This is a very moving part of the Book of Mosiah. King Noah's society began to decay after he assumed kingship; after 10 years of downslide as a general society, the Lord sent Abinadi to call them to repentance. Abinadi flees when the people are angered by his words, but about 2 years later the Lord sends him back to finish the job... side-note: this is one of the world's worst blown covers; Abinadi goes back in disguise but the first thing that he says: "...Thus the Lord commanded me, saying - Abinadi, go and prophesy..." (Mosiah 12:1). Anyway, Abinadi is before the king, accused as one who is saying undesirable things to the people. What follows is one of the great testimonies of the Gospel and description of the coming Savior. Here are a few hi-lites.
King Noah's dismissal and Abinadi's Protection (13:1-5). The king tells his guards to take Abinadi away, saying "Away with this fellow, and slay him; for what have we to do with him, for he is mad." (Mosiah 13:1). As the king's wicked priests try to take Abinadi, he declares "Touch me not, for God shall smite you if ye lay your hands upon me, for I have not delivered the message which the Lord sent me to deliver... therefore, God will not suffer that I shall be destroyed at this time. But I must fulfill the commandments wherewith God has commanded me..." (Mosiah 13:3-4). This is very effective; not just the declaration, but that Abinadi's face is shining with the spirit of the Lord. Note that this isn't the first time in the Book of Mormon that such a declaration was made to wicked people; "...they [Nephi's brothers] were angry with me, and were desirous to throw me into the depths of the sea; and as they came forth to lay their hands upon me I spake unto them, saying: In the name of the Almighty God, I command you that ye touch me not, for I am filled with the power of God, even unto the consuming of my flesh; and whoso shall lay his hands upon me shall wither even as a dried reed; and he shall be as naught before the power of God, for God shall smite him... And it came to pass ... that they were confounded and could not contend against me; neither durst they lay their hands upon me nor touch me with their fingers..." (1 Ne 17:48,52). Lessons we can learn? Although this is an extreme case, we find that God will support his servants as they carry out His commands. I don't think I've ever seen a priesthood holder command another person to touch them not because the Lord will smite them, but I have seen people who were filled with the spirit of the Lord - almost to the point that their countenance seemed to be shining. I recall President Gordon B. Hinckley once saying that as he served the Lord as his modern day prophet that the Lord sustained him on a daily basis. We must trust the Lord as we do His work.
Abinadi reads and explains the 10 commandments to the king's court: Having king Noah and his priest's attention, this was a practical place to establish the message the Lord has sent him to give. Since the priests pretended to teach and keep the Law of Moses, Abinadi read them the actual commandments and then asks: "Have ye taught this people that they should observe to do all these things for to keep these commandments?" Abinadi answers for them: "I say unto you, Nay; for if you had, the Lord would not have caused me to come forth and to prophesy evil concerning this people" (Mosiah 13: 25-26).
Interesting point: The Lord loved these people enough to send a prophet to tell them to change their ways.... The alternative? Leave them to their own devices until they are "ripe" for destruction. Funny thing that they are angered by this act of love on the Lord's part.
Explanation of why salvation doesn't come by the Law of Moses:
Abinadi explained to the so-called priests, who should have known the law of Moses if it truly was their theological basis, about salvation. He told them: "...it is expedient that ye should keep the law of Moses as yet....the time shall come when it shall no more be expedient to keep the law of Moses" (Mosiah 13:27).
Abinadi explained the reason for the Law of Moses: "...it was expedient that there should be a law given to the children of Israel, even a very strict law; for they were a stiffnecked people ... therefore there was a law given them... a law of performances and of ordinances...which they were to observe strictly from day to day to keep them in remembrance of God and their duty towards him" (Mosiah 13:29-30).
Abinadi testified to them that, although this strict law was needed, it would not ultimately lead to salvation: "...there could not any man be saved except it were through the redemption of God" (Mosiah 13:32).
This redemption was foretold by prophets of all ages. Each prophet prophesied that "...he should bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, and that he, himself, should be oppressed and afflicted" (Mosiah 13:35).
Quoting Isaiah to establish the coming of the Savior:
Abinadi quoted Isaiah's writings to the king and his priests as he delivered his message. Chapter 14 of Mosiah quotes verses found in Isaiah chapter 53 of the Old Testament. Some of my favorite verses, which appear in the wonderful oratorio "The Messiah" by George Freidrich Handel, can be found in this chapter:
"For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." (Mosiah 14 and Isaiah 53: v.2-3).
"Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities... and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken." (Mosiah 14 and Isaiah 53: v.4-6,8)
"He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities." (Mosiah 14 and Isaiah 53: v.11)
I can hear the strains of Handel's Messiah as I read these words. Abinadi uses these words, those of the great prophet Isaiah, to establish his testimony of the coming of a Savior for mankind. All of the prophets had testified of the Savior's coming, and Abinadi also testified of that. In short, Abinadi's testimony to the king and his minions leaves them no excuse for their actions and behavior. Do we search the scriptures - the writings of the prophets - for their testimony of the Savior? We can improve our spiritual lives by reading their words. We can strengthen our testimonies by receiving their testimonies. That is what they recorded them for.
Next post I will talk about Abinadi's testimony as it relates to the verses from Isaiah and the result of Abinadi's bold testimony.
Don
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