After Limhi has gathered his people, given them hope, and reminded them of the need to avoid wickedness, he invites Ammon to catch them up on the history they’ve missed of their brothers and sisters in the land of Zarahemla. This includes the heavenly address made to the people three years before by King Benjamin (in Mosiah 1-5) about the power of Jesus Christ and the ability of the people to be transformed in His name (verses 1-3).
Once the people return home, Limhi shares his people’s record with Ammon to catch him up on their history. Additionally, Limhi tells Ammon about a 43-person expedition Limhi previously sent to find Zarahemla (in hopes of getting help to deliver his people from Lamanite bondage). This expedition did not locate Zarahemla, but instead came upon a vast land of desolation and destruction. Limhi regales Ammon with the account: bones of men and animals of innumerable scope scattered everywhere, ruins of buildings, and interesting metal artifacts (verses 4-8).
Among
these artifacts, in addition to armor and weapons, there were 24 gold plates
with an engraved record (verse 9). Limhi presumes that this record will tell
the tale of this unknown civilization and their destruction (verse 12). Limhi
has a keen sense for the value of such a record, given the fact that he and his
people have learned hard lessons from the wickedness of his father’s reign. He
seems to instinctively grasp that the translation of this record will have great
importance for the Nephites. Limhi may be especially desirous to benefit from
this record because it appears possible that when his grandfather (Zeniff) left
the main body of Nephites, he and his people may not have been diligent in
taking copies of the then-existing sacred records with them.
Limhi
asks Ammon if he is able to interpret languages in order to translate the 24
plates, for none of his people had been able to. Ammon says that he can’t, but
tells Limhi that King Mosiah can because he is in possession of something he
calls “interpreters.” According to Ammon, a seer can be directed by God to look
into the interpreters to translate any kind of ancient record (verses 12-14).
When Limhi responds that a seer is even greater than a prophet, Ammon follows by saying that a seer is, by definition, also a prophet and a revelator. By him, “secret things shall be made manifest, and hidden things shall come to light.” There is no greater gift among men (verses 15-17).
From
other passages in the Book of Mormon, we get a better understanding of what
these interpreters actually were. In Mosiah 28:11-14,
we learn that they are two stones fastened into the rims of a bow. In the
record eventually translated from the 24 plates, known as the Book of Ether, we
learn (in Ether 3:23-28)
that the Lord provided a promise to the long-destroyed civilization that the
Book of Ether would come forth by the aid of the same interpreters they had,
which were known by the name of Urim and Thummim. (See here
for a brief Internet description of the Urim and Thummim in the Bible.)
We
don’t know how the Urim and Thummim went from the people in the Book of Ether
(whom we will later know as Jaredites) to King Mosiah, but it is possible that
these interpreters came to Mosiah’s grandfather (the first King Mosiah) when
the Nephites learned of this past civilization from an inscripted stone that
they brought to Mosiah’s grandfather for translation (perhaps the Urim and
Thummim were found along with this inscripted stone) in Omni 1:20-21. The
Urim and Thummim are ultimately packed in with the sacred record (the plates) along
with some other objects by the final Book of Mormon recordkeeper Moroni around
400 A.D., to be found
1400 some years later (in 1827) by Joseph Smith.
No comments:
Post a Comment