I have skipped over a couple chapters - 17 and 18 of Mosiah; I will circle back and talk about those soon.
I'm going to try to cover 4 chapters by relating basic events. Here are the hi-lights.
King Noah has lived the high life. He has been king for about 15 years and his debauchery has spread through a lot of his society - although not all. There are some of his people who dislike Noah's effect on them, so much so that in chapter 19 we read that there is contention in their kingdom. One man who disapproves of Noah is Gideonl; he vowed to remove Noah from office. When Gideon fights Noah and begins to prevail, Noah is saved by the sudden appearance of a Lamanite army. Using this turn of events to his advantage, Noah cries "Gideon, spare me, for the Lamanites are upon us...yeah, they will destroy my people" (Mosiah 19:8). Of course, Noah was only concerned for his own skin: "...the king was not so much concerned about his people as his own life..." (Mosiah 19:8). (I have to laugh about Mormon's commentary sometimes; I think he was my kind of guy). Noah then orders his people to flee and when that isn't good enough he orders the men to leave their families and flee with him. Many of the men refused, but many went with him and left their families behind.
I can't help but wonder why a man would leave his wife and children behind to possible annihilation. Why would a good man do that? In asking this question, I guess I'm showing my intolerance - or at least some might say that. I don't have a good experience base to really know how I would act in that circumstance; however, my gut tells me that I couldn't abandon my family so that I might save my skin.
Noah got his just reward (considering what he has done to his people and what he caused to happen with Abinadi). The men who left with him decided to return to face the same fate as those left behind. Noah ordered them to stay and they turned on him and put him to death by fire... just as Abinadi predicted. When Noah's priests tried to intervene, the men went after them as well, but they escaped. The men returned to find that, happily, their families had been spared.
Noah's son, Limhi, is declared king, and Limhi is a better man than his father. Limhi sought to bring the kingdom back to more stolid ways. It is a tribute to Limhi's governance that the people were able to enjoy some peace after the stormy period they had just gone through. It is a tribute to the love of the Lord that peace could come to this people after such a difficult experience. We learn that the Lord's peace is upon all of His children who seek to be in harmony with His ways.
The peace didn't last for the Nephites; Noah's priests stirred up trouble for Limhi and the kingdom when they kidnapped a group of Lamanite daughters. Why? Probably because they wanted them, probably because they could, and probably because they had no respect for the likely outcome. The Lamanite king blamed Limhi's people and came in his wrath to punish Limhi and his people. Because Limhi was diligent in keeping watches, the Nephites had enough warning to prepare for battle. The Nephites prevailed because "...they fought for their lives, and for their wives, and for their children; therefore they exerted themselves and like dragons did they fight" (Mosiah 20:11). What cause do we fight for? For that matter, what cause do we live each day for? If our priorities are set properly, there is no question that we would prevail in our daily struggles because we would be expending our daily exertions in the right cause.
After driving the Lamanites out, Limhi's people find the injured Lamanite king among the Lamanite dead. Limhi has them treat his wounds and then questions him; he finds that the Lamanites broke the treaty because their daughters had been carried away, and everyone blamed Limhi's people. Talk about jumping to conclusions! This is a good lesson for us; Often we make decisions - sometimes life-altering ones - based upon our own impressions, knowledge or experience. We need to seek the Lord's guidance when we make choices, especially when they are critical. We might know a lot - the Lord knows all. We might understand much - the Lord understands all. We might see many things - the Lord sees all. Sometimes the choice the Lord would have us make is not what we would have chosen; "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 55:8). We have to trust that the Lord's guidance will lead us to the right decision, and that the outcome from trusting the Lord's guidance is ultimately for our good.
This is interesting: Limhi and his people convinced the Lamanite king that Noah's priests were the perpetrators of the heinous daughter-snatching act. The king convinces Limhi and his people to lay down their weapons of war and accompany him to the front of the Lamanite army. Both things, miraculous by themselves, lead to the amazing halt of bloodshed - just when the Lamanites were about to overwhelm the Nephites in battle. These events all stemmed from an act of compassion and kindness and built upon a need to understand. Limhi spared the Lamanite king, even though his people wanted to finish him off. He had to know what had happened; he wanted to know what provoked the Lamanite king to break his vow. I think he also felt it wrong to slay the injured king. Mankind has advanced, technologically and spiritually, because people had to know why. People who wanted to understand things have led us to better standards of living. People who had a thirst for knowledge of the physical and spiritual world have paved the way for us. We strive to know more and thus follow in their footsteps. In turn, we prepare the way for those who come after in the same manner. There is a quote by an author whose name I don't know: "We stand on the shoulders of those who came before; We provide the shoulders for those who follow us". In knowledge - of the world and of spiritual things - we truly owe a lot to those who came before and we repay that debt to our successors.
Limhi and his people were spared destruction by the Lamanite army. Their king persuaded them to stop the bloodshed; the Lamanite army had compassion when they saw that the Nephites had come to them unarmed. Interestingly enough, this is the second time in these couple of chapters that the Lamanite army showed compassion on the Nephites. I believe that the Lord's work is being done when compassion is demonstrated by someone in a position to make a difference. Think about it... Compassion is becoming a rare quality in these times.
More about Limhi's people in my next post.
Don
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