Alma and his brethren conduct their missionary work like Jesus’s apostles in the Old World. Preaching without purse or scrip (to use the New Testament terminology) was easier in an agricultural than technological and urbanized society. When most people are farmers, rules of hospitality require the generous care of the hungry. Missionaries in the LDS Church often followed the same pattern until well into the twentieth century.
The missionaries’ reliance on the people’s hospitality had two important functions in their Zoramite mission. First, it clearly separated Alma and his brethren from those practicing priestcraft, or using religion for personal gain in the form of demands for tribute. Second, and more importantly, by making a gesture of hospitality, the offerer immediately received the blessing of happiness that comes with service. It was a moment of less-than-hard-heartedness, during which they might be more receptive to the missionaries’ message. That there were those who would provide such hospitality indicates that, as is quite common, individual action may differ from and be less hateful than official communal rhetoric.
Text: There is no chapter break here in the 1830 edition.