By this point in our study it becomes increasingly clear just how impossible it would have been for a farm boy in his early twenties to have concocted even one verse or one chapter of the Book of Mormon. The internal consistency and complexity of the Book of Mormon is mind-boggling to anyone who has studied it in any depth. This is because the Book of Mormon is true. It is a real record of real people who really lived in Ancient America and who really experienced and recorded theses real things.
In this era of peace among the Nephites, King Mosiah began to wonder about the people of whom Amaleki had written in the Book of Omni, a certain number of people who had gone up into the wilderness to return to the land of Nephi to possess or to re-possess the land of their first inheritance. We recall that this group of intrepid explorers left once and then returned to Zarahemla after contentions in the wilderness, and then they left again in search of their original land of inheritance. Amaleki's brother was in this group.
In any case, about a decade or more had elapsed since these first explorers embarked on their journey, and King Mosiah had the leisure time to wonder about the success or failure of their expedition. Apparently it was the people who wearied the king to find out about their brothers and friends who had left. They wearied King Mosiah with their "teasings" as Mormon puts it. This is a very strange word, a strange English translation of whatever the Reformed Egyptian word must have been. But we get the point that the people of Zarahemla were eager to know what had happened to the intrepid explorers who desired to regain their original land of inheritance in the land of Lehi-Nephi, the land where Nephi had originally dwelt after separating from his brothers, the Lamanites.
King Mosiah's people had heard no news from the explorers, so King Mosiah gave permission for sixteen of their strong men to go up to the land of Lehi-Nephi, to inquire concerning their brethren. In this mission to discover and perhaps recover their lost brothers, I don't think that it is a coincidence that the chosen leader of the sixteen strong men was a man named Ammon, a strong and mighty man, and a descendant of Zarahemla. This strong and mighty Ammon, in my opinion, foreshadows a future strong and mighty Ammon who also heads an expedition to recover a lost people, this time in a spiritual sense, and this the Lamanites.
But this first Ammon, though strong and mighty, didn't know exactly where to travel, and he and his companions were lost in the wilderness for a time. Eventually they came to a hill north of the land of Shilom. This is another amazing thing about the Book of Mormon: the incredibly intricate and internally consistent geography, which, in my personal opinion, is primarily situated in what we now call the United States of America.
Like the might missionary Ammon that this original Ammon foreshadows, this original Ammon took with him three of his brethren, Amaleki, Helem, and Hem. They went down into the Land of Nephi, in the land of Shilom, and they were captured, bound, and imprisoned until they were brought before King Limhi. They had found just the man that they were looking for, because Limhi was the son of Noah, who was the son of Zeniff, and Zeniff had left the land of Zarahemla with the original group of which nothing had been heard for quite some time.
These conversations between the intrepid explorers and the king foreshadow, in my opinion, the future conversations between the great missionary Ammon and his brothers and the various kings of the Lamanites. Like these future missionaries, these earlier explorers were bound, imprisoned, and arraigned before a king. When he appeared before King Limhi, and we he was permitted to speak, Ammon was thankful before God to be alive and to have the opportunity to explain who he was.
This was a joyful reunion because King Limhi discovered that Ammon and his brothers had come from Zarahemla, the land that Limhi's fathers had left behind in order to re-inherit their original promised land. Just as the people of Zarahemla wondered about those who had left in search of the land of Nephi, King Limhi's people wondered about the people whom they had left behind in Zarahemla. With limited means of communication, the only way to know anything about anyone else, even in an adjacent region of the Promised Land, was by direct human contact.
Limhi was elated to receive Ammon and his brothers from Zarahemla, not only because through them Limhi learned that the people of Zarahemla were still alive and prospering, but also because King Limhi and his people were in dire straits, and they hoped that Ammon and his brothers might deliver them from Lamanite bondage. Limhi's grandfather Zeniff had been over-zealous to inherit the land, and Limhi's father Noah, as we shall see, had plunged the people into even greater difficulties. These difficulties included heavy taxes and other trials that came as a result of King Noah's wickedness.
Ammon and his brothers were brought into the city and King Limhi made a proclamation from the Temple. Was this the original Temple that Nephi and his people had built? The footnote suggests that it is, although I suppose that it is possible that Limhi's people had built another Temple. It seems likely to me that the Temple from which Limhi made his proclamation was the original Temple that Nephi had built before Mosiah and his people fled yet again into the wilderness and finally settled in Zarahemla. Thus there were at least two Temples in the Promised Land at this point in Nephite history, the Temple in Zarahemla and the Temple in the land of Lehi-Nephi.
King Limhi inspired his people with hope for deliverance by reminding them of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who had brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt and done many other miracles to deliver them. He recounted Israelite history and Lehite history to remind his people that the Lord had delivered many people before them, and that He could also deliver them.
But King Limhi also acknowledged that their condition of servitude and bondage was the direct result of their own iniquities and abominations. How did it all happen? It all began with the over-zealousness of Zeniff who was deceived by the cunning and craftiness of king Laman, and the problem was exacerbated by King Noah's pride and rebellion. By the time of King Limhi's reign, the Nephites were in bondage to the Lamanites and paid them a tribute of half of everything that they owned or half of their increase. This sounds like it might have been even worse than gas prices during the Biden administration.
In any case, King Limhi acknowledged that all of these troubles had come upon them because of their own sins and iniquities. King Limhi's people had fallen into transgression, and King Limhi acknowledged that the just judgments of God had come upon them. What had they done wrong? These Nephites had failed to hearken to the word of the Lord, they had contentions among them, and there had been bloodshed. Not only that, but they had even slain a prophet of the Lord who had been sent among them to warn them to repent and to prophesy of the coming of Jesus Christ. We will learn more about this great prophet and of the people who rejected him in the near future.
This is our first introduction to Abinadi, one of the greatest prophets in all of scripture, and a very pivotal figure in the Book of Mormon. Because of the wickedness of King Noah, a king who was in many respects the opposite of King Benjamin, Abinadi was put to death, thus incurring the wrath of God upon himself and upon his people. In essence, King Limhi, in his speech to his people, explained that it is no wonder that they were in bondage and suffering such sore afflictions after they had rejected and assassinated the Lord's prophet.
King Limhi acknowledged that the word of the Lord had been fulfilled. Although he was the son of the wicked King Noah, King Limhi was a good man who had listened to the teachings of the prophet Abinadi. As Limhi recounted the history of his people from the time of Zeniff to the present, Ammon and his brothers must have been awestruck, and we who receive and abridgment of this account by the prophet-historian Mormon are also awestruck.
Why did Mormon include this fascinating account in his abridgment of the large plates of Nephi? What is it meant to teach a latter-day audience?
In some ways, I think that we are like the people of Zarahemla who are curious about their long lost brothers. We, like them, want to know what happened in this great civilization that preceded our own. Those with any modicum of curiosity would like to know what this ancient civilization was all about and what caused its destruction. Ammon and his brothers discovered that the Lord's word and His work continued among a people about whom they had heard nothing for many years. Just as Ammon came with his brothers to inquire concerning the lost people, we too may inquire concerning the children of Lehi.
This is also the tale of a generally good group of people who had fallen into transgression and bondage because of the foolishness and iniquities of a couple of leaders. King Zeniff's over-zealousness lead to Nephite bondage to the cunning Lamanite king, and King Noah's pride and transgressions led to even worse bondage. I wonder if Mormon meant to warn us about over-zealous leaders who would be deceived by cunning leaders of other countries, and if Mormon meant to warn us about leaders like King Noah. But most importantly, it seems to me that Mormon meant to point us to Abinadi and his teachings because Abinadi testified of Jesus Christ in a particularly powerful way.
This introduction to Abinadi, a prophet of the Lord and a chosen man of God, is part of a pattern that we see throughout the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon that is also a pattern in our time. In fact, come to think of it, the martyrdom of the prophet Abinadi foreshadows the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum. I believe that the Prophet Joseph Smith, as he translated these ancient records and learned of Abinadi's mission, was prepared for his own death at the hands of assassins. It will be interesting to trace further parallels between Abinadi and the Prophet Joseph Smith.
What did Abinadi prophesy that was so offensive to King Noah and his wicked priests? First of all, Abinadi told them plainly of their wickedness and abominations, which they did not like at all. Second, Abinadi prophesied of things to come, even the coming of Jesus Christ. Third, Abinadi testified that Jesus Christ was the God, the Father of all things, and that He should take upon Him the image of man, and that man was created after the image of God, and that God should come down among the children of men, and take upon Him flesh and blood, and go forth upon the face of the earth. In other words, Abinadi boldly testified of the truth, for which he was judged and put to death. Abinadi first foreshadows the mission of Jesus Christ, and he also foreshadows the mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
There is a hopeful message in King Limhi's speech, however, because King Limhi promises deliverance from bondage to those who turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, put their trust in the Lord, and serve Him with all diligence of mind. As the record unfolds, we will see how the Lord delivers His people who do these things.
Certainly Mormon, who saw our day, knew that many in his latter-day audience would experience bondage in a variety of ways, whether because of sin and iniquity, the wickedness of leaders, heavy taxes, or other things. Certainly Mormon knew that just as Jesus Christ had come and had been rejected and crucified by the Jews, Joseph Smith would come and be rejected and martyred by mobs in early America. As Mormon studied and abridged this record of the great prophet Abinadi, he must have had a message for his latter-day audience about how we receive Christ and His prophets, and whether or not we will heed their counsel.
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