"Cutting" covenants in Alma 46

This post is a follow-up of Stisa's most recent post about the ancient understanding of how covenants are made. (To summarize, covenants are 'cut' and those who break them are 'cut off.')  It is always interesting to me to learn how ancient people thought about covenants and the stark imagery and symbols associates with keeping their covenants. Often, I am also surprised to see examples of this in the Book of Mormon. (I probably shouldn't be at this point, now that I've found dozens of examples, but that's another story.)

In this post, I'd like to demonstrate how an understanding of the ancient practice of "cutting covenants" can help us find more meaning in of the Book of Mormon.  This reality should reaffirm our assertion that the Book of Mormon was authored by ancient writers who understood covenants according to the ancient Hebrew tradition.

Alma 46 will be our text.  First, we'll discuss the more obvious symbolism, then I'd like to take it a little bit deeper and see if we can take this all the way back to Adam, Eve, and Jesus Christ.

The Symbol of the 'Rent' Garment

We know certain aspects of the storyline of Alma 46 very well. A wicked Nephite dissenter conspires to overthrow the covenant people. A righteous man named Moroni (the "Captain") rallies an army to defend the liberty of the people.  But other parts of the story aren't as familiar. What did he write this covenant on?

12 And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole. (Alma 46)

The covenant is written on Moroni's torn coat.  This detail is repeated in verse 13 and verse 19.  Then, as the people come forth covenant to defend their freedoms, they rend their garments:

21 And it came to pass that when Moroni had proclaimed these words, behold, the people came running together with their armor girded about their loins, rending their garments in token, or as a covenant, that they would not forsake the Lord their God; or, in other words, if they should transgress the commandments of God, or fall into transgression, and be ashamed to take upon them the name of Christ, the Lord should rend them even as they had rent their garments.

22 Now this was the covenant which they made, and they cast their garments at the feet of Moroni, saying: We covenant with our God, that we shall be destroyed, even as our brethren in the land northward, if we shall fall into transgression; yea, he may cast us at the feet of our enemies, even as we have cast our garments at thy feet to be trodden under foot, if we shall fall into transgression. 

The message seems to be: 'As it is with our garments, so let it be with us if we break our covenant.'

The highlighted phrase in verse 21 grabs my attention, too.  What does the garment have to do with taking upon them the name of Christ?' To answer that, let's take a look at the coat of skins given to Adam and Eve.

Christ's Sacrifice and the Garment

Now let's take this deeper and think about Adam and Eve and what they knew about sacrifice. The Book of Moses teaches us that God made "coats of skins" for Adam and Eve as they were expelled from the Garden of Eden (Moses 4:27). I've pondered where those skins came from and have come to the same conclusion others have drawn -- the coats of skins is intimately connected to the principle of sacrifice and is meant to point the mind to the ultimate sacrifice, the atoning sacrifice of the Lamb of God.

Only ten verses after God clothes Adam and Eve, we find Adam and Even being taught by an angel how to offer sacrifice to God:

5 And he gave unto them commandments, that they should worship the Lord their God, and should offer the firstlings of their flocks, for an offering unto the Lord. And Adam was obedient unto the commandments of the Lord. (Moses 5)

I can't think of a more powerful symbol of the protection offered by obedience to the covenant than wearing a coat of skins connected to the sacrifice of the firstling of their flocks. To fulfill the covenant that was 'cut' between Jehovah and His people, Jehovah came to earth and offered Himself as a sacrifice, which covers the sinner and is symbolized by a covering.  If we reject this covenant (and His power to save/exalt us) we will suffer spiritual death -- permanent separation from God. In other words, He was sacrificed so that we might not be cut off. It's a powerful message.

The Hebrew word for atonement is 'kaphar' which literally means 'to cover' (see Brown-Driver-Briggs definition #2 here). 

With this symbolism in mind, the connection between Christ's sacrifice and the coat of skins given to Adam and Eve seems quite obvious. It is also easy to see the connection between the coat of skins and the everlasting covenant.

So verse 21 makes perfect sense -- wearing the garment is a symbol of faith in Christ. This most likely  would have set the Nephites apart culturally from any other people in the area. I believe this helps explain a somewhat cryptic statement offered centuries later by the lone surviving Nephite:

1 Now I, Moroni, after having made an end of abridging the account of the people of Jared, I had supposed not to have written more, but I have not as yet perished; and I make not myself known to the Lamanites lest they should destroy me.

2 For behold, their wars are exceedingly fierce among themselves; and because of their hatred they put to death every Nephite that will not deny the Christ.

3 And I, Moroni, will not deny the Christ; wherefore, I wander whithersoever I can for the safety of mine own life. (Moroni 1)

While it is possible that Moroni is simply referring to an oral denial of the Christ, I think it makes more sense that his very clothing bore his witness of Christ.

Getting back to Alma 46

Interestingly, Jewish rabbis speculate that the coat given to Adam in the Garden of Eden made its way down through the generations to Jacob and was the same garment given to Joseph. I don't put a lot of weight on that as a historical fact, because I see the coat as a metaphor representing the knowledge of the Messiah, the but legend is nonetheless interesting.

As we get back to Alma 46, notice that Moroni ties the covenant of freedom back to Jacob and Joseph, from whom the Nephites directly descend, and the miraculous preservation of a portion of that famous coat:

23 Moroni said unto them: Behold, we are a remnant of the seed of Jacob; yea, we are a remnant of the seed of Joseph, whose coat was rent by his brethren into many pieces; yea, and now behold, let us remember to keep the commandments of God, or our garments shall be rent by our brethren, and we be cast into prison, or be sold, or be slain.

24 Yea, let us preserve our liberty as a remnant of Joseph; yea, let us remember the words of Jacob, before his death, for behold, he saw that a part of the remnant of the coat of Joseph was preserved and had not decayed. And he said—Even as this remnant of garment of my son hath been preserved, so shall a remnant of the seed of my son be preserved by the hand of God, and be taken unto himself, while the remainder of the seed of Joseph shall perish, even as the remnant of his garment. (Alma 46)

The preservation of a remnant of the coat symbolizes how the everlasting covenant brings about eternal life for the remnant of God's children who accept Christ and live according to His Gospel.

"Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life?"

In my last post, I pointed out an example of wordplay centered on Mormon 8:39.

Moroni's piercing question in that verse serves as the title of this post.  

"Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life?"

By asking why one chooses to be clothed in "that which hath no life," he implies the opposite is possible -- we can be clothed with something which has life. In this question, I see a deep connection to the temple. 

More wordplay 

I'd like to build on some themes I first presented in this post.  Please take the time to review it before proceeding if you'd like more detail. Here's a summary:

• God's glory is intimately connected with the robes of His righteousness. (In fact, "glory" and "robe" come from the same Hebrew root.) 
• To stand before Him naked is synonymous with being unprepared and filthy. 
• We are told that those who experience this will have "a flame of unquenchable fire" kindled upon them, a symbol of damnation of their eternal progress. (See Mormon 9:5.) 
• To stand before Him clothed and worthy has everything to do with Jesus Christ. 
• When Moroni contrasts the nakedness of the unworthy with God's "glory" and Christ's "holiness," he is connecting Christ's power with the garment with which we should adorn ourselves.

Glory as a garment

Many scriptures make reference to this clothing.

10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61)

33 O Lord, wilt thou encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness! (2 Nephi 4)

 

31 And awake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, O daughter of Zion; and strengthen thy stakes and enlarge thy borders forever, that thou mayest no more be confounded, that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, may be fulfilled. (Moroni 10)

More about that final example in the next post. Moroni's exhortation in Mormon 9:1-6 indicates that a key component of our preparation for the judgment day involves being clothed in a garment that represents our commitment to Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for us.

Connections between the garment and Joseph in Egypt

I've pointed out many times on this blog that I believe the temple covenant was central to the Nephites and part of the covenant involved wearing a long garment. Just as Joseph of Egypt wore an ornate robe symbolizing the favor he found with his father, the Nephites -- descendants of that same Joseph -- wore a similar garment. Captain Moroni wore a coat that symbolized his covenant with God, and the men he recruited to fight for their freedom also wore garments they rent in token of their covenant. This garment was directly connected to their covenants and "tak[ing] upon [them] the name of Christ."  See Alma 46:11, 18-21.

The concept of sacred clothing dates all the way back to Adam and Eve and has intimate connections to the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. See Moses 4:27 and Moses 5:5-8.

The importance of wearing this garment is hinted at repeatedly in the Book of Mormon.  As I've pointed out many times before, wearing such a garment would be rather conspicuous in the tropical climate of Mesoamerica. Likewise, removing the garment would not only violate the covenant but would also allow a person to fit in among non-Nephite neighbors. (As an aside, this would also explain why "nakedness" and "filthiness" would be connected to each other in Nephite culture, and why those two terms might also be connected to a skin of darkness, which would surely come upon anyone living in that climate who did not cover themselves.) 

I can imagine tremendous pressure to fit in by removing the garment, especially as Nephite culture came under attack and other cultures rose to political dominance.

Might this explain why Moroni, the last surviving Nephite, had to flee instead of finding a way to live among the people who overthrew his people?

2 For behold, their wars are exceedingly fierce among themselves; and because of their hatred they put to death every Nephite that will not deny the Christ.
3 And I, Moroni, will not deny the Christ; wherefore, I wander whithersoever I can for the safety of mine own life. (Moroni 1)

Is it possible the Lamanites demanded any Nephite they found to remove their garment or die? If true, it adds a new layer of meaning to adorning one's self with that which hath life!

Conclusion

I'll make one final point to end this post, which I will explore in the next post:

In addition to everything else going on in in Mormon 8, Moroni subtly and repeatedly quotes the prophecy of Joseph in Egypt found in 2 Nephi 3.  I find this detail incredibly compelling, connecting two big concepts (the latter-day work through a modern-day Joseph and the fulfillment of God's ancient promise to gather Israel) directly to the biblical figure who is best known for his ornate robe. This connection underscores the significance of latter-day temples and the covenants associated with temple worship. To quote Moroni, these covenants prepare us to: 

...cry mightily unto the Father in the name of Jesus, that perhaps [we] may be found spotless, pure, fair, and white, having been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, at that great and last day. (Mormon 9:6)

Worth

In 1 Nephi 5:21, Nephi says

And we had obtained the records which the Lord had commanded us, and searched them and found that they were desirable; yea, even of great worth unto us, insomuch that we could preserve the commandments of the Lord unto our children.

It seems that this realization is what inspires Nephi to write about his own record just a few verses later

Wherefore, I shall give commandment unto my seed, that they shall not occupy these plates with things which are not of worth unto the children of men.(1 Nephi 6:6)

These are the first two uses of the word, "worth" in the Book of Mormon. The next is in 1 Nephi 13:23, where Nephi in vision sees the coming forth of the Bible and says it will be of "great worth unto the Gentiles". Interestingly, the first three uses of that word in the Book of Mormon refer to the worth of the brass plates, the plates of Nephi and the Bible, respectively.

In fact, most of the 17 uses of that word in the Book of Mormon are related to the scriptures and especially the coming forth of the Book of Mormon as part of the marvelous work in the latter days. Some examples:

And after our seed is scattered the Lord God will proceed to do a marvelous work among the Gentiles, which shall be of great worth unto our seed (1 Nephi 22:8)

confine the words unto mine own people; for I know that they shall be of great worth unto them in the last days (2 Nephi 25:8)

And the things which shall be written out of the book [of Mormon] shall be of great worth unto the children of men (2 Nephi 28:2)

When Moroni decides to write more, contrary to his initial plan, it is only because he thinks his words might be of worth

I had supposed not to have written any more; but I write a few more things, that perhaps they may be of worth unto my brethren (Moroni 1:4)

The Book of Mormon authors are very clear: The scriptures, including their own engravings are of great worth. Nephi acknowledges, however, that the definition of "great worth" is highly subjective

But behold, there are many that harden their hearts against the Holy Spirit, that it hath no place in them; wherefore, they cast many things away which are written and esteem them as things of naught. But I, Nephi, have written what I have written, and I esteem it as of great worth (2 Nephi 33:2-3)

For the things which some men esteem to be of great worth, both to the body and soul, others set at naught and trample under their feet. (1 Nephi 19:7)

Zeezrom, for instance, initially was one of those setting "at naught" the word of God as Nephi described, and claimed that his silver was of "great worth" (Alma 11:25). Contrast that with Moroni's message:

And I am the same who hideth up this record unto the Lord; the plates thereof are of no worth, because of the commandment of the Lord. For he truly saith that no one shall have them to get gain; but the record thereof is of great worth (Mormon 8:14)