“Thou Hast Also Heard Me When I Have Been Cast Out and Despised by Mine Enemies”

Brant Gardner

Context for Zenos: The reversal of direction continues, contrasting a physical direction with a spiritual one. The prayers move from the outside (public) to the inside (private). Firmly established internally, prayer supports Zenos as his body moves from the inside to the outside, from local congregations to being cast out.

Context for Alma’s discourse: These farmers would relate to Zenos’s being cast out, since they have used the same term to describe their treatment at the hands of the elite Zoramites (Alma 32:9). Zenos’s “enemy” would have been the Gentiles, while the Zoramites were not political or military enemies. However, their apostasy had made them enemies to Yahweh.

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

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