“Having Been Kept and Preserved Until Now”

Brant Gardner

Rhetoric: Alma is giving a historical summary, not specifically of Ammonihah but of the “fathers” to whom they look as their spiritual foundation. After invoking the connection between Ammonihah and these fathers, he now contrasts the fathers’ faith with these sons’ lack of faith.

Alma returns to the fathers and lists blessings that Ammonihahites should accept without question as part of the founding “myth” (in the anthropological sense). This catalog of the blessings now condemns Ammonihah, in contrast to what the Ammonihahites would have most likely seen as a part of their personal justification. Alma continues to turn their own traditions upon them, creating unexpected contrasts that will jolt them out of their current apostasy.

Second Witness: Analytical & Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 4

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