Symbolism in Alma 5

Alma 5 is drenched in symbolism. This article from the Book of Mormon Central also links Alma 5 to the temple. I don't think that is a coincidence. Taking a closer look at these symbols, there are a lot of temple and covenant connections.

First a bit of background: Alma is the high priest of the church. The church in its current form seems quite young. Only about 40 years earlier, King Benjamin's people entered into a covenant after some time of war and unrest (see Words of Mormon 1:12-18). About the same time, another group of Nephites, led by Alma's father had just established a church after years of corruption and wickedness under king Noah. These two groups who had entered into a covenant with God, merged in Zarahemla where the church was organized. They had both had a change of heart (see Mosiah 5:2 and Alma 5:7). Alma 4 describes how wickedness started to creep into the church. In verse 9 we read

And thus, in this eighth year of the reign of the judges, there began to be great contentions among the people of the church; yea, there were envyings, and strife, and malice, and persecutions, and pride, even to exceed the pride of those who did not belong to the church of God.

Alma's decision to leave the judgment seat and preach to the people is a natural reaction to this. Note the questions he asks the people in Alma 5

28 Behold, are ye stripped of pride?...
29 Behold, I say, is there one among you who is not stripped of envy?...
30 And again I say unto you, is there one among you that doth make a mock of his brother, or that heapeth upon him persecutions?

But to get rid of the problems in the church, Alma is not just concerned with addressing the symptoms but the root cause: Forgetting the physical and spiritual captivity of their fathers and the covenants they have made. To remind them he uses a lot of symbolism, often in pairs: Sleep/awakening, darkness/light, bands of death/chains of hell, "encircled", etc. (see especially verses 7-10)

From the linked Book of Mormon article, it also seems that he wants them to renew their covenants and be temple worthy. Again, Alma invokes symbolic images, this time related to temple and covenants. The most obvious symbol he uses in this regard is "pure heart and clean hands" in verse 19, which quotes Psalm 24, a temple entry psalm.

Let's consider the other symbols Alma is using in this context. Most of them have been discussed in previous posts.

Blood and garments

This post gives a bit of context for Alma 5:21-23, including the ancient temple worship. 

Bread and water of life

Alma invites his listeners to "eat and drink of the bread and the waters of life freely". The shewbread in the ancient temple pointed towards the Savior. He told the Jews that he was "the bread of life" (John 6:35). Ezekiel saw the waters of life running from the temple in a vision in Ezekiel 47. It gave life, growth and healing.

Tree symbolism

I don't even know where to begin. There is so much depth in tree symbolism in the scriptures and I cannot link to all of the previous posts about it. The tree of life is brought up twice in Alma's sermon. It is a central element of the journey of Adam/mankind from the Garden of Eden to the dreary wilderness, where they need to till the earth themselves. In a spiritual sense, the ground to be tilled can be your own heart and the resulting growth can be paralleled with the journey back to God's presence, where we enter into his rest and partake of the fruit of the tree of life. This is the same spiritual journey we walk in the temple. Alma expands on these teachings later in Ammonihah and among the Zoramites (see this and this post).

This article states:

Jewish literature outside the Old Testament also contains tree of life references. The Books of Enoch, the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, and 4 Ezra are the best-known of such books. When Enoch journeyed to the Seven Sacred Mountains, he saw a sacred tree similar to a date palm but more beautiful and grand than any he had ever beheld. (See 1 Enoch 29.) His guide on the visionary journey, Michael, told Enoch that the fruit of the tree could not be eaten by mortals until they were purified after the judgment and that they would have to enter the temple of God to partake of it. (See 1 Enoch 25.)

In addition, Alma is using Israel/covenant metaphors from Zenos' olive tree, like bringing forth fruit and "hewn down and cast into the fire" (v.35, 36, 52, 56).

Shepherd and sheep

Alma uses this symbolism in verses 37-41 and 57-60. Another covenant symbol frequently used both in the Old Testament, New Testament and the Book of Mormon. See this post, for example.

Many of us may be so used to reading these metaphors in the scriptures that we hardly stop and think about them. But diving deep into the symbolism and trying to understand what it might have meant to those who wrote it can be very rewarding.