Alma-2 and Past/Present/Future Symbolism

As mentioned in my post yesterday, many Book of Mormon prophets testify that the words of the scriptures will endure, retain their brightness, go forth to all the earth, and stand as a testament at the day of judgment.  How we approach the scriptures is no small matter.

As is often the case with Book of Mormon passages, taking the time to evaluate the structure of the text often adds layers of depth to the meaning of the text.  Consider this passage, in which Alma-2 describes the value of the brass plates to his son Helaman, who is receiving them from him:

7 And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.
8 And now, it has hitherto been wisdom in God that these things should be preserved; for behold, they have enlarged the memory of this people, yea, and convinced many of the error of their ways, and brought them to the knowledge of their God unto the salvation of their souls.
9 Yea, I say unto you, were it not for these things that these records do contain, which are on these plates, Ammon and his brethren could not have convinced so many thousands of the Lamanites of the incorrect tradition of their fathers; yea, these records and their words brought them unto repentance; that is, they brought them to the knowledge of the Lord their God, and to rejoice in Jesus Christ their Redeemer.
10 And who knoweth but what they will be the means of bringing many thousands of them, yea, and also many thousands of our stiffnecked brethren, the Nephites, who are now hardening their hearts in sin and iniquities, to the knowledge of their Redeemer?
11 Now these mysteries are not yet fully made known unto me; therefore I shall forbear.
12 And it may suffice if I only say they are preserved for a wise purpose, which purpose is known unto God; for he doth counsel in wisdom over all his works, and his paths are straight, and his course is one eternal round.
13 O remember, remember, my son Helaman, how strict are the commandments of God. And he said: If ye will keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land—but if ye keep not his commandments ye shall be cut off from his presence.
14 And now remember, my son, that God has entrusted you with these things, which are sacred, which he has kept sacred, and also which he will keep and preserve for a wise purpose in him, that he may show forth his power unto future generations. (Alma 37)

A few things stand out.

1) Did you notice the past/present/future symbolism in the passage, along with a double mention of the eternal nature of God's course and purposes?

2) According to a theory put forth by Grant Hardy, this chapter is intentionally connected to Alma-2's words to the people of Zarahemla, as recorded in Alma 5.  Is it any coincidence that in Alma 5 we have a similar subtle display of past/present/future symbolism? Notice how Alma-2 subtly changes the wording of his questions to address the past, present and future:

14 And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?
15 Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?
16 I say unto you, can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth?
17 Or do ye imagine to yourselves that ye can lie unto the Lord in that day, and say—Lord, our works have been righteous works upon the face of the earth—and that he will save you? (Alma 5)

"Light and knowledge" in Alma 9 and Alma 39

Here is even more evidence that the description of Alma-2's missionary work among the Nephites intentionally parallels his words to his sons.

According to the theory (proposed by Grant Hardy in this presentation), Alma 9-13 should parallel Alma 39-42.  The expression "light and knowledge" is found three times in the entire Book of Mormon (Alma 9:23, Alma 39:6, and Alma 45:12). This is no coincidence.

Similarities between Alma 11 and Alma 40 -- Describing the resurrection

I've spent the past few days searching for connections between Alma's missionary labors described in Alma 5-13 and his words to his sons found in Alma 36-42.  There are many examples.

Consider Alma's description of Amulek's teaching concerning the resurrection while among the people of Ammonihah:

42 Now, there is a death which is called a temporal death; and the death of Christ shall loose the bands of this temporal death, that all shall be raised from this temporal death.
43 The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time; and we shall be brought to stand before God, knowing even as we know now, and have a bright recollection of all our guilt.
44 Now, this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body, and shall be brought and be arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is one Eternal God, to be judged according to their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil. (Alma 11)

Compare this to Alma's words to Corianton:

21 But whether it be at his resurrection or after, I do not say; but this much I say, that there is a space between death and the resurrection of the body, and a state of the soul in happiness or in misery until the time which is appointed of God that the dead shall come forth, and be reunited, both soul and body, and be brought to stand before God, and be judged according to their works.
22 Yea, this bringeth about the restoration of those things of which has been spoken by the mouths of the prophets.
23 The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame. (Alma 40)

The examples keep piling up to support the idea that all of this is intentional.

A note about trying to tell the difference between coincidence and intentional.

One factor to consider when looking for these parallels is how unique the common expressions are.  Each of the examples above (and in other posts on the topic) are less likely to be coincidence simply because they are pretty rare in the scriptures in general. 

"Proper" + "Frame" 

For example, when I search for sentences in the Book of Mormon that contain the word "proper" and "frame," I only find three examples: Alma 11:43, Alma 40:23, and Alma 41:4. 

"Reunite" + "Body"

If we search for sentences that contain a form of the word "reunite" and "body" we see four total examples: Alma 11:43, Alma 40:18, Alma 40:21, and Moroni 10:34 (the last verse in the Book of Mormon). That's pretty unique.

So when we consider that Alma 11:43 contains the two unique word pairings above and that both of those pairings are only found in a short cluster of verses in Alma 40 and then one other place in the entire Book of Mormon, that clarifies for me whether this is coincidental or intentional.  

The hairs of the head shall not be lost

Add to this the line about not even a hair of the head being lost, which is only found in Alma 11:44 and Alma 40:23 in the Book of Mormon (with a similar saying found in Luke 21:18), and the case gets even stronger.

Similarities between Alma 7 and Alma 38 -- "I trust that I shall have joy over/in you"

Here is more evidence that the similarities we find in Alma 5-13 and Alma 36-42 are intentional and not coincidental.

In this post, I pointed out that the word "temperate" only shows up twice in the entire Book of Mormon -- once in Alma 7 and once in Alma 38.

There is another unique expression only found in these two chapters.

Doing a search for sentences in the Book of Mormon which contain both the word "trust" and the word "joy" yields two results:


5 And I trust, according to the Spirit of God which is in me, that I shall also have joy over you; nevertheless I do not desire that my joy over you should come by the cause of so much afflictions and sorrow which I have had for the brethren at Zarahemla, for behold, my joy cometh over them after wading through much affliction and sorrow. (Alma 7)



2 And now, my son, I trust that I shall have great joy in you, because of your steadiness and your faithfulness unto God; for as you have commenced in your youth to look to the Lord your God, even so I hope that you will continue in keeping his commandments; for blessed is he that endureth to the end. (Alma 38)

Similarities between Alma 7 and Alma 38 -- "Temperate"

I'm looking into Grant Hardy's theory that Alma's words to his sons intentionally parallel the descriptions of his missionary labors among the Nephites.

I have to say there is quite a bit of compelling evidence to support this theory.

Consider the word "temperate" as an example.  This word shows up 7 times in all of the standard works, and only twice in the entire Book of Mormon.

Once in Alma's words to the people of Gideon:

23 And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive. (Alma 7)

...and once in his words to his son Shiblon:

10 And now, as ye have begun to teach the word even so I would that ye should continue to teach; and I would that ye would be diligent and temperate in all things. (Alma 38)

This, to me, is either a remarkable coincidence or an indication of a pattern.

Intentional similarity between Alma-2's missionary work in Ammonihah and his words to his son Corianton

A few days I posted about Grant Hardy's theory that Mormon set up intentional parallels between the description of Alma-2's missionary work in three Nephite cities and his instructions to each of his sons.

Today, I'll go into a little bit more depth about one of those pairs.  This theory makes sense to me because earlier this year I noticed significant similarities between Alma 12/13 and Alma 42. Alma-2 gives very similar sermons in both chapters.  Below is a table outlining just some of the connections I've found already:

Similarities	Alma 12/13	Alma 42
Original chapter	Alma 12-13:10	Alma 39-42
fall	12:22	42:6
The plan would have been frustrated (making God a liar) if Adam had partaken from the tree of life after the fall (the word would have been void)	12:23	42:5
Cherubim	12:22	42:3
Probationary state/time	12:24	42:4
Plan of Redemption	12:25, 26, 30, 33	42:13
First Parents	12:26	42:7
Tree of Life	12:26	42:6
"men must die" / "soul could never die"	12:27	42:9
mercy	12:34	42:15
judgement / justice	12:34	42:14
law	31 (commandments)
resurrection	12:8, 24, 25	42:23
intercession / atonement	13:5	42:15
punishment /happiness contrasted		42:16
law / sin / righteousness / happiness as links in a chain	12:32 (sort of)	42:16-17
Angels to declare repentance	12:29, 13:6	42:31 (sort of)
faith	13:3,10
devil was an angel
before the foundation of the world	12:30,13:3,5, 7	42:26
eternal death / spiritual death	12:16	42:9, 41

If this topic interests you, I highly recommend reading both chapters, laying them side by side, and finding these similarities for yourself.  The sermons are not identical, and yet they overlap on numerous subjects.

More on these similarities to follow.

Intentional parallels between Alma 5-13 and Alma 36-42

Grant Hardy has a very interesting theory about the layout of Alma.  You can watch his entire presentation here.

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:

1. 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).
2. We know Alma preached in more cities than just the three, but only three get specifically detailed.
3. The relative length of each son/city pairing is similar.
4. 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.