“Israel followed the custom of retelling the Exodus experience to remind them of their dependence on God. The transplanted Israelites in the New World continued the same kind of memory, but with a twist. They not only remembered the acts of God among the Israelites fleeing Egypt, they also retold the story of the journey of Lehi and his family through the desert and to the new promised land. Eight times in the Book of Mormon, the Exodus was recalled. Lehi’s journey from Jerusalem is referred to at least ten times. Even the Lamanites may have followed this custom to an extent (see Alma 22:9)” (Szink, “Nephi and the Exodus,” 49).
What scriptures did Aaron use? (22:12–13) “The scriptures Aaron was using are still from an ‘Old Testament’ era, yet the sacred writings speak clearly of Christ’s coming, his atonement and resurrection—further evidence of the loss of plain and precious truths from our present Bible. To king Lamoni’s father ‘Aaron did expound … the scriptures from the creation of Adam, laying the fall of man before him, and their carnal state and also the plan of redemption, which was prepared from the foundation of the world, through Christ, for all whosoever would believe on his name’” (Holland, Christ and the New Covenant, 119).
Elder Bruce R. McConkie stated: “The three pillars of eternity, the three events, preeminent and transcendent above all others, are the creation, the fall, and the atonement. These three are the foundations upon which all things rest. Without any one of them all things would lose their purpose and meaning, and the plans and designs of Deity would come to naught” (“Three Pillars of Eternity”). The chart below shows how all three pillars are included in Aaron’s masterful discourse in Alma 22.
| Creation | Fall | Atonement of Jesus Christ |
| Verses 10–11. God created the heavens and the earth. Verse 12. God created man in His own image. | Verses 12–13. Because of transgression, man is fallen and is in a carnal state.
Verse 14. Fallen man cannot “merit anything of himself.” | Verse 13. The plan of redemption was prepared during the premortal existence for all who would believe on His name. Verse 14. “The sufferings and death of Christ atone for [our] sins, through faith and repentance.” Verse 14. Christ’s Atonement breaks the bands of death (all will be resurrected). |