Alma Reproves the People of Ammonihah
Book of Mormon Notes - Friday, August 18, 2023, Alma 9
I’m beginning to think that Mormon inserted the superscriptions in the Book of Alma to indicate when he quotes Alma directly, because in this chapter Mormon begins to quote Alma directly again. This portion of the Book of Alma in the Book of Mormon contains Alma’s own words as well as Amulek’s own words, interspersed with Mormon’s commentary. But this chapter begins, after what might be Mormon’s superscription, with a direct citation of Alma’s record of his experience among the people of the wicked city of Ammonihah.
If Mormon wrote the superscription, or even if Alma wrote it, these are the main elements to consider in the following 6 chapters:
The words of Alma, and also the words of Amulek, which were declared unto the people who were in the land of Ammonihah. And also they are cast into prison, and delivered by the miraculous power of God which was in them, according to the record of Alma.
Alma and Amulek’s experience in prison and their miraculous deliverance is also important in later chapters of the Book of Mormon, particularly in Moroni’s abridgment of the Book of Ether, and this because it serves as one of Moroni’s main examples of what the power of faith in Jesus Christ can accomplish.
Alma’s message to the people of Ammonihah is just as urgent as he previous messages to the people of Zarahemla, Melek, and Gideon. The message is the same: repent. But Alma’s message in Ammonihah is even more urgent because the people were even more wicked and their city was on the brink of destruction. Mercifully, Heavenly Father sent Alma back to Ammonihah in order to preserve them from destruction. Alma was like Abraham pleading on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah. But the people of Ammonihah were so hard-hearted and rebellious that they mocked Alma.
Alma did his best to remind the people of the Lord’s mercies to them throughout Nephite history, from the time of Lehi onward. He did his best to remind the people of the promises of the Lord if they would keep the commandments. He also reminded the people of the tender mercies of the Lord toward the Lamanites. But the Nephites had greater responsibility because they had been endowed with greater light and knowledge. Alma repeatedly urged the people of Ammonihah to repent or else their city would be destroyed and their state would be much less tolerable than the state of the Lamanites whom they may have supposed to be more degenerate than they were. This reminds me of a principle that the Prophet Joseph Smith taught:
I do not think there have been many good men on the Earth since the days of Adam, but there was one good man, and his name was Jesus. Many persons think a Prophet must be a great deal better than any body else. suppose I would condescend, yes I will call it condescend, to be a great deal better than any of you. I would be raised up to the highest heaven, and who should I have to accompany me?
I love that man better who swears a stream as long as my arm, yet deals justice to his neighbors and mercifully deals his substance to the poor, than the long smooth faced hypocrite.
I don’t want you to think I am very righteous, for I am not.
God judges men according to the use they make of the light which he gives them.
And,
Men will be held accountable for the things which they have and not for the things they have not. … All the light and intelligence communicated to them from their beneficent creator, whether it is much or little, by the same they in justice will be judged, and … they are required to yield obedience and improve upon that and that only which is given, for man is not to live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
Thus Alma could discern that the people of Ammonihah were worse off than the Lamanites because they had been given more light and knowledge and because they were transgressing against that greater light and knowledge. The ignorance of the Lamanites came as a result of the incorrect traditions of their fathers, and promises were extended to them for a future time when they would be brought to believe in the word of God and understand the incorrectness of the traditions of their fathers. The Lord promised to be merciful and to save many of them, because the Lord is merciful unto all who bcall on his name.
The wicked people of Ammonihah, on the other hand, were threatened with destruction unless they would repent. Alma even prophesied specifically about the manner of the destruction of Ammonihah: Lamanite invasion.
Can you imagine if prophets came to your city and commanded you to repent or else the Chinese and the Russians would ransack and destroy your city? In some cases, in very wicked cities in the United States, we may be already near such a point.
Alma rehearses a very interesting list of blessings that the Lord had bestowed upon the Nephites, blessings that the people of Ammonihah had forgotten and for which they had failed to thank God. Perhaps there is something in this list of blessings for which we might thank God:
light and knowledge from the Lord
a highly favored people of the Lord
favored about every other anation, kindred, tongue, or people
having had all things bmade known unto them, according to their desires, and their faith, and prayers, of that which has been, and which is, and which is to come
having conversed with angels
having been spoken unto by the voice of the Lord
having the spirit of prophecy
having the spirit of revelation
having also many gifts
the gift of speaking with tongues
the gift of preaching
and the gift of the Holy Ghost
and the gift of btranslation
having been adelivered of God out of the land of Jerusalem, by the hand of the Lord
having been bsaved from famine, and from sickness, and all manner of diseases of every kind
having waxed strong in battle, that they might not be destroyed
having been kept and preserved until now
prospered until they are rich in all manner of things—
Think of this list of blessings in the context of the United States of America, for example, and especially in the context of those who have been blessed with knowledge of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This reminds me of the Lord’s teachings regarding the gifts of the Spirit:
But ye are commanded in all things to aask of God, who giveth liberally; and that which the Spirit testifies unto you even so I would that ye should do in all bholiness of heart, walking uprightly before me, cconsidering the end of your salvation, doing all things with prayer and dthanksgiving, that ye may not be eseduced by evil fspirits, or doctrines of devils, or the gcommandments of men; for some are of men, and others of devils.
Wherefore, beware lest ye are deceived; and that ye may not be deceived aseek ye earnestly the best gifts, always remembering for what they are given;
For verily I say unto you, they are given for the benefit of those who love me and keep all my commandments, and him that seeketh so to do; that all may be benefited that seek or that ask of me, that ask and not for a asign that they may bconsume it upon their lusts.
And again, verily I say unto you, I would that ye should always remember, and always retain in your aminds what those bgifts are, that are given unto the church.
For all have not every agift given unto them; for there are many gifts, and to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God.
To some is given one, and to some is given another, that all may be profited thereby.
To some it is given by the aHoly Ghost to know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that he was crucified for the sins of the world.
To others it is given to abelieve on their words, that they also might have eternal life if they continue faithful.
And again, to some it is given by the Holy Ghost to know the adifferences of administration, as it will be pleasing unto the same Lord, according as the Lord will, suiting his bmercies according to the conditions of the children of men.
And again, it is given by the Holy Ghost to some to know the diversities of operations, whether they be of God, that the manifestations of the aSpirit may be given to every man to profit withal.
And again, verily I say unto you, to some is given, by the Spirit of God, the word of awisdom.
To another is given the word of aknowledge, that all may be taught to be wise and to have knowledge.
And again, to some it is given to have afaith to be healed;
And to others it is given to have faith to aheal.
And again, to some is given the working of amiracles;
And to others it is given to aprophesy;
And to others the adiscerning of spirits.
And again, it is given to some to speak with atongues;
And to another is given the interpretation of tongues.
And all these agifts come from God, for the benefit of the bchildren of God.
And unto the abishop of the church, and unto such as God shall appoint and ordain to watch over the church and to be elders unto the church, are to have it given unto them to bdiscern all those gifts lest there shall be any among you professing and yet be not of God.
And it shall come to pass that he that asketh in aSpirit shall receive in Spirit;
That unto some it may be given to have all those gifts, that there may be a head, in order that every member may be profited thereby.
He that aasketh in the bSpirit asketh according to the cwill of God; wherefore it is done even as he asketh.
And again, I say unto you, all things must be done in the name of Christ, whatsoever you do in the Spirit;
And ye must give athanks unto God in the Spirit for whatsoever blessing ye are blessed with.
And ye must practice avirtue and holiness before me continually. Even so. Amen. (D&C 46:7-33)
Alma’s list of blessings is very similar to the Lord’s list of the gifts of the Spirit, and the people of Ammonihah had been deceived because they failed to give thanks for the gifts of the Spirit, and the many other gifts that the Lord had bestowed upon them. They had forgotten how the Lord had delivered them, first from Jerusalem, and many other times thereafter. They had forgotten, as we too often forget, this vital principle:
And in nothing doth man aoffend God, or against none is his bwrath ckindled, save those who dconfess not his hand in all things, and eobey not his commandments. (D&C 59:21)
The people of Ammonihah had offended God because of their ingratitude as well as their many other sins. The Lord’s wrath was kindled against the people of Ammonihah because they did not acknowledge His hand in all things, and they disobeyed His commandments. The Lord’s wrath was further kindled when the people of Ammonihah mocked and imprisoned those whom He had mercifully sent to them to call them to repentance.
Alma testified that Christ’s coming was immanent:
And anot many days hence the Son of God shall come in his bglory; and his glory shall be the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of cgrace, equity, and truth, full of patience, dmercy, and long-suffering, quick to ehear the cries of his people and to answer their prayers. (Alma 9:26)
Alma did not shy away from testifying plainly regarding the hard-heartedness and lost and fallen state of the people of Ammonihah. It was not something that they wanted to hear. In fact, they were furious.
The last verse in this chapter, I believe, is Mormon’s commentary again, perhaps signaled by the oft repeated phrase “and it came to pass”:
And it came to pass that Amulek went and stood forth, and began to preach unto them also. And now the awords of Amulek are not all written, nevertheless a part of his words are written in this book. (Alma 9:34)