Here is the first time we have the name for the director. This name is not in Nephi’s record, so the name must have been given in the Book of Lehi, which we do not have.
See the commentary on 1 Nephi 16:10 for more information on the Liahona.
Why does Alma bring up the Liahona at this time, after so long in which we hear nothing of it? While we cannot know for certain, it is probable that it is because Nephi used the “small means” analogy with the Liahona. It is that theme that Alma has picked up earlier in his charge to Helaman, and which he will highlight again in verse 41 below.
“Our Fathers Called It Liahona”
Alma retells the story of the Liahona, a story which must have been familiar to Helaman. If it was familiar, then we should understand that aspects of the story that Alma elects to tell, because that will tell us what Alma finds most important in the example of the Liahona. First, he notes that it was prepared divinely (“there cannot any man work after the manner of so curious a workmanship”). Second, he gives the purpose of the Liahona, which is to provide instruction for the course.
Next, Alma notes that the working of the Liahona was divine, that it required faith to work correctly. If they had faith it worked through divine intervention (“therefore they had this miracle”). The last statements note that the miracles “were worked by small means,” and that a lack of faith caused it to cease to work.
Alma is emphasizing the role of the miraculous role of the Lord. He correlates the miraculous workings of the Liahona; the essential miraculous workings, for without them they were lost and halted in their journey. These great miracles come from “small means.” Clearly it is this contrast that is important. Very small, perhaps insignificant appearing things lead to great miracles. In Nephi’s description of the “small things” it was the workings of the needles. Here the working of the needle is the miraculous. The “small thing” for Alma is the exercise of faith.