King Noah and Abinadi: Mosiah 11 - 12

Here is the setup in a nutshell:  Zeniff, the leader of the Nephites who returned to the land of Lehi-Nephi, gets old and annoints his son Noah to be king.  Noah doesn't live up to the standards set by his father and walks the road of sin and temptation.  Noah's debauchery leads many of his people to embrace his lifestyle and the Lord sends the prophet Abinadi to warn them of their fate, should they fail to turn from the path they are on.  Noah and his people take exception to this prophet, reject him from their society and even try to kill him.  He flees from them, but after a couple of years, the Lord sends him back to cry repentance to them again.  Abinadi is taken by the people to Noah, and the king and his priests question him, trying to trip him up.

This is a summary of the happenings in Mosiah chapters 11 and 12.  As I read and re-read this part I was impressed by Abinadi's willingness to serve the Lord as asked in spite of any consequences.  There are several  things that came to my mind as I read these chapters; allow me to elucidate:

I know I'm always harping about how things in the Book of Mormon fit in a time line; please bear with me...  I'm not sure I have ever fully appreciated that Noah was king for 10 years before Abinadi was sent to prophesy.  It makes sense, though.  King Noah's corruption (seduction?) of his people couldn't have happened overnight; flattery takes time to properly apply and do it's work.  During thise 10 years  (just a little longer than a U.S. president's 2 terms of office), Noah managed to turn the people's hearts away from the Lord.  He managed to levy a tax upon the people.  At the same time he did this, he managed to win their loyalty.  I can imagine Noah building spacious buildings at the taxpayers expense and labeling it as social programs.  I can imagine Noah's priests preaching the need for a palace for their beloved king.  I can see the people justifying his taxation because the "programs" are in the public's interest.  My point is that the people allowed themselves to be taxed and support Noah because he convinced them that it was for their good (sound familiar?).  What a seducer!  I can also imagine Noah and his priests telling the people that they shouldn't be subservient to their father's religion, that they can boldly do what their ancestors considered wrong because the old people didn't live in these times (an oldie but goodie, as far as lies go).


This brings to mind the scripture:  "And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell" (2 Nephi 28:21).  As I said, these things take time.


Question:  Did Noah do these things willfully?  Or was he deceived himself?  I don't know the answer, read the chapters and tell me what you think.


While we're speaking of time, consider this time-line:  It was 10 years from when Noah became king until Abinadi first appeared to cry repentance.  Abinadi fled and was not heard from for 2 years.  Abinadi delivers his scathing message to Noah and his followers and is then slain about 148 B.C.  It is about 3 years later that Noah is driven out and slain by fire, and  Limhi, Noah's son, is recognized as the new king.  Limhi leads his people during their bondage to the Lamanites for the next 24 years,  when Ammon and his band is dispatched from Zarahemla to find them.  I guess I always thought of these events happening in a shorter period of time, but in reality we are talking about the span of almost 40 years.  Pretty interesting, don't you think?  Consider this:  Noah managed to lead the people astray in the space of 10 years.  The Lord made them suffer in bondage for 24 years before He provided them a way of escape.  It reminds me of the children of Israel going to Egypt and then being held slaves to the Egyptians for 400 years before being led out of Egypt.

So Abinadi came among the people to give them the Lord's message:  "...for I have seen their abominations, and the wickedness...and except they repent I will visit them in mine anger.  And except they repent and turn to the Lord their God, behold, I will deliver them into the hands of their enemies..." (Mosiah 11:20-21).  The people were angry with the message and tried to take Abinadi to the king for judgement but Abinadi escaped.  This is how we know that the people's hearts were hardened to the Lord's word:  "Now the eyes of the people were blinded; therefore they hardened their hearts against the words of Abinadi..." (Mosiah 11:29).

The Lord's message, delivered by Abinadi, angered the people.  It seems to always be true that a person (or people) who are doing something wrong are greatly offended when they are called out about it.  These people were no different;  they denied any wrongdoing on their part and on the part of the king:  "...they took him and carried him bound before the king, and said unto the king: Behold, we have brought a man before thee who has prophesied evil concerning thy people, and saith that God will destroy them.  And he also prophesieth evil concerning thy life, and saith that thy life shall be as a garment in a furnace of fire....And he pretendeth the Lord hath spoken it. And he saith all this shall come upon thee except thou repent...And now, O king, what great evil hast thou done, or what great sins have thy people committed, that we should be condemned of God or judged of this man?" (Mosiah 12:9-10,13).

It is so easy to justify ourselves when we are confronted; I believe that is human nature, maybe even part of the flight part of the fight or flight response mechanism that people seem to have (a.k.a the natural man).  But easy isn't what opens the doors of God's heavenly kingdom.  Even though it is our nature to excuse ourselves of wrongdoing, it is God's desire that we acknowledge wrongdoing and then try to change the offensive behavior.  The steps of repentance include acknowledging sin in order to repent.  We should constantly have repentance in our hearts and minds, take the high road by admitting to our foibles, seek for the Lord's guidance as we seek to become more in tune with Him.  This is not the easy way but it IS the Lord's way.  May we do so continually.

More in the next post about Abinadi's confrontation with king Noah and his so-called priests. 

Don