In this verse and those immediately following, Alma approached the high point in the appeal he was to make. Many of the things he recited to his brethren were familiar to them. Some, at least, of his listeners had undergone with him the tribulations of which he spoke. Others had seen, with their own eyes, the bedraggled appearance of his people and the people of Zeniff when they arrived in Zarahemla after the terrible ordeals they had undergone when in bondage to the Lamanites. Out of all their trials and afflictions, which were many, they all knew whereof Alma spoke: "The Lord did deliver them out of bondage."
All these things out of which the Lord had rescued them and of which Alma reminded them, led to the questions which were uppermost in his mind: "Have you sufficiently retained in remembrance the captivity of your fathers?" Do you keep constantly in your minds "his mercy and long-suffering towards them?" Has the knowledge "that he had delivered their souls from hell" given you fresh courage and hope? Has the remembrance of these things stirred you up to a renewed determination to serve God, even that you keep all His commandments?
Alma now opened the floodgates to a river of joy and happiness to everyone who kept God's commandments.