On Monday, September 26th we went to the city of Lamego with Elders Williams and Madrid. We had previously gone there on May 26th with our cousin Sean. Lamego, is a small city of about 30,000 people located 30 minutes from Vila Real. The main attraction is a beautiful church built high on a hill with 686 steps leading to the top.
“O That I were an angel” (Alma 29:1) Is it possible this was Mormon, speaking in the first person and not Alma?
In Alma 28, Mormon writes about “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…ten of thousands…were slain” (Alma 28:2) “And now surely this was a sorrowful day; yea, a time of solemnity” (Alma 28:6)
“And thus we see how great the inequality of man is because of transgression…And thus we see the great call of diligence 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 light of Christ unto life.” (Alma 28:13-14) These are the last verses in Alma 28. Mormon mentions sorrow four (4) times in this chapter (Alma 28:6,8,14 twice)
Alma 29 begins: “O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people! Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.” (Alma 29:1-2) It appears that Alma 29 (verses 1-8) are a continuation of Alma 28.
Mormon provides the solution to end all sorrow upon the earth. Throughout the Book of Alma he includes several examples of Alma feeling sorrow: “For they saw and beheld with great sorrow that the people of the church began to be lifted up in the pride of their eyes” (Alma 4:8) “began to be very sorrowful” (Alma 4:15) “so much afflictions and sorrow which I have had for the brethren at Zarahemla, for behold, my joy cometh over them after wading through much affliction and sorrow.” (Alma 7:5) “being weighed down with sorrow,… Alma was thus weighed down with sorrow” (Alma 8:14) “For it was the cause of great sorrow to Alma to know of iniquity among his people; therefore his heart was exceedingly sorrowful” (Alma 31:2) “his heart was exceedingly sorrowful.” (Alma 35:15)
In the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon Alma 27-29 are all the same chapter. See photo of page 303. “O” is underlined in yellow.
Royal Skousen has written: “The first edition of the Book of Mormon (1830) consisted of five thousand copies and was published by E. B. Grandin of Palmyra, New York. This edition was chiefly set from the printer's manuscript, except for Helaman 13 through the end of Mormon, which were set from the original manuscript. The typesetter, John Gilbert, generally followed the request that the "grammatical errors" in the original text not be corrected. Nonetheless, Gilbert was responsible for the spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and paragraphing in the first edition…
For the 1879 LDS edition, Orson Pratt created the chapter and versification system that has been followed in all subsequent LDS editions. He divided the original chapters into smaller chapters. The original longer chapters are based on narrative cohesiveness…
There are two manuscripts of the Book of Mormon. The first one is the original manuscript, which the scribes wrote down as Joseph Smith dictated the text. The second manuscript is the printer's manuscript, which (for the most part) was taken to the printer and used to set the type for the 1830 edition.
The original manuscript was written from 1828 through June of 1829. The first 116 pages were lost by Martin Harris and, according to Joseph Smith's statement (in the preface to the 1830 edition), contained the book of Lehi….
The printer's manuscript is a copy made from the original manuscript, and for about 85 percent of the Book of Mormon this manuscript was the copy used by the 1830 printer for setting the type.
This copy was not made all at once but instead was produced as the printer needed copy. Many of the pages of this manuscript are covered with the punctuation and other printing-related marks made by the compositor (that is, typesetter), John Gilbert…
John H. Gilbert performed an extremely valuable service to the Church in setting the type, punctuating the sentences, and building the paragraphs for the first edition of the Book of Mormon. All his obituaries note that Gilbert was most widely known as the typesetter for the first Book of Mormon.” —(Royal Skousen- The Book of Mormon Reference Companion.)
In September 2017, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints paid $35 million to buy the printer’s manuscript of the Book of Mormon from the Community of Christ.
Perhaps, the chapter break between Alma 28 and Alma 29 (created in 1879 by Orson Pratt) can be adjusted? Here is a photo of the original manuscript of 1 Ne. 3:7. There are no punctuation marks. “and” in underlined in yellow.
“And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.” (1 Ne. 3:7)
Photo of the printer’s manuscript with additional pencil marks and punctuation. “O” is underlined in yellow. “O that I were an angel” (Alma 29:1)
Inasmuch as John W. Welch, has written about “the chiastic structure of Alma 29:1-7..creating a unique A-B-C-C-C-B-A outline for the overall structure.” (Book of Mormon Central, “What Can We Learn from 10 of the Best Chiasms in the Book of Mormon?” KnoWhy 349 (August 7, 2017.)
Perhaps, Alma 29:1-8 are verses that could be included in Alma 28.
Appears that Alma 29:9-17 are Alma writing about his thoughts after seeing the 4 sons of Mosiah and hearing about their 14 year mission.(Alma 17:1-4; 27:16)
After being rebuked by Aaron, saying: “I fear that thy joy doth carry thee away unto boasting” (Alma 26:10) Ammon says: “let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord..who can glory too much in the Lord?” (Alma 26:16) Similarly Alma says: “I do not glory in myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me.” (Alma 29:9)
Alma: “perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.” (Alma 29:9) Ammon: “perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full” (Alma 26:30)
The entire process of recording words on plates, 4 year wait to retrieve the plates, the translation process, dictating the words to a scribe, recording by hand the dictated words, rewriting the words onto another copy, someone unfamiliar with the text adding punctuation, typesetting, printing, then 50 years later creating chapters and verses. Indeed this is: “a marvelous work and a wonder” (Isaiah 29:14; 2 Ne. 27:26)
While it really doesn’t matter whether it was Mormon or Alma speaking, what does matter is if the book is true?
“ We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost. (See Moroni 10:3–5.)
Those who gain this divine witness from the Holy Spirit will also come to know by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is His revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the Second Coming of the Messiah.” (Introduction-Book of Mormon)
What a blessing that I know by the power of the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true!
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