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ALMA'S LAST DAYS, VER. 1-22
Book of Mormon Commentary
Alma Chapter 21
Alma 21:9 And these are the words: Behold, I perceive that this very people, the Nephites, according to
the spirit of revelation which is in me, in four hundred years from the time that Jesus Christ shall
manifest himself unto them, shall dwindle in unbelief;
Alma finished his record on the plates of Nephi at the close of the eighteenth year of the Judges
(20:99, 100). During the next year he turned over the task of recording to his oldest son, Helaman,
as he had previously directed ( Alma 17:31). Alma went to him with three questions :
1. Do you believe what I have said concerning he records I have kept? (3). ("It is for a wise
purpose that they are kept," Alma 17:31)
2. Do you believe "in Jesus Christ, who shall come?" (5)
3. "Will ye keep my commandments?" (6)
When Helaman had answered all three questions with strong affirmations, his father blessed him
and said, "The Lord shall prosper thee in this land" (7).
Then Alma gave a personal prophecy to Helaman, and directed that it should not be given
publicity until after the prediction had been fulfilled (9). It had been made known to Alma that
because of iniquities and unbelief, the Nephites should become extinct through wars and
pestilences (10, 11). Those who are not destroyed "shall be numbered among the Lamanites, and
shall become like unto them, all, save it be a few, who shall be called the disciples of the Lord"
(14).
Alma 21:20 And when Alma had done this, he departed out of the land of Zarahemla, as if to go into the
land of Melek. And it came to pass that he was never heard of more; as to his death or burial, we know
not of.
This is a very brief obituary for such a great man. As a postscript the record said, "As to his death
or burial, we know not of." "The saying went abroad in the church, that he was taken up by the
Spirit, or buried by the hand of the Lord, even as Moses" (21). Mysteries can easily grow up when
anyone vanishes from society. The Bible does not say that Moses was translated. It says that he
died and was buried in a valley of Moab, but "no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day"
(Deut. 34:6). The Inspired Version says that "the Lord took him unto his fathers," but that
expression could mean simply that he died {Gen. 25:8; 35:29; 49:33). Helaman only supposes his
father was received "in the spirit" by the Lord (Alma 21:22). He may have been taken to heaven as
was Enoch (Gen. 7:30; Heb. 11:5), or he may not have been translated.
AMALICKIAH DESERTS TO THE LAMANITES, VER. 23-39
Alma 21:27 And now it came to pass that after Helaman and his brethren had appointed priests and
teachers over the churches, that there arose a dissension among them, and they would not give heed to
the words of Helaman and his brethren;