How many commands does Moroni give to his readers in Mormon 9:27–31? I count 22 of them. Since there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet, this number might not be accidental.
What are these commands, and how are we doing these days in keeping them? These statements are all in the imperative mood. Like the Ten Commandments, some are prohibiting commands (in the apodictic style); others are affirmative injunctions or instructions. All are commands or directions, not just suggestions of one kind or another. Each is worth pondering. Each should (or should not) be done:
- Despise not.
- Wonder not.
- Hearken unto the words of the Lord.
- Ask the Father in the name of Jesus Christ for whatever ye shall stand in need.
- Doubt not.
- Be believing.
- Begin as in times of old.
- Come unto the Lord with all your heart.
- Work out salvation your own salvation with fear and trembling before God.
- Be wise in the days of your probation.
- Strip yourselves of all uncleanness.
- Ask not to consume uncleanness on your lusts.
- Ask with a firmness unshaken that ye will yield to no temptation.
- Serve the true and living God.
- See that not baptized unworthily.
- See that partake not of the sacrament of Christ unworthily.
- See that ye do all things in worthiness.
- Do all things in the name of Jesus Christ, the son of the living God.
- Endure to the end.
- Condemn me not because of mine imperfections.
- Condemn not my father or those who have written before him.
- Give thanks that God has made manifest our imperfections, that ye may be wiser than we have been.
Further Reading
Book of Mormon Central, “Why Did Moroni Conclude His Father’s Record with 22 Commands? (Mormon 9:27), KnoWhy 234 (November 18, 2016).
