Alma 28

(All of my own thoughts are in red type 7/20 Green 5/21  7/22 Brown 8/23)

Chapter 28

The Lamanites are defeated in a tremendous battle—Tens of thousands are slain—The wicked are consigned to a state of endless woe; the righteous attain a never-ending happiness. About 77–76 B.C.

  1 And now it came to pass that after the people of Ammon were established in the land of ^aJershon, and a church also established in the land of Jershon, and the armies of the Nephites were set round about the land of Jershon, yea, in all the borders round about the land of Zarahemla; behold the armies of the Lamanites had followed their brethren into the wilderness. Just wondering how they staffed their armies. Was it just every man's duty? What age? Was there a kind of draft?
  2 And thus there was a tremendous battle; yea, even such an one as never had been known among all the people in the land from the time Lehi left Jerusalem; yea, and tens of thousands of the Lamanites were slain and scattered abroad.
  3 Yea, and also there was a tremendous slaughter among the people of Nephi; nevertheless, the Lamanites were ^adriven and scattered, and the people of Nephi returned again to their land. I think this is TRAGIC! Here the Nephites sacrifice so much for their former enemies and it brings war and death upon them. It doesn't seem like much of a reward for their generosity and love and kindness...And how awful the people of Ammon must have felt to see this terrible war and not be able to help and to feel like maybe it was their fault. It sounds like the war was fought outside the borders of the cities, so at least the old and women and children were spared, as well as the people in the city of Jershon.
  4 And now this was a time that there was a great ^amourning and lamentation heard throughout all the land, among all the people of Nephi—
  5 Yea, the cry of ^awidows mourning for their husbands, and also of fathers mourning for their sons, and the daughter for the brother, yea, the brother for the father; and thus the cry of mourning was heard among all of them, mourning for their kindred who had been slain.
  6 And now surely this was a sorrowful day; yea, a time of solemnity, and a time of much ^afasting and prayer. For me, the fasting and prayer would be to understand why this had just happened... I am studying fasting right now and trying to understand why it is so powerful and important. Here the people used fasting in tandem with prayer because of their great loss. What was the purpose of their fast? Knowledge? Strength? Repentance? Understanding? What was the Lord's purpose in this? Doesn't he promise to protect the righteous? Was their ultimately winning still the Lord protecting them?
  7 And thus endeth the fifteenth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi;
  8 And ^athis is the account of Ammon and his brethren, their journeyings in the land of Nephi, their sufferings in the land, their sorrows, and their afflictions, and their ^bincomprehensible joy, and the reception and safety of the brethren in the land of Jershon. And now may the Lord, the Redeemer of all men, bless their souls forever. 
  9 And this is the account of the wars and contentions among the Nephites, and also the wars between the Nephites and the Lamanites; and the fifteenth year of the reign of the judges is ended.
 10 And from the ^afirst year to the fifteenth has brought to pass the destruction of many thousand lives; yea, it has brought to pass an awful scene of bloodshed.
 11 And the bodies of many thousands are laid low in the earth, while the bodies of many thousands are ^amoldering in heaps upon the face of the earth; yea, and many thousands are ^bmourning for the loss of their kindred, because they have reason to fear, according to the promises of the Lord, that they are consigned to a state of endless wo.
 12 While many thousands of others truly ^amourn for the loss of their kindred, yet they rejoice and exult in the hope, and even know, according to the ^bpromises of the Lord, that they are raised to dwell at the right hand of God, in a state of never-ending ^chappiness. I guess their faith in this was truly tested. Even if the righteous died, they died in the Lord. The promised of exaltation was greater than the promise of mortal safety.
 13 And thus we see how great the ^ainequality of man is because of sin and ^btransgression, and the power of the devil, which comes by the cunning ^cplans which he hath devised to ensnare the hearts of men.
 14 And thus we see the great call of ^adiligence of men to labor in the vineyards of the Lord; and thus we see the great reason of sorrow, and also of rejoicing—sorrow because of death and destruction among men, and joy because of the ^blight of Christ unto life.