Saturday, March 12, 2016

Alma 46:36 - 46:41

Alma 46: 36 And it came to pass also, that he caused the title of liberty to be hoisted upon every tower which was in all the land, which was possessed by the Nephites; and thus Moroni planted the standard of liberty among the Nephites.

Moroni makes sure that his title of liberty is flying from every tower in the land of Nephi. He wanted every Nephite to know what was at stake in relation to their freedoms and life style.

Alma 46: 37 And they began to have peace again in the land; and thus they did maintain peace in the land until nearly the end of the nineteenth year of the reign of the judges.

With Amalickiah out of the picture, peace can again to the Nephites up until the end of the 19th year.

Alma 46: 38 And Helaman and the high priests did also maintain order in the church; yea, even for the space of four years did they have much peace and rejoicing in the church.

The church also had a measure of peace and the members were experiencing a time of joy and thanksgiving in their lives being free of contention.

Alma 46: 39 And it came to pass that there were many who died, firmly believing that their souls were redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ; thus they went out of the world rejoicing.

Many had died during this time and they left this world believing their souls were redeemed and that they would have joy in the next.

Not sure why this is mentioned that many died. I wonder if it is an indication of some kind of epidemic that went through the land. We have seen these at various times in recent history like the fly epidemic of 1918 that killed an estimated 30 million people worldwide. We have had a few in Africa of late as well.

Alma 46: 40 And there were some who died with fevers, which at some seasons of the year were very frequent in the land—but not so much so with fevers, because of the excellent qualities of the many plants and roots which God had prepared to remove the cause of diseases, to which men were subject by the nature of the climate—

Mormon mentions that the deaths seem to happen at certain times of the year like we see during the winter when we have many people catching the flu bug. Mormon mentions that these diseases were property of the climate. However, he mentions that the people knew which plants could cure some of these diseases and that God had specially placed them in the land for that purpose.

I’ve wonder why this verse was here. How does his mentioning about plants to help us with our ailments help us to be spiritual? Well, I think it is to show that conditions in certain areas of the world may cause problems for us, but that God places helps as needed. God is insightful enough to know what will be needed and puts them in place for our needs. It could be too to show that it is in the plants that many cures exists to help us in our day. Many pharmaceutical companies do look for cures in the plants particularly in the jungles. Again I think it shows that God has not left us on our own but has put in place those things we need to get through mortality with as little discomfort as possible if we will but look for them.

Alma 46: 41 But there were many who died with old age; and those who died in the faith of Christ are happy in him, as we must needs suppose.

However, many that died did so at an old age. They died with strong testimonies and we have to suppose that they were received with joy by God as they returned to his presence.

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