The ordaining of priests and elders by Alma (v. 1) was to keep the church headed in the direction that God has set it. The leaders being ordained by the laying on of hands is an eternal principle. Although it has been lost from most of the Old Testament, it is still there. “And Moses did as the Lord commanded him: and he took Joshua, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation: And he laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses” (Numbers 27:22–23). In the New Testament, the apostles selected “seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost, and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business [of the church].” After selecting the seven men, “they laid their hands on them” (Acts 7:3–6).
After Christ visited the Nephites, Moroni recorded that: “The manner which the disciples, who were called the elders of the church, ordained priests and teachers—After they had prayed unto the Father in the name of Christ, they laid their hands upon them, and said: In the name of Jesus Christ I ordain you to be a priest, (or, if he be a teacher) I ordain you to be a teacher” (Moroni 3:1–3). In this dispensation, the Lord gave authority to the President of the High Priesthood of the Church to administer the “ordinances and blessings upon the church, by the laying on of hands” (D&C 107:65–67).
Alma’s speech in the city of Zarahemla had various effects upon the church. Although no numbers are given, some were brought into the church (Alma 6:2) while some members of the church lost their membership because they rejected his message (v. 3). The church was strengthened by the order being more firmly established (v. 4). Mormon, the abridger, again stresses the agency of the people being honored: “the word of God was liberal [extended to all ages and conditions]” and none were deprived” of attending the meetings (v. 5). Furthermore, they fasted and prayed in their assemblies for the blessings of God to come upon those who had not such blessings (v. 6).