Alma 36-38 - Letters to Helaman and Shiblon

This section of the Book of Mormon contains some of the most personal writing in the entire work. Only the letters of Mormon to his son Moroni evoke a stronger sense of love and poignancy. Also contained in this passage is THE chiasmus of the entire Book of Mormon, Alma 36.

These are not letters dashed off in a moment. They are instead, works of literary art Alma spent hours crafting. His intent wasn’t to write something beautiful and instructive, though they are. He wrote them to bare the most powerful witness he could to the reality of Jesus Christ and the events surrounding his conversion. While you can read them quickly in a few minutes and get something out of them. If you spend time pondering this passage and getting lost in the artistic beauty of the work, you’ll learn so much more.

To delve further into the literary artistry is beyond the time and space I can take here. If you’re interested here are a couple of links to much more detailed examinations of the chiasmus: Chiasmus in Alma 36, A Masterpiece: Alma 36

Also in this passage, Alma retells his conversion to his sons Helaman and Shiblon. He also hands over to Helaman custody of the plates, including instructions about what not to say of the Jaredite record. Contained in it is one of my favorite scriptures, Alma 37:37

“Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings,
and He will direct thee for good.

     Yea, when thou liest down at night,
    lie down unto the Lord,

        that He may watch over you in your sleep.

    And when thou risest in the morning,
    let thy heart be full of thanks unto God.

And if ye always do these things,
ye shall be lifted up at the last day.”

A quick word to the observant, the punctuation here is not what is found in the current printing of the book, but what exists in Royal Skousen’s work, “The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text.” I’ve presented it pretty much as it appears in that work, though I’ve marked the parallels with the indentations to make them easier to see. I did it so you can see Alma's use of parallelism to enhance the meaning of the passage. As you compare each level against its counterpart, you'll get a deeper meaning of what Alma is trying to say. This is just a taste of the literary artistry in this passage. Reading Skousen's version will increase your appreciation for the Book of Mormon and show in a compelling way, this is not the work of an Upstate New York farmer of 1829.