Alma 5:57-62

⁵⁷ And now I say unto you, all you that are desirous to follow the voice of the good shepherd, come ye out from the wicked, and be ye separate, and touch not their unclean things; and behold, their names shall be blotted out, that the names of the wicked shall not be numbered among the names of the righteous, that the word of God may be fulfilled, which saith: The names of the wicked shall not be mingled with the names of my people; ⁵⁸ For the names of the righteous shall be written in the book of life, and unto them will I grant an inheritance at my right hand.  And now, my brethren, what have ye to say against this?  I say unto you, if ye speak against it, it matters not, for the word of God must be fulfilled. ⁵⁹ For what shepherd is there among you having many sheep doth not watch over them, that the wolves enter not and devour his flock?  And behold, if a wolf enter his flock doth he not drive him out?  Yea, and at the last, if he can, he will destroy him.

Alma 5:57-59 (Emphasis mine)

To those who were “desirous to follow the voice of the good shepherd,” Alma(2) told them to separate themselves from the wicked.  The consequences of not separating themselves would be to have their name numbered among the wicked and not the righteous.

When Jacob (Israel) was giving his sons their father’s blessings, a part of his blessing for Joseph told that he “is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:  The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him: But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence [IE It is from the lineage of Jacob that the Messiah comes]  is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)” (Genesis 49:22-24).

David proclaims “let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker.  For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.  To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:” (Psalms 95:6-8).

During Nephi’s great vision, he was shown “the words which shall be established by the mouth of the Lamb; and the words of the Lamb shall be made known in the records of thy seed, as well as in the record of the twelve apostles of the Lamb; wherefore they both shall be established in one; for there is one God and one Shepherd over all the earth” (1 Nephi 13:41).

Calling on the righteous to separate themselves from the wicked is a part of Nephite culture.  Noel Reynolds writes, “[t]his tradition of separating the righteous from the wicked continued strong in Nephite culture. For example, centuries later Alma called the Nephites to ‘come ye out from the wicked, and be ye separate, and touch not their unclean things; ... [for] the names of the wicked shall not be mingled with the names of my people’ (Alma 5:57).” [1]

Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica telling them “withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us” (2 Thessalonians 3:6).

Hugh Nibley adds:

“For all their liberality and humanity, Alma's people thought of themselves as completely severed from the rest of the nation: ‘Come ye out from the wicked,’ he said to them, ‘and be ye separate, and touch not their unclean things; . . . the names of the wicked shall not be numbered among the names of the righteous’ (Alma 5:57). Just as his followers were not allowed to touch unclean things, so none from the outside and none unwilling to accept their own strict standards could mingle with them; ‘that the word of God may be fulfilled, which saith: The names of the wicked shall not be mingled with the names of my people’ (Alma 5:57).” [2] (Emphasis mine)

Alma(2) made it clear he was speaking the truth.  He asks, “my brethren, what have ye to say against this?  I say unto you, if ye speak against it, it matters not, for the word of God must be fulfilled.”  He warned the wicked “their names shall be blotted out, that the names of the wicked shall not be numbered among the names of the righteous.” 

David called on the Lord, asking that the wicked’s “posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out” (Psalms 109:13).  He would also write, “[f]or they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded. Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness.  Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous” (Psalms 69:26-28).

Why is this being done?  Why will their names be “blotted out?”  “[W]hat shepherd is there among you having many sheep doth not watch over them, that the wolves enter not and devour his flock?  And behold, if a wolf enter his flock doth he not drive him out?  Yea, and at the last, if he can, he will destroy him” (verse 59).

The devil had come among the sheep and was devouring the flock (the church).  Alma(2) tells them he is there to drive out the wolf.  If possible, he will not only drive out the wolf, but destroy him.  Alma(2) was being “diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds” (Proverbs 27:23). 

Ezekiel said the Lord would, “seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day” (Ezekiel 34:12).  Peter adds

“ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls” (1 Peter 2:25).

Hugh Nibley explains the role the devil plays.

“It is on that principle of opposites that Satan's participation in our lives is to be explained. If we can be ‘encircled about eternally in the arms of [God's] love’ (2 Nephi 1:15), we can also be ‘encircled about by the bands of death, and the chains of hell, and an everlasting destruction’ (Alma 5:7); and if we can be perfectly united in the at-one-ment, we can also be ‘cast out’ (Alma 5:25), separated and split off forever—‘their names shall be blotted out; . . . the names of the wicked shall not be mingled with the names of my people’ (Alma 5:57).” [3] (Emphasis mine)

⁶⁰ And now I say unto you that the good shepherd doth call after you; and if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold, and ye are his sheep; and he commandeth you that ye suffer no ravenous wolf to enter among you, that ye may not be destroyed. ⁶¹ And now I, Alma, do command you in the language of him who hath commanded me, that ye observe to do the words which I have spoken unto you. ⁶² I speak by way of command unto you that belong to the church; and unto those who do not belong to the church I speak by way of invitation, saying: Come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye also may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life.

Alma 5:60-62 (Emphasis mine)

Alma(2) closes his sermon reminding the people “the good shepherd doth call after you; and if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold.”  He will watch over them and protect them from the “ravenous wolf.”  He calls out for both the righteous and wicked.  He is willing to accept the wicked back in the fold if they repent.  “… Alma says that ‘the good shepherd doth call after you; and if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold’ (Alma 5:60). And he ends with both a stern directive and a tender invitation: ‘And now I, Alma, do command you in the language of him who hath commanded me, that ye observe to do the words which I have spoken unto you. I speak by way of command unto you that belong to the church; and unto those who do not belong to the church I speak by way of invitation, saying: Come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye also may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life’ (Alma 5:61–62).” [4]

Alma(2) speaks to both the member and nonmember.  He speaks to the member “by way of command.”  To the nonmember, he speaks “by way of invitation.”  He encourages all the people to partake “of the fruit of the tree of life.” the tree that represents “the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father!  Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw? And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things.  And he spake unto me, saying: Yea, and the most joyous to the soul” (1 Nephi 11:21-23).

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[1] Nephite Kingship Reconsidered, Noel B. Reynolds, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed March 11, 2012.

[2] Churches in the Wilderness, Hugh W. Nibley, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed March 11, 2012.

[3] The Meaning of the Atonement, Hugh Nibley, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed March 11, 2012.

[4] "Know the Covenants of the Lord" - Sermons, Richard Dilworth Rust, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed March 11, 2012.