1 BEHOLD, now it came to pass that the people of Nephi were exceedingly rejoiced, because the Lord had again delivered them out of the hands of their enemies; therefore they gave thanks unto the Lord their God; yea, and they did fast much and pray much, and they did worship God with exceedingly great joy. [ From verse two we can determine that this is taking place at the end of the 18th year of the reign of the judges. We find the Nephites rejoicing because the Lord has delivered them from their enemies again. It is meet with a time of fasting, prayer, and worshiping God by celebrating Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot. This verse is similar in content to 30:2 in that it is the end/beginning of a year attended by fasting and prayer. The difference is in 30:2 it is after a terrible war and great slaughter among the Nephites, whereas the present account is after a great Nephite victory. ]

2 And it came to pass in the nineteenth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi, that Alma came unto his son Helaman [ About how old would Helaman have been at this time? He was likely born only a few years before the commencement of the reign of the judges, since Alma was still a young man when he and the sons of Mosiah were stopped by the angel. And so one may figure that Helaman must have been about twenty-two at that time, in order to allow Shiblon and Corianton to have been old enough to have gone on the mission to Antionum and to go astray as Corianton did. so, it would seem that Helaman couldn’t have been much more than twenty-two at the time his father left him with a very daunting challenge. ] and said unto him: Believest thou the words which I spake unto thee concerning those records which have been kept?

3 And Helaman said unto him: Yea, I believe.

4 And Alma said again: Believest thou in Jesus Christ, who shall come?

5 And he said: Yea, I believe all the words which thou hast spoken.

6 And Alma said unto him again: Will ye keep my commandments?

7 And he said: Yea, I will keep thy commandments with all my heart.

8 Then Alma said unto him: Blessed art thou; and the Lord shall prosper thee in this land.

9 But behold, I have somewhat to prophesy unto thee; [ Why would Alma have asked these questions, almost temple recommend questions of Helaman? Alma wants to know if Helaman is spiritually ready to receive the prophecy that he is about to share. We can also assume that based on what we have learned in 31:7 and Alma 37 that Helaman is the one that will need to lead the righteous. This line of questioning get's Helaman to commit to do as he has been taught. Alma at this point has done all that he can think to do except get Helaman to recommit to being and living faithfully. ] but what I prophesy unto thee ye shall not make known; yea, what I prophesy unto thee shall not be made known, [ What I am going to share with you is only for you to know. The saying it is lonely at the top is true. What you know you must keep to yourself. ] even until the prophecy is fulfilled; therefore write the words which I shall say. [ Why would he only make this prophecy known to Helaman and then later to those that read these records and not to everyone? First; some things that are sacred just do not need to be shared - they would not be appreciated; except in this case to Helaman who would know these things which had been prophesied. As such he would receive his own confirmation that his father was a prophet; that God does reveal things - the list goes on - and he would know that. Also by recording it the generations that follow that read these words would also know something about how God works and that he does reveal things to and through his prophets. Plus the message of destruction would really not do the people any good, as they would not listen anyway. ]

10 And these are the words: Behold, I perceive that this very people, the Nephites, according to the spirit of revelation which is in me, in four hundred years from the time that Jesus Christ shall manifest himself unto them, shall dwindle in unbelief. [ This is the prophecy that Alma is giving to his son Helaman. ]

11 Yea, and then shall they see wars and pestilences, yea, famines and bloodshed, even until the people of Nephi shall become extinct—

12 Yea, and this because they shall dwindle in unbelief and fall into the works of darkness, and lasciviousness, [ Looseness; irregular indulgence of animal desires; wantonness; lustfulness. Tendency to excite lust, and promote irregular indulgences. ] , and all manner of iniquities; yea, I say unto you, that because they shall sin against so great light and knowledge, [ "so great light" suggesting that they have been taught the truth and have witnessed it through the Holy Ghost. They have more than just the light of Christ that all men can have - they were given great light. We also have seen that those who are given testimonies and greater light, that when they rebell their rebellion is greater than those who have never had the light in their life. ] , yea, I say unto you, that from that day, even the fourth generation shall not all pass away before this great iniquity shall come.

13 And when that great day cometh, [ The day when the Nephites are finally destroyed. ] behold, the time very soon cometh that those who are now, or the seed of those who are now numbered among the people of Nephi, shall no more be numbered among the people of Nephi.

14 But whosoever remaineth, and is not destroyed in that great and dreadful day, shall be numbered among the Lamanites, and shall become like unto them, all, save it be a few who shall be called the disciples of the Lord; and them shall the Lamanites pursue even until they shall become extinct. And now, because of iniquity, this prophecy shall be fulfilled. [ Do you suppose that this statement was given to take a little pressure off of Helaman? Alma had struggled during his ministry to change this. In the end he had not been able to and might have been a little frustrated by it. So here he in essence tells Helaman to do your best but in the end it is the choice of the Nephites to remain righteous or that will be to their destruction. ]

15 And now it came to pass that after Alma had said these things to Helaman, he blessed him, and also his other sons; and he also blessed the earth for the righteous’ sake. [ Typical covenant blessings imparted upon the righteous; and cursing upon the wicked. Similar to those done by prophets of all ages. ]

16 And he said: Thus saith the Lord God& [ Hebrew - Yahweh ( or Jehovah which means "to become" or "to exist") translated as Lord; Elohim translated as God ("the Gods") which together the words mean "He will cause Gods to be". ] —Cursed shall be the land, yea, this land, unto every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, unto destruction, which do wickedly, when they are fully ripe; and as I have said so shall it be; for this is the cursing and the blessing of God upon the land, for the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance.

17 And now, when Alma had said these words he blessed the church, yea, all those who should stand fast in the faith from that time henceforth.

18 And when Alma had done this he departed out of the land of Zarahemla, [ We know that he had at least three sons; so we can conclude that he had a wife as well. It sounds like he departs by himself so has his wife previously died? ] as if to go into the land of Melek. [ So what do we know about the land of Melek? It was taken up into heaven. So in essence there is a rumor going around that Alma was taken up into heaven just as was Melchedezick. ] And it came to pass that he was never heard of more; [ Did they know when he left that he was never coming back? He did not keep in touch with them every day via cell phone. ] as to his death or burial we know not of.

19 Behold, this we know, that he was a righteous man; [ We find here that Moroni just states the facts that are known, no rumors or speculation. So is Moroni trying to teach us something here, that if we do not have all of the fact, or know for certains that something happened then we too should not speculate - nor should we embellish a story to promote the gospel. Bombing of the Hawaii temple, Pioneers, crickets and the sea gulls, Elvis Presleys notes in a Book of Mormon... ] and the saying went abroad in the church that he was taken up by the Spirit, or buried by the hand of the Lord, even as Moses. But behold, the scriptures saith the Lord took Moses unto himself; [ Compare D&C 136:38 where the Lord says of Joseph Smith after his martyrdom "I took him to myself". We know that Jospeh Smith was killed; died not translated - the same words used for Moses and Alma. So we can conclude that both died and were taken by the hand of the Lord in their death. ] and we suppose that he has also received Alma in the spirit, unto himself; therefore, for this cause we know nothing concerning his death and burial.

20 And now it came to pass in the *commencement of the nineteenth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi, that Helaman went forth among the people to declare the word unto them. [ Just as his father had done as a traveling High Priest. ]

21 For behold, because of their wars with the Lamanites and the many little dissensions and disturbances which had been among the people, it became expedient that the word of God should be declared among them, yea, and that a regulation should be made throughout the church.

22 Therefore, Helaman and his brethren went forth to establish the church again in all the land, [ So Alma is gone and the church starts to drift a little. So Helaman and his brothers wait awhile but then they most likely start to have the discussion, What if dad does not ever come back? Then they decide that they need to act and I suppose then ask the question what would dad expect us to do now. As a result they proceed forward with a plan, to do what their dad would have done. ] yea, in every city throughout all the land which was possessed by the people of Nephi. And it came to pass that they did appoint priests and teachers [ Because there were no Levites in the colony of Lehi (the Nephites and Mulekites were of the tribes of Joseph and Judah, respectively), we assume that the Aaronic Priesthood was not among the Nephites, at least not until the coming of Jesus to the Americas. The titles priests and teachers (2 Nephi 5:26; Jacob1:17-18; Alma 45:22) thus appear to describe ministerial duties in the higher priesthood rather than offices in the Aaronic Priesthood (Smith, Doctrines 3:87; Answers 1:123-26; McConkie, Promised Messiah 427; A New Witness 311).] throughout all the land, over all the churches.

23 And now it came to pass that after Helaman and his brethren had appointed priests and teachers over the churches [ Separate covenant communities; they called them churches. The word for church in both Hebrew and Greek means a gathering or a collection, a community. There were seven of these churches in Alma the Elder’s day. ] that there arose a dissension among them, and they would not give heed to the words of Helaman and his brethren; [ Do we see this in the church today? Do we seem to disregard the direction of the brethren because we know better? If so how do we do it? Not following church budget guidelines, planting gardens, living within our means. Many times as a church we pay more attention to previous prophets than the living ones. ]

24 But they grew proud, being lifted up in their hearts, [ In other words it simply does not matter which coarse you choose after you decide to be disobedient to what you have been asked by the brethren to do. Example: When I was serving as a Bishop in a young single adult ward we were asked by the brethren to move buildings. The move meant that we would need to drive across town. The idea was that the brethren wanted the buildings to be occupied by young single adult wards so that classes could overlap and that there could be a greater opportunity for the young people to socialize with members that were not in their ward. The brethren said that the program had been done in other stakes and was proving to be very successful. Our young single adult ward did as we were asked to do, and moved to a building where we were assigned. However; the regular ward that was meeting in the building where we where assigned to move too decided that it would be inconvenient for them to move and so they would not move. Without going into a lot of detail I can say that from my perspective there where a great many decisions made by that ward afterward that were based on the simple phrase "that would not be convient for us". When confronted with the area seventy he felt that they were so firm in there conviction to not move out that he backed off. It was interesting to watch from the outside how that one little decision effected so many others. To the point that "they were sharing their building with us" and this was proven by the fact that they were the one's who did not move. They were missing the point. It was something they were asked to do and the fact that they did not move was not a sign at all of strength as they saw it. As time went forward it became the standard them for the ward - when they did not want to do something they simply said that is not convenient for us so you will have to change - it is our building first. We knew exactly who the guests were. It was very apparent that they had forgotten whose building it really was. I watched and listened to the young men and women in our ward who were trying to decide how the seemingly double standard applied to them - were they not good enough; were they not the same? Why were they asked to move and they were diligent and the other ward was asked to move and said it was not convenient and did not. These young men and women however said "Nevertheless Bishop we will take the higher road and try to do as Christ would have us do." too which I was proud of them. ] because of their exceedingly great riches; therefore they grew rich in their own eyes, and would not give heed to their words, to walk uprightly before God.