Alma 49 & 50

Chapter 49 continues with more battles from the war.

Two verses stand out to me in this chapter.

Alma 49:27-28 contrasts Amalickiah’s blood-thirsty swearing and the Nephites’ gratitude. Guess who won the war?

Alma 49:30 makes a passing mention that Corianton was out declaring the word along with Helaman, Shiblon and Ammon and his brethren. We can assume that Corianton repented and made his way back to the straight and narrow.

While reading chapter 50 this morning (July 8, 2007), another reason as to why Mormon wrote so much on War Chapters came to my mind. To have abridged so much and provide details such as the tactics Moroni used, Mormon would have had to spend a lot of time reading about Moroni and his preparations. Mormon probably not only had a spiritual interest, but he must have also had a military interest in Moroni. Perhaps he was reading every little bit of Moroni in search of learning something new that would help him (Mormon) in his position as a military captain.

There are just a couple more verses that really hit me. In the very first verse, I read how Moroni didn’t stop making preparations for the battle. Once the prior victories were secure, he continued to prepare. He did not let up in the least bit.

Throughout the rest of the chapter, Moroni had an agenda of protecting the people and keeping the peace among them.

Alma 50:20 refers to the Book of Mormon promise. No other promise is repeated in the Book of Mormon as much as this one. If the people who possess this land keep the commandments, they will prosper in the land. If they don’t keep the commandments, they will be cut off from the Lord’s spirit. And this is not just an idle promise. Mormon backs it up by showing us how the Nephites prospered when they were righteous and how they dwindled when they did not keep the commandments.

Another little tid-bit that I found interesting … Alma’s first choice in conferring the records was Nephihah the chief judge. When Nephihah refused, only then did Alma confer the records to Helaman. (Alma 50:38)