Alma 33:2-3, LeGrand Baker, use of temple code
2 And Alma said unto them: Behold, ye have said that ye could not worship your God because ye are cast out of your synagogues. But behold, I say unto you, if ye suppose that ye cannot worship God, ye do greatly err, and ye ought to search the scriptures; if ye suppose that they have taught you this, ye do not understand them.
3 Do ye remember to have read what Zenos, the prophet of old, has said concerning prayer or worship?
Last week, after I submitted that long comment called “Alma 32 as a temple text,” one of my friends asked me if it really seemed reasonable to suppose that Alma would have been speaking to these apostate people in temple code. These verses in chapter 33 seem to answer that question, at least part. Even though the people were apostates, they had full access to the scriptures. That is evident because Alma is not using Zenos’s words to teach them, but rather he is using them as an argument. That would only work if they were already acquainted with the scriptures and accepted them as an authoritative source.
Alma demonstrated many times, that he was fluent in the double language of the ancient Israelite temple code. However, he was also a very wise prophet, and we can be sure he would not have used it unless he knew by the Spirit that there were those present who could hear what he was saying.
Another example of Alma’s using the code is in Alma 12. There, Alma cited the scriptures to almost literally beat Zeezrom over the head with his own Israelite temple covenants. It was Alma’s use of the scriptures and his speaking in sacred code to those in the audience in the audience who could understand that caused them to ask the questions that lead to their repentance.