"Regulating" the Church

The Nephites were a "church of anticipation," looking forward to the coming of the Messiah. As such, they could be expected to share a common scriptural language with Old World churches of anticipation, such as the sectaries of Qumran, of whom John the Baptist may be the most famous member. In the Book of Mormon, few chapters exemplify this so profoundly as Alma 5.

The English word "regulation" appears nowhere in the Bible. It derives from Latin roots meaning to make straight. It does, however, appear four times in the Book of Mormon, including Alma 6. Three of those appearances are specifically in reference to Alma the Elder, his son Alma the Younger and Helaman, son of the latter. Specifically, it is in the context of "regulating" the Nephite church.

So here we have father, son and grandson each tasked with regulating, making straight, the church of anticipation preparatory to the coming of Christ. Who else spoke of "making straight?" John the Baptist, of course, quoting Isaiah.

It is anticipatory language, somewhat hidden by the English translation and a nice test of authenticity.

Chartsubbah ... the bands or pains of death or hell

In Alma 5:7, Alma the Younger quotes the late prophet Abinadi, in speaking of a people "encircled about by the bands of death." "Bands" in such a figurative sense never appears in the New Testament but does in the Old, reducing the probability that this is an anachronistic borrowing by the Prophet Joseph. Something interesting about the Hebrew word that is translated as "bands" figuratively in the Old Testament: it is chartsubbah, and in a figurative sense, it can also mean "pains."


Thus, the KJV of Psalms 73:4, lamenting the prosperity of the wicked, says that "there are no bands in their death." Which doesn't make much sense unless you understand the above, which the KJV translators may have missed. My Hebrew Tanakh has "pangs" rather than "bands."


So whatever word Alma the Younger or Abinadi used that was translated "bands", if it was originally some form of chartsubbah, could also have been have been translated "pains." And a brief look at the writings of Alma the Younger shows that he may have written of spiritual pains more than any other writer in the Book of Mormon, and how they encircled persons, and how persons were loosed from them -- seeming to me to indicate a strong familiarity with the concept of "chartsubbah."

On prosperity

Is it naive to believe that a godly life will be a prosperous life?

No, it is not. It is not necessarily the key to heaping sacks of cash in your bank vault, but the godly life is one of order, honesty and diligence -- recognizable attributes for success. In fact, Stephen Covey, in his famous Seven Habits of Successful People, reminds us that lasting success depends upon such deep-rooted character.

The orderly, compassionate, diligent people of the Church described in Alma 1:31, prospered, far more than those who wasted their time and energy in character assassination, disorder and vice.

Of interest: the Hebrew word for "prosper," transliterated tsalach, literally means "to push forward."

So, remembering 2 Nephi 3 and the hymn based upon it, if we as Saints "press forward," we, with God's help, will also "push forward."

Chains and cords

I noticed a few weeks ago the similarities, in words and tone, between Psalms 116, in the Bible, and Alma 36, in the Book of Mormon.

It is quite possibly that the author of Alma 36, being of Hebrew derivation, knew and loved this psalm, though it is not as familiar as others to our modern ears.

Psalms 116: 3-4, 16:

"The sorrows of death compassed me,
and the pains of hell gat hold upon me:
I found trouble and sorrow.

Then called I upon the name of the Lord;
O Lord, I beseech thee,
deliver my soul

...Oh Lord, thou hast loosed my bonds."

Alma 36: 18:

"... I cried within my heart:
O Jesus, thou Son of God
have mercy on me,
who am in the gall of bitterness
and am encircled about
by the everlasting chains of death ...

In my study of the Hebrew Tanakh today, I learned that the word, (chbl) translated "sorrows" in this Psalm can also be translated as "bonds" or "cords." The authors of the King James Version preferred to stick with "sorrows" but the authors of the Jewish Publication Society Tanakh use "bonds," which runs a clearer thread of continuity through the psalm. The bonds (chbl) mentioned at the beginning are released at the end.

The latter translation also more closely matches Alma's psalm, he who had found himself encircled about by the everlasting chains of death. True, "chains" (ziyqah) is a different word from cords or bonds, yet easily a synonym.