Alma 15:3 Zeezrom lay sick…with a burning fever, which was caused by the great tribulations of his mind

The suffering of Zeezrom gives us a glimpse into the relationship between mind, spirit, and body. Many have wondered to what extent the human mind can control physical well-being. This story demonstrates that indeed the power of the human mind can definitely affect physical health.

While Zeezrom suffered in mind and spirit because of his many sins, his body was scorched with a burning heat which was more than just figurative. There was a literal burning fever which afflicted the body. The catharsis of repentance often leaves the physical body in a state of illness or weakness. So it was with Alma the younger, Saul of Tarsus, king Lamoni, etc.

When we read of the events of Gesthemane, we are reminded of this concept. As Christ prayed to the Father, there were no external forces to cause him any physical pain. There were no Roman soldiers to whip and hit him. Rather, he suffered both body and spirit from the great mental anguish and spiritual weight of the sins of the world. The physical pain came from within. It swelled and festered until it oozed out of every pore. While Zeezrom was scorched with a burning fever for his own sins, the Savior felt physical pain for the sins of Zeezrom, Alma, Paul, King Lamoni, and every other creature. Such mental and spiritual suffering would have killed the body of any mortal man. Only the Savior could suffer so much and still survive.

“Elder Orson F. Whitney shared in this feeling: ‘Our little finite afflictions are but as a drop in the ocean, compared with the infinite and unspeakable agony borne by him for our sakes because we were not able to bear it for ourselves.’ In an inspired effort to define his suffering, Elder Neal A. Maxwell called it ‘enormity multiplied by infinity.’” (Tad Callister, Infinite Atonement, p. 128)

Boyd K. Packer

“I recently asked a doctor of family medicine how much of his time was devoted purely to correcting physical disorders. He has a large practice, and after thoughtfully considering, he answered, ‘Not more than 20 percent. The rest of the time I seem to be working on problems that very much affect the physical well-being of my patients but do not originate in the body.

“’These physical disorders,’ the doctor concluded, ‘are merely symptoms of some other kind of trouble.’…

“There is another part of us, not so tangible, but quite as real as our physical body. This intangible part of us is described as mind, emotion, intellect, temperament, and many other things. Very seldom is it described as spiritual.

“But there is a spirit in man; to ignore it is to ignore reality. There are spiritual disorders, too, and spiritual diseases that can cause intense suffering.

“The body and the spirit of man are bound together. Often, very often, when there are disorders, it is very difficult to tell which is which.” (Ensign, Nov. 1977, p. 59 as taken from the BOM Institute Manual, 1981, p. 240)

Alma 15:6 Believest thou in the power of Christ unto salvation?

There is only one question which is asked of the sick who seek for priesthood administration. The healing power is administered through the priesthood but this power is accessed by faith in Jesus Christ.

Alma 15:12 Alma baptized Zeezrom…and he began from that time forth to preach unto the people

Dean L. Larsen

“Alma’s administration is instantly effective. Zeezrom leaps to his feet, healed not only physically but spiritually as well. The report of this incident is spread throughout Sidom.

“One cannot reflect upon this episode without recalling the conversion of Saul of Tarsus in New Testament times. Saul, who had been a tormentor of the Christians and had condoned Stephen’s martyrdom (see Acts 8:1), requires a similarly dramatic conversion experience. His sightlessness is healed under the hands of Ananias. He is brought to a recognition and acknowledgement of his folly in attempting to thwart the Lord’s work. In a flood of repentant anguish he makes a dramatic reversal in the course of his life. His fervor and energy are redirected to promulgate and sustain the work he has previously sought to destroy.

“So it is with Zeezrom. He is baptized by Alma, and, just as was the case with Paul, he immediately begins to preach among the people, later becoming a trusted companion of Alma and Amulek. It is perhaps not adding too much to reality to suppose that Zeezrom’s healing, his conversion, and his testifying of Christ contribute much to the missionary success enjoyed by these three servants of the Lord. The record tells us that the people ‘did flock in from all the region round about Sidom, and were baptized’ (Alma 15:14).

“That Zeezrom proves himself in the eyes of his mentor, Alma, is confirmed by the fact that he regularly appears in the accounts of Alma’s ministry as one of his most trusted and reliable companions and fellow servants. Years after the events in Ammonihah and Sidom, when Alma undertakes one of the most difficult challenges of his life’s ministry-the conversion of the Zoramites-Zeezrom is chosen along with Ammon, Aaron, Omner, Amulek, and two of Alma’s sons to be a part of this seasoned missionary force (see Alma 31:6).” (Heroes From the Book of Mormon, pp. 118-9)

Alma 15:15 ascribing all the power of Alma and Amulek to the devil

Ironically, the wicked attribute all the power of the servants of God to their own master, Beelzebub. This is the only explanation of what is otherwise unexplainable to their wicked profession. Such was the argument which the Savior faced, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of devils (Matt 12:24). It is really a very weak argument, but what else can be said when the servants of God demonstrate such obvious power?

Alma 15:15 the profession of Nehor…did not believe in the repentance of their sins

“For they were of the profession of Nehor, and did not believe in the repentance of their sins. The seductive appeal of Nehorism was that it promised a prize without price; a victory without effort; an eternal glory without goodness. It ignored the eternally present fact of cause and effect in spiritual phenomena. By holding that a man's misuse of his free agency was but an inconsequential element in his qualifying for exaltation, Nehor was inferentially questioning the very existence of that Free Agency. The tragedy that besets those nations who repudiate responsibility for their evil conduct, and the moral decadence which inevitably follows such repudiation, are unforgettably portrayed in chapters 14 through 16 of this great Book of Alma.

“Nehor is dead, but Nehorism lives on. Dressed in a variety of philosophical habiliments and religious disguises, its influence is found almost everywhere. It can be felt, for example, in the current mechanistic philosophies of the day, according to whose teachings man consists in nothing more than an amazingly complex biological mechanism.

“’You don't punish or condemn a broken machine’; it is argued, ‘you fix it.’

“With this easy, and dangerously superficial analysis of the whole problem of human sin, they absolve mankind from any moral culpability for individual wrongdoing, and thus pave the way to spiritual corruption and death.” (Reynolds and Sjodahl, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, vol. 3, p. 229-30)

Alma 15:16 being rejected by those who were once his friends and also by his father and his kindred

Hugh Nibley

“Here's this very pointed passage in verse 16. Remember it telling what a rich, important man Amulek was, and how everybody envied him, like Oedipus? He was the blue blood of the city, a direct descendant of Nephi, highly respected for his labor. He had made himself rich, and everybody thought a lot of him. But to go out with Alma he got rid of all his swag, and this is what happened. ‘Amulek having forsaken all his gold, and silver, and his precious things, which were in the land of Ammonihah, for the word of God, he being rejected by those who were once his friends and also by his father and his kindred.’ Not only his friends cut him off cold when he didn't have any more money, his family cut him off cold when he didn't have any more money. Well, he had gotten his money by hard work, etc. They were doing the right thing [in their eyes]. I guess they all clamored to get the dough. Then they all went to court.

“My best friend Paul Springer was a chief reporter in San Francisco for many years. Then he was on the city council in San Francisco. He was in charge of the testating courts for wills, etc. And what people would do for money! They would become mortal enemies in a very rich family over a thing like a piano stool or something like that, because of greed and desire to possess. [He described] the greed in these courts where they claim the property. Who will get the most? Who will get the diamond ring? Even a pair of used shoes they would cut each others' throats for. What people do when they go after material things is astounding, isn't it? You see this is real psychology here. Amulek got rid of his money and nobody wanted to have anything to do with him anymore.” (Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Lecture 50, p. 353)