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CHAPTER 28The Lamanites are defeated in a tremendous battle—Tens of thousands are slain—The wicked are consigned to a state of endless woe; the righteous attain a never-ending happiness. [About 76 B.C.] |
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1 AND now it came to pass that after the
people of Ammon were established in the land of aJershon,
and a church also established in the land of
Jershona, and the armies of the
Nephites were set round about the land of Jershon, yea, in all the borders
round about the land of Zarahemla; behold the armies of the Lamanites had
followed their brethren into the wilderness.
2 And thus there was a tremendous battle; yea, even such an one as never had been known among all the people in the land from the time Lehi left Jerusalem; yea, and tens of thousands of the Lamanites were slain and scattered abroad. 3 Yea, and also there was a tremendous slaughter among the people of Nephi; nevertheless, the Lamanites were adriven and scattered, and the people of Nephi returned again to their land.
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1a a church also established in the land of Jershon Now Ammon and his brethren had established churches among the Lamanites in the various cities and land in which they had converts unto the Lord. Thus we are not to suppose that this 'establishing' of a church in the land of Jershon is meaning that they had not already been members of the church, but that the structure of the church was established in the land of Jershon according to that land and the various groupings of the people of the Lamanitites in that land. Thus it was more of a 'reorganizing' according to the occupation and logistics of the new land. And it was not a 'new church' but a reorganizing of the church in Jershon according to the provincial land as per the populations of the Lamanites in that land. |
1a
Alma 27:22;
Alma 30:19 (1, 19) 3a Alma 30:1
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4 And now this was a time that there was a great
amourning and lamentation heard throughout all the land,
among all the people of Nephi—
5 Yea, the cry of awidows mourning for their husbands, and also of fathers mourning for their sons, and the daughter for the brother, yea, the brother for the father; and thus the cry of mourning was heard among all of them, mourning for their kindred who had been slain. 6 And now surely this was a sorrowful day; yea, a time of solemnity, and a time of much afasting and prayer.
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4a
TG
Mourning 5a TG Widows 6a Matt. 5:4; Alma 30:2; 3 Ne. 12:4
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7 And thus endeth the fifteenth year of the reign of the judges
over the people of Nephi;
8 And athis is the account of Ammon and his brethren, their journeyings in the land of Nephi, their sufferings in the land, their sorrows, and their afflictions, and their bincomprehensible joya, and the reception and safety of the brethren in the land of Jershon. And now may the Lord, the Redeemer of all men, bless their souls forever. 9 And this is the account of the wars and contentions among the Nephites, and also the wars between the Nephites and the Lamanites; *and the fifteenth year of the reign of the judges is ended.
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8a their incomprehensible joy This joy is of or naturally felt by the natural man but by the soul of man which is governed by the spirit of man. It is an inner joy of the spirit which swells within a person, not of a physical origin though it does effect a person's physical being unto the recognition that it is occuring from within and from a source not of the natural being, but from that source which testifies within a person of the things of God. It is of the Spirit, and comes from the spirit, even the Holy Ghost, which has power to reside within a person's being. |
8a
IE the account coverd in Alma chapters 17-28 b Alma 27:18 (16-19) 9a * [76 B.C.]
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10 And from the afirst year to the fifteenth has
brought to pass the destruction of many thousand lives; yea, it has brought
to pass an awful scene of bloodshed.
11 And the bodies of many thousands are laid low in the earth, while the bodies of many thousands are amoldering in heaps upon the face of the earth; yea, and many thousands are bmourning for the loss of their kindred, because they have reason to fear, according to the promises of the Lord, that they are consigned to a state of endless wo. 12 While many thousands of others truly amourn for the loss of their kindred, yet they rejoice and exult in the hope, and even know, according to the bpromises of the Lord, that they are raised to dwell at the right hand of God, in a state of never-ending chappiness.
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10a
IE the years recounted in Alma chapters 1-28 11a Alma 16:11 b Alma 48:23; Alma 42:45 12a Gen. 50:10 b Alma 11:41 c Alma 56:11
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13 And thus we see how great the ainequality of man
is because of sin and btransgression, and the power of the
devil, which comes by the cunning cplans which he hath
devised to ensnare the hearts of men.
14 And thus we see the great call of adiligence of men to labor in the vineyards of the Lord; and thus we see the great reason of sorrow, and also of rejoicing—sorrow because of death and destruction among men, and joy because of the blight of Christ unto lifea.
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14a joy because of the light of Christ unto life The knowledge and truth of Christ which is enabled to come unto man because of the plan of redemption, whereby man may be redeemed and return to the presence of God and become a member of His Kingdom forever, is that light, that word of God unto salvation. Because of death, which first came because of the transgression of Adam, man had cause to sorrow, sorrow in their death and being cut off from the presence of God. In Christ, in the light of his redemption, man has hope of returning back to God, to regain his presence and to live forever in exalted glory. This is the great joy of the gospel message, that all does not end in death, that man is not forever cut off from the presence of God, that through the atonement, the plan of redemption, man may again live and be forever, even AS GOD IS, in the kingdom of heaven forever. We come to understand that this temporay vail of tears, which is this mortality of the second estate is but a momentary thing and our hope is in God and His Christ unto immortality and eternal life, which is his work and glory to bring about the redemption of mankind, to raise man from the fall of Adam. This is the joy of the Gospel plan and the love and hope which we may look forward to beyond the grave and the end of this mortal condition of this our second estate. |
13a
1 Ne. 17:35 b TG Transgression c 2 Ne. 9:28 14a TG Diligence; TG Vineyard of the Lord b TG Light of Christ
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| * Verse 9 [76 B.C.]. |
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