Friday, October 2, 2015

Alma 25:11 - 25:17

Alma 25:11 And now Abinadi was the first that suffered death by fire because of his belief in God; now this is what he meant, that many should suffer death by fire, according as he had suffered.

Abinadi was the first martyred prophet to die by fire. He prophesied that many more would die by fire as well for t heir beliefs.

Alma 25:12 And he said unto the priests of Noah that their seed should cause many to be put to death, in the like manner as he was, and that they should be scattered abroad and slain, even as a sheep having no shepherd is driven and slain by wild beasts; and now behold, these words were verified, for they were driven by the Lamanites, and they were hunted, and they were smitten.

The priest of Noah were told by Abinadi that their descendants would also put many people to die by fire. But these descendants would themselves be scattered and driven from place to place and hunted like wild animals and killed by those they tried to kill.

Alma 25:13 And it came to pass that when the Lamanites saw that they could not overpower the Nephites they returned again to their own land; and many of them came over to dwell in the land of Ishmael and the land of Nephi, and did join themselves to the people of God, who were the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi.

When it became evident that the Lamanite army could not overpower the Nephites, they returned to their own lands. Many of the returnees move to the land of Ishmael and Nephi to join up with the Anti-Nephi-Lehis, the people of God.

It is natural for people of like disposition to gather together to enjoy their common interests. The righteous with the righteous and the wicked with the wicked.

Alma 25:14 And they did also bury their weapons of war, according as their brethren had, and they began to be a righteous people; and they did walk in the ways of the Lord, and did observe to keep his commandments and his statutes.

These new converts also did bury their weapons of war and swore an oath to never picked them up again to wage war. They did adopt the ways of the Anti-Nephi-Lehis and live according to gospel principles.

Alma 25:15 Yea, and they did keep the law of Moses; for it was expedient that they should keep the law of Moses as yet, for it was not all fulfilled. But notwithstanding the law of Moses, they did look forward to the coming of Christ, considering that the law of Moses was a type of his coming, and believing that they must keep those outward performances until the time that he should be revealed unto them.

These folks kept the Law of Moses. The Lord had established these statues and ordinances to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah. They knew the law was only temporary and would be put away when Christ came to earth.

Alma 25:16 Now they did not suppose that salvation came by the law of Moses; but the law of Moses did serve to strengthen their faith in Christ; and thus they did retain a hope through faith, unto eternal salvation, relying upon the spirit of prophecy, which spake of those things to come.

They knew that salvation did not come via the Law of Moses. The law only purpose was to help people to appreciate what the Messiah would do for their salvation. It was the bases of all their thoughts and personal preparation for the time when He would come to bring salvation to all mankind.

The Jews lost sight of this fact. They now said the law was the end of the means. Did did not look upon the law as a teacher of things to come. Because they could not see past it, they did not recognize Jesus when He came to them. The law was so center to them that it no longer was a teacher, it was the all there was to know. It was the ordinances that were the important item in the law not the law itself. However, the Jewish leadership gained their power by telling the people that the law was what was most important and when Christ did come, they look upon Him as a threat to their power and killed Him to keep it. I have often wondered if they knew they were killing their Messiah or were they just trying to keep their power and position. If they knew what they were doing, I would not want to have been them when they were shown what they had done.

Alma 25:17 And now behold, Ammon, and Aaron, and Omner, and Himni, and their brethren did rejoice exceedingly, for the success which they had had among the Lamanites, seeing that the Lord had granted unto them according to their prayers, and that he had also verified his word unto them in every particular.

All these events that were witnessed by Ammon, Aaron, Omner and Himni (the sons of Mosiah) were the source of their happiness and rejoicing. All the things that these boys prayed for had happened and in very detail of their prayers.

How could they not have such feelings. We all feel joy when are desire are met. However, how much more intense must have been their feelings in seeing these people become a righteous people when considering how wicked and depraved they were not that many months ago.

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