Abinadi Teaches That the Law Points to the Savior - Book of Mosiah, Chapter Thirteen (Mosiah 13)

You can read the entire chapter at the following link: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/13?lang=eng

As we pick up the thread in this chapter, the prophet Abinadi has done something extremely rare. After being taken captive and put under inquisition by a group of the king’s priests who seek to use their worldly positions, learning, and numbers to intimidate him, he has fended off their attacks and put them on the defensive.

The enraged King Noah orders his priests to get rid of Abinadi, because he simply can’t comprehend that someone is able to defy them when everything is set up for them to have the advantage over Abinadi (verse 1). Perhaps the situation is even more galling to King Noah and his priests because they realize—deep down—that Abinadi has the truth on his side, and they fear more than anything having to answer for their own betrayal of the truth.

But God won’t let the priests do anything to Abinadi until he is able to deliver the message he has for them. After all, the priests are the ones who brought Abinadi before them to answer their questions. They had expected that their bullying tactics would work as they presumably had on those in the past who had gotten in the way of their selfish ambitions. But God had other plans.

To give Noah and his priests some idea of what they are dealing with, Abinadi’s face shines with a brilliant, heavenly light that approaches the type of luster Moses’ face had when he conversed with the Lord on Mount Sinai as he sought guidance for the Israelites making their way from Egypt to the promised land (verse 5). As scheming and unsavory as they are, these men realize their earthly claims to power are no match for the power and authority that comes from God (verse 6), and our narrator (Mormon) describes the mix of wonder and anger this rouses within them (verse 8).

And it is at this point that Abinadi resumes teaching his detractors about the Ten Commandments. He has already addressed the need to properly worship God, and not to place anything above Him in importance. Abinadi clarifies that part of keeping this commandment is refraining from harm against people who do actually worship God in truth and righteousness (verse 14, which comes straight from the original commandment in Exodus 20:6). The meaning is unmistakable: these men will be rejecting God if they reject Abinadi and other real believers.

After laying out the rest of the commandments in the law of Moses, Abinadi tells Noah and the priests that they have not taught their people how to observe those commandments, because he (Abinadi) has been sent to “prophesy evil” concerning them (verse 26). And furthermore, the law itself is not enough to save the people, because the law’s main purpose is to point them to the Messiah (Jesus) who will atone for their sins. Abinadi shares that Moses and the all the prophets have taught of the Messiah and how His coming would lead to the redemption of those who became His people. However, because the Israelites were “quick to do iniquity, and slow to remember the Lord their God” (verse 29), the commandments were given to them as something that was within their capacity to observe in preparation for the fuller teaching of the doctrine of salvation.

Abinadi: The Making of a Prophet - Book of Mosiah, Chapter Twelve (Mosiah 12)

You can read the entire chapter at the following link: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/12?lang=eng  

After being delivered by the Lord from an angry throng of King Noah’s subjects whom he had offended by calling them to repentance, the prophet Abinadi returns two years later and picks up where he left off with the people (verse 1). There’s probably an interesting story behind those two years (Where was Abinadi? What was he doing? Who with?), but it seems as though neither the Lord nor our narrator (Mormon) feels as though these details are necessary for our purposes.

What is important for us to know is that upon his return, Abinadi is even bolder and more unapologetic in his warnings to King Noah’s people than he was in his earlier incarnation. He leaves little to the imagination. Not only does he warn the people that bondage awaits them, but that they shall be driven by men, slain, and their flesh devoured by vultures, dogs, and wild beats (verse 2). This is not going to be pleasant.

Further, Abinadi makes it very clear that King Noah is not exempt from earthly consequences for his and his people’s sins. Abinadi says that Noah’s life shall be valued as a garment in a hot furnace. This points very clearly toward the fiery death Noah will ultimately suffer at the hands of some of his own people.

Apparently, bondage and cruel suffering are not going to be enough to get the people to repent. So Abinadi recites an entire litany of other plagues Noah’s people will be forced to bear, including famine, pestilence, and various natural disasters (verses 4-7)—reminiscent of what the Lord visited upon the Egyptians in Moses’ time. Why does this happen? In verse 8, we learn that part of the reason is to leave a testimony that future generations (us, particularly) can learn from.

This time, it is not Abinadi’s lot to escape capture. The angry mob bind him and bring him before King Noah, reporting on all the heinous things that Abinadi has said will afflict them, and King Noah specifically. We witness here how communities and societies seal their doom by engaging in collective denial about the accountability they face for unrepentantly breaking God’s law. The larger the group of people involved in unrighteousness, the more powerfully the echo chamber of rationalization deludes them into thinking that they are in fact not doing anything wrong, nor will they suffer: “O king, behold, we are guiltless, and thou, O king, hast not sinned; therefore, this man has lied concerning you, and has prophesied in vain” (verse 14). “We shall not come into bondage…and thou shalt also prosper” (verse 15).

The big showdown that Mormon has been setting up between Abinadi and Noah, in his framing of the story, is about to take place. Noah imprisons Abinadi and asks his priests how they should proceed. The priests, likely feeling very confident in their powers of intimidation and argument, essentially say, “Leave him to us…mwah, hah, hah! We’ll get him to break” (verses 17-18).

And so the inquisition begins, much like something out of medieval Spain or England. The participants couldn’t be more different in their morality, approach, or level of understanding.

In the initial round of questioning, the overconfident priests find themselves more than matched by Abinadi’s powers of reasoning and boldness. This astonishes them somewhat (verse 19).

Plan B. One of the priests resorts to the stratagem that the lawyers and scribes would try to use with Jesus during his mortal life. Quote a scripture and ask Abinadi the meaning, in such a way where if he doesn’t give the “right” answer, it will be easy to say that he has blasphemed by going against the prophets. The scripture the priest quotes is from Isaiah: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings” (verses 21-24).

It’s pretty obvious that the point of this reference is to put Abinadi off balance. The priest lifts the scripture out of context in an effort to create the appearance that Isaiah’s prophecy is about telling people what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear. In essence, the message to Abinadi is, “Isaiah told us that no one likes a killjoy. If you come to us with anything other than flattering words, you must be a false prophet.” And perhaps the priest is also trying in vain to deceive himself, his colleagues, and King Noah into the illusion that their wickedness is not a serious problem.

But Abinadi is ready for the shallow tricks of men. First, he mockingly asks why the priests would ask him to interpret the scripture if they are supposed to be so capable and righteous themselves. Then he differentiates between their cleverness and true wisdom. Wisdom involves applying your “hearts to understanding” (verse 27).

And rather than feeling cowed by the question, Abinadi turns it back on the priests. What do you teach the people? When they say they teach the law of Moses, Abinadi is ready with a zinger of his own: “why do ye not keep it?” (verse 28) He unfolds the truth of the matter, that it is the priests’ leading of the people astray that has caused the Lord to send Abinadi to warn the people (verse 29).

Then Abinadi goes on. We sense that the priests, convicted by their own consciences, are stunned and unprepared for how Abinadi has turned the tables, for he clearly has taken the initiative. He asks them if salvation comes by the law of Moses, and when they say yes, he begins expounding the Ten Commandments, indicating that those who keep the commandments will find salvation (making a very subtle hint that salvation comes not from the law itself, but from the Lord who gives the law). Very simply, he lays out the first two commandments—(1) don’t worship anything above God and (2) don’t create idols (verses 31-36). And then very matter-of-factly states that the priests have not kept either of the commandments. The implication: if you can’t even keep the first two, there’s a very good chance you’re in trouble on the other eight as well.

But he’s also getting ready to explain to the priests that it isn’t the law itself that is the source of salvation, but rather the God who provided the law. The wickedness that Noah and his priests have brought upon their people is like a dark cloud that prevents them from comprehending the plain but essential truth of the gospel—that we need God every step of the way to save us from our sins and help us on the road to becoming like Him.

King Noah: The Ruinous Nature of Poor Leadership - Book of Mosiah, Chapter Eleven (Mosiah 11)

You can read the entire chapter at the following link: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/11?lang=eng  

If there ever was a cautionary tale about how a bad example can lead a once-righteous people astray, this is it. Mosiah 11 is one of the most tragic chapters in the Book of Mormon.

The first verse leads us to wonder what might have been. It tells us that Zeniff had multiple sons, and chose to confer the kingdom upon his son Noah. We don’t get more information about why Zeniff chose Noah and not one of the other sons, or how he reached that decision. We also don’t get information about what kind of young person Noah was. Is it possible he showed Zeniff the face of an upright leader-in-training before revealing his true self as king?

In any event, verse 1 suggests it doesn’t take long after Noah became king to reveal his wickedness, as we learn that he “did not walk in the ways of his father.” Very simply, his heart’s desires are contrary to God’s commandments. This is the essence of pride, and Noah shows his pride through his lust for women and his greed for worldly things. Much worse, however, than his own sinfulness, is that he caused his people to “do that which was abominable in the sight of the Lord” (verse 2).

In addition to the bad influence Noah has upon his people, he also puts his desires for comfort and luxury well above his concern for them. He is the poster boy for carrying selfishness to the extreme as a philosophy and culture. At the heart of this evil is an abominable tax where Noah takes 20% of his people’s possessions to support his outrageous lifestyle (verse 8). We witness how this quickly overthrows the virtue it had taken a generation to implant under Zeniff, and we mourn for Zeniff’s legacy. By glutting himself on the labors of others, Noah ensures that self-reliance and industry among his people will erode and vanish.

To sustain Noah in his wickedness, he chooses new priests who flatter him and receive worldly comforts as their bribes for doing so (verses 5-7). It seems as though he attempts to show his greatness by the superficial spectacle of becoming a great builder of palaces, temples, towers, and other buildings (verses 8-13). In many ways, Noah is like Herod the Great, the man whom the Romans installed upon the throne of Judea just prior to the birth of Jesus, and who built massive structures like the temple at Jerusalem, his own Herodium, and the fortress of Masada. Both Noah and Herod are confused about what makes for a beneficial legacy to their people because of how caught up they are in material things. Mormon (our narrator) drips with sarcasm when he says that Noah built a spectacular place for the priests in the temple where “they might rest their bodies and their arms” while speaking “lying and vain words to his people” (verse 11).

Midway through the chapter, we find evidence that internal corruption among Noah and his people make them vulnerable to outside attack. It’s the classic pattern that has plagued the Lord’s covenant people at different times and in different places. Once they forget their part of the covenant, and think that they are somehow special or entitled no matter what, they ultimately lose strength and protection from external threats.

It doesn’t happen all at once. Verse 16 tells us of Lamanite raiding parties coming upon the people in their fields and among their flocks. Probing for weakness, the Lamanites are ultimately beaten off by Noah’s armies. But instead of focusing on the need to change their behavior so that they are less vulnerable the next time, Noah’s people “delight in blood” and “boast in their own strength.”

This is where the Lord tries diligently to warn them about the path they are on. Think about it. The people are breaking their covenant with the Lord, so He is not really obligated to do anything to help them. But because He loves them so much, He wants to give them every chance possible to see the error of their ways and reform them.

How does He do this? By sending a prophet. We don’t know much about Abinadi’s origins other than he was a man among them, not an outsider. From what follows, we learn that Abinadi is willing to do the Lord’s will in crying repentance despite great resistance from the people and King Noah himself. Abinadi is very specific in telling the people that unless they repent, they will be brought into bondage until they are compelled to humble themselves mightily before the Lord.

Abinadi’s boldness, like that of most other prophets, stirs the unrepentant to anger. Interestingly, verse 26 tells us that these people seek to kill Abinadi, but he is “delivered out of their hands,” bringing to mind similarly vague references in the Gospels to Jesus somehow being able to slip away from mobs who meant him harm. These references are understated, but hint at some level of heavenly assistance in eluding the unrighteous that the Lord provides his servants while he needs them to fulfill their missions on earth.

One of the most telling lines in the Book of Mormon comes in verse 27 when King Noah shows his utter bafflement at Abinadi’s efforts to get Noah and his people to repent. Instead of opening his mind to the possibility that Abinadi is trying to help the people by waking them up to their need for repentance, Noah only has room for complete indignation. “Who is Abinadi, that I and my people should be judged of him, or who is the Lord, that shall bring upon my people such great affliction?”

When Noah jumps from rejecting Abinadi to rejecting the Lord who sent him, it shows that Noah has corrupted himself so thoroughly that he has completely lost touch with the fact that all blessings flow from the Lord. Instead, he depicts the Lord as an irritant to be swatted away, an absurd way to approach the very Father of us all and author of the great plan for our salvation. Clearly, Noah has a very narrow, selfish alternative vision solely focused on his mortal senses. Unfortunately (in the short term) for him, he will find out that disregarding the Lord doesn’t work, because it’s like disregarding the warmth of the sun, the tides of the sea, gravity, or any other basic law dictating cause and effect—no matter what you think, the consequences still apply.

Nursing Grudges in Error - Book of Mosiah, Chapter Ten (Mosiah 10)

You can read the entire chapter at the following link: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/10?lang=eng

There are two huge lessons in this chapter. They are fairly simple, but when backed by the consequences of actual events, they make for powerful moral examples.

The first lesson is the irreparable harm we can do not only to ourselves, but to our children and their children (and so on) if we choose to depict ourselves as wronged in our life circumstances. Laman and Lemuel did this 400 years ago because they were too proud and hard-hearted to look within and seek after the Lord’s way. Instead, they used Nephi as a scapegoat and caused a familial and civilizational rift that is a primary source of the pain and difficulty that the children of Lehi face over the 1,000 years of recorded history in the Book of Mormon.

We find the Lamanites in this chapter in a situation of their forefathers’ making. Without the written record (the brass plates) to guide them, or the proper influence of prophets to teach them truth, they are ignorant and debased. All they can think of is to be parasites off the prosperity of the Nephites (Zeniff’s people) who moved into their neighborhood a few years ago. And they didn’t learn anything from the war from the previous chapter that turned out to be such a disaster.

After nine years, with the death of King Laman, Laman’s son stirs his people up to battle again with Zeniff’s people (verse 6). Zeniff recounts how the Lamanites have nurtured an eternal hatred of the Nephites since that crucial founding generation, blind to any kind of moderating influence (verses 12-17). It makes us think about the origins of our own core assumptions about the world. Is it possible we might be seeing things from a skewed perspective, especially if we have been taught to nurture animosity toward someone from a young age?

The second lesson is that even strong men can’t compete with the strength of the Lord. Zeniff tells us that the Lamanites were quite powerful in a worldly sense, and yet even the ragtag group of young and old men Zeniff put together to repel them was able to do so in a rout because they proactively sought the help of power from the Lord outside their own (verses 10-11). We catch yet another glimpse of the futility of Satan’s effort—when all you try to do is drag someone else down, you find that you are doubling down on your own misery. Much better to let the Lord propel you to great heights by developing the desires and talents within you without letting outside adversity deter you from the vision that you and the Lord create together.

Beyond these two lessons, Zeniff also shows us the value of patient preparation. A peaceful people can be prosperous and still fend off wild marauders if they are watchful and vigilant. Wary from the last war, Zeniff had made sure his people had weapons, were guarded and had spies to give them early warning of the attack that eventually did come from the Lamanites (verses 1-2 and 7). It conjures up thoughts of very consciously and carefully using our righteousness as a preemptive antidote to creeping or sudden temptation.

Nothing Without Adversity - Book of Mosiah, Chapter Nine (Mosiah 9)

You can read the entire chapter at the following link: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/9?lang=eng

Now that we have been introduced to King Limhi and his people, our narrator/abridger Moroni takes us back to how Limhi’s grandfather Zeniff brought a group of Nephites and settled in this Lamanite-controlled land. The story of the three generations that follow span the next 14 chapters, 16 if you count the follow-on story of the prophet Alma (the Elder) and the group of people who fled the larger group because of its wicked leadership before Limhi. Apparently a record was kept by Zeniff’s family line (with a separate one kept by Alma) and was ultimately given to King Mosiah, to combine with the larger record handed down from Nephi and his descendants over—at this point—about 500 years.

So as we rewind to Zeniff’s time, we go back from about 120 B.C. (the time of Limhi and Ammon) to 200 B.C. Zeniff starts as a spy on the first expedition to reclaim the land of Nephi, and when he sees good among the Lamanites, he tries to convince the expedition leader not to fall upon the Lamanites in violence, but to seek negotiations with them. The resulting disagreement leads to conflict among the Nephites who were together on the expedition, and after many are killed, Zeniff and the other survivors regroup at their homes in Zarahemla (verses 1-2).

Zeniff still wants to possess the land of Nephi, so he recruits those who are like-minded, and himself leads the next expedition. A telling remark in verse 3 admits that the people are slow to remember the Lord, and therefore meet with famine and other afflictions on their journey.

Once they reach the same place, Zeniff takes a few of his men and goes into the city to meet the Lamanite king, whose name is Laman. The king agrees to let Zeniff’s people possess some of the land and orders his own people on that land to relocate (verses 5-7). We don’t hear about anything King Laman requires in exchange for allowing these Nephites to come in. That should give us an immediate clue that this might be “too good to be true.”

We then learn that King Laman had a plan all along to bring the Nephites into bondage. After 12 years, they have made the lands that they received prosperous. Before the Nephites get to the point where they are also too strong and numerous for the comparatively lazy Lamanites to overpower, Laman stirs up his people to make war with them. The Lamanites’ main objectives are (first) to ensure that they always have the upper hand in strength, and (second) to enrich themselves at the Nephites’ expense by taking the fruits of Nephite prosperity (verses 12-14).

But initially, even though the Lamanites have superior strength and numbers, they cannot overtake the Nephites’ defense of their cities, because the strength of the Lord bolsters the Nephites. The Nephites gather from their farms into the two stronghold cities of Shilom and Lehi-Nephi, Zeniff arms them for battle, and they proceed to inflict on the Lamanites more than ten times the casualties (3,043) that they suffer (279) (verses 15-19). The Nephites successfully fend off the Lamanites—for now. But they still have cause to mourn great loss.

The Nephites’ illusion of being able to live in a world without serious adversity has been rudely overthrown. It sets the scene for the action that will take place between Nephites and Lamanites for the rest of the book. Because of their proximity, they can’t ignore each other. So, for the next 600 years, either they fight one another, or they find a way to transform their relationships from that of enemies to friends. War will be the rule, and transformation the exception, with transformation only possible through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ to hearts open enough to receive it. 

The Nephite Reunion Continues: Sharing Records - Book of Mosiah, Chapter Eight (Mosiah 8)

You can read the entire chapter at the following link: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/8?lang=eng

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.

The chapter ends with King Limhi expressing a contrast between the marvelous nature of the Lord’s workings and the tragic foolishness of men and women who reject wisdom and understanding, and thus deny themselves the benefits of the miracles that the Lord accomplishes (verses 20-21).

Reclaiming Lost Brothers - Book of Mosiah, Chapter Seven (Mosiah 7)

You can read the entire chapter at the following link: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/7?lang=eng

Mosiah, the new Nephite king and high priest, does not forget those of his people who had gone back to the land of Nephi (about 80 years before, or 200 B.C.) in hopes of reclaiming lands from which they were driven during the reign of his grandfather (who was also named Mosiah). After three years as king during a time of peace, Mosiah sends 16 strong men on an expedition to learn about what has happened to these people, partly because the other Nephites have been inquiring about their fate (verses 1-2).

The leader of this expedition is a man named Ammon (one of the people of Zarahemla, or Mulekites, whom the Nephites discovered when coming to the land they now inhabit), and it takes the group 40 days to enter the area where their lost brethren have settled. Ammon takes three of his brothers with him to investigate more directly, with the others based at a hillside camp. Ammon’s party happens to come upon the king of the lost Nephites outside the gates of his city, which is known as Shilom. Not knowing who they are, and fearing for his safety, the king has his guard imprison Ammon and his brothers. Two days later, they are brought before the king to explain themselves (verses 4-8).

When Ammon reveals to the king that he is from the land of Zarahemla, the king is relieved and rejoices. The king tells Ammon that his name is Limhi. Limhi reveals himself as a person of great faith, as he immediately perceives that Ammon’s arrival signals the deliverance of his people from the bondage they face at the hands of the Lamanites. What bondage? More about that later. Limhi’s first order of business is to release his four prisoners and treat them and the 12 they will retrieve from the hillside camp as honored guests (verses 9-16).

The next order of business is for Limhi to gather his people together at the temple that they have presumably built during their time in the land (verse 17). It is interesting to consider that our “narrator” Mormon segues pretty directly from the account of King Benjamin addressing his people at the temple located in Zarahemla (Mosiah 1-5) to the account of King Limhi addressing his people (three years later) at the temple located in Shilom. 

What’s the common thread? Righteous leaders recognize the value of gathering near temples, where physical closeness to the structures betoken symbolic closeness to the covenants made within those structures connecting people to their God. And when something momentous is taking place in the shared history of a people (leadership transition, opportunity to escape bondage), the temple is where a leader can bring the people to forge shared commitment to a course of action. Benjamin’s people committed to becoming the children of Christ. Limhi’s people will focus on the need to achieve temporal freedom in order to improve their spiritual state as well.

As King Limhi speaks to his people by the temple, he recounts to his people—and to the rescue expedition led by Ammon—some of the tragic experiences that they have endured. Limhi’s grandfather Zeniff was the leader of the initial group who set out to return to the land of Nephi. The Lamanite king (named Laman) who Zeniff encountered when he entered the land preyed upon Zeniff’s overzealousness to inherit the land. King Laman made a treaty with Zeniff granting him and his people a place to live and possess, but Limhi says that this was part of a deception on Laman’s part to lure Zeniff’s people into bondage (verses 21-22). The rest of the story will unfold in the following chapters.

King Limhi doesn’t dwell on Lamanite treachery. Rather, he focuses on two things. First, his gratitude for the Lord’s blessings, with (as mentioned above) the arrival of Ammon’s expedition as a sign of deliverance. And second, the wickedness that brought his people’s afflictions upon them.

He helps his people understand that the Lord’s intervention is part of a much larger pattern. He does not abandon His covenant people, despite their own failings. This was the case with the Israelites in Egypt who were led back to Israel, and it was also the case with Lehi’s family who were led out of Jerusalem to the promised land in the New World (verses 19-20). Such deliverance points to the even more significant deliverance we all can find through the forgiveness of sin Christ provides as we have faith in Him and repent.

Limhi is very clear about which sinful act propelled his people into darkness. It was their inability to hearken unto the Lord’s words, and their willful rejection and murder of a prophet sent by the Lord to testify of the coming of Jesus Christ and their need for salvation from error through Him (verses 25-32). In coming chapters, we will learn of the courage of the prophet Abinadi, the wickedness of Limhi’s father (and Zeniff’s son) King Noah, and the raising up of another prophet (Alma, the first of two by that name) who will carry forward the message of the first.

Limhi’s closing message is that just as the people suffered greatly from their earlier rejection of the Lord, their turning back to the Lord can save them now (verse 33).