Question
What is Alma referring to when he says “ the 2nd commandment?”
Don
Answer
Don,
Thanks for asking about one of those “blink and you’ll miss it” moments in scripture that are so important. It seems that most people read this and simply drop the “s” in “commandments” and immediately think about “love thy neighbor.” But it isn’t exactly about that.
To answer your question, I’d point you to verse 31 of the same chapter.
Wherefore, he gave commandments unto men, they having first transgressed the first commandments as to things which were temporal, and becoming as gods, knowing good from evil, placing themselves in a state to act, or being placed in a state to act according to their wills and pleasures, whether to do evil or to do good… Alma 12:31
Looking at v. 30 through 32, we realize that these “first commandments” were the commandments for Adam and Eve while in the Garden.
- Be fruitful and multiply
- Don’t eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Alma calls these “the first commandments.” And these commandments are powerful symbols.
They broke the commandment to not eat of the tree. So, they were cast out of the Garden. And they were required to learn about all the other commandments that we need to love God and love our neighbors. And we were given a Savior. We needed to learn His role and how we need to receive His mercy and grace. These were our second commandments. And it is those second commandments that remain today.
This story is a very important one to remember. The story of the Garden is what every one of us goes through. It is important for us to thus understand the need to obey and to sacrifice. We learn obedience when we can tell the good from the bad. We learn to sacrifice when we discern the difference between good and better, between better and best.
It would be futile to try to explain all the symbols found in the story of Adam and Eve. However, the symbols presented throughout the scriptures regarding the fall are so instructive for us to understand the necessity of proper decision-making and personal accountability. We must learn to tell the good from the bad.
Gramps
