In short, he finds numerous parallels between the chapters describing Alma's missionary efforts among three Nephite cities (found in Alma 5-13) and his instructions to his sons (found in Alma 36-42). He offers several lines of evidence to support his reasoning:
- In each case, there is a header which was part of the revealed text documenting the account (see headers to chapters 5, 7, 9, 36, 38, 39).
- We know Alma preached in more cities than just the three, but only three get specifically detailed.
- The relative length of each son/city pairing is similar.
- Unique language is found each pairing of accounts, including phrases that are not found very often or at all in other scriptures. See below and future posts for more details about this.
Below is an overview of the big picture, which will be followed later this week with three more detailed posts demonstrating each son/city pairing, which I will link here for future reference.
- Zarahemla (5-6) / Helaman (36-37): "Remember captivity" "Put trust in God" "Born of God"
- Gideon (7-8) / Shiblon (38): "Trust that I shall have joy over/in you"
- Ammonihah (9-13) / Corianton (39-42): "Except ye repent/do this, ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God"
Hardy also suggests that the underlying purpose of these pairings might be an attempt by Mormon at creating a chiastic message in the first 44 chapters of the book of Alma. I'm not sure I completely follow/agree with this idea, but it is definitely intriguing. I'll post more about this later this week as well.