Come Follow Me LDS- Alma 17-22 Part 2, Book of Mormon
Jun 25, 2020
'Lamoni, Liberty & Synagogues'
- Was Ammon being sacrifices at the Waters of Sebus?
- Who were the Amalekites?
- Lamoni's father has a similar spiritual experience
- Aaron also speaks of the Great Spirit, the Creation and the Garden of Eden
Raw Transcript
and this come follow me episode we are
going to focus on Alma chapters 20
through 22 and here the story picks up
where King Lamoni his Queen and even
Amman have been passed out on the floor
somewhere in the palace and the people
have all gathered and and there's been a
huge conversion story here a big event
right
and now Amman says that he wants to go
to the land of madona which is also part
of the laminate nation where another
minor king here named Antioch know where
aunty Ono is the king there just like he
is just like Lamoni is a minor king over
the land of Ishmael and so King Lamoni
says hey I will go with you I know the
king there of the land of madona well
and I'll have some influence for you
because Hammond had told him that Aaron
his brother along with mule acai and ama
probably part of that entourage right
that they originally left is there a
Hema with are all imprisoned there and
so Emma needs to go and try and get them
out so King Lamoni and Ammon are now
best buds and as they're traveling on
their way to Madonna they run into King
Lamoni father who is the king of the
Lamanites and here's the first question
he asks again remember these a lot of
these events are focused on ritual right
there if they're focused on traditions
and rituals that were not accustomed to
and they're focused a lot on these
festivals here's what the father says to
him he says why did he not come to the
feast on that great day right the great
day of the year when I made a feast unto
my sons and unto my people this is
probably their New Year feast and it is
likely I believe that even the event at
the waters of CMAs was probably part of
the event of this festival that's the
way I see it
and we might look at it like maybe there
was a sacrifice that had to be made at
this time before King Lamoni and his
entourage went up to the land of Nephi
for the feast maybe they did this each
year it's pretty obvious to me that he's
sacrificing those servants that are
watching over the flocks so his father
says why did you not come this is a
major major issue for ancient
civilizations with these festivals even
with the Jews there would be a
punishment for not coming to some of
these festivals and he says why why are
you with this knee fight the son of a
liar
right this hatred is very present with
the king of all of the Lamanites and
Lamoni rehearses unto him everything
that has happened here with Ammon and
and his father is not happy about it
right and he says to him you're going to
deliver these Nephites who are the sons
of a liar behold he robbed our fathers
and now his children are also come
amongst us that they may by their
cunning and their lines deceive us that
they may again rob us of our property
right so a lot of a lot of division here
obviously between the Lamanites and the
Nephites and so his father says I want
you to kill this knee fight and and
Lamoni says I'm not going to kill him in
verse 16 it says now when his father had
heard these words right he was angry
with him and he drew his sword that he
might smite him to the earth so he's
going to kill his own son this is a
major affront to the king so Ammon Stape
steps in and talks to him and then the
ire of the King goes to Ammon and he
tries to slay em and Ammon bests him and
is in a position to be able to kill him
and so the King says look I'll give you
anything up to half of my kingdom a very
common offer and Hammond says all I want
is to get my brethren out of prison in
the land of madona and for your son
Lamoni to
rule and hold on to his reign there in
the land of Ishmael and so the king
grants this we're told in verse 27 that
the king was greatly astonished at the
words which he had spoken being Ammon
and also at the words which had been
spoken by his son Lamoni therefore he
was desirous to learn them so you think
about where all this begins with Ammon
he's incredible
short term journey right this is not a
long period of time and here they are
with the king of the Lamanites and he
wants to learn about the gospel so at
this point Mormon takes us back a little
bit of time here just a little bit and
takes us back to Aaron's ministry here
among the Lamanites and how he ended up
in the land of madona imprisoned with
mule acai and ama and we get something
pretty interesting here you may have
seen or heard the episode I did on the
Amalekites or Amla sites the Amalekites
and the Amalekites here Aaron decides
that he's going to go to the land of
Jerusalem it's called being called after
the land of their fathers Nativity and
it was a way joining the boarders of
Mormon so this would be back where Alma
the elder baptized outside of the land
of Nephi and it says here in verse 2 now
the Lamanites and the Amalekites and the
people of a mule on remember a mule on
was likely the chief priest under king
Noah had built a great city which was
called Jerusalem so it's pretty
interesting that you have three
different groups here in this city
Philemon Knights the Amalekites and the
amulets
and the amulets and the Amalekites seem
to be joined pretty tightly here they
both have a similar theology right this
is something that they're just there's a
there's our current of this idea where
we go all the way back to a Ben and I
and and the priests of Noah and them
having a four
event dispute with a bin and I about
Christ and the doctrine of Christ this
is well before the time of knee horror
and yet we see this gathering together
here of a similar theology within
eventually they combine into the same
church the Church of knee whore the
synagogue's of nee hoor the other thing
is here in chapter 21 Mormon introduces
another apparently another group of
people called the Amalekites now all
we've heard from so far as far as
different peoples with this similar
sounding name is the Amla sites or
Amalekites so this people here are
introduced without telling us who they
are for that reason many LDS scholars
believe that the Amalekites are actually
the Amla sites and it's just ended up
with a different spelling here from the
translation of Joseph Smith to the
scribes and that's just the way it ended
up the problem with that I mean it's a
possibility the problem though is there
are there are first of all there's a
there's a chronology problem here right
this is likely the first year of the
reign of the judges this is when nee
hoor comes about and the Amla sites if
that's really what they're called don't
come around until about four years later
that's when the uprising comes in the
big war right or AM Lakai or analyst I
wanted to be made King so if this people
here are the Amalekites
and they're actually the Amla sites then
this might be something that from the
time of Mormon you know four hundred
years later is just identifying them as
kind of part of this group or this type
of a group that Amla cites Amalekites
amela kaya heights are all very similar
in their theology and as constant
internal enemies so to speak of the
Nephites we don't hear of a an Amalek
who is the leader of the Amalekites so
could be the amma sites could be that
that group started much earlier and was
later called the amma sites by mormon or
this could just be another people that
used to be me fights probably a majority
mule kite people that separated from the
d fights with a dispute of who should be
reigning in the land and also a major
theological dispute with the religion
they would be very similar to a mule on
the a mule entites here that are with
them in the land of jerusalem and we're
told something interesting here in verse
3 it says that the Lamanites here of the
land of jerusalem of themselves were
sufficiently hardened but the Amalekites
and the amulets were still harder and
that's that's common today right when
you have people that apostasy is from
the church they're always the harshest
critics that's something that just
doesn't change in different cultures or
in different time periods so aaron first
goes and preaches of these three
different groups he goes to the
Amalekites and he began to preach to
them in their synagogues again remember
these are just like i think again this
is all about religion about ideology
I believe that laman and lemuel are very
religious they just didn't agree with
what defying Lehi were saying they were
against the doctrine of Christ they were
against prophesying they were against
the higher law and here we get the same
thing with the Amalekites Dave he goes
into their synagogues right they build
up churches for they had built
synagogues after the order of the knee
whores for this is important many of the
Amalekites and the amulets or after the
order of the knee horse so a couple
things here that are important number
one okay we get an idea that just like
the people of Ammon I ha right with
almond a me like a large portion of
those people were after the order of nee
hoor but not all of them and here we get
the Amalekites and the amulets many who
are after the
me or so this is not necessarily
synonymous these names of the the
Amalekites and the sites and de
melikhaya heights doesn't mean it's just
because they're after the order of nee
hoor right there's a separation here
even though most of them are after that
order and as Aaron is teaching
repentance and the doctrine of Christ
there in the land of the Amalekites in
their synagogues an Amalekite says to
him
what is that thou has testified hast
thou seen an angel why do not engines
appear unto us behold are not this
people as good as thy people and how do
you know that we are in need of
repentance right now they're not gonna
believe in this they're not gonna
believe in repentance because they don't
believe in the doctrine of Christ he
says we have built sanctuaries we do
assemble ourselves together to worship
God we do believe that God will save all
men again this is important from Mormon
we get these little points over and over
again about these religious groups right
their religious groups they're not just
enemies of God they are groups that
believe in God but they have the wrong
ideology and they have hatred in their
hearts and they don't believe in the
doctrine of Christ right the amla sites
those that followed nee hoor those at a
moan aha here the Amalekites the amulets
here shortly
the zoramites what is the message that
mormon is giving us in picking all of
these events here out of these hundreds
of years he's trying to show us what
happens inside of religion he's trying
to tell us how things change again to me
the enemy here the primary enemy of the
Nephites is not the Lamanites
it's the dissenters it's those that
would overthrow the Nephites that are
Nephites now maybe a majority of those
are mullah kites but they're the ones
that are the real problem they're the
ones that are constantly stirring up
philemon eyes they're the ones who end
up taking over the nation of eliminates
and so much of it has to do with their
religious belief
yes its power yes its hatred but so much
of it to me has to do with this doctrine
of Christ and the coupling right of
those two things liberty of the people
and the doctrine of Christ right those
are two of the core foundations of
Western democracy today and look how
those are getting attacked together if
you can wipe out Liberty and you can
wipe out Christianity the doctrine of
Christ you can wipe out the West
Mormons main dual message throughout the
book of Alma and more is that coupling
the doctrine of Christ and the law of
Liberty and it's written for us for a
very good reason and here we go right
into the doctrine of Christ here Aaron
says to the Amalekite believe us now
that the Son of God shall come to redeem
mankind from their sins he knows there's
an issue here and the man said unto Him
we do not believe that thou knowest to
any such thing we do not believe in
these foolish traditions we do not
believe that thou knowest of things to
come neither do we believe that thy
father and also that our fathers did
know concerning the things which they
spake of that which is to come right so
again this prophesying you can see that
if you are the whole concept of prophecy
would be centered on the coming of
Christ and so if you don't believe in
the coming of Christ then you're going
to get rid of prophecy you have to
almost in your in your theology think
about laman and lemuel right they did
not believe in the doctrine of Christ
and therefore they called their father a
visionary man well what was the main
vision he had it's the tree of life it's
the doctrine of Christ or chapter one of
first Nephi right it's Christ coming
down with the con courses of angels it's
the prophecy that the Son of God will be
born to a woman and take on the sins of
the world
all other prophecy is is
ancillary to that so getting rid of the
doctrine of Christ you almost have to
get rid of the idea of prophecy and so
Aaron goes into the scriptures right
it's probably got Scrolls with him he
goes into the scriptures and he shows
about the doctrine of Christ about the
prophecies about the Son of God coming
in the Meridian of time and of course
they get angry with him of course they
do they don't want to hear that so
they're gonna shut him down it says that
they began to be angry with him and to
mock him very common and they would not
hear the words which he spake therefore
when he saw that they would not hear his
words he departed out of their synagogue
and came over to a village which was
called Oneonta okay and this is where he
finds mule akai preaching the word unto
them and also AMA and his brethren and
they contended with many about the word
right there's our word okay so so he's
over here in in in Jerusalem he comes
over and meets up with me lacayo dama
and here in Oneonta they're not gonna
listen to him so they all leave together
there and they go to madona and that's
where they are thrown into prison and
we're told here in verse 12 in madona
they did preach the word unto many and
few believed on the words which they
taught interestingly here in verse 16
when they are released from prison
because of Ammon and King Lamoni it says
that they went forth whithersoever they
were led by the Spirit of the Lord
preaching the Word of God in every
synagogue of the Amalekites so that's
one church and then it says or in every
assembly they don't call them synagogues
or in every assembly of the Lamanites
where they could be admitted so it's the
same idea but it's just interesting that
they use a different English word here
and I'm guessing that as we go through
the translation so they're using two
different names two different words in
other languages as well they call them
synagogues of the Amalekites perhaps
because they are based more off of that
judeo-christian idea
right and then the Lamanites who worship
a Great Spirit they call them Assemblies
well we call them churches well search
means the exact same thing the church
means an assembly a place where you
assemble together that's what a
synagogue is but interesting that they
use two different words here for them
and then in toward the end of chapter 21
we're gonna get that dual purpose here
of Mormon again as he narrates this for
us it says that it came to pass that a
man in Lamoni returned from the land of
madona to the land of Ishmael which was
the land of their inheritance and King
Lamoni would not suffer that a man
should serve him or be his servant but
he caused there should be synagogues so
they're no longer Assemblies here for
them he's calling them synagogues built
in the land of Ishmael and he caused
that his people or the people who were
under his reign should assemble
themselves together so King Lamoni is
building the church up under Ammon here
in the land of Ishmael they've converted
a large portion of the people here and
King Lamoni did rejoice over them and he
did teach them many things and he did
also declare unto them this goes along
with the gospel it's very important to
understand and he did also declare unto
them that they were a people who were
under him and that they were a free
people that they were free from the
oppressions of the king his father for
that his father had granted unto them
that he might reign over the people who
were in the land of Ishmael and in all
the land round about right so Mormon is
specifically putting this in here for us
these things go together the gospel and
Liberty civilly go together they are
supposed to free-agency is everything
here verse 22 and he also declared unto
them that they might have the liberty of
worshiping the Lord their God according
to their desires so it's not a state-run
religion right this is this is their
First Amendment here being put in place
in the land of Ishmael
in whatsoever place they were if it were
in the land which was under the reign of
King Lamoni important to grasp assesses
a Mormon here it's for us today about
liberty and freedom of religion Liberty
and the doctrine of Christ and then
finally here in chapter 22 we have Aaron
who goes back and teaches King Lamoni
father remember he wanted to hear the
words about the gospel after his run-in
with Ammon in Lamoni and so the King
invites them in and a starts asking them
questions he says what is this that ye
have said concerning the Spirit of the
Lord behold this is the thing which
death trouble me and also what is this
that Ammon said if you will repent he
shall be saved and if you will not
repent you shall be cast off at the last
day and then he goes back and he does
something very similar to what Aaron our
Ammon did with King Lamoni
he says believe us now that there is a
God and the king said I know that the
Amalekites say that there is a God so
this is interesting right
so the term here we're using for God is
probably going to be either L or Elohim
or Jehovah likely or maybe Adonai right
so there's where we're putting God in
here where Joseph Smith put God in here
this has to do with what we might call
the Jewish God right probably Jehovah is
the title that's being used here because
the Amalekites believe in Jehovah they
just don't believe that Jehovah is going
to be born of Mary or that they need to
repent or that they would have faith on
an atonement so he says I know that the
Amalekites believe that there is a god
or that there is Jehovah and he says but
if you say that there is a God I will
believe and then the King asks Aaron the
question is God that great spirit that
brought our fathers out of the land of
Jerusalem so they believe in a great
spirit they believe that that great
spirit led their fathers out of
the ancient land of Jerusalem right it's
the Great Spirit is God they don't have
an a clear understanding of those
characteristics or titles however and
again here we get Great Spirit
everywhere here capitalized I don't
think that's a coincidence
and Aaron responds Loomis says yay he is
that Great Spirit and he created all
things both in heaven and in earth
believe his style this and he says I
believe that the Great Spirit created
all things right similar things here
similar characteristics he says and I
will believe thy words and then what is
Aaron do he goes right into the creation
and into the Garden of Eden story just
like Ammon did just like Alma had done
in Emelin aha if you if you understand
those stories well and what they
represent then it's a great teaching
tool right because they're the
foundational doctrines of the doctrine
of Christ and then here in 16 something
interesting starts to happen here and
this helps develop our understanding of
hope right remember faith then hope then
charity each one begets the next sixteen
says but Aaron said unto him if thou
desire is this thing right to have
eternal life if thou wilt bow down
before God yea if thou wilt repent first
of all thy sins and will bow down before
God and call on his name in faith
believing that ye shall receive then
shalt thou receive the hope which thou
desirest right so if you've had
questions about this before as I've gone
over this attribute of progression with
faith hope and charity well here it is
again right this is our these are
parallels that you find throughout the
scriptures first if you'll call on his
name in faith and repent then thou shalt
receive the hope which thou desirest
what hope is that an understanding that
you can have eternal life that's the
hope you can't have that with
our faith in repentance first you have
to understand your repentance is based
on your faith in the sacrifice of Jesus
Christ and then your state of being
changes and you have that hope so just
another example of that so then the King
prays and asks if these things are true
basically if you will make yourself
known to me then he's basically struck
as if he is dead similar to what
happened with his son Lamoni so the
Queen comes in she's upset about what's
going on there's starting to be some
problems here for Aaron he ends up
taking the hand of the king and the King
begins to pacify everybody letting them
know what's going on and that Aaron is
not a bad actor here and then he sends
out a proclamation and this is one of
the more important verses here for those
who really focus on Book of Mormon
geography here is in chapter 22 verse 27
and this geography lesson goes down to
verse 34 that I'm not gonna spend any
time on right now so with Aaron and the
king of the Lamanites keep in mind what
has happened here right we've got
somewhere around
I believe 90 years right somewhere
between 90 and 77 BC is when this is
happening so you have the king of the
Lamanites that has had this experience
and many people who have witnessed it
you have his son
Lamoni who is now established the church
in all of his lands you have another
king Antiochus at least letting out
those that were in prison in the key in
the land of madona so you have this
major disruption here I mean these are
Nephites that are coming in and teaching
them the people that they hate and yet
they are humbling themselves becoming
converted and becoming baptized and
becoming members of the church so this
is the scenario 77 to 90 years before
the birth of Christ you have members of
the church so to speak with a Nephites
and you have members of the church over
here with the Lamanites now of course
not everybody is converted with the
Lamanites a lot of people still hate the
Nephites that's going to override any
type of willingness to humble themselves
and to listen but it sets the stage here
for the next generation or two in
helping us understand a little bit of
the history that comes down to the time
of say Samuel the Lamanite just prior to
the birth of Christ and again more fully
now with his chapter 17 through 22 we
see the effects of these missionaries
that have gone out and changed the
hearts of their enemies not for power
right they had the opportunity between
Lamoni and his father to receive up to
half the kingdom it wasn't wealth
it wasn't power it wasn't tyranny that
they were looking for it was simply
through charity through the love of God
and the love of their fellow men their
brothers and Lamanites that they chose
to risk their lives to preach the gospel
and look at the fruit of en't as they
allowed themselves to become instruments
in the Lord's hand I'll talk to you next
Come Follow Me Book of Mormon
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