Mormon's Manual for Latter-day Fathers

Book of Mormon Notes - Sunday, October 8, 2023, Alma 37 (continued)

After teaching his son Helaman about the Brass Plates, the Nephite Plates, the Jaredite Plates, the Interpreters, and about what he should teach the people, Alma the Younger begins to teach his son about strengthening his personal connection to and reliance upon the Lord Jesus Christ. In connection with these teachings, Alma also begins to teach his son about the Liahona.

I have often supposed while reading these chapters that Alma took each of his sons aside privately in order to counsel, teach, testify, and strengthen each one of them. But now I’m not so sure. This is the verse in which Mormon introduces Alma’s meetings with his sons:

Therefore, he caused that his sons should be gathered together, that he might give unto them every one his ^acharge, separately, concerning the things pertaining unto righteousness. And we have an account of his commandments, which he gave unto them according to his own record. (Alma 35:16)

Why did Alma gather his sons together like this? The preceding verse shows us:

Now Alma, being ^agrieved for the iniquity of his people, yea for the wars, and the bloodsheds, and the contentions which were among them; and having been to declare the word, or sent to declare the word, among all the people in every city; and seeing that the hearts of the people began to wax hard, and that they began to be ^boffended because of the strictness of the word, his heart was exceedingly sorrowful. (Alma 35:15)

Alma was suffering. He was grieved for the iniquity of his people. He was grieved for the wars, the bloodsheds, and the contentions which were among them. He and his sons and his friends had recently returned from their missions to preach the word of God, difficult but successful missions among apostates, and many others. Alma knew that the hearts of the people had begun to wax hard, and that they had begun to be offended because of the strictness of the word. For these and other reasons, Alma’s heart was exceedingly sorrowful.

This is how I read these verses: after all of Alma’s efforts among his people, after all of his hard work in preaching the Gospel, testifying of Christ, and inviting souls to come unto Christ by faith unto repentance - in spite of the success that he and his missionary companions had experienced in some ways - Alma began to see that the present generation was becoming so hardened and impenitent that he began to look more toward the future. Ammonihah had been destroyed. The Zoramites were stirring up the anger of the Lamanites. Alma had preached the word of God to pull down the pride of the Nephites in Zarahemla. Too few among the Nephites were receptive and truly penitent. Alma began to see that, after he had done his duty among his own people, and after the sons of Mosiah had planted the seeds of the Gospel among the Lamanites, it was time to focus things closer to home and to prepare future leaders and the rising generation so that there would be hope for future generations.

This is also a scriptural pattern that we see with Adam and his posterity, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph and their posterity, with Lehi and his posterity, and with many others: the father, the patriarch, gathers his family, and blesses his children, including his sons, and gives them counsel and a ^acharge concerning the things pertaining unto righteousness. When Mormon writes that Alma the Younger gathered his sons together, it seems to me that Alma the Younger did the same thing that former patriarchs like Lehi had done: he gathered his family together in the same place at the same time. Mormon records that Alma “caused that his sons should be gathered together”, which I take to mean that they were all present as he taught them. But then Mormon mentions that Alma’s purpose for gathering his sons together was that “he might give unto them every one his ^acharge, separately, concerning the things pertaining unto righteousness.” This may mean that Alma taught and counseled his sons as they were all gathered together while giving separate counsel and a charge to each, or it may mean that Alma took each one of his sons aside privately to counsel and teach individually, one on one.

The reason I wonder about this has to do with the language in each of these chapters, and the progression of the teachings from Helaman to Shiblon to Corianton. Alma was obviously teaching directly and counseling on an individual basis for each son, but as we progress through these teachings it is also clear that they are all linked together and that everyone may have been present at the same time. I don’t know. Perhaps the most important thing is that because Alma was grieved and because his heart was exceedingly sorrowful, he was drawn closer and closer to home and to his own inner circle because he didn’t want his own family to suffer from the same hardness of heart and offense at the strictness of the word as the rest of the Nephites. Alma saw that his civilization was in decline and that many people were simply incorrigible and unprepared to receive his testimony and his counsel. But if he could reach and prepare his own sons, perhaps there was hope for the future.

This does not mean that the Nephites were completely beyond hope at this point. But I find more evidence for my reading of these verses in a future exchange between Alma and his son Helaman in particular. In fact, it seems to me that Alma knew that he was about to finish his work, and that he was ready to move on to the next phase of existence, as Mormon so eloquently recounted:

And it came to pass in the nineteenth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi, that Alma came unto his son Helaman and said unto him: Believest thou the words which I spake unto thee concerning those ^arecords which have been kept?

And Helaman said unto him: Yea, I ^abelieve.

And Alma said again: Believest thou in Jesus Christ, who shall come?

And he said: Yea, I believe all the words which thou hast spoken.

And Alma said unto him again: Will ye ^akeep my commandments?

And he said: Yea, I will keep thy commandments with all my heart.

Then Alma said unto him: Blessed art thou; and the Lord shall ^aprosper thee in this land.

But behold, I have somewhat to ^aprophesy unto thee; but what I prophesy unto thee ye shall not make known; yea, what I prophesy unto thee shall not be made known, even until the prophecy is fulfilled; therefore write the words which I shall say.

And these are the words: Behold, I perceive that this very people, the Nephites, according to the spirit of revelation which is in me, in ^afour hundred years from the time that Jesus Christ shall manifest himself unto them, shall dwindle in ^bunbelief.

Yea, and then shall they see wars and pestilences, yea, famines and bloodshed, even until the people of Nephi shall become ^aextinct—

Yea, and this because they shall dwindle in unbelief and fall into the works of darkness, and ^alasciviousness, and all manner of iniquities; yea, I say unto you, that because they shall sin against so great light and knowledge, yea, I say unto you, that from that day, even the ^bfourth generation shall not all pass away before this great iniquity shall come.

And when that great day cometh, behold, the time very soon cometh that those who are now, or the seed of those who are now numbered among the people of Nephi, shall ^ano more be numbered among the people of Nephi.

But whosoever remaineth, and is not destroyed in that great and dreadful day, shall be ^anumbered among the ^bLamanites, and shall become like unto them, all, save it be a few who shall be called the disciples of the Lord; and them shall the Lamanites pursue even ^cuntil they shall become extinct. And now, because of iniquity, this prophecy shall be fulfilled.

And now it came to pass that after Alma had said these things to Helaman, he ^ablessed him, and also his other sons; and he also blessed the earth for the ^brighteous’ sake.

And he said: Thus saith the Lord God—^aCursed shall be the land, yea, this land, unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, unto destruction, which do ^bwickedly, when they are fully ripe; and as I have said so shall it be; for this is the cursing and the ^cblessing of God upon the land, for the Lord cannot look upon sin with the ^dleast degree of allowance.

And now, when Alma had said these words he blessed the ^achurch, yea, all those who should stand fast in the faith from that time henceforth.

And when Alma had done this he ^adeparted out of the land of Zarahemla, as if to go into the land of ^bMelek. And it came to pass that he was never heard of more; as to his death or burial we know not of.

Behold, this we know, that he was a righteous man; and the saying went abroad in the church that he was taken up by the ^aSpirit, or ^bburied by the hand of the Lord, even as Moses. But behold, the scriptures saith the Lord took Moses unto himself; and we suppose that he has also received Alma in the spirit, unto himself; therefore, for this cause we know nothing concerning his death and burial. (Alma 45:2-19)

Of course Alma received and recounted this revelation to his son Helaman after he had given a charge to his sons, and after more missionary work and more wars among the Nephites and the Lamanites. But Alma was already beginning to catch a glimpse of the sad reality that had been revealed to Lehi and to Nephi, as well as to other Book of Mormon prophets, concerning the rise and fall of the Nephite civilization. And who better than Mormon would understand Alma’s feelings of sorrow because of the wickedness and degeneracy of his own people and the great need to instruct and train his son in order to provide hope for future generations? Certainly Mormon learned many things from Alma’s great example, and he was able to draw from these teachings in his own efforts to rear his son Moroni in light and truth, and in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

But again, none of these things were meant just for the Nephites, whether they lived in the time of Alma - only several decades before the coming of Christ - or whether they lived in the time of Mormon and Moroni, approximately four centuries after Christ’s visit among them. As all of the Book of Mormon prophets knew and testified, these things were meant specifically for a latter-day audience, and specifically for the seed of Lehi (but also the Jews and the Gentiles) in the last days. These things were meant specifically for you and for me.

In light of all this, we can ask why Mormon thought that it was so important to include these plain and precious teachings from Alma to his sons in a book that would spread forth among all nations in the last days? Here is one simple answer to that question: Just like Alma and his sons, and just like Mormon and Moroni, we have received the Book of Mormon in a time when civilization appears to be collapsing and when many are hardening their hearts and becoming offended because of the strictness of the word of God. The Gospel has been and is being preached in all nations, and it will continue to be preached in all nations. But as we witness the same kind of iniquity that Alma and his sons, and that Mormon and his son witnessed among their own people, we too may turn closer to home in order to focus our best efforts on the rising generation and toward future generations. I have noticed this very thing in General Conferences and other venues and modes of instruction from the leaders of the Church in recent years. It’s not that we stop preaching the Gospel to our contemporaries, the elderly, or the present generation, but that we give special attention to the rising generation and to future generations, and perhaps particularly to the individuals who will most influence the rising generation and future generations, people like Helaman, Shiblon, and Corianton, and people like Moroni.

These are all my speculations and pontifications on a theme that stands out to me, but I realize that even this is only to scratch the surface of the depth and the beauty of the Book of Mormon and of Alma’s teachings to his sons. But it does seem significant to me that Mormon deliberately prepared a way to assist latter-day fathers in their duties for instructing their sons because he foresaw those things that are now so plainly taught in “The Family: A Proclamation to the World”:

We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.

What kind of book, what kind of stories and lessons, what doctrine, and what examples could help a people like this, a society in which such evil would be rampant and where families would disintegrate? The Book of Mormon, a book in which the righteous father Alma blessed, encouraged, and counseled his sons, thus providing examples to effectively counter the disintegration of families in the last days and to bind together the generations with the welding links of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, to return to Alma’s words to his son Helaman, we can feel the tenderness and love of this good father for his good and obedient son in the counsel that he gives him concerning things that matter most:

O, remember, my son, and ^alearn ^bwisdom in thy ^cyouth; yea, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God.

Yea, and ^acry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy ^bdoings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy ^cthoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

^aCounsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for ^bgood; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the ^cmorning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day. (Alma 37:35-37)

To be continued…