Social: In the creation of Alma's church he simultaneously is creating a community. What he organizes is a system not only of religious teachings, but of communal care. When a single priest is assigned to every fifty, Alma is also organizing his people in a way that they can be cared for and governed. The number fifty provides a reasonable division of his people (there would only be four priests and four "fifties" at this point in time) and the formulation provided for growth in the community. The reason for the fifty might be a remembrance of the general use of the number fifty in the Old Testament, and perhaps a specific reference to the times that "fifty" was used as part of the construction of the tabernacle (see Exodus 26:5-6; Exodus 27:12-13).