Alma 29

#Alma Chapter 29

#Scripture Mastery

Alma 29:1-3 O that I were an angel and could have the wish of mine heart.

Alma 29:4 Alma teaches that the Lord granteth unto men according to their desires. Alma 29:9-10 I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it.

Now Mormon abruptly shifts gears and inserts a remarkable soliloquy of the prophet Alma. Alma 29 is often referred to as “Alma’s Psalm.”

1 O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!

verse 1 Here Alma laments that he cannot do more to make people accept the only plan that will result in their exaltation. Yet, he knows that God grants salvation or damnation to people only according to their own desires (verse 4). And he repents of aspiring to be more than he really is (verses 6-7).

What is an angel? It is a messenger sent by God or Satan to minister or teach. Those sent by God teach by the power of the Holy Ghost. The different types of angels include:

1. Resurrected beings having celestial bodies of flesh and bone. They have obviously come forth in the “first resurrection,” since that is the only resurrection that has already commenced. They therefore have earned and received their celestial glory, their celestial bodies, and they can appear in glory. Perhaps they are also permitted to withhold their glory as they appear.

2. The “spirits of just men made perfect” (D&C 76:69; 129:3). These are righteous individuals who have died and have been assigned to a state of paradise but have not yet been resurrected. They are assured that they will inherit the celestial glory. Because of their righteousness, they are allowed to appear in the glory they will possess when they are resurrected.

3. Translated beings. These are individuals who have lived their mortal sojourn, had their calling and election made sure, and have been called to take upon themselves a terrestrial-like body and continue to serve the Lord among mortals. As they minister on the earth they are likely not distinguishable from other mortals. For a more complete discussion of translated beings, see the commentary for 3 Nephi 28:6-10 and Doctrine of Translation in Ye Shall Know of the Doctrine, volume 2, chapter 17.

4. Pre-existent spirits.

5. Satan or one of his spirit colleagues. Obviously the title “angels” is a misleading euphemism here. These may actually appear “in glory” as angels of light since they know how to fake the light or glory of God.

“that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God” The Jubilee year is the year at the end of seven cycles of shmita (Sabbatical years). Shmita are periods of seven years each. Hence, the Jubilee year occurs every 49 years. There is some debate whether it was the 49th year (the last year of seven sabbatical cycles, referred to as the Sabbath’s Sabbath), or whether it was the following (50th) year.

According to Biblical regulations the Jubilee year had a special impact on the ownership and management of land in the Land of Israel. Jubilee deals largely with land, property, and property rights. According to Leviticus, slaves and prisoners would be freed, debts would be forgiven, and the mercies of God would be particularly manifest. Leviticus 25:8-13 states: “And thou shalt number seven Sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the Day of Atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which growth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed. For it is the jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field. In the year of this jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession.”

Alma’s use of trumpet imagery here in this verse is interesting in light of the timing in which he wrote this thoughtful and moving piece of prophetic poetry—the

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16 year of the reign of the judges (Alma 28 closes out the 15th year—verses 7–10)— and 16th year is already in progress in Alma 30:2–4, chronologically placing Alma 29 in the 16th year.). This was the 49th year since King Benjamin’s powerful oration at the coronation of his son Mosiah (Mosiah reigned for 33 years —Mosiah 29:46). 33 plus the 16 years of the reign of the judges, makes 49 years since King Benjamin’s address.), an event some scholars believe was a jubilee celebration (Terrence L. Szink and John W. Welch, “King Benjamin’s Speech in the Context of Ancient Israelite Festivals,” in King Benjamin’s Speech: “That Ye May Learn Wisdom,” ed. John W. Welch and Stephen D. Ricks, Provo, UT: FARMS, 1998, 193–199).

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In the 49 (or 50 ) year, on the Day of Atonement, the “trumpet of the jubilee” would have again been sounded, “throughout all [the] land” (Leviticus 25:9), heralding in the next jubilee year. The Hebrew word yobel (carried into English as jubilee) literally means trumpet (Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel, New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 1965, 175–177).

In the land of Israel, the trumpets would probably have been rams horns (Wright, “Jubilee, Year of,” 1025 explained, “yôbēl or qeren hayyôbēl, ‘the horn of the ram’ or šôperôt hayyôbelîm, ‘trumpets of rams’ are expressions used for trumpets, e.g., Exodus 19:13; Josh 6:4–8, 13.”), but other kinds of horns could have been used (These might have included conch shells, horns of antelope, ibex, oryx, and other goat species have also been used. The Apocrypha, even describes the use of “trumpets of hammered metal” (NRSV), illustrating that trumpets need not be made from the horns of an animal. They were also sometimes made of wood, clay, or gourd. ), and some scholars have argued that loud shouting could also suffice (According to David J. Larsen, “Angels Among Us: The Use of Old Testament Passages as Inspiration for Temple Themes in the Dead Sea Scrolls,” Studies in the Bible and Antiquity 5 (2013): 101, “In the biblical texts, the teru’ah is a shout or a trumpet blast, usually given in the context of a temple ritual on a festival day, such as the Feast of Trumpets or the Day of Atonement.” ). Alma’s expressed desire to “speak with the trump of God” and “with a voice of thunder” (Alma 29:1–2) thus seems “especially appropriate in this second identifiable jubilee season in Nephite history” (Szink and Welch, “King Benjamin’s Speech,” 198–199).

Among its many ideal attributes and desired results, the jubilee was particularly characterized by sabbatical rest and joy. It was to be, above all, a time of great joy and jubilation, and indeed, joy saturates the text of Alma 29, where it appears exactly seven times (See Alma 29:9, 10, 13, 14 (2x), 16.), the archetypal sabbatical number (See Corbin Volluz, “A Study in Seven: Numerology in the Book of Mormon,” BYU Studies Quarterly 53 no. 2, 2014: 57–83).

The joy of a great jubilee year would have filled Alma, as the high priest, and his people with enormous happiness. Other themes of the jubilee also found in Alma 29 include the counting of blessings, remembering the past, repenting, rejoicing in freedom and deliverance, letting the world rest, and peace (For themes of the jubilee year, see John W. Welch and J. Gregory Welch, “Benjamin’s Themes Related to Sabbatical and Jubilee Years,” in Charting the Book of Mormon: Visual Aids for Personal Study and Teaching, Provo, UT: FARMS, 1999, chart 91).

Right after the conclusion of Alma’s meditation in Alma 29, the record indicates that in the 16th year there began to be “continual peace throughout all the land” (Alma 30:2), and then in the next year there was “continual peace” (verse 5) throughout most of the 17th year of the reign of judges (being the 50th year from King Benjamin’s speech). What a jubilee season it must have been, with the Ammonites now settled in the land of Jershon, and the sons of Mosiah safely and unexpectedly home after their fourteen years of missionary work in the land of Nephi.

The approach of the jubilee year marked an appropriate occasion for Alma’s pensive reflections in Alma 29. At the very point when the Nephites had recently, or would soon, sound the “trumpet of the jubilee” (Leviticus 25:8), Alma longed to “speak with the trump of God” (Alma 29:1).

As a missionary, Alma wished to shout aloud the glories, goodness, justice and mercy of God. He longed to be able to shake the earth, as the angel’s voice had done when he stopped Alma and the four sons of Mosiah as they had gone about arguing against the church of God. Now Alma rejoiced in the deliverance of God and in the establishment of his covenant people. He wanted to invite all to repent and to join in the jubilee throng of the Lord.

Although Alma’s desires were righteous ones, he nonetheless feared, “I am a man, and do sin in my wish.” As the high priest, Alma, it seems, would have been especially sensitive to the possibility that he sinned in his wishful thinking, because he knew of the particular importance that he, as high priest, not be tainted with even the slightest sin going into a Day of Atonement, especially at the commencement of the jubilee.

Coveting—or desiring or wishing for things that are not properly ours—denies two fundamental principles underscored by the jubilee: first the recognition that all the earth and everything in it belongs to God, and second that God gives and takes as he knows how things ought to be. Alma appears to have recognized these underlying principles when he remarked, “I ought not to harrow up in my desires the firm decree of a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire” (Alma 29:4).

Textually, it is remarkable, to say the least, that the Book of Mormon manifests literary motifs associated with the jubilee in two places exactly 49 years apart. The rapid dictation of the Book of Mormon (For the timeline of translation, see John W. Welch, “The Miraculous Translation of the Book of Mormon,” in Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations, 1820–1844, ed. John W. Welch, Provo, UT: BYU Studies, 2005, 77–117) would hardly have allowed time for Joseph to count off the years and to mark these jubilees with such subtle sophistication, let alone to set the gorgeous language in Alma 29 so richly in this contextual background.

All of this gives evidence of Alma’s considerable awareness, experiential familiarity, and spiritual sensitivity. Outside of a Jewish-thinking community, few readers are particularly familiar with jubilee celebrations and the themes associated with them. For many profoundly motivated reasons, Alma’s soul-stirring words confer priestly blessings and express joyous love in ways that are fully appropriate to the jubilee occasion. Although most readers today won’t be participating in a jubilee celebration, all can find daily reasons to rejoice in God’s creation and recognize his hand in all things.

2 Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.

verse 2 The “plan of redemption” would undoubtedly include the concepts of the fall of man, the atonement of the Savior, and obedience to the laws of God.

Alma admits to a temptation to superimpose his will upon the agency of man— that is, he feels so strongly that men would be happy here on earth and beyond if they would only accept Jesus Christ and his gospel, that sometimes he finds himself wishing he could speak so powerfully (“as with the voice of thunder”) that men’s agency would be momentarily suspended and they would all be persuaded to accept the gospel and joint with God’s earthly kingdom.

“that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth” Contemplate for a moment what the world would be like if all of its inhabitants would live the principles of the gospel and look forward joyously to their exaltation.

3 But behold, I am a man, and do sin in my wish; for I ought to be content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto me.

verse 3 Here, Alma apologizes to the Lord for desiring more ability than the Lord has given him. Just exactly why was Alma sinful in his desires expressed in verses 1 and 2?

His wish usurped an angelic role that was not his. He extravagantly wished to speak even more thunderously than the angel of the Lord, by wanting to “cry repentance unto every people” and “unto every soul,” to remove all sorrow from “upon all the face of the earth” (Alma 29:1–2), effectively appropriating to himself the role and power of God.

He erred in thinking that somehow this could actually remove sorrow from all the earth. Not only would that be impossible, but it would deny the decree of God that good and evil should be placed before all men that they might choose according to their desires and thereby experience joy or remorse, as Alma himself later acknowledges (Alma 29:5).

His wish reflected discontent with the things that the Lord had allotted unto him (Alma 29:3–4). Elder Neal A. Maxwell wrote: “The truth about foreordination also helps us to taste of the other deep wisdom of Alma. He said we ought to be ‘content with the things which the Lord hath allotted unto’ each of us (Alma 29:3). If, indeed, the things allotted to each of us have been divinely customized, then why should I desire more than to perform the work to which I have been called?” (But for a Small Moment, 101).

Alma’s wish would have tried to re-plow the ground of God’s firm decrees. Alma conceded, “I ought not to harrow up in my desires the firm decree of a just God” (Alma 29:4). Harrowing involves breaking up the ground for planting crops. So Alma realizes that the he is seeking to “break up” the firm decree of God, a desire which is sinful. Alma’s wish would have put him into a position of trying to counsel the Lord, and in effect to deny that “the Lord doth counsel in his wisdom, according to that which is just and true” (verse 8). On reflection, Alma recognized that his holy spiritual calling was simply to bring “some soul” to repentance.

In his wish, Alma recognized that he sinned in his heart or mind because of such desires. This truth is evident here in Alma’s honest reflection. To his credit, Alma recognized that it is God’s role to grant to men “according to their desires” and “according to their wills” and that “good and evil hath come before all men” whether for “life or death, joy or remorse of conscience” (Alma 29:4–5).

Thus, reaffirming to himself what he truly knew, Alma asked, “Why should I desire that I was an angel, that I could speak unto all the ends of the earth?” (Alma 29:7). To this question he immediately answered that he should not so desire, for it is in God’s wisdom that all nations shall receive, in their own tongue, as the Lord sees fit (verse 8), and because the Lord has commanded him not to “glory in [him]self,” but to “glory in that which the Lord hath commanded” (verse 9).

Indeed, his wish, if fulfilled, might have led him to disregard many things that one must spiritually remember in righteousness. It would have set Alma up ahead of his four brethren, the Sons of Mosiah, whose great success among the Lamannites deserved to be celebrated with the greatest of jubilation. His wish could have led Alma to glory in himself, and not to glory in what the Lord had commanded him, and could have distracted him from his responsibility to rejoice unselfishly in the successes of all other people.

In Alma’s mind, missing the mark in any of these respects, let alone in all of them, would have constituted nothing less than a sin of thunderous, soul-shaking proportions. Fortunately, Alma ultimately was spiritually sensitive enough to diminish and dissolve these impulses. Alma’s glorious text ends with him thinking not of himself, but of the great success of the four sons of Mosiah who had been up to the land of Nephi, who had labored exceedingly, and had brought forth much fruit (Alma 29:17). “A sure sign of a disciple of Christ is that he or she has learned how to rejoice in the progress of others” (Ed J. Pinegar and Richard J. Allen, Commentaries and Insights on the Book of Mormon: 1 Nephi to Alma 29, American Fork, UT: Covenant Communications, 2007, 620).

4 I ought not to harrow up in my desires, the firm decree of a just God, for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth unto them decrees which are unalterable, according to their wills, whether they be unto salvation or unto destruction.

verse 4 “I ought not to harrow up in my desires, the firm decree of a just God” We have encountered the verb “harrow up” or “harrowed up” previously in our study of the Book of Mormon (2 Nephi 9:47; Alma 14:6; 15:3). In all instances in the Book of Mormon, thus far, to “harrow up” is to vex or cause mental distress. The meaning in this verse is different. According to Webster, one archaic meaning of the verb “to harrow” is to despoil or to take away the value of a thing. This meaning seems applicable here. Alma says in effect, “I ought not, by my own vain or selfish desirings, try to alter the firm decree of a just God.”

“the firm decree of a just God” And just what is this “firm decree of a just God”? It is that every man possesses his unfettered agency, and that he will reap eternal happiness or sorrow according to his exercise of that agency.

“I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire” Here is a sobering thought. A man’s “desire” has little to do with his momentary wishes or statements of preference. Rather his “desire” is what he truly is in his heart. Ultimately a man is judged by his desire—what really lies deep within his heart. A man’s thinking, feelings, words, and actions (his behaviors) are inevitably determined by what is in his heart. No amount of pretense, excuse, deceit, ostentation, or rationalization can hide what is really there. A man may try to deceive others by acting this way or that way, but ultimately what truly lies in his heart will manifest itself through his behaviors. The Lord’s judgment of a man will thus always be based on that man’s real desires, and that judgment or decree is “unalterable.”

An individual who has yielded his heart to God, overcome his natural self, and willed himself to obey will eventually be born of the Spirit. He will be changed from his carnal and fallen state. He will experience a change of heart. That man will desire eternal life for all of the right reasons. His heart and his motivations will be pure. There will be nothing of selfishness or self aggrandizement. He will not simply prefer to live with God; he will long to be there. He will have a consuming desire for the things of God. He will have lost all desire to sin. He it is who is granted “according to his desire”—knowing that he will not ask amiss. The Lord will see to it that “it is done even as he asketh” (D&C 46:30). The Lord has said of him: “Whatsoever things [he] shall ask the Father in my name shall be given unto [him]” (3 Nephi 27:28).

Is it possible that a man might ask amiss? That is, might a man request an eternal benefit which is incompatible with those desires that are truly found in his heart? The prophet Samuel wrote, “The LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). Ultimately, the Lord’s judgments will be based, not upon what a man says, or upon what a man may think he wants, but rather upon what a man is.

5 Yea, and I know that good and evil have come before all men; he that knoweth not good from evil is blameless; but he that knoweth good and evil, to him it is given according to his desires, whether he desireth good or evil, life or death, joy or remorse of conscience.

verse 5 “I know that good and evil have come before all men” Mortality offers to all people, once they are beyond the age of accountability, ample opportunities to knowingly decide between good and evil.

“he that knoweth not good from evil is blameless” Those below the age of accountability, and those whose mental capacities render them unable to judge between good and evil, are not responsible.

“but he that knoweth good and evil, to him it is given according to his desires” President Ezra Taft Benson taught: “We are free to choose, but we are not free to alter the consequences of those choices” (Come Unto Christ, 40). The primary determinant of a man’s choices and behavior is his desires—who and what he really is. Ultimately a man’s desires will be made overtly manifest in his outward behavior. In the unusual case of a man whose desires, whether they be good or evil, are not manifest due to circumstances beyond his control, a just God will reward or punish that individual as if he had actually manifest those desires (D&C 137:5-9). Elder Dallin H. Oaks wrote: “The laws of God can reward a righteous desire or attitude because an omniscient God can determine it. If a person does not perform a particular commandment because he is genuinely unable to do so, but truly would if he could, our Heavenly Father will know this and will reward that person accordingly. Upon the same principle, evil thoughts or desires are sinful under the laws of God even though not translated into the actions that would make them punishable under the laws of man. Similarly, if a person performs a seemingly righteous act but does so for the wrong reasons, such as to achieve a selfish purpose, his hands may be clean but his heart is not pure. His act will not be counted for righteousness” (Pure in Heart, 12-13).

6 Now, seeing that I know these things, why should I desire more than to perform the work to which I have been called?

7 Why should I desire that I were an angel, that I could speak unto all the ends of the earth?

8 For behold, the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word, yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have; therefore we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true.

verse 8 Alma teaches that God grants gospel knowledge including spiritual insights unto his children according to his divine wisdom. This likely applies to nations as a whole and to each individual. We will receive that portion of his word we are prepared to receive. We have already learned that “he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full.” Also “they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction” (Alma 12:9-11).

“the Lord doth grant unto all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word” From other scriptures we have learned that the gospel will be preached unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people (Revelation 14:6-7) and that it will go to all nations in their own language (D&C 90:11). Here we learn that the people of each nation will hear the gospel declared by their own people—“of their own nation and tongue.”

9 I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.

verse 9 Here, Alma reaffirms the idea that he has no desire to seek for callings from the Lord that may bring him notoriety or some other selfish benefit. He is content with and indeed glories in “that which the Lord hath commanded” him.

10 And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent, and coming to the Lord their God, then is my soul filled with joy; then do I remember what the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me.

verse 10 “I remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me” It is unlikely that Alma, even to the end of his mortal life, ever ceased shaking with panic over how close he had come to eternal damnation in those months and years prior to his miraculous conversion.

11 Yea, and I also remember the captivity of my fathers; for I surely do know that the Lord did deliver them out of bondage, and by this did establish his church; yea, the Lord God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, did deliver them out of bondage.

12 Yea, I have always remembered the captivity of my fathers; and that same God who delivered them out of the hands of the Egyptians did deliver them out of bondage.

verses 11-12 By recalling here the captivity of his ancestors in the land of Helam and the land of Nephi, Alma is actually following a commandment of the Lord delivered to him by the angel who participated in his dramatic conversion. That angel told him: “Now I say unto thee: Go, and remember the captivity of thy fathers in the land of Helam, and in the land of Nephi; and remember how great things he has done for them; for they were in bondage, and he has delivered them” (Mosiah 27:16).

13 Yea, and that same God did establish his church among them; yea, and that same God hath called me by a holy calling, to preach the word unto this people, and hath given me much success, in the which my joy is full.

14 But I do not joy in my own success alone, but my joy is more full because of the success of my brethren, who have been up to the land of Nephi.

verse 14 Here, Alma refers, of course, to his brethren the sons of Mosiah.

15 Behold, they have labored exceedingly, and have brought forth much fruit; and how great shall be their reward!

16 Now, when I think of the success of these my brethren my soul is carried away, even to the separation of it from the body, as it were, so great is my joy. 17 And now may God grant unto these, my brethren, that they may sit down in the kingdom of God; yea, and also all those who are the fruit of their labors that they may go no more out, but that they may praise him forever. And may God grant that it may be done according to my words, even as I have spoken. Amen.

verse 17 “that they may sit down in the kingdom of God” Alma yearns aloud for the sealing up to eternal glory of his friends, the sons of Mosiah.

“that they may go no more out” This particular “they” refers to the Anti-Nephi- Lehies—those Lamanites converted during the ministrations of the sons of Mosiah. This phrase means: May the converted Lamanites always remain faithful and never again wander off the strait and narrow path.