Thirty-five years ago (about 1985), I was sitting around a table with some of my colleagues. We were sharing our thoughts on the Book of Mormon, and one of them had just read an account of what happens during a Jewish Passover. The Passover is a family celebration—usually observed with extended family. After eating the Passover meal, they gather together in a type of Family Home Evening in which they sing and tell stories. Similar to how we may act out the Christmas Story at Christmas festivities, they act out the story of the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, including the painting of the doorposts with blood, Pharaoh and his soldiers being smitten, and God delivering them. Family members celebrate the Passover story by taking on assigned roles. Following the Passover reenactment, the father asks three boys in the extended family one question each. This is done to keep the law, which was specified in Exodus 10:2, that commands the Jews to “tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son’s son, what things I have wrought in Egypt.” We know that this was not just a traditional custom in antiquity—it was a required part of keeping the Law of Moses.
From the plates of brass, which Alma had, he would very likely have done something similar on Passover. For example, the Passover commemorates the destroying angel passing over the faithful Hebrews in Egypt. In Alma’s conversion account, he spoke about the angel coming and threatening to destroy him. Indeed, the word “destroy” is mentioned six times in Alma’s narrative in Alma 36, seven times in Alma 37, and four times in Alma 42. In the Passover story, God prepares his people and delivers them from bondage and captivity. Alma also talked about being delivered from bondage and captivity (36:2, 29; 38:5). Being freed from slavery in Egypt was like being given a new life, like being born again and becoming his sons and daughters, belonging to him and serving him alone as Lord. In these and other ways, Alma’s commandments to his sons thematically interact with the ancient Passover traditions.
Although we do not have Passover records going back as far as we would like in early Israelite history, we can trace them back to about the time of Christ and probably earlier. According to recorded Passover traditions, after gathering his family, the father instructed his sons and answered their questions. His words were not fixed but were “to fit the knowledge and understanding of the child” and were supposed “to spell out the sequence of sin, suffering, repentance, and redemption.” The father was to select three different sons and ask each boy one of three questions, based on his character and personality.
The first question was, “What is the meaning of the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded you?” The use of the word “testimonies” in this question meant the ?dh?th—the records. That question comes from Deuteronomy 6:20. According to recorded Jewish history, the wise son was assigned the role to approach the father and ask, “What is the meaning of the records, the statutes and the judgments?” The father would then address the wise son and give an answer to that question. Obviously, Helaman was the wise son in this scenario. We do not have the question that Helaman might have asked, but we do have the answer that Alma gave in chapter 37. Alma’s words to Helaman were all about the records and about the meaning of the statutes, and how they were a type and symbol of things. Alma’s words fit very nicely into a Passover setting as he, the father, instructed Helaman.
Another son was then supposed to approach the father and ask the question from Exodus 12:26: “What mean ye by this service?” This question was supposed to be asked by a son playing the role of a less righteous son. His assigned question was, “What is going on here? Why are we doing this? Why do we celebrate Passover?” According to Jewish practice, the father was supposed to tell this son—in stern terms and in a way that would set the son’s teeth on edge—that he will be punished for his own sins and that he would not have been redeemed had he been in Egypt during the first Passover with Moses. Corianton fits this role snugly (see Alma 41–42). But, in this situation, he would not have just been role-playing. Corianton really needed this advice from his father because he had been involved in unrighteous acts.
Finally, the third question comes from Exodus 13:14. It is a very short question: “What is this?” It is the understanding of the Jews that this question is intentionally ambiguous. Whether it is sarcastic or serious, we do not know. Regardless, in the Israelite tradition, this question was supposed to be asked by a son who played the role of an uninformed son—one who needed to be taught. The father was to answer by giving that son preventative instruction to keep him away from any risk of breaking the law. This happens to be a very good description of the instruction Alma gave to Shiblon in Alma 38.
Although it is uncertain if Alma’s exhortation to his sons directly coincided with the Nephite remembrance of the Passover, the method and content of his instruction was certainly reminiscent of Passover themes, including suffering in captivity and affliction, crying for deliverance, the appearance of a powerful angel, and deliverance from darkness and bitter pains. As you read Alma’s words to these three sons, and as you study more about the Passover, how many Passover connections can you find here? Perhaps Alma and his family had gathered for a Passover celebration and that is why Alma gathered his sons together on this occasion and chose to give fatherly instruction in at this traditional time.
And here is another lesson for us in these chapters. On special family occasions—like graduation or celebrating Easter—we should celebrate as a family with more than opening presents and decorating with Easter bunnies, or things like that. We should gather our family together on these serious traditional moments and take the opportunity to teach them and impress upon them the things they must do to continue in righteous living.
This perspective on a Passover setting for these chapters in Alma was first discovered and identified by Gordon Thomasson in 1984—more than thirty years ago. It was introduced in a chapter in the book Reexploring the Book of Mormon.
Book of Mormon Central, “Were Nephite Prophets Familiar with the Passover Tradition? (Mosiah 13:30),” KnoWhy 429 (March 29, 2018).
Book of Mormon Central, “Did Alma Counsel His Sons During the Passover? (Alma 38:5),” KnoWhy 146 (July 19, 2016).
Gordon C. Thomasson and John W. Welch, “The Sons of the Passover,” in Reexploring the Book of Mormon: A Decade of New Research, ed. John W. Welch (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1992), 196–198.