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Book of Mormon Commentary
Alma Chapter 13
Alma 13:53 And if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I
will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last
day.
This prayer might sound as if the king was not sincere when he affirmed that he would believe
because of Aaron's testimony (39). Perhaps the king found this harder than he at first thought, but
again, it is quite natural for one who is not acquainted with spiritual things to want to have an
experience of his own. However, as soon as he voiced his prayer for a personal evidence, he was
"struck as if he were dead" (54). Servants ran to inform the queen, and when she saw the king, she
blamed Aaron and his brethren. Immediately she commanded the servants to take these men and
slay them (56). The servants "durst not lay their hands on" them, for they said, "One of them is
mightier than us all" (58) .
Then the queen commanded that the people be called together to dispose of these men. Aaron
feared a riot and "raised the king from the earth, and said unto him, Stand”, (62). He received
strength and began to minister to the people, and "his whole household were converted unto the
Lord" (64). The multitude, which had come together at the queen's behest, began murmuring
against Aaron and his brethren. "But the king stood forth" and pacified them toward these men.
THE LANDS ARE DESCRIBED, VER. 67-82
Alma 13:67 And it came to pass that when the king saw that the people were pacified, he caused that
Aaron and his brethren should stand forth in the midst of the multitude, and that they should preach the
word unto them.
He sent "a proclamation throughout all the land" and they came together. The historian gives some
definite ideas as to the relative position of these provinces and their boundaries but again, because
of the uncertainty of the geography as com- pared to the maps of the Americas today, it is possible
only to graph them to show relative positions.
Alma 13:76 And now it was only the distance of a day and a half's journey for a Nephite, on the line
Bountiful, and the land Desolation, from the east to the west sea;
This definiteness is helpful, but it will require more archaeological research and more records to fit
it conclusively with contemporary geography. The historian then adds, "The land of Nephi, and
the land of Zarahemla, were nearly surrounded by water, there being a small na:k of land between
the land northward, and the land southward'. (77).