BM 122 5—Alma 36

I need thee every hour--98

Alma 36

Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon

A

A

B

B

Hebrew prophets often used a poetic literary form called “chiasmus” (ki-Az-mus). Chiasmus followed a predictable pattern of repeated words or ideas placed in a reverse order. Here is an illustration of a simple chiasmus:

Alma 36

Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon

Read Matthew 10:39 and look for an example of Chiasmus. See the example below:

He that findeth his life shall lose it:

and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

A

A

B

B

…whosoever shall not take…the name of Christ must be called by some other name; …he findeth himself on the left hand of God. …remember also…the name that never should be blotted out except it be through transgression; therefore, take heed that ye do not transgress that the name be not blotted out... …remember to retain the name… that ye are not found on the left hand of God …know the voice by which ye shall be calledand also, the name by which he shall call you.

Alma 36

Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon

A

A

B

B

C

C

Chiasmus points to a central thought or principle. Note the example Mosiah 5:10-12 below.

D

D

E

E

FF

except it be through transgression;therefore, take heed that ye do not transgress

Alma 36

Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon

Alma used chiasmus to tell the story of his conversion. Compare the verse(s) in each row below (A, B, etc.) and underline in your scriptures words or phrases that relate to each other.

Position Verse(s) Verse(s)

A 1 30B 2 28-29C 3 27D 4-5 26E 6 24F 10 23G 14 22H 16 19-21I 17 18

Alma 36

Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon

A. Verse 1B. Verse 2

C. Verse 3D. Verse 4-5

E. Verse 6F. Verse 10

G. Verse 14H. Verse 16

I. Verse 17I. Verse 18

H. Verse 19-21G. Verse 22

F. Verse 23E. Verse 24

D. Verse 26C. Verse 27

B. Verse 28-29A. Verse 30

Keep the commandments, prosper in the land

Keep the commandments, prosper in the land

God’s deliverance from bondage and captivity

God’s deliverance from bondage and captivity

God’s support during trials, troubles, and afflictions

God’s support during trials, troubles, and afflictions

My knowledge is of God; Born of God

My knowledge is of God; Born of God

Seeking to destroy the church of God

Laboring to bring souls unto repentance

Could not open mouth, or use limbs

Limbs did receive strength; manifested unto the people

Soul racked with inexpressible horror

Singing and praising; my soul did long to be there

The pains of a damned soul

Pains no more, joy marvelous light

Remembering Jesus Christ, the Son of God“O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me”

If chiasmus can be convincingly identified in the Book of Mormon, it will testify of the book's ancient origin. No one in America, let alone in western

New York, fully understood chiasmus in 1830. Joseph Smith had been dead ten

full years before John Forbes's book was published in Scotland. Even many prominent Bible scholars today know little about chiastic forms beyond the

name and a few passages where they might to found.

• The possibility of Joseph Smith's noticing the form accidentally is also remote, since most biblical passages containing inverted word orders have been rearranged into natural word orders in the King James translation. Even had he known of the form, he would still have had the overwhelming task of written original, artistic chiastic sentences. Try writing a sonnet of a multi-termed chiasm yourself: your appreciation of these forms will turn to awe.

Alma 36

Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon

“Christ is the power behind all repentance. . . . Alma had been touched by the teaching of his father, but it is particularly important that the prophecy he remembered was one regarding ‘the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.’ (Alma 36:17.) That is the name and that is the message that every person must hear. . . .” (Jeffrey R. Holland, However Long and Hard the Road [1985], 85).

Suffering“If a person hasn’t suffered, he hasn’t

repented…He has got to go through a change in his system whereby he suffers and then forgiveness is a possibility” (Spencer W. Kimball, T.S.W.K., 99)

“The purpose of the personal suffering…is not to punish the transgressor, but to change him” (Dallin H. Oaks, “Sins, Crimes and Atonement, 6).

Alma 37

Enlarge our memory…?“The scriptures enlarge our memory by helping us always to remember the Lord and our

relationship to Him and the Father. They remind us of what we knew in our premortal life. And they expand our memory in another sense by teaching us about epochs, people, and events that we did not experience personally. None of us was present to see the Red Sea part and cross with Moses between walls of water to the other side. We were not there to hear the Sermon on the Mount, to see Lazarus raised from the dead, to see the suffering Savior in Gethsemane and on the cross, and we did not, with Mary, hear the two angels testify at the empty tomb that Jesus was risen from the dead. You and I did not go forward one by one with the multitude in the land Bountiful at the resurrected Savior’s invitation to feel the prints of the nails and bathe His feet with our tears. We did not kneel beside Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove and gaze there upon the Father and the Son. Yet we know all these things and much, much more because we have the scriptural record to enlarge our memory, to teach us what we did not know. And as these things penetrate our minds and hearts, our faith in God and His Beloved Son takes root.

The scriptures also enlarge our memory by helping us not forget what we and earlier generations have learned. Those who either don’t have or ignore the recorded word of God eventually cease to believe in Him and forget the purpose of their existence. You will remember how important it was for Lehi’s people to take the brass plates with them when they left Jerusalem. These scriptures were key to their knowledge of God and the coming Redemption of Christ. The other group that “came out from Jerusalem” shortly after Lehi had no scriptures, and when Lehi’s descendants encountered them some 300 or 400 years later, it is recorded that “their language had become corrupted; . . . and they denied the being of their Creator” (Omni 1:15, 17)

In Tyndale’s day, scriptural ignorance abounded because people lacked access to the Bible, especially in a language they could understand. Today the Bible and other scripture are readily at hand, yet there is a growing scriptural illiteracy because people will not open the books. Consequently they have forgotten things their grandparents knew” (Elder D. Todd Christofferson, Ensign, 32-35).

The Liahona

• 1 Nephi 16:10,16, 25-30-curious workmanship-pointed where to go-led in the most fertile parts

of the wilderness-worked according to faith,

heed & diligence-a small means used to

accomplish great things-plain to understand-message changed

according to needs, faith and diligence

Alma 37:38-42-we learn the name!-prepared by the Lord-man can’t do it-miracles, day by day-when slothful, they didn’t

progress (not a direct course)

The Liahona (Alma 37:38-47)

Alma said to Helaman “these things are not without a shadow” (43). What did he mean?

What could the Liahona possibly be a “shadow” of today?

The Word of God (Scripture)—A Liahona

Elder W. Rolfe Kerr of the Seventy compared thewords of Christ to the Liahona: “So we see, brethrenand sisters, that the words of Christ can be a personalLiahona for each of us, showing us the way. Let us notbe slothful because of the easiness of the way. Let usin faith take the words of Christ into our minds andinto our hearts as they are recorded in sacred scriptureand as they are uttered by living prophets, seers, andrevelators. Let us with faith and diligence feast uponthe words of Christ, for the words of Christ will be ourspiritual Liahona telling us all things what we shoulddo” (in Conference Report, Apr. 2004, 38; or Ensign,May 2004, 37).

Your Conscience—A Liahona

President Spencer W. Kimball compared the Liahona to the light of Christ, or our conscience: “Wouldn’t you like to have that kind of a ball . . . ? “. . . The Lord gave to . . . every person, a conscience which tells him every time he starts to go on the wrong path. . . .“. . . Every child is given it” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1976, 117; or Ensign, Nov. 1976, 79).

Your Patriarchal Blessing—A Liahona

President Thomas S. Monson compared the Liahona to an individual’s patriarchal blessing: “The same Lord who provided a Liahona for Lehi provides for you and for me today a rare and valuable gift to give direction to our lives. . . . The gift to which I refer is known as a patriarchal blessing” (Live the Good Life [1988], 36).

The Holy Ghost—A Liahona

Just as Lehi was blessed in ancient times, each of us in this day has been given a spiritual compass that can direct and instruct us during our mortal journey. The Holy Ghost was conferred upon you and me as we came out of the world and into the Savior’s Church through baptism and confirmation. By the authority of the holy priesthood we were confirmed as members of the Church and admonished to seek for the constant companionship of “the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” (John 14:17).

As we each press forward along the pathway of life, we receive direction from the Holy Ghost just as Lehi was directed through the Liahona. “For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do” (2 Ne. 32:5).

The Holy Ghost operates in our lives precisely as the Liahona did for Lehi and his family, according to our faith and diligence and heed. (David A. Bednar, Conference Report, Apr. 2006, 31; or Ensign, May 2006, 30–31).