Life Overview of Alma the Elder, the Younger, and Helaman

I hope that you find the lives of these Book of Mormon Heroes as inspiring as I do! I want to do a better job of knowing the events and timeframes of their lives, and writing this out has helped me a lot. I also give my best guess below for their age at death, even when it isn't totally clear.

Alma the Elder - Life Overview
born in the land of Lehi-Nephi in 183 BC, becomes a priest to the wicked King Noah
148 BC defies King Noah as a young man (age 25) and begs the life of Abinadi
147 BC teaches the gospel in secret
145 BC discovered by the king's agents, flees, founds the city of Helam
121 BC taken by the Lamanite army (searching for people of Limi), heavily persecuted
120 BC the Lord puts the Lamanites in a deep sleep and Alma's people are freed (v23 cracks me up)
120 BC given authority to lead the church by King Mosiah son of Benjamin, governs the church
92 BC his wayward son meets an angel and is converted
91 BC dies at age 82** after seeing his son appointed as chief judge

** Mormon helped us out, and told us he was 82 at time of death. Otherwise, we know that in the Jewish tradition, typically priests were at least 30 years old and married to start their ministry (not sure of my source though). This would make Alma 87 years old at the time of his death. Alma the Elder was never a military leader.


Alma the Younger - Life Overview
born to Alma between 145 and 120 BC (probably in the city Helam, which his father founded)
100 - 92 BC seeks to destroy the church with the sons of Mosiah - meets an angel and becomes converted
91 BC becomes the chief judge
90 BC contends with Nehor
87 BC leads armies against combined army of Nephite dissenters and Lamanites, wounded in battle
83 BC yields judgment seat to Nephihah, preaches the gospel to the Nephites
76 BC contends with Korihor the Anti-Christ
76 BC leads the mission to the Zoramites
74 BC gives his last words of advice to his sons, gives Helaman the plates (Helaman was his second choice - he asked Nephihah to take the plates but Nephihah refused)
73 BC leaves Zarahemla and is never heard of again

If Alma the Younger was born 138 BC in Helam, about 5 years after the city was founded, then he led the Nephite armies at age 45, and was 65 years old when he died. Alma the Younger was engaged in battle and wounded severely in battle 6 years before his death, which could explain the difference in age at death and his father's age at death.

Helaman son of Alma - Life Overview
born
74 BC remains at home while his father and brothers teach the Zoramites
73 BC receives responsibility for the plates from his father
66 BC leads the stripling warriors (War with the Lamanites broke out in earnest 3 years previously)
61 BC war ends, Helaman preaches to the people.
57 BC dies

When was Helaman born?
It is hard to narrow down a range for Helaman's age or year of birth. I wonder if he was born during Alma's rebellious years of seeking to destroy the church. It is hard to imagine him a married man trying to destroy the church, then his sons growing up to lead the church.

Clue #1 - Helaman was "in his youth"
Helaman was "in his youth" as Alma instructed him about the plates. Perhaps this is why Alma preferred to give the plates to Nephihah (see above), who turned down his offer. I take in his "youth" to mean that he was less than 30 years old. However, his younger brothers went on a mission before Helaman received the plates. If they had to be 30 to preach the gospel, I would assume Helaman was more like 35 years old when he received the plates.

Clue #2 - Helaman was an army commander for 5 years
Helaman must have died very young then, only living 16 years after receiving the plates. Helaman never admits that he was wounded in war, but he was very worried that some of his 2,000 stripling warriors had died. I could easily imagine that he was wounded in that first battle and that was part of the reason for his concern. Even if he wasn't wounded in that battle, there are many more ensuing battles that could have taken their toll and shortened his life.

Conclusion
Based on Alma's ministry, Helaman was probably born close to 100 BC, putting him close to 27 years old as the prophet, and 43 years old when he died. This would make sense with Alma saying Helaman was still "in his youth" when he received the plates. Dying young also makes sense for an army leader. The only contradicting factor is that his younger brothers went on the mission to the Zoramites, which I would explain by saying they were acting under the Aaronic priesthood.

 ... but Helaman's age is just an educated guess.  What are your thoughts? Are you surprised that Helaman died so young? or that Alma was so old?

Lehi's Other Vision

And it had come to pass that my father spake unto her [Sariah], saying: I know that I am a visionary man; for if I had not seen the things of God in a vision I should not have known the goodness of God, but had tarried at Jerusalem, and had perished with my brethren. (1 Ne 5:4)

Lehi father of Nephi had two major visions that we learn about in the Book of Mormon. The well-known vision is the vision where he saw the Tree of Life and an iron rod leading multitudes of people there. We commonly talk about how Lehi prophesied the coming destruction of Jerusalem, but I don't think I (in my not too many years at church) have heard a discussion about the vision where he learned about Jerusalem's fate.

Summary of Lehi's Visions

Here is a list of Lehi's dreams and vision from 1 Nephi (let me know if I missed any)

1 Ne 1 - Lehi sees "much" in a pillar of fire that causes him to quake and tremble

1 Ne 1 - Lehi lies on his bed and sees God, Jesus, and 12 others. He reads a book about the fate of Jerusalem and the coming of the Messiah

1 Ne 2 - Lehi is commended for his preaching and commanded to flee Jerusalem

1 Ne 3 - Lehi receives commandment through a dream that his sons should retrieve the brass plates

1 Ne 7 - The Lord spake unto him again, commanding Lehi's sons to bring Ishmael along
1 Ne 8 - Lehi's sees the vision of the Tree of Life
Lehi also has many other prophecies and teachings, but the above reference visions and dreams.

Summary of Lehi's first recorded vision

Lehi is praying for his people when a pillar of fire comes and dwells on a rock before him. He sees and hears much and trembles and quakes because of it. Then he goes and "casts" himself on his bed, being overcome with the Spirit and the things he had seen. The second part of the vision begins with the heavens opening. He sees God and a numberless host of angels in the attitude of singing and praising God. He sees Jesus coming down from heaven and twelve others with him. One of the twelve gave him a book to read, and Lehi reads about the destruction of Jerusalem as well as about the coming of the Messiah, for which he praises God.

Symbols:
pillar of fire - God promised the Israelites that he would be their pillar of fire by night. Lehi's experience with the pillar of fire was a symbol for God's visitation.
a rock - the pillar of fire dwelt on a rock, which might tell us about its size. I am not really sure why it is significant that the pillar of fire dwelt on a rock.
the attitude of singing and praising - I think this tells us that the numberless concourses of angels were spirits. Without a body, singing is difficult. But even with  a body, how often are we in the attitude of singing and praising our Lord?
a book - John the Beloved wrote about angels giving him a book and prophesied afterwards about it.

Lessons Learned:
1. God gives clear instruction
     Lehi was one of many prophets to come warning of the destruction of Jerusalem. God wanted his message to be preached to the people. He didn't send a text or a scroll or an army. He sent many prophets who knew and experienced incredible spiritual revelations. I can only imagine how fervently they must have taught and preached to the people. Jeremiah (contemporary to Lehi) described how he felt about his testimony in these words.
   What messages has God sent to you very clearly that you haven't acted on yet?

2. God gives us more when we are ready 

    Lehi was totally wiped out after his experience with the pillar of fire. We don't know a lot about what he saw and heard there (notice both verbs), but it did cause him to shake and tremble exceedingly. The second experience came a little later and seems to be more focused on the role of the Messiah (1 Ne 1:9, 19).

3. The righteous can be joyful in the midst of wickedness
    The storyline starts with many prophets prophesying Jerusalem's destruction. Lehi sees this and starts praying "yea, even with all his heart, in behalf of his people." (1Ne1:5) The Lord blesses Lehi  with His presence and reveals His character to Lehi. Lehi catches a glimpse of God's eternal perspective, both of the impending doom for the wicked and the redemption of the world through the Messiah. Lehi's reaction to the vision is overwhelmingly positive (1Ne1:14-15). The chapter ends with all of his neighbors trying to kill him. This is reminiscent of Nephi's praise of the Lord while he is bound and about to to be swallowed up in the depths of the sea in 1 Nephi 18.

     How often do we stop praising and thanking the Lord because things aren't going our way?