Wednesday, October 2, 2019

"Chains of Hell" as Poetry, part 2

Alma the Younger was a major student of the scriptures.  It seemed he was quite fond of building sermons and literary pieces around the themes of the "founding fathers" of the Nephite civilization (Nephi, Lehi, and Jacob). Other writers, including Mormon and Moroni, don't seem to have done this (or if they did, it wasn't included in the record.)

In a recent post, I referenced some examples of chiasmus centered on the topic of the "chains of hell," Here is another example, from Alma 12:

11 And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell.
12 And Amulek hath spoken plainly concerning death, and being raised from this mortality to a state of immortality, and being brought before the bar of God, to be judged according to our works.
13 Then if our hearts have been hardened, yea, if we have hardened our hearts against the word, insomuch that it has not been found in us, then will our state be awful, for then we shall be condemned.
14 For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our thoughts will also condemn us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence.
15 But this cannot be; we must come forth and stand before him in his glory, and in his power, and in his might, majesty, and dominion, and acknowledge to our everlasting shame that all his judgments are just; that he is just in all his works, and that he is merciful unto the children of men, and that he has all power to save every man that believeth on his name and bringeth forth fruit meet for repentance.
16 And now behold, I say unto you then cometh a death, even a second death, which is a spiritual death; then is a time that whosoever dieth in his sins, as to a temporal death, shall also die a spiritual death; yea, he shall die as to things pertaining unto righteousness.
17 Then is the time when their torments shall be as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever; and then is the time that they shall be chained down to an everlasting destruction, according to the power and captivity of Satan, he having subjected them according to his will.

I like to look for two elements in order to convince myself that a proposed chiasmus is intentional:


  1. Multiple layers--more than 4 or 5 is almost always enough to satisfy this criterion for me. This passage has 6 layers.
  2. A central theme that is the overarching message intended to be sent by the author. In other words, the middle element of the chiasmus should be the most important one. In this case, the word condemn is repeated 4 times in the center of the passage. This seems to fit the context of the passage, which serves to highlight the fact that if we harden our hearts to the word of God, we will be condemned.


Another subtle detail jumped out at me in the passage above.  Notice that between the blue and green elements there is an additional metaphor: if we harden our hearts against the word (verse 13), then at the judgment we will wish that the rocks and mountains could fall upon us to hide us from his presence (verse 14).

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