Alma 7:1 having had much business that I could not come unto you
In a society which
emphasizes the importance of having a career, sacrificing a great job for
anything seems absurd. Alma was the chief judge—that would mean he was the most
powerful judge and lawyer in the land. Yet being top dog had kept him from ever
visiting the people of Gideon. Alma did what few would think wise. He gave up a
position of great legal and political power because he felt like he was
neglecting his spiritual responsibility as high priest. The same principle can
be seen today in the lives of those saints who have given up promising careers
to tend to their spiritual stewardships—often their families.
“Mel
Blasi, one of Illinois’ top golfers, and head golf coach at Western Illinois
University…has decided to leave his clubs and golf greens behind for an even
greener field: for the next two years he will serve a full-time mission. A
recent convert to the Church, the 25-year-old athlete will enter the Missionary
Training Center Sept. 5 for the Nevada Las Vegas Mission.
“Under
his direction, the WIU golf team won its home tournament this year and broke
the Bradley University Invitational Tournament record by eight shots.
“…In
an area where the Church has come under persecution, specifically in earlier
days when the saints were driven out of western Illinois, Blasi was expecting
most people to react negatively to his decision to quit his coaching job for an
LDS mission. But instead many people were supportive and more understanding than
he had ever expected.
“’I
don’t think they fully understand what I’m doing, but they seem to think I have
a lot of courage,’ he said.” (Church News, 08/18/90)
Alma 7:10 he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land
of our forefathers
It is apparent to the
believer that Alma did indeed have the Spirit of God with him. He knew of the
angel’s declaration to Benjamin that the name of Christ’s mother would be Mary
(Mos 3:8), and was given to know the details of her immaculate conception. He must
have wondered how a mortal could give birth to Jehovah. He learned through the
Spirit that it would happen by the power of the Holy
Ghost, and [she would] bring forth a son,
yea, even the Son of God.
To the unbeliever, this
verse is used to criticize the Book of Mormon. Everyone knows, they argue, that
Jesus was not born in Jerusalem but in Bethlehem. Therefore, the Joseph Smith
got it wrong and the whole Book of Mormon must be false. The explanation for
this apparent incongruity is rather simple.
We must remember who the
audience is for Alma’s sermon. Since it was 517 years since Lehi left
Jerusalem, it is doubtful that the people of Gideon knew much about the Old
World geography. If they barely knew the location of Jerusalem, they are not
going to know about the small town of Bethlehem located 6 miles to the south.
An individual born in the suburbs of a well-known city will usually give the
larger city as their place of origin, especially if their audience is
unfamiliar with the smaller community. Similarly, it is in deference to his
audience that Alma gives the name of the larger area. Alma’s rendering of this phrase does not mean that neither he nor
Joseph Smith knew that the Savior was born in Bethlehem. President Smith speaks
to this attack on Alma 7:10.
Joseph Fielding Smith
“This
question has in recent weeks come from several sources. It is from the
promptings of enemies of the Church who spend their time in a futile endeavor
to discredit the Book of Mormon, attempting to make it the product of the mind
of Joseph Smith the Prophet or some other person in collusion with him. These
religious persons who sponsor this question may well be compared to the scribes
and Pharisees of old, and the Savior's description of them, as recorded in
Matthew, Chapter 23, fits these modern Pharisees and scribes admirably. They
attempt to show that the Book of Mormon is of modern authorship, and this
attempt has been going on for one hundred and twenty-five years and is farther
away from effectiveness than in the beginning. It has utterly failed.
“Joseph
Smith and those associated with him when the Book of Mormon was translated knew
perfectly well that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. If the Book of Mormon had been
the production of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, or anyone else
connected with this restoration, it would have stated plainly that Jesus was
born in Bethlehem, for they were well aware of this fact. There has been an
effort to make it appear that the Prophet was a very ignorant man who did not
know where Jesus was born. In this they display their bitterness and hate and
add to their confusion, for an ignorant man unacquainted with the fact of the
birth of Jesus Christ could not have written the Book of Mormon. The fact that
it is written in Alma as it is, indicates plainly that it is an expression
coming from the Hebrew; for this is purely a Hebrew expression, in full accord
with their manner of speech.
“…There
is no conflict or contradiction in the Book of Mormon with any truth recorded
in the Bible. A careful reading of what Alma said will show that he had no
intention of declaring that Jesus would be born in Jerusalem. Alma knew better.
So did Joseph Smith and those who were associated with him in the bringing
forth of the Book of Mormon. Had Alma said, ‘born in Jerusalem, the city of our
fathers,’ it would have made all the difference in the world. Then we would
have said he made an error. Alma made no mistake, and what he said is true.
“Dr.
Hugh Nibley, in his course of study for the priesthood for 1957, An
Approach to the Book of Mormon, in Lesson 8, page 85, has this to say on this
point:
‘.
. . One of the favorite points of attack on the Book of Mormon has been the
statement in Alma 7:10 that the Savior would be born ‘at
Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers.’ Here Jerusalem is not
the city ‘in the land of our forefathers,’ it
is the land. Christ was born in a village some six miles from the city of
Jerusalem; it was not in the city, but it was in what we now know the ancients
themselves designated as ‘the land of Jerusalem.’ Such a neat test of
authenticity is not often found in ancient documents.”
(Answers
to Gospel Questions, vol. 1, pp. 173-5)
Hugh Nibley
“When
we speak of Jerusalem, it is important to notice Nephi's preference for a non-Biblical
expression, ‘the land of Jerusalem’ (1 Nephi
3:10), in designating his homeland. While he and his brothers always regard ‘the land of Jerusalem’ as their home, it is
perfectly clear from a number of passages that ‘the
land of our father's inheritance’ (1 Nephi 3:16) cannot possibly be
within, or even very near, the city, even though Lehi had ‘dwelt at Jerusalem in all his days’ (1 Nephi 1:4).
The terms seem confused, but they correctly reflect actual conditions, for in
the Amarna letters we read of ‘the land of
Jerusalem’ as an area larger than the city itself, and even learn in one
instance that ‘a city of the land of Jerusalem, Bet-Ninib, has been captured.’
It was the rule in Palestine and Syria, as the same letters show, for a large
area around a city and all the inhabitants of that area to bear the name of the
city. This was a holdover from the times when the city and the land were a
single political unit, comprising a city-state; when this was absorbed into a
larger empire, the original identity was preserved, though it had lost its
original political significance…This arrangement deserves mention because many
have pointed to the statement of Alma 7:10 that the Savior would be born ‘at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers,’
as sure proof of fraud. It is rather the opposite, faithfully preserving the
ancient terminology to describe a system which has only been recently
rediscovered.” (Lehi in the Desert, And the World of the Jaredites, pp.
6-7)
Alma 7:10 Mary…a precious and chosen vessel
We probably do not spend
enough time honoring this precious and chosen vessel.
Could any calling in mortality be greater than to give birth to and raise the
Son of God? Certainly, Mary was given the most noble of callings among women
and possibly the greatest calling among all mortals. These are the adjectives
which are used in the scriptures to describe her, precious,
chosen, beautiful, exceedingly fair, white, highly favoured, blessed,
and the Lord is with thee (Alma 7:10, 1 Ne
11:13-15, Lu 1:28).
Bruce R. McConkie
“We
cannot but think that the Father would choose the greatest female spirit to be
the mother of his Son, even as he chose the male spirit like unto him to be the
Savior.” (D. Ludlow, Encyclopedia of Mormonism, p. 863)
Alma 7:10 conceive by the power of the Holy
Ghost
“Jesus
was the son of Mary, a mortal woman.
And he was the son of Elohim, the Eternal Father. He was not the son of the Holy Ghost, as
some have supposed from the New Testament account (Matthew 1:18). ‘If [the New Testament passage] is
interpreted to mean that the Holy Ghost is the Father of our Lord,’ Elder
Bruce R. McConkie has written, ‘we can only say the record has come down to
us in a corrupted form, for the Holy Spirit and the Father are two separate
personages. But providentially there
are parallel passages that clarify and expand upon the paternity of Him whom
Mary bore.’ These passages are, of
course, in the Book of Mormon, particularly here in Alma 7. Continuing, Elder McConkie
stated:
“Jesus,
thus, is the Son of God, not of the Holy Ghost, and properly speaking Mary was
with child ‘by the power of the Holy Ghost,' rather than 'of the Holy Ghost,'
and she was, of course, 'overshadowed' by the Holy Spirit, in a way
incomprehensible to us, when the miraculous conception took place.” (Promised
Messiah, pp. 463-64; see also Mortal Messiah 1:314-15.)
(McConkie and Millet, Doctrinal
Commentary on the Book of Mormon, vol. 3, p. 51)
Alma 7:11-13 he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his
people
Alma makes an indirect
reference to the words of Isaiah 53 (See commentary for Mosiah 14), he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows…he was
wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities
(Isa 53:4-5). But these beautifully written words are more than just poetic.
They carry the message of a cruel reality—that the great Jehovah would have to
suffer every kind of suffering for his people. His great omniscience in the
Spirit could not compensate for the personal experiences of the flesh. In this,
there is a pattern for all of us. We may have understood and appreciated the
importance of obedience in the spirit world but to be tried as a mortal is
something altogether different.
Although no mortal can full
comprehend the infinite atonement, this does not mean we should not spend the
rest of our lives trying. In our meager mortal attempts to understand its vast
width and depth, we should examine all that Christ took upon himself as listed
in this chapter. We are told that he suffered pains
and afflictions and temptations of every kind. He took upon himself the sicknesses of his people. He took upon himself
death itself—the great and tragic consequence of the Fall. In essence, he took
upon himself all things, both physical and spiritual, which keep men away from
God. The incomprehensively infinite experience gave Him a perfect understanding
of every kind of physical pain, spiritual suffering, emotional anguish, and
sumptuous temptation.
Howard W. Hunter
“We
are indebted to the prophet Alma for our knowledge of the full measure of His
suffering:
‘He shall go forth,
suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that
the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the
sicknesses of his people.
‘And he will take upon
him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he
will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy,
according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor
his people according to their infirmities.’ (Alma 7:11-12.)
“Think
of it! When his body was taken from the cross and hastily placed in a borrowed
tomb, he, the sinless Son of God, had already taken upon him not only the sins
and temptations of every human soul who will repent, but all of our sickness
and grief and pain of every kind. He suffered these afflictions as we suffer
them, according to the flesh. He suffered them all. He did this to perfect his
mercy and his ability to lift us above every earthly trial.” (Teachings of
Howard W. Hunter, pp. 6-7)
John Taylor
“There
came upon Him the weight and agony of ages….Hence His profound grief, His
indescribable anguish, His overpowering torture, all experienced in the
submission to the eternal fiat of Jehovah and the requirements of an inexorable
law….Groaning beneath this concentrated load, this intense, incomprehensible
pressure, this terrible exaction of Divine justice, from which feeble humanity
shrank, and through the agony thus experienced sweating great drops of blood,
He was led to exclaim, ‘Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me.’ (Matt 26:39)” (Tad Callister, Infinite
Atonement, p. 124)
Alma 7:12 that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his
people
“While
the Savior knew all things in the Spirit (Alma 7:13), he also knew the pains,
infirmities, and temptations of man as experienced in the flesh. He never
allowed godly power to insulate pain and affliction and weakness of man
traverse and engulf his physical frame. Paul observed that he became ‘like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest’ (Hebrews 2:17). The refiner’s fire of human
experience confirmed in his godly nature the tenderness of heart, the softness
of soul, that made the Savior not only just but merciful, not only omnipotent
but compassionate.
“Elder
Neal A. Maxwell gave this insight into the relationship between the
Atonement and the Savior’s succoring powers: ‘His empathy and capacity to
succor us—in our own sickness, temptations, or sins—were demonstrated and
perfected in the process of the great atonement.’ He also said, ‘The marvelous
atonement brought about not only immortality but also the final perfection of
Jesus’ empathetic and helping capacity.’”
“…No
mortal can cry out, ‘he does not understand my plight for my trials are
unique.’ There is nothing outside the scope of the Savior’s experience. As
Elder Maxwell observed, ‘None of us can tell Christ anything about depression.’
As a result of his mortal experience, culminating in the Atonement, the Savior
knows understands, and feels every human condition, every human woe, and every
human loss. He can comfort as no other. He can lift burdens as no other. He can
listen as no other.” (Tad Callister, Infinite Atonement, pp. 207-9)
Alma 7:15 lay aside every sin which easily doth beset you
The dictionary explains that
the word “beset” means “to surround, hem in, or continually harass.” This is
precisely what sins do. They surround
our thoughts and feelings of self-worth. They hem us in and keep us from our
personal potential and the presence of God. They continually harass us until
the spiritual cancer has festered to our destruction. From the above, one might
think that the power of sin to beset us is greater than our power to resist.
Yet Alma uses an
interestingly casual phrase to describe our response to sins—we are to simply
lay them aside. Can we lay aside sin as easily and casually as we discard
garbage, throw out the weeds, or remove roadblocks? Apparently, we have more
than enough power to resist all the fiery darts of
the adversary (DC 3:8). This concept is encapsulated in the word of the
Lord to Satan, “you shall have power to bruise his
heel, but he shall have power to crush thy head.” The individual who is
born again has no more desire to do evil (Mosiah 5:2). Therefore, they have the
power through their own agency to discard those besetting sins. Alma’s imagery
is appropriate because it is these sins which act as roadblocks on the strait
and narrow path. We must lay aside everyone
of them so that we can move forward.
Alma 7:14-16 he shall have eternal life
Eternal life is the greatest
of all the gifts of God. These verses give a simple formula for gaining eternal
life. We must have faith (v. 14), repent, (v. 15), be baptized (v. 15) and then
keep the commandments of God from thenceforth. If
these four items are done, the word of the Lord is that he shall have eternal life. Does this seem too simple? Shouldn’t
there be other qualifications? Didn’t Alma mean to include a few more
requirements? Apparently not. The Lord has promised us eternal life if we do
these four things.
The problem is that the
fourth element requires a great deal of effort. It encompasses the concept of
obedience to all of God’s commandments and the concept of enduring to the end.
It was this part of the formula which Nephi was speaking of when he said, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ,
having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.
Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and
endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life (2
Ne 31:20).
Bruce R. McConkie
“Sometimes
someone will say: ‘Well, I have been baptized into the Church; I am a member of
the Church; I am a member of the Church; I’ll just go along and live an
ordinary sort of life; I won’t commit any great crimes; I’ll live a reasonably
good Christian life; and eventually I will gain the kingdom of God.’
“I don’t understand it that way. I think that baptism is a gate. It is a gate which puts us on a path; and the name of the path is the straight and narrow path. The straight and narrow path leads upward from the gate of baptism to the celestial kingdom of heaven. After a person has entered the gate of baptism, he has to press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, as Nephi expresses it, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men; and if he endures to the end, then he gains the promised reward.” (Conference Report, Oct. 1950, p. 16 as taken from Latter-day Commentary on the Book of Mormon compiled by K. Douglas Bassett, p.34)
Alma 7:20 his course is one eternal round
This phrase reminds us that
the Lord doesn’t change, his plans don’t change, his gospel doesn’t change, his
purposes cannot be frustrated (DC 3:1). His
work is so filled with unity and conformity that it is described as one eternal round. Moroni said, For do we not read that God is the same yesterday, today,
and forever, and in him there is no variableness neither shadow of changing? (Mormon
9:9). The Lord’s couse is “round” because the cycle repeats itself over and
over again. Neal A. Maxwell said, “there is, in fact, divine delight in
that ‘one eternal round’ which, to us, seems
to be all routine and repetition. God derives His great and continuing joy and
glory by increasing and advancing His creations, and not from new intellectual
experiences.” (All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, p. 14).
Elder Rudger Clawson
‘…God's work is everlasting, and with Him it is one
eternal round. He uses the words ‘firstly’ and ‘lastly,’ in order that we by
our finite minds may be able to understand: but to Him there is no beginning of
his works; there is no end to them. It is a beautiful thought, isn't it? It
gives you the idea at once of eternal life, something that continues and never
ends. It is a tremendous thought, and quite beyond our comprehension. There is
no man in this room, there is no woman in this assembly, that can comprehend,
can begin to grasp the idea of eternal life. We can feel it. We just feel it in
our very bones. We feel that we are destined to live forever. We feel that, but we cannot explain it.” (Conference
Report, p. 54)
Alma 7:23-24 be humble, and be submissive and gentle
The Law of Moses contained a
group of commandments which focused on controlling one’s actions. They are the
“thou shalt not” commandments. Today, we spend a lot of time on “thou shalt
not” commandments. We shouldn’t drink, smoke, watch “R” rated movies, break the
Sabbath, wear revealing clothes, swear, cheat, lie, etc. Yet if we focus on
these commandments, it indicates that we have not advanced passed a “Law of
Moses” mentality.
The Lord taught a higher
law. Part of that higher law was that the desires and thoughts of the
individual should be raised to greater heights. Alma is addressing this subject
exhorting the brethren to develop qualities of character: humility, submissiveness, gentleness,
patience, long-suffering, temperance, diligence, gratitude, faith, hope, and
charity. These are the qualities of godliness, and if we are ever going to
approach perfection, these qualities need to be the subject of our active
pursuits. Obedience to the “thou shalt not” commandments should become second
nature to us so that the more important characteristics can be the subject of
intense focus.
Peter was trying to get the
saints to focus on these important qualities when he exhorted them:
‘…giving all
diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
And to knowledge temperance; and to
temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
And to godliness
brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
For if these things be
in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren
nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But he that lacketh
these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was
purged from his old sins.
Wherefore the rather,
brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do
these things, ye shall never fall’ (2
Pet 1:5-10).
Neal A. Maxwell
“Being perfect is not a vague, generalized condition,
but the acquiring of key attributes.
Our Father is described not only as omnipotent and omniscient, but also
as having ultimate capacity in justice and mercy.
“These qualities, therefore, are those we are
either to acquire or to develop much more deeply. C.S. Lewis observed that we must realize that God ‘wants a people
of a particular sort,’ not just obedience to a set of rules.” (We Will Prove
Them Herewith, p. 62)
Joseph B. Wirthlin
“Consider President McKay's comments regarding
the many little things that build our spirituality: ‘Every noble impulse, every
unselfish expression of love, every brave suffering for the right; every
surrender of self to something higher than self; every loyalty to an ideal;
every unselfish devotion to principle; every helpfulness to humanity; every act
of self control; every fine courage of the soul, undefeated by pretence or
policy, but by being, doing, and living of good for the very good's sake—that
is spirituality.’
“President McKay also taught us that
‘spirituality is the consciousness of victory over self, and of communion with
the Infinite. Spirituality impels one to conquer difficulties and acquire more
and more strength. To feel one's faculties unfolding and truth expanding the
soul is one of life's sublimest experiences.’
“These little things—which, in reality, become
such big things—bring perspective to our lives as we learn to conquer them one
by one in our effort to gain strength. And this we do in a spirit of humility
and gratitude to our Heavenly Father. Alma expressed it best when he said:
(quotes Alma 7:23.)” (Finding Peace in Our Lives, p. 70)
Alma 7:25 ye may at last be brought to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
The scriptures tell us of so
many great blessings which await the righteous in the Millenial Day. One of
those is that they may be brought to sit down with the great prophets of previous
ages. While Alma’s generation may have imagined sitting down with Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, many of our generation have wondered what it would be like to
meet the prophet, Joseph Smith, or his successor, Brigham Young. Will we ever
get such an opportunity? The Lord reveals to us that the day will come when the
righteous will sit down with all the prophets of all ages. This will happen at
the great feast of the Lord. Joseph Smith is promised that he will some day drink of the fruit of the vine with the Lord,
Moroni, Elias, John, Elijah, Joseph, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, Adam, Peter, James,
and John (DC 27:5-12). In verse DC 27:14, the Lord tells Joseph that he will
also drink of the fruit of the vine with all those
whom my Father hath given me out of the world. As Alma explains, if our
garments are spotless even as their garments are
spotless, then we have the right to this great privilege. The privilege
to sit with these prophets is not limited to this one time feast but is a
privilege of exaltation as evidenced by Hel 3:30 and DC 124:19.
Bruce R. McConkie
“Our
Lord's Church is the kingdom of God on earth. Faithful members of that Church,
those who adhere to the standards of the kingdom, are the children of the
kingdom. (Matt. 13:38.) They are followers or disciples of the Master because
they believe the gospel of the kingdom. Special blessings are reserved for them
(D. & C. 41:6), and they are commanded to bring forth fruit mete for the
Father's kingdom. (D. & C. 84:58-59.) Children of the kingdom eventually ‘shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the
kingdom of heaven.’ (Matt. 8:11-12.)” (Mormon Doctrine, pp.
126-7)