Qodesh (holy) in Alma 13

I consider Alma 13 a temple sermon of sorts. It is not mentioned directly, but when trying to read it through an ancient Israelite lens, there are temple themes everywhere. As mentioned in my previous post, there is a Hebrew root, q-d-s, that is basis for a cluster of words like holy, sanctify, consecrate and set apart. In the Old Testament, these are almost always related to the temple. I also mentioned that the priesthood and priests were primarily linked to temple service. These two concepts (holy and priesthood) are all over Alma 13. Let's start with the first verse:

And again, my brethren, I would cite your minds forward to the time when the Lord God gave these commandments unto his children; and I would that ye should remember that the Lord God ordained priests, after his holy order, which was after the order of his Son, to teach these things unto the people.

The Son is sometimes called "the Holy One (of Israel)", for instance in one passage in Alma 5 that I quoted in my previous post. The "order of his Son" is called "the holy order" because He is the Holy One. He is the one that entered into the holy of holies in the temple as the letter to the Hebrews discusses. He is therefore the one that the high priests represented when they entered into the holy of holies once a year on the day of atonement, thus becoming "after his holy order".

I also like this triplet in verse 8

Now they were ordained after this manner— 

   being called with a holy calling,  

      and ordained with a holy ordinance, 

         and taking upon them the high priesthood of the holy order, 

   which calling, 

      and ordinance,  

         and high priesthood, 

is without beginning or end

The calling, ordinance and high priesthood are all holy. Their eternal nature is also described repeatedly in verses 7-9. Alma talks about the men of the past who have received this calling, ordinance and high priesthood. Echoing his words in Alma 5 that I shared in the last post, Alma describes those men as "sanctified by the Holy Ghost" in verse 12.

He specifically mentions Melchizedek as one of them. Even though he is a figure barely mentioned in the Old Testament, extra-biblical sources (and the aforementioned letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament) indicate that he was a prominent figure in early temple theology. Even though the temple is not mentioned explicitly in Alma 13, it is probably a context that the listeners were familiar with that went without saying. Anciently, the high priest offered service in the temple and was the only one who could enter into the holy of holies. Alma 13 makes several connections between the priesthood/holy order of God and the atonement. For instance in verse 2

And those priests were ordained after the order of his Son, in a manner that thereby the people might know in what manner to look forward to his Son for redemption.

The temple rituals performed by those after the holy order of God foreshadowed the atoning sacrifice of Christ. When the Holy One of Israel was hanging on a cross, the veil of the temple was rent, symbolically preparing the way for all of us to be sanctified and "enter into his rest" represented by the holy of holies. Later in the chapter, Alma couples "holy" with yet another word, saying that the coming of Christ will be made known by "holy men" (see verse 26). I wonder if this might have been a metonym for men who are called after the holy order of God? In the Words of Mormon 1:17, for example, we read

For behold, king Benjamin was a holy man, and he did reign over his people in righteousness; and there were many holy men in the land, and they did speak the word of God with power and with authority;

In 2 Kings 4:9, the prophet, Elisha, is called a holy man. In Alma 3:6, Nephi, Sam, Jacob and Joseph are referred to as holy men. We don't know much about Sam, but we read that Jacob and Joseph were consecrated by Nephi to be priests and teachers of the people. In Alma 10:7,9, Amulek says that Alma, the high priest, is a holy man.

So to summarize (I am also including my last post in this summary):

• Holiness is a divine characteristic and one we should strive for to reach our end goal of apotheosis
• It is only possible by first separating from the unclean, becoming sanctified through the Holy Ghost and walk the way of holiness symbolized by the temple
• The priesthood, the holy order of God, has been delegated by "the Holy One" to man to enable walking this path
• Holy men like Melchizedek and others have been called and ordained after this order since ancient times, to show this path to man both by preaching and performing temple rituals pointing to Christ's atoning sacrifice
• When Christ's atoning sacrifice was completed, the way to holiness that had previously been ritualized became a reality for everyone