Chapter 28
The sons of Mosiah shall have eternal life—They go to preach to the Lamanites—Mosiah translates the Jaredite plates with the two seer stones. About 92 B.C.
1 NOW it came to pass that after the sons of Mosiah had done all these things, they took a small number with them and returned to their father, the king [about 92 B.C.], and desired of him that he would grant unto them that they might, with these whom they had selected, go up to the land of Nephi that they might preach the things which they had heard, and that they might impart the word of God to their brethren, the Lamanites—2 That perhaps they might bring them to the knowledge of the Lord their God, and convince them of the iniquity of their fathers; and that perhaps they might cure them of their hatred towards the Nephites, that they might also be brought to rejoice in the Lord their God, that they might become friendly to one another, and that there should be no more contentions in all the land which the Lord their God had given them.
3 Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble. 4 And thus did the Spirit of the Lord work upon them, for they were the very vilest of sinners. And the Lord saw fit in his infinite mercy to spare them; nevertheless they suffered much anguish of soul because of their iniquities, suffering much and fearing that they should be cast off forever.
Mosiah 28:1-4 (Emphasis mine)
Alma(2) and the sons of Mosiah have returned from their missionary work in the land of Zarahemla. For the sons of Mosiah, that wasn’t enough. They went to their father and told him they wanted to preach the gospel to “their brethren, the Lamanites.” This is an interesting phrase. In the next verse, we read about the hatred the Lamanites had towards the Nephites. Even though the Lamanites hated the Nephites, the sons of Mosiah considered them “their brethren.”
Their conversion had changed them and their outlook. As the sons of Mosiah and their band were about to separate on their missions, Mormon would write that “this was the cause for which the sons of Mosiah had undertaken the work, that perhaps they might bring them unto repentance; that perhaps they might bring them to know of the plan of redemption” (Alma 17:16).
While the main motivation was preaching truth to the Lamanites, there was an additional political element involved. John Tvetdnes explains:
“There is, however, another aspect to the mission that is generally overlooked. It is that the Nephite princes were seeking a means whereby their nation could be relieved of the burden of war with their Lamanite neighbors ,,, The Book of Mormon stresses that they were going to ‘a people who delighted in murdering the Nephites, and robbing and plundering them’ (Alma 17:14). Many long years of war had taken their toll on the Nephites. Taking young men away from agricultural and other pursuits for military service undoubtedly had an adverse effect on the economy, in addition to the loss of life. If the sons of Mosiah could somehow change the hatred of the Lamanites for the Nephites to an acceptance of the Nephites as brothers in the gospel, this would certainly improve the lot of both peoples.” [1] (Emphasis mine)
Theirs was not the first attempt to preach to the Lamanites. Jacob tells us about an unsuccessful attempt that occurred some 50 years after they arrived in the New World. “[M]any means were devised to reclaim and restore the Lamanites to the knowledge of the truth; but it all was vain, for they delighted in wars and bloodshed, and they had an eternal hatred against us, their brethren. And they sought by the power of their arms to destroy us continually” (Jacob 7:24).
The sons of Mosiah must have been aware of this history. Even so, they were changed men. Mormon would tell us that “they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble” (verse 3).
They were in a position to know and understand this possible fate. They had stood before an angel. They heard his words. They were facing this “endless torment.” Ammon would later proclaim, “[w]ho could have supposed that our God would have been so merciful as to have snatched us from our awful, sinful, and polluted state? Behold, we went forth even in wrath, with mighty threatenings to destroy his church. Oh then, why did he not consign us to an awful destruction, yea, why did he not let the sword of his justice fall upon us, and doom us to eternal despair?” (Alma 26:17-19).
These men “were the very vilest of sinners.” Rather than “exercise his justice upon us … in his great mercy hath brought us over that everlasting gulf of death and misery, even to the salvation of our souls” (Alms 26:20)
Their desire was to prevent anyone else from such facing so much anguish and suffering. They suffered this and feared for the Lamanites. This was why they desired to preach the gospel to the Lamanites.
[1] The Sons of Mosiah: Emissaries of Peace, John A. Tvedtnes, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed February 8, 2012.
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