Alma 33:1-11

Chapter 33

Zenos taught that men should pray and worship in all places, and that judgments are turned away because of the Son—Zenock taught that mercy is bestowed because of the Son—Moses had lifted up in the wilderness a type of the Son of God. About 74 B.C.

1 Now after Alma had spoken these words, they sent forth unto him desiring to know whether they should believe in one God, that they might obtain this fruit of which he had spoken, or how they should plant the seed, or the word of which he had spoken, which he said must be planted in their hearts; or in what manner they should begin to exercise their faith.

2 And Alma said unto them: Behold, ye have said that ye could not worship your God because ye are cast out of your synagogues. But behold, I say unto you, if ye suppose that ye cannot worship God, ye do greatly err, and ye ought to search the scriptures; if ye suppose that they have taught you this, ye do not understand them.

3 Do ye remember to have read what Zenos, the prophet of old, has said concerning prayer or worship?

4 For he said: Thou art merciful, O God, for thou hast heard my prayer, even when I was in the wilderness; yea, thou wast merciful when I prayed concerning those who were mine enemies, and thou didst turn them to me.

5 Yea, O God, and thou wast merciful unto me when I did cry unto thee in my field; when I did cry unto thee in my prayer, and thou didst hear me.

6 And again, O God, when I did turn to my house thou didst hear me in my prayer.

7 And when I did turn unto my closet, O Lord, and prayed unto thee, thou didst hear me.

8 Yea, thou art merciful unto thy children when they cry unto thee, to be heard of thee and not of men, and thou wilt hear them.

9 Yea, O God, thou hast been merciful unto me, and heard my cries in the midst of thy congregations.

10 Yea, and thou hast also heard me when I have been cast out and have been despised by mine enemies; yea, thou didst hear my cries, and wast angry with mine enemies, and thou didst visit them in thine anger with speedy destruction.

11 And thou didst hear me because of mine afflictions and my sincerity; and it is because of thy Son that thou hast been thus merciful unto me, therefore I will cry unto thee in all mine afflictions, for in thee is my joy; for thou hast turned thy judgments away from me, because of thy Son. (Alma 33:1-11)

After Alma had finished, the poor Zoramites wanted to know if they should believe in one God. “And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God. And now, behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end. Amen” (2 Nephi 31:21).

They wanted to know this so they might obtain the fruit about which he had spoken. They wanted to plant the seed in their hearts. They also wanted to begin exercising their faith.

Alma reminded they said they could not worship God because they were not allowed to enter the synagogues. He tells them they are mistaken. They should “search the scriptures; if [they] suppose that they have taught you this, [they] do not understand them” (Alma 33:2).

King Benjamin taught he importance of the scriptures. He said we “are eternally indebted to [our] heavenly Father, to render to him all that [we] have and are; and also have been taught concerning the records which contain the prophecies which have been spoken by the holy prophets, even down to the time our father, Lehi, left Jerusalem” (Mosiah 2:34).

Speaking of the brass plates, Alma told Helaman “it has hitherto been wisdom in God that these things should be preserved; for behold, they have enlarged the memory of this people, yea, and convinced many of the error of their ways, and brought them to the knowledge of their God unto the salvation of their souls.

“Yea, I say unto you, were it not for these things that these records do contain, which are on these plates, Ammon and his brethren could not have convinced so many thousands of the Lamanites of the incorrect tradition of their fathers; yea, these records and their words brought them unto repentance; that is, they brought them to the knowledge of the Lord their God, and to rejoice in Jesus Christ their Redeemer.

“And who knoweth but what they will be the means of bringing many thousands of them, yea, and also many thousands of our stiffnecked brethren, the Nephites, who are now hardening their hearts in sin and iniquities, to the knowledge of their Redeemer” (Alma 37:8-10).

“According to the Book of Mormon narrative, Nephites and subsequently the people of Zarahemla, at least by the time of Alma the Younger, were relatively literate and had access to Hebrew scriptures. The scriptures appear to have been widely available because the audiences addressed by Nephite prophets were chided for not studying them (see Jacob 7:10–11; Mosiah 13:11). These inspired writings were sufficiently accessible, even to the common people, that Alma told the poor among the Zoramites to search the scriptures (see Alma 33:2). An underlying assumption of the prophets was that the dissidents (except Korihor) believed the scriptures. Thus the prophets used the scriptures in their teachings about the coming of a Messiah.”[1]

He reminded them the words of Zenos and what he said about prayer or worship.

God heard his prayer even when he was in the wilderness. He was merciful when he prayed about his enemies and He “didst turn them” to him.

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44).

The Lord was merciful to him. He prayed in his field and the Lord heard his prayer.

Amulek would also emphasize they did not need to be in a synagogue to pray.

“Cry unto him when ye are in your fields, yea, over all your flocks.

“Cry unto him in your houses, yea, over all your household, both morning, mid-day, and evening” (Alma 34:20-21).

The Lord heard Zenos’s prayer when he prayed in his house. He heard him when he prayed in his closet.

“But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly” (Matthew 6:6).

“[Y]e must pour out your souls in your closets, and your secret places, and in your wilderness” (Alma 34:26).

He is merciful to us, His children. When we pray, He will hear our prayers. “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7).[2]

God has bene merciful to him. The Lord had “heard [his] cries in the midst of they congregations” (Alma 33:9).

His prayers were heard when he was cast out and despised by his enemies. The Zoramite poor had complained “they have cast us out because of our exceeding poverty; and we have no place to worship our God; and behold, what shall we do” (Alma 32:5).

The Lord visited his enemies with destruction. “Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly” (Psalm 3:7).

“He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me” (Psalm 18:17).

Because his sincerity and afflictions, the Lord had been merciful to him because of His Son. He will cry to Him in all his afflictions. “This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me” (Psalm 119:50).

“My God hath been my support; he hath led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness; and he hath preserved me upon the waters of the great deep” (2 Nephi 4:20).

When Amulon had placed Alma₁ and his people in slavery, the Lord told him, “I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders … and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions” (Mosiah 24:14).

This will be done because of Christ’s atonement.

  

A member of the church, Andrew Dadson, lived in Ghana. He shares his experience when his government placed a “freeze” on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“I left school with the intention of attending worship services at a nearby Latter-day Saint meetinghouse. But instead of ushers in clean white shirts to welcome me, I saw policemen stationed there to inform members of a ‘freeze’ the government of Ghana had imposed on our church services. This stunned me. Apparently, announcements of the action had been made over radio and television, but since I did not have regular access to these media at boarding school, I had not been notified. The government had mistakenly identified the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an intelligence group that was a threat to the stability of the country … [T]he sanction, which blatantly violated our constitutional rights, was to last for a year and a half…

“During that time, I devoured the Book of Mormon as never before. As often as I could, I went home and read from the Book of Mormon with my family and partook of the sacrament in the comfort and safety of our home. We identified with the poorer class of the Zoramites who had been cast out of their synagogues ‘because of [their] exceeding poverty; and [they had] no place to worship [their] God’ (Alma 32:5). We were comforted by the Spirit of the Lord and knew that, though we were cast out and despised by our enemies, the Lord heard our sincere cries in our afflictions (see Alma 33:10–11).”[3]

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[1] Painting Out the Messiah: The Theologies of Dissidents, John L. Clark, Maxwell Institute.

[2] “Say unto them, Ask of God; ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (JST Matthew 7:12).

[3] With Real Intent: A Priceless Gem, Andrew E. Dadson, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 12/1 (2003): 102.