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Book of Mormon Commentary
Alma Chapter 16
KORIHOR CORRUPTS MANY NEPHITES, VER. 1-19
Alma 16:4 And they were strict in observing the ordinances of God, according to the Law of Moses; for
they were taught to keep the Law of Moses, until it should be fulfilled;
For nearly three years there was "continual peace throughout all ,the land" following the great war
in the wilderness near Jershon (15:37). This peace did not come without paying the price. For
"after the days of fasting, and mourning, and prayer. ..the people did observe to keep the
commandments of the Lord" (Alma 16:3).
Jacob pointed out that keeping the law of Moses was to point the people to the offering up of
God's only begotten Son (See comment Jb. 3:6). But it was given as a "preparatory gospel" to
bring the people unto Christ. The gospel of salvation through Christ was preached to Adam and
Abraham ( see comment on Mosiah 2:3) .But since the Israelites had come from four hundred
years of Egyptian slavery, the law of Moses was added, while Moses and the Melchisedec
priesthood were taken "out of their midst" (D. and C. 83:4c) .
Jesus said, "Think not I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; lam not come to destroy, but
to fulfill" (Matthew 5:19). Again he declared, “The law and the prophets testify of me; ...even until
John. ...Since that time, the kingdom of God is preached" (Luke 16:17, 18).
Alma 16:7 But it came to pass in the latter end of the seventeenth year, there came a man into the land
of Zarahemla; and he was antichrist, for he began to preach unto the people against the prophecies which
had been spoken by the prophets concerning the coming of Christ.
He was Korihor who preached against the prophecies which spoke concerning the coming of
Christ. According to their law, a man could not be punished for his beliefs, only for crimes
committed (8-12).
The law protecting man's agency was said to put men "on equal grounds." The constitution of the
United States of America, to guarantee freedom and equality, protects the right of free speech and
a free press, and prohibits the establishment of a state religion. It was this kind of liberty of which
Mosiah wrote when he desired equality among all the people (Mos. 13:44, 45).
Alma 16:13 And this antichrist, whose name was Korihor (and the law could have no hold upon him,)
began to preach unto the people, that there should be no Christ.
He declared, "No man can know of any- thing which is to come." Logically, it requires a
knowledge just as exact to deny a thing as to affirm it. However, atheists usually content
themselves by throwing the burden of proof upon the believers. "How do you know of their
surety?" (15). “Ye can not know of things which ye do not see; therefore ye can not know that
there shall be a Christ" (16).
Paul said, "The things of God knoweth no man, except he has the Spirit of God. The natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he
know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:11, 14).
Korihor taught that the hope for a remission of sins through faith in Christ "is the effect of a
frenzied mind. ..because of the tradition of your fathers" (17). Every man fared in this life