 37:6-7
Small and simple!
“To do well those things which God ordained to be the
common lot of all mankind, is the truest greatness. To be a
successful father or a successful mother is greater than to be
a successful general or a successful statesman” (Joseph F.
Smith, Gospel Doctrine, 285).
Alma 37:8-9
Power of the Word
While faith is not a perfect knowledge, it brings a deep trust in
God, whose knowledge is perfect! Otherwise, one’s small
database of personal experience permits so few useful
generalizations! But by searching the holy scriptures, we
access a vast, divine data bank, a reservoir of remembrance.
In this way, the scriptures can, as the Book of Mormon says,
enlarge the memory (Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, May 1991, 8990).
Just as the capacity to defer gratification is a sign of real
maturity, likewise the willingness to wait for deferred
explanation is a sign of real faith and of trust spread over time
(Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, May 1985, 71).
Alma 37:8-9
Power of the Word or 4 things
the scriptures can do for us…
1. v.8
Enlarge the memory of the people and
convince the people of the error of their ways.
2. v.8
Bring us to the knowledge of their God unto
salvation.
3. v.9
Convince people of the incorrect tradition of their
fathers.
4. v.9
Bring many unto repentance.
Alma 37:23
“Gazelem” means God’s servant.
The word appears to have its roots in Gaz --- a stone, and
Aleim, a name of God as a revelator, or the interposer in the
affairs of men. If this suggestion is correct, its roots
admirably agree with its apparent meaning --- a seer”
(George Reynolds and Jane M. Sjodahl, Commentary of the
Book of Mormon, 4:162).
William W. Phelps said it meant “light of the Lord.”
It was a code name for Joseph Smith (D&C 78).
“Gazelem”
“Like the sun in his meridian splendor, Joseph Smith
showed (sic) a full man, at home, among his friends, in the
fields, on the bench, or before the world; a pattern parent; a
worthy friend; a model general; a righteous judge, and the
wisest man of the age, sustained by truth, and “God was his
right hand man.” Surely, as one of the holy ones
commissioned by his father among the royal seventy, when
the high council of heaven set them apart to come down and
“multiply and replenish this earth,” he was the “last,” and
who knows but the “greatest,” for he declared – we –knew
not who he was! So, I may say, as the last is to be the first,
and the first last in eternal rotation, that Joseph Smith, who
was Gazelem in the spirit world, was, and is, and will be in
the endless progress of Eternity: -- the Prince of Light”
(The Joseph/Hyrum Smith Funeral Sermon by Richard Van
Wagoner and Steven C. Walker Fn, BYU Studies, vol. 23
(1983),.)
That seer stone was prepared for Joseph Smith and
was apparently delivered to him in 1822, five years
before he was given the spectacles. Wilford Woodruff
stated that it was “the seer stone known as ‘Gazelem,’
which was shown by the Lord to the Prophet Joseph to
be some thirty feet under ground, and which he
obtained by digging under the pretense of excavating a
well for Willard Chase (George A. Smith Papers, box
174, folder 26, Manuscripts Division, Marriott
Library, University of Utah).
Alma 37:21, 27-29, 32
“Not Reveal Secret Works of Darkness”
President Packer explained that teaching about sin in
too much detail may stir one’s curiosity to experiment
with sin:
“I am convinced that two of the major mistakes are to teach
too much about the subject and to teach it at the wrong
time…. I know of more than one instance in which a young
person has been led to experiment in gross and perverted
immorality because of a suggestion that originated with his
“Those who teach, and I refer to leaders, to teachers, and to parents,
should keep in mind this message. Picture a father and mother leaving
home for a period of time. Just as they go out the door they say to
their little children who are left untended during their absence, ‘Now
children, be good. Whatever you do while we are gone, do not take
the footstool into the pantry, and do not climb to the fourth shelf and
move the cracker box and reach back and get the sack of beans and
take a bean and put it up your nose, will you?’
“Some of us are just that foolish. The humor of the illustration is wry
humor when you think of the first thing that happens after the parents
are gone. Surely we can be wiser than that. Young people should
know from the very beginning that chastity is a sacred subject (Teach
Ye Diligently [1975], 256-57).
Alma 37:33-37
Seven Suggestions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Cry unto the Lord for all thy support.
Let all thy doings be unto the Lord.
Let all thy thoughts be unto the Lord.
Let thy affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.
Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings.
When thou liest down at night, liest down unto the Lord.
When thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto
God.
Why do these things?
Ye shall be lifted up at the last day!
President Benson described the power that comes
from learning to keep the commandments early in
life while still young: “Give me a young man who
has kept himself morally clean and has faithfully
attended his Church meetings. Give me a young
man who has magnified his priesthood and has
earned the Duty to God Award and is an Eagle
Scout. Give me a young man who is a seminary
graduate and has a burning testimony of the Book of
Mormon. Give me such a young man and I will
give you a young man who can perform miracles for
the Lord in the mission field and throughout his life”
(C.R., Apr. 1986, 59).
Alma 37:37
What blessings come from praying each morning
and night?
“I have little or no fear for the boy or the girl, the
young man or the young woman, who honestly and
conscientiously supplicate God twice a day for the
guidance of His Spirit. I am sure that when
temptation comes they will have the strength to
overcome it by the inspiration that shall be given
them. Supplicating the Lord for the guidance of His
Spirit places around us a safeguard, and if we…
honestly seek the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord,
I can assure you that we will receive it” (Heber J.
Grant, Gospel Standards, 26).
“We all go through periods of dryness in our
prayers, don’t we? I doubt whether they are
necessarily a bad symptom. I sometimes
suspect that what we feel to be our best
prayers are really our worst: that what we
enjoying is the satisfaction of apparent
success, as in executing a dance or reciting a
poem. Do our prayers sometimes go wrong
because we insist on trying to talk to God
when He wants to talk to us (The Collected
Letters of C.S. Lewis – Vol. 3, (2007), 930).
D&C 68:25-30
Eight things to teach your children:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Faith in Jesus Christ
Repentance - Atonement
Baptism by Immersion - Authority
Holy Ghost - Remission of Sins
To work
To be honest
To keep the Sabbath Day Holy
To Pray
Alma 37:38
This is the first time “Liahona” is mentioned by
name.
What is the meaning of Liahona?
“L is a Hebrew preposition meaning ‘to,’…lah is a
Hebrew abbreviated form of ‘Jehovah,’ … On is the
Hebrew name of the Egyptian ‘City of the Sun,’
L’iah-on means therefore, literally, ‘To God is
Light’; or, ‘of God is Light.’ That is to say, God
gives light” (George Reynolds and Janne M.
Sjodahl, Commentary of the Book of Mormon,
1:229).
Alma 37:44-47
“The Liahona”
Compares the principles on which the Liahona worked to our own
faith in Christ.
Elder W. Rolfe Kerr of the Seventy compared the words of Christ to
the Liahona.
President Thomas S. Monson compared the Liahona to an individual’s
patriarchal blessing.
President Spencer W. Kimball compared the Liahona to the light
Christ, or our conscience.
Elder David R. Bednar compared it to the gift of the Holy Ghost.
What would you compare it to?
Alma 38:12
“How do we bridle all of our passions?
To kill, to diminish, or even to limit the
spirit and power of the steed?
Never….We are given our bodies and our
emotions not to destroy but to ride”
(Truman G. Madsen, Four Essays on
Love, 36).
Elder Bruce C. Hafen of the Seventy and his wife Marie explained
that a bridle was meant to direct, not destroy, desires and passions:
“Is self-denial wise because something is wrong with our passions, or
because something is right with our passions? Alma taught his son
to bridle all of his passions so he could be filled with love. He did not
say to eliminate or even suppress his passions, but bridle them --harness, channel, and focus them. Why? Because discipline makes
possible a richer, deeper love” (The Belonging Heart, 1994, 302).