Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Alma 19:11-16

11 And it came to pass that she watched over the bed of her husband, from that time even until that time on the morrow which Ammon had appointed that he should rise.
12 And it came to pass that he arose, according to the words of Ammon; and as he arose, he stretched forth his hand unto the woman, and said: Blessed be the name of God, and blessed art thou.
13 For as sure as thou livest, behold, I have seen my Redeemer; and he shall come forth, and be born of a woman, and he shall redeem all mankind who believe on his name.  Now, when he had said these words, his heart was swollen within him, and he sunk again with joy; and the queen also sunk down, being overpowered by the Spirit.
14 Now Ammon seeing the Spirit of the Lord poured out according to his prayers upon the Lamanites, his brethren, who had been the cause of so much mourning among the Nephites, or among all the people of God because of their iniquities and their traditions, he fell upon his knees, and began to pour out his soul in prayer and thanksgiving to God for what he had done for his brethren; and he was also overpowered with joy; and thus they all three had sunk to the earth.
15 Now, when the servants of the king had seen that they had fallen, they also began to cry unto God, for the fear of the Lord had come upon them also, for it was they who had stood before the king and testified unto him concerning the great power of Ammon.
16 And it came to pass that they did call on the name of the Lord, in their might, even until they had all fallen to the earth, save it were one of the Lamanitish women, whose name was Abish, she having been converted unto the Lord for many years, on account of a remarkable vision of her father—
Alma 19:11-16

Having received Ammon’s assurance, the queen watched over her husband.  According to the words of Ammon, in the morning the king arose from his bed.

He began to praise the Lord.  He testified he had seen Christ.  Seeing God is most certainly a powerful experience.  The Savior taught, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).  Before Steven was stoned, “he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the fright hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55-56).  John wrote, “Beloved, now are we the sons [GR children, people] of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

He prophesied he would be born and redeem all who believe in Him.  He was so full of the Spirit, he once again fell to the ground.  This time, the queen was also overcome by the Spirit. 

Ammon was full of joy seeing the Spirit had poured out upon the king and queen.  This was an answer to his prayers.[1] The Lamanites had turned away from God because of the traditions of their fathers.[2]  Some were now returning to the Lord.

The servants, having seen the king and queen fall to the ground, became worried.  They cried to God, because they had testified about Ammon’s great power. They continued until they, too, fell to the ground.

Here we are introduced to a woman named Abish.  She had accepted Christ was a believer. 

We are told that Abish had been “converted … on account of a remarkable vision of her father.”  This is usually interpreted to mean the vision was her father’s.  Here is an alternate explanation.  “Note that the text does not specify a vision ‘that her father had’ or a ‘vision of her father's.’ It says ‘a vision of her father.’ It seems a better reading to credit Abish with having a vision of her father, which led to her conversion.”[3]


[1] “And the Spirit shall be given unto you by the prayer of faith…” (D&C 42:14).
[2] King Benjamin told his sons, “I say unto you, my sons, were it not for these things, which have been kept and preserved by the hand of God, that we might read and understand of his mysteries, and have his commandments always before our eyes, that even our fathers would have dwindled in unbelief, and we should have been like unto our brethren, the Lamanites, who know nothing concerning these things, or even do not believe them when they are taught them, because of the traditions of their fathers, which are not correct” (Mosiah 1:5).
[3] Nephite Feminism Revisited: Thoughts on Carol Lynn Pearson's View of Women in the Book of Mormon, Reviewed by Kevin and Shauna Christensen, Maxwell Institute, accessed May 27, 2015.

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