Mosiah to Alma: From the Rule of Kings to the Reign of Judges - Book of Mosiah, Chapter Twenty-Nine (Mosiah 29)

You can read the entire chapter at the following link: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/29?lang=eng.   

We come to the end of King Mosiah’s portion of the Nephite record. He has made sure that the record is in Alma the Younger’s trustworthy and capable hands, and now he needs to turn to the thorny question of leadership and succession. 

Without a clear successor among his sons, Mosiah initially is not looking to make any radical changes to how the Nephites rule themselves. Since the time of Nephi nearly 500 years before, they have had kings. Because his sons are out of the picture on their mission to the Lamanite lands, Mosiah does something we haven’t seen before in the Book of Mormon. He asks the people whom they would have to be their king (verse 1). 

When they come back with the request to have his son Aaron lead them, Mosiah has to think creatively. He knows that Aaron is not an option because his sons have all said they would not accept the kingship. However, now that it’s known among the people that they want Aaron, if someone else serves as king, there’s a lingering danger that if Aaron ever changes his mind or goes back to his wicked ways, there could be a succession conflict (verses 2-9). 

With this in mind, Mosiah goes back to the people with a new proposal. To protect Aaron, anyone who might serve as a leader in his stead, and the people as a whole from contention over power, Mosiah says “we will newly arrange the affairs of this people, for we will appoint wise men to be judges, that will judge this people according to the commandments of God” (verses 10-11).

In explaining his plan, we learn that the experience of the Nephites who left under Zeniff and were greatly abused and put into a terrible position by King Noah has great influence on Mosiah’s thinking. He recognizes that if even one king in the future is like Noah, or does not have the virtues of himself or his father King Benjamin, the people are in grave danger: “For behold, how much iniquity doth one wicked king cause to be committed, yea, and what great destruction!” (verses 12-17)

The judges will be obligated to interpret the laws that the people received from God, as handed down by previous prophets and kings. In this way, Mosiah reasons, the people will be ruled more by God than by man (verses 25-29). The focus on laws of divine origin and the ability of the people to appeal decisions from one judge to another are designed to make one person’s error or wickedness less capable of harming the society. Considering the covenant that the Lord has made with the people throughout the Book of Mormon for the Americas to be a land of liberty, this way of governance seems to foreshadow more modern systems of checks and balances that the English colonists brought with them and developed in the 17^th and 18^th Centuries, eventually leading to the establishment of the United States and other republics on the American continent. The land has retained its special status as a land of liberty, as designated by the covenant the Lord makes with those who come here (see 2 Nephi 10:10-15 and this previous blog post).

In addition to protecting the people from tyrannical rule, Mosiah explains that having judges appointed by the voice of the people ensures that the burden of governing doesn’t fall too heavily on one person. He knows about the burden of governing from his own 33 years as king. It seems Mosiah is also saying that it is healthy for society that “every man might bear his part” (verses 33-34). If each person knows he or she has some responsibility for the direction of their people, it follows that they will seek to be more informed and engaged in their community’s life.

Presumably because of the considerable trust Mosiah had built with his people—they recognize his desires to keep them free, and they esteem him “beyond measure”—they accept his reasoning, relinquish their desires for a king, and assemble themselves to elect judges (verses 37-41). 

Just as King Mosiah has entrusted Alma the Younger with the Nephite record, the people entrust Alma with the responsibility of being their first chief judge. We learn that Alma’s father (aka the Elder), presumably acting under divine inspiration, has also ordained Alma the Younger to be high priest of the church. So temporal and spiritual authority are combined in him (verse 42). Past kings have also served as prophets, so having one leader play both an earthly and a spiritual leadership role is not new among the Nephites. What is new is that Alma’s temporal authority is very clearly limited by the law and by the other judges who have power to review his judgments. Mormon informs us that Alma acts with great righteousness and wisdom, getting the reign of the judges in the land of Zarahemla off to a very good and peaceful start (verses 43-44).

Not long after, both King Mosiah and Alma the Elder pass away (verses 45-47), closing the book on a tempestuous era for the Nephites and opening the book on a new one that in some ways will be even more challenging.

The Sons of Mosiah Go to Redeem the Lamanites - Book of Mosiah, Chapter Twenty-Eight (Mosiah 28)

You can read the entire chapter at the following link: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/28?lang=eng.  

You’ve probably heard many stories about children whose parents have painstakingly prepared for them to take over the family business, only to have the children opt for something else. The whole process of family tradition and legacy is bound up with emotional meaning, as is recognizing the need to allow each person to seek his or her own course with the Lord’s help and guidance.

In the case of Mosiah, the family business is an intimidating one—being king of the Nephites. But his sons are not avoiding responsibility. The path they are following is arguably even more difficult and laden with responsibility. After gathering some potential companions, they approach King Mosiah and seek his permission to share the word of God with the Lamanites from whom many of their people had suffered captivity less than a generation ago (verse 1). Given what we know about the Lamanites, Mosiah’s sons have set some pretty high expectations for their missionary efforts, as described in verse 2 (italics added):

“That perhaps they might bring them [the Lamanites] to the knowledge of the Lord their God, and convince them of the iniquity of their fathers; and that perhaps they might cure them of their hatred towards the Nephites, that they might also be brought to rejoice in the Lord their God, that they might become friendly to one another, and that there should be no more contentions in all the land which the Lord their God had given them.”

They are probably asking for Mosiah’s permission for three reasons. First, out of love and respect for him as their father. This represents a complete 180 for Mosiah’s sons. Previously, they sought to turn the Nephites from the true gospel most were already following. Then, the last person they were asking for permission was Mosiah. Now, however, they want to bring truth and light to a hardened people, and whatever his reservations might be, Mosiah cannot deny the nobility of his sons’ idea. But they are showing deference and humility by giving their father some say in whether they embark on the journey.

Second, Mosiah’s sons know that any contact they have with the Lamanites could provoke dangerous consequences for them as well as their entire nation of Nephites. It therefore makes sense for them to give the king notice of their plans in case he needs to warn them against doing so for the good of the kingdom.

Third, they know that this is likely to be a long, hard effort, if they are not immediately run out of Lamanite territory or killed. And that means they have chosen a path that is different from inheriting kingly responsibility from their father. By approaching Mosiah, they are giving him a chance to consider what the future of his people might look like without a clear succession plan. Even though Mormon tells us that none of Mosiah’s sons would accept the kingdom (verse 10), it doesn’t appear that Mosiah made a sustained effort to convince them to do so. If he had, perhaps they would have responded to the call of duty.

Mosiah seems to recognize that his sons are responding to inspired guidance from the Lord. What else could account for the passionate pleas they make to him over many days to let them preach to the Lamanites in such a challenging setting (verse 5)? By inquiring of the Lord for guidance, Mosiah shows true greatness. After all this time as the leader of the Nephites, he remains humbly devoted to God’s will, ensuring that the right path for his sons will reveal itself (verses 6-8). He probably recognizes that if successful, his sons’ mission may actually be more of a service than assuming royal responsibility, because it could reduce or eliminate contention between the Nephites and Lamanites and make the entire area a safer place for everyone to live and worship. Perhaps it is the mark of true princes to proactively seek such a calling. It certainly appears to be in the tradition of Nephi’s grandson Enos, who prayed with intensity in the forest more than 300 years before (and whose account is available to Mosiah and his sons) for the Lord’s mercy to be upon the Lamanites because they are also His children—and still the brothers and sisters of the Nephites, no matter what has passed between them for so many generations.

The request from Mosiah’s sons also stems from something rooted in the painful but also cleansing and sanctifying experience of repenting that they shared with Alma the Younger, as described in the previous chapter. They now recognize the peril and the anguish that comes from sin and from willful separation of oneself from God and His path. They have lived it and had to overcome their own rebellion to receive the Lord’s “infinite mercy.” Now, they feel compelled to warn others—especially the Lamanites—to give them a chance to act urgently rather than be faced with an even more difficult task of rejecting evil later in life or when they face final judgment (verses 3-4).

With his sons leaving the land of Zarahemla indefinitely and the question of succession up in the air (verses 9-10), King Mosiah’s attention turns to another important responsibility—preserving the sacred records and history of the people and ensuring they can be preserved for future generations (verse 11).

First, Mosiah completes the translation of the gold plates he received from Limhi when Limhi’s people arrived in Zarahemla about 28 years before. Mormon tells us that the Nephites desire “beyond measure to know concerning those people who had been destroyed” (verse 12). The plates contain the account of the people of Jared from the time of the Tower of Babel and the scattering of the people along the lines of language, to the time of the Jaredites’ destruction after their travels from the Middle East and many generations of civilization in the Americas (this account is preserved in the Book of Ether). The plates also contain an account of the people from the time of Adam to the time of the Tower of Babel (this part of the translation is not included in the Book of Mormon, presumably because other scriptures already cover the same time period). Mosiah uses two stones to help him with the translation, apparently using them to “see” the translation rather than try to learn the language used on the plates by more conventional scholarly means. Mormon tells us that the Nephites are filled with sorrow to learn of the destruction of the Jaredite civilization from the translated account, but also rejoice because of the knowledge it gave them (verses 13-19).

Next, Mosiah makes sure that the records he has kept for the Nephites are passed down to someone who will preserve them properly, and presumably carry on the work of record-keeping. To show how important this is, he arranges for the records’ safekeeping before he arranges for succession in government. The person he entrusts with the records and the seer stones is none other than Alma the Younger (verse 20). Gone from the most destructive person in the society to the most constructive, Alma doesn’t follow the same path as his good friends Mosiah’s sons do. His responsibility is instead to stay with his people and continue to nurture their spiritual and temporal progress, very much in line with the “family business” his own father started.