10 Behold, I,
Abinadom, am the son of Chemish. Behold,
it came to pass that I saw much war and contention between my people, the
Nephites, and the Lamanites; and I, with my own sword, have taken the lives of
many of the Lamanites in the defence of my brethren.
11 And behold, the record
of this people is engraven upon plates which is had by the kings, according to
the generations; and I know of no revelation save that which has been written,
neither prophecy; wherefore, that which is sufficient is written. And I make an end.
12 Behold, I am
Amaleki, the son of Abinadom. Behold, I
will speak unto you somewhat concerning Mosiah, who was made king over the land
of Zarahemla; for behold, he being warned of the Lord that he should flee out
of the eland of Nephi, and as many as would hearken unto the voice
of the Lord should also depart out of the land with him, into the wilderness—
13 And it came to pass
that he did according as the Lord had commanded him. And they departed out of the land into the
wilderness, as many as would hearken unto the voice of the Lord; and they were
led by many preachings and prophesyings.
And they were admonished continually by the word of God; and they were
led by the power of his arm, through the wilderness until they came down into
the land which is called the land of Zarahemla.
14 And they discovered
a people, who were called the people of Zarahemla. Now, there was great rejoicing among the
people of Zarahemla; and also Zarahemla did rejoice exceedingly, because the
Lord had sent the people of Mosiah with the plates of brass which contained the
record of the Jews.
Omni 1:10-14
After we read Chemish’s comment, the plates were passed to
his son, Abinadom. During Abinadom’s
life, he saw much war between the Nephites and Lamanites. Abinadom participated in the wars.
Wars with the Lamanites had become a regular part of Nephite
history.
[W]e know that from the beginning
the Lamanites were prone to attack and to wage war against the Nephites. Jacob
tells us that Nephi himself had to fight to defend his people from Lamanite
attack (Jacob 1:10; also 2 Nephi 5:14); aggressive wars are also reported by
Jacob (Jacob 7:24), Jarom (Jarom 1:6), Abinadom (Omni 1:10), Amaleki (Omni
1:24), Zeniff (Mosiah 9, 10, 19–21), and Mormon (Words of Mormon 1:13–14)—each
of whom reports regarding a different period of time over the first four
hundred and sixty years or so of Book of Mormon history.[1]
We get verification again that this record is kept on the
plates which had been passed down through the generations. He is not a part of the religious leadership
as he says “I know of no revelation save
that which has been written.” Had he
been a religious leader, he would have known whether or not there had been
revelations.
We learn again how the records were passed down.
The kings and leaders of the
people, as the trustees of the heritage of culture and dominion, are the
regular keepers of the record, "which is had by the kings" (Omni 1:11),
handed down from father to son, with special preparation and instructions (Omni
1:1, 4, 9), along with the national treasures of which they are a part—the Liahona,
seerstones, sword of Laban…[2]
Abinadom passed the plates to his son, Amaleki. Here, we get the first named king of the
Nephites (there is disagreement about whether Nephi was the first king or
not). King Mosiah1 was warned
by the Lord to flee out of the land of Nephi.
As many as would accept his words followed him into the wilderness. Warnings from the Lord to the righteous is a
common theme in the Book of Mormon. Jacob told the Nephites, “And the time speedily cometh, that except
ye repent they shall possess the land of your inheritance, and the Lord God
will lead away the righteous out from among you” (Jacob 3:4).
As we read the accounts of wars, we see that the righteous
are often spared while the wicked perish.
Hugh Nibley discusses this.
How is it possible to be so
selective in times of war and confusion? It is done by the process of leading
the righteous away. When the lights go out and the grandson of Amaron reports
that there is "no revelation save that which has been written, neither
prophecy" in his day (Omni 1:11), then the righteous man Mosiah is "warned
of the Lord that he should flee out of the land of Nephi" (Omni 1:12),
taking any who will go with him—it is Lehi all over again, another society of
saints in the wilderness.[3]
Deliverance of the righteous is also a theme in the Book of
Mormon.
What do you have here? You have the
deliverance of a people by nonviolent means by a figure whose name may well be
connected with this idea of the ancient Hebrew deliverer from oppression. So,
Mosiah then founds a line of kings, including one named Mosiah, whose entire
history is characterized by this idea of delivering people from oppression.[4]
We learn important things about the Nephite king and his responsibilities.
Mosiah is like Moses and Lehi in
leading his people into the wilderness (Omni 1:12). And in leading people out
of a wicked or oppressive place, all three of these prophets are like Christ.[5]
We also see the Nephite king had religious responsibilities.
I do not mean to say that Nephite
kings somehow had the right to ordain simply because they held political rule.
Instead, I wish to suggest that kingship, among the Nephites, was a priesthood
calling.7 A
survey of the evidence from the book of Mosiah and elsewhere in the Book of
Mormon should serve to make this plausible. Indeed, at least several of the
Nephite kings—Nephi (a quasi-king; see 2 Nephi 6:2), Mosiah1 (see Omni
1:12–22), Benjamin, and Mosiah2—were actually major prophets.[6]
Mosiah1 took those who would follow him and they
departed into the wilderness. They were
led by “the power of [the arm of the
Lord]. Abinadi taught the power of
the arm of the Lord. Abinadi taught, “The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the
eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation
of our God” (Mosiah 12:24). As they
traveled through the wilderness, the cam to a land called the land of
Zarahemla.
When they arrived in the land of Zarahemla, they found a
people. They called themselves the people of Zarahemla. (We know them as the
Mulekites.) There was much rejoicing because
Moisah1’s group brought the plates of brass along with them.
The plates of brass served as the
repository of the covenant for the people in the Book of Mormon. Copies must
have been made from this record since Abinadi and others had access to its
teachings. The importance of the brass plates to Lehi's descendants is
demonstrated by what happened to the Mulekites, who brought no records with
them and gradually lost their language and their religious traditions (Omni
1:14, 17).[7]
The discovery of the Mulekites apparently was not that
momentous of an event.
Strictly speaking, the Book of Mormon
is the history of a group of sectaries preoccupied with their own religious
affairs, who only notice the presence of other groups when such have reason to
mingle with them or collide with them. Just as the desert tribes through whose
territories Lehi's people moved in the Old World are mentioned only casually
and indirectly, though quite unmistakably (1 Nephi 17:33), so the idea of other
migrations to the New World is taken so completely for granted that the story
of the Mulekites is dismissed in a few verses (Omni 1:14—17).[8]
[1] Were
the Ammonites Pacifists? Duane Boyce, Maxwell Institute, accessed June 7,
2014.
[2] A
Strange Thing in the Land: The Return of the Book of Enoch – Part I,
Maxwell Institute, accessed June 7, 2014.
[3] Scriptural
Perspectives on How to Survive the Calamities of the Last Days, Hugh
Nibley, Maxwell Institute, accessed June 7, 2014.
[4] Evidences
of the Book of Mormon, Daniel C. Peterson, Maxwell Institute, accessed June
7, 2014.
[5] "That
Jesus is the Christ" – Typology, Maxwell Institute, accessed June 7,
2014.
[6] Authority
in the Book of Mosiah, Daniel C. Peterson, Maxwell Institute, accessed June
7, 2014.
[7] Sacred
History, Covenants, and the Messiah: The Religious Background of the World of
Lehi, David Rolph Seeley, Maxwell Institute, accessed June 7, 2014.
[8] "Forever
Tentative…", Hugh Nibley, Maxwell Institute, accessed June 7, 2014.
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