Abinadi and Alma
[Death of Abinadi]
[Alma Teaches the Basics of the Gospel]
{Baptism Covenant Only – Not for Remission of Sins]
96 Now with Mosiah 17 come a series of extremely interesting and significant stories. He really pours it on here. After Abinadi gave his sermon, what was the reaction? “The king commanded that the priests should take him and cause that he should be put to death.” And it’s very obvious why. After the sermon in chapters 15 and 16, what else was there left for the king to do? The contrast between what I am doing and what I could be doing is simply intolerable—I can’t face it. I must get rid of the one, or get rid of the other. You can’t share them. As Brigham Young said, nothing is harder than trying to carry the load on both shoulders. It will just tear you apart. You’ve got to decide one way or the other. He [King Noah] heard the story, and he knew it was true, but it was intolerable. He couldn’t face it. The only thing to do was get the man out of sight and out of mind. So take him away and put him to death.
96,97 Mosiah 17:2 “But there was one among them whose name was Alma,” and there’s a very important thing about Alma. You’ll notice his situation and what kind of fellow he was. What was Alma’s situation? It goes out of the way to tell us why he was in this situation. He was a direct descendant of Nephi. That meant he had the priesthood, but he wasn’t among those—the old guard—that had been kicked out by Noah at an earlier time. Remember, Noah cleaned out Zeniffs priests that he had appointed. And as we read back here in Mosiah 11:5, he got rid of them. “For he put down all the priests that had been consecrated by his father [so Alma hadn’t been consecrated by Zeniff], and he consecrated new ones in their stead.” And Alma was apparently one of those new ones. Why? Well, in the first place he was young. It says that he was a young man. He hadn’t been in that old group at all. In the second place, he was in the highest aristocracy. Remember, the first Nephi had been the king, so he was the nearest thing you would get to royal blood. He couldn’t avoid the job. He would naturally be appointed by the king and also have the king’s ear because he was in high respect, of course. And he was also honest, and he knew [Abinadi] was telling the truth. He knew too much, as a matter of fact. That’s why the king had to get rid of him now. His name was Alma, he was a descendant of Nephi, and he was a young man. He was one of the new guard, but he believed the words of Abinadi. He knew what had been going on, the iniquity Abinadi had testified about. Of course, he interceded for Abinadi. He had the ear of the king and he said, well, what about it? Let’s let him go. The least we can do is let him go in peace. The king wouldn’t have that, and so now he wanted to get rid of Alma himself. To agree to this [Alma’s exhortation] would be an admission of his guilt. He couldn’t afford to do that, so he had to get rid of Alma, too. He was a troublemaker [for the king], and he knew too much, as we learn in verse 2.
97 Mosiah 17:3 Then what happened? He “sent his servants after him that they might slay him” so that nobody would know about it. See, that’s the way he did things, not in the open. This Noah was quite a character, and yet he turns out to be a rather sympathetic character, and that’s surprising, isn’t it? “But he [Alma] fled from before them [Alma was up to that—he knew what was going to happen, so he got out of the way in time; he was no fool to stay around] and hid himself that they found him not. And he being concealed for many days did write all the words which Abinadi had spoken.” Remember, those were scripture. Abinadi was heavy with scripture. He taunted the priests of Noah for teaching the scripture and not knowing it, not understanding it, and not following it. Then the same thing happened here. So here we come to that interesting parallel in the Dead Sea Scrolls with the Teacher of Righteousness or the Star. From now on he goes through exactly the same routine as Alma. Well, it’s altogether too close. They’re stamped from the same mold, even the same details. Here’s one from the Dead Sea Scrolls, first published in 1950, discovered in 1948. This wasn’t known, of course, to Joseph Smith, and yet he gives an identical, carbon copy of Alma’s story, all the way through. Now how is that possible? Well, this is one of those recurrent scenarios. It happened before here; we can go back to 1 Nephi 4:30. We have him right here. The same thing happens—this going out.
105 Mosiah 17:3 The king “caused that Alma should be cast out from among them, and sent his servants after him that they might slay him.” Remember, we had the Abinadi story. It parallels this very closely. Abinadi preached to the priests, and they did the same thing— the priests that lied and tried to catch him in his words. He fled and he said he lived among the fisher folk and the farmers, and he hid out from them. Then he came back into the town and started to preach. This is what Alma did. “But he fled from before them and hid himself that they found him not. And he being concealed for many days did write all the words which Abinadi had spoken” (Mosiah 16:4). That’s what we just read. And we read in the 1QS, especially the Thanksgiving Hymn where the leader praises the Lord that he has been rescued after all his sufferings, and he says, “I praise thee Lord for thou didst not desert me when I was among the people and didst not leave me in my secret affairs, but saved my life out of the pit and grave in the midst of lions. And thou didst take me to a place removed among the fisher folk and hunters [so he hid out for a while, you see]. “Thou didst hide me, O God, from the children of men and hid thy law in me [he wrote it down when he was there; the same thing is happening here, you see] until the time that thy help should be revealed to me, Thou didst preserve my life, the life of the poor one in the place of lions.” So he went out to the desert and hid there, just as Alma hid out and wrote these things down that he heard from Abinadi.
105,106 Mosiah 17:9 Then notice the beginning of chapter 18 tells us (we’re getting ahead of the game) that Alma went about “privately among the people and began to teach the words of Abinadi.... And he taught them privately (the first and third verses). So he appeared this way, just as Abinadi had gone around in disguise before until the time came when he cast off the disguise. And he did it deliberately, because he told the king here that he had deliberately put himself into his hands. Notice Mosiah 17:9: “. . . that ye may know of their surety I have suffered myself that I have fallen into your hands,” so my blood would witness against you. He says he deliberately allowed it to happen. He only cast off the disguise when he wanted to be discovered. When he came into their midst, then he said, ‘Thus has the Lord commanded me, saying—Abinadi ...” Then they knew who he was. And he [Alma] says here in the ninth verse, “... that ye may know of their surety [that my words are true; he’s going to testify with his blood and so he says,] I have suffered myself that I have fallen into your hands.”
106 Mosiah 18:4 “And it came to pass that as many as did believe him did go forth to a place which was called Mormon, having received its name from the king, being in the borders of the land having been infested, by times or at seasons, by wild beasts” (Mosiah 18:4). This is very interesting.
107 Mosiah 17:8,9 [Referring to Christ] “He said he was king of the Jews,” they’d get out of it that way. [Christ is] guilty is because this was the crime. He [the Savior] said he was king of the Jews, and he [Abinadi] said the same thing—that Christ was the Redeemer. “For thou hast said that God himself should come down among the children of men [well, that was the claim that Christ made; that was the charge against him in the titulus on the cross], and now for this cause thou shalt be put to death.” Because he said Christ should come down. That’s the same reason that Christ himself was crucified. And it was for blasphemy, for saying a thing that was unthinkable, that the doctors would not permit for a moment, and it was appalling. And then he says, all right, that’s what I expected. “I have suffered myself that I have fallen into your hands. ... I will not recall my words, and they shall stand as a testimony against you. And if ye slay me, ye shall shed innocent blood, and this shall also stand as a testimony against you at the last day.”
107 Why does blood stand as a testimony? Well, when a murder has been committed or there’s dirty work going on, it’s blood that’s the evidence, isn’t it? It’s the blood that testifies that there has been the shedding of blood, of course. Nothing testifies better than that—the blood itself testifies. If there’s blood on the ground, you know that someone has shed blood. And that’s why we get this idea of the blood testifying against you.
107 Mosiah 17:11 Then [King] Noah changed his mind. He wanted to let him go now. He didn’t like it, and he was afraid of him. He feared the judgment of God would come upon him. Now this is interesting. Noah feared God? This man? Yes, he did. Remember, he considered himself the leader of religious [people]. By [their] standards, he was a righteous man. Remember, in Mosiah 12:13-15, they say he hasn’t done anything wrong. They say, “And now, O king, what great evil hast thou done, or what great sins have thy people committed, that we should be condemned of God or judged of this man? And now, O king, behold, we are guiltless, and thou, O king, hast not sinned; therefore, this man has lied concerning you, and he has prophesied in vain. And behold, we are strong, we shall not come into bondage, or be taken captive by our enemies; yea, and thou hast prospered in the land, and thou also shalt prosper.” That proves you shall also prosper, so you’re righteous. Because we’re prosperous, we’re victorious and everything else. They really believed that.
107,108 So what’s wrong with King Noah? He was a very popular king. He put on a great show, and the people loved him. This is a very interesting thing about Noah. He was worried, and he wanted to do the right thing here. He was afraid because he knew darn well that Abinadi was right, and he wanted to let him go. But, notice what happened. The priests wouldn’t let him out. The very same thing happened with Pilate. Remember? Pilate wanted to put it onto the Jews, and they got their revenge. Notice that he had this dialogue with the Jews, and they were each trying to outwit the other. Who had the last word? Each one tried to stick the other with responsibility for the crucifixion, the death of Christ. And so he [Pilate] said, “He is the king of the Jews.”
108 Mosiah 17:12 , the king wanted to give up. He recognized Abinadi, but the priests wouldn’t let him do it. Verse 12: “But the priests lifted up their voices against him ... saying: He has reviled against the king.” They were putting it on the king to make him responsible. He’s reviled against you. You can’t deny your office. You can’t deny that you’re the king, and he has reviled against you [paraphrased]. They were forcing him to put Abinadi to death, to defend the kingly office and keep his royal dignity. “He has reviled the king. Therefore the king was stirred up in anger against them, and he delivered him up that he might be slain [they put it all onto the king, but it was the priests again]. And it came to pass that they took him and bound him, and scourged his skin with faggots, yea, even unto death. And now when the flames began to scorch him, he cried unto them.”
109 Mosiah 17 13-15 The faggots are burning brands. They burn, and we think of scourging as with a scourge, as “to scourge with a whip.” But they’re the same word exactly. They scourged him and scorched him—in other words, he was being fried. It’s not a comfortable way to die, either. Verse 14: “He cried unto them saying: Behold, even as ye have done unto me, so shall it come to pass that thy seed shall cause that many shall suffer the pains that I do suffer, even the pains of death by fire. And then he pronounced that the same thing was going to happen to the king himself out in the woods later on. “Yea, and ye shall be smitten on every hand,... And in that day ye shall be hunted, and ye shall be taken by the hand of your enemies, and then ye shall suffer, as I suffer, the pains of death by fire.”
109 Mosiah 17:20 Now who was recording all this that he said? Remember, Alma wasn’t on the scene in disguise then. But remember, after this happened, many repented and went out and joined Alma, and there were some there that did, you see. They had the record of this thing. They were able to report what went on because it was a public execution. Verse 20: “And now, when Abinadi had said these words, he fell, having suffered death by fire.”
109,110 Now what happened? Alma fled from the servants of King Noah, repented of his sins and iniquities, and then went about privately among the people and began to teach just exactly as the Teacher of Righteousness did here [in the Dead Sea Scrolls]. And this is what he taught—the absolute basics of the gospel. These are the big questions, these are the essentials. Without them you have no gospel; with them, you have everything. The first is resurrection of the dead. Is there any more [after this life]? That’s a terrible question, you see. Is this all there is? The answer is no, as we saw the last time. There’s much more, and it’s the resurrection of the dead. The second is that you’re not only resurrected to make life possible but to make it endurable and enjoyable. I don’t want to live forever, if I’ve got to suffer forever. No that’s not it, but to make life desirable for eternal life—to make it possible and then to make it desirable. And that’s the same thing. Redemption of the people. That is atonement, bringing them back to the presence of God, and that happens through power. Things are done through power. It’s a physical, real thing that happens. The suffering and death of Christ and his resurrection and ascension—now that’s the atonement. What he’s preaching here is resurrection, redemption, atonement, buying back again, bringing together again where you were. Notice all these words that begin with re. That means again. A re-surrection means “a rising up again.” That means you were in the flesh before. Of course we’re here now, and then we will rise up again. But then after, it is the redemption. You are bought back again. You came down here, you suffered the Fall, you committed all these sins, etc. Then you’re freed. EMPTIO is “to buy something,” and redemption is “to buy somebody back again who was with you before.” See, you were in the presence of the Lord before; now he’s buying you back into his service again after you’ve been out of it for a while. You’ve been serving the devil. That’s what he [Alma] preached.
109,110 Mosiah 18:2,3 “And as many as would hear his word he did teach. And he taught them privately, that it might not come to a knowledge of the king. And many did believe his words. And it came to pass that as many as did believe him did go forth to a place which was called Mormon, having received its name from the king, being in the borders of the land having been infested by times or at seasons, by wild beasts”
110 Mosiah 18:5 “Now, there was in Mormon a fountain of pure water, and Alma resorted thither [notice this is the country, and it’s a desert terrain; it’s no jungle, as you have to hide in a thicket], there being near the water a thicket of small trees, where he did hide himself in the daytime from the searchers of the king.” So obviously it was fairly open country, desert country, because they had to search out a water place. There were groves growing around the springs; an oasis is what it was, where they were hiding here. “And ... as many as believed him went thither to hear his words.” Finally they had to leave, as you know. They weren’t able to stay long. The king’s soldiers kept snooping around, and they finally drove them out. Then they went to another place, as we find out later.
111,112 Mosiah 18:10 And Alma says here at the waters of Mormon, “What have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments?” (Mosiah 18:10). There is no mention made here of baptism for the remission of sins. It’s a witness and a covenant only, and it’s exactly the same thing at Qumran. Well, this is what it says here: “With baptism he submits his soul in all humility to every commandment of God, after which he applies himself to walking carefully in all the ways of God as he commanded him for the specific time and conditions in turning aside to the right or to the left. And then he will truly be a covenant member of God’s eternal church,” as a testimony that he has entered into a covenant to serve him, as Alma tells them. And they agree, they are “willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; . .. willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort.”
112 There’s this oneness. They called themselves the YAHAD out there, which means “the oneness, the unity in everything.” And so we read in their Doctrine and Covenants, “for all shall be united in one true church, the oneness of truth and in becoming humility, and the love of mercy and fair dealing each with his neighbor, to be perfect, each in supporting his fellow, in truth and humility and love of mercy toward all.” You see the same sort of code and everything followed here.
114 Mosiah 18:7,12 Now [to] the fountain of pure water and the many believers. Verse 7: “After many days there were a goodly number gathered together at the place of Mormon, to hear the words of Alma. . . . And now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn [very poetic, eloquent passages] . . . even in death . . . being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered a covenant with him . . .” Notice, it uses the language of water and pouring out. There were the waters of Niddah, the waters of pouring. And it says here, “. . . and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you.” Notice he uses the image of the water connected with the baptism. He pours out the Spirit with the baptism. No mention of sins. And notice he says in the verse 12 again, “O Lord, pour out thy Spirit upon thy servant, that he may do this work with holiness of heart. And when he had said these words, the Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he said: Helam, I baptize thee, having authority from the Almighty God, as a testimony that ye have entered into a covenant.” That’s why he baptized him, as a testimony, but it doesn’t say for remission of sins, you notice. This is very interesting. They’re following strictly the order before the time of Christ, and this is the order we find in the Dead Sea Scrolls, “as a testimony that ye have entered into a covenant to serve him until you are dead as to the mortal body; and may the Spirit of the Lord be poured out upon you [he refers to pouring again—this figure of pouring the Spirit, pouring the waters of baptism and dunking him in the water]; and may he grant unto you eternal life, through the redemption of Christ, whom he has prepared from the foundation of the world.” [They were] looking forward to the pre-existent, eternal, unchanging gospel that’s to be given later.
114,115 Mosiah 18:17,18 Well, there were 204 souls. Verse 17: “Whosoever was baptized by the power and authority of God was added to his church.” And then Alma gave the authority from God to ordain priests, and again we find this in the Dead Sea Scrolls. They divided themselves into companies of fifty, and the high priest, the Teacher of Righteousness, visited one community after another and checked up. He had them teach only what he wanted them to teach, very strictly; and Alma [also] said, [teach] only what I teach you. Verse 18: “Alma, having authority from God, ordained priests; even one priest to every fifty of their number [that was the normal class in Qumran] did he ordain to preach unto them. . . . And he commanded that they should teach nothing save it were the things which he had taught, and which had been spoken by the mouth of the holy prophets.” The opening lines of the SEREKH SCROLL, the first scroll that was ever found, says, this is according to all the teachings that came by the mouth of the holy prophets, which has been revealed through Moses by the hand of God and to all the holy prophets. This is what we’re going to teach, what we’re going to do [paraphrased]. So this says the same thing, “by the mouth of the holy prophets.” He uses that very same expression.
115 Mosiah 18:20 “Yea, even he commanded them that they should preach nothing save it were repentance and faith on the Lord.” This is the first step and the last. They’re out there to preach repentance. (Well, we’ll have to mark it here, because an interesting thing comes next.) This is an astonishing parallel. Well, we find Nephi doing the same thing. We find Jeremiah doing the same thing. We find David hiding out doing the same way with his own community, and lots of people. This is the Rechabite plan. Remember, when Jerusalem fell, it was the sons of Jonadab ben Rechab who were put in charge of the temple, the only people who could be trusted. Way back in the early days, they were the ones who went out into the desert. They made a covenant not to live in houses of stone, and they felt they must live in the desert if they were to be righteous. [Thereafter], the custom of going out and fleeing into the desert to get away from the wicked city was called the Rechabite custom after Jonadab ben Rechab and his family, which Jeremiah tells us about in the chapter 35 of Jeremiah.