18 And it came to pass
that when they had gathered themselves together that he spake unto them in this
wise, saying: O ye, my people, lift up your heads and be comforted; for behold,
the time is at hand, or is not far distant, when we shall no longer be in
subjection to our enemies, notwithstanding our many strugglings, which have
been in vain; yet I trust there remaineth an effectual struggle to be made.
19 Therefore, lift up
your heads, and rejoice, and put your trust in God, in that God who was the God
of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob; and also, that God who brought the children
of Israel out of the land of Egypt, and caused that they should walk through
the Red Sea on dry ground, and fed them with manna that they might not perish
in the wilderness; and many more things did he do for them.
20 And again, that
same God has brought our fathers out of the land of Jerusalem, and has kept and
preserved his people even until now; and behold, it is because of our
iniquities and abominations that he has brought us into bondage.
21 And ye all are
witnesses this day, that Zeniff, who was made king over this people, he being
over–zealous to inherit the land of his fathers, therefore being deceived by
the cunning and craftiness of king Laman, who having entered into a treaty with
king Zeniff, and having yielded up into his hands the possessions of a part of
the land, or even the city of Lehi-Nephi, and the city of Shilom; and the land
round about—
22 And all this he
did, for the sole purpose of bringing this people into subjection or into
bondage. And behold, we at this time do
pay tribute to the king of the Lamanites, to the amount of one half of our
corn, and our barley, and even all our grain of every kind, and one half of the
increase of our flocks and our herds; and even one half of all we have or
possess the king of the Lamanites doth exact of us, or our lives.
Mosiah 7:18-22
Limhi has called the people together to meet at the
temple.
After the death of King Noah, the
temple of Nephi continued to serve the people of that city as its religious and
political center. When Ammon and his party from Zarahemla arrived in the city
of Nephi, King Limhi sent out a proclamation that all his people should
"gather themselves together to the temple, to hear the words which he
should speak unto them." Limhi then spoke to them as "witnesses this
day" that "iniquities and abominations" had brought them into
bondage.[1]
Limhi began by telling the people the day of their
deliverance was at hand.
Rejoice, Limhi says. Trust
in God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. David wrote, “And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou,
LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee” (Psalms 9:10) and his son,
Solomon wrote, “He that handleth a matter
wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy is he”
(Proverbs 16:20).
He reminded them of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, walking
through the Red Sea, and feeding them with manna. When the Lord revealed the
Ten Commandments, he reminded Israel, “I
am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of
the house of bondage” (Exodus 20:2). Before departing Bountiful to come to
the new world, Nephi advised his brethren, “And
he loveth those who will have him to be their God. Behold, he loved our fathers, and he
covenanted with them, yea, even Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and he remembered
the covenants which he had made; wherefore, he did bring them out of the land
of Egypt” (1 Nephi 17:40). Speaking
to Helaman2, Alma2 told him, “And I know that he will raise me up at the last day, to dwell with him
in glory; yea, and I will praise him forever, for he has brought our fathers
out of Egypt, and he has swallowed up the Egyptians in the Red Sea; and he led
them by his power into the promised land; yea, and he has delivered them out of
bondage and captivity from time to time” (Alma 36:28).
Limhi's message, delivered in
liturgical language, was the familiar theme of Jehovah's promise of
deliverance. For example, the use of "the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and
Jacob" as a title for deity in Mosiah 7:19 is rare. One finds it
only eight times throughout the Book of Mormon, and on every occasion except
one the title is used in conjunction with this message of deliverance.[2]
The same God that led the Israelites out of bondage led
Lehi’s party out of Jerusalem before it was destroyed and brought them to the
new world.
1
FOR behold, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto my father, yea, even in a
dream, and said unto him: Blessed art thou Lehi, because of the things which
thou hast done; and because thou hast been faithful and declared unto this
people the things which I commanded thee, behold, they seek to take away thy
life.
2
And it came to pass that the Lord commanded my father, even in a dream, that he
should take his family and depart into the wilderness.
3
And it came to pass that he was obedient unto the word of the Lord, wherefore
he did as the Lord commanded him.
4
And it came to pass that he *departed into the wilderness. And he left his house, and the land of his
inheritance, and his gold, and his silver, and his precious things, and took
nothing with him, save it were his family, and provisions, and tents, and
departed into the wilderness.
1 Nephi 2:1-4
The people have been preserved by the Lord to this day;
however, they are in bondage because of their sins and unrighteous
lifestyle. They are to blame for their
bondage.
Limhi then tells the people that
"it is because of our iniquities and abominations that he has brought us into
bondage" (Mosiah 7:20). Yet by so doing he is merely changing the tense
and agent of the verb in the prophecy of Abinadi: "Thus saith the Lord, it
shall come to pass that this generation, because of their iniquities, shall
be brought into bondage" (Mosiah 12:2). It is likely that Limhi
knows the details of Abinadi's prophecies.[3]
Here Limhi talks about his grandfather, Zeniff, the leader
of the party that settled in the land of Nephi.
At this point, Limhi continues the
story and describes Zeniff as "being over-zealous to inherit the land of
his fathers" (Mosiah 7:21). Limhi is quoting from Zeniff's own record
where Zeniff describes himself as "being over-zealous to inherit the land
of our fathers" (Mosiah 9:3). The only change here is from first to third
person, as would be expected of one retelling a story from his grandfather's
journal.[4]
As we will learn when we begin studying Zeniff’s record, he
was deceived by king Laman. Laman’s goal
was to bring the people of Zeniff “into
subjection or into bondage.”
Things are so bad Limhi’s people were forced to pay 50% of
their crops, flocks, and herds as tribute to the king. Failure to do so would cost them their lives.
Limhi clearly saw the parallels
between the difficulties that the people of his colony faced in their bondage
and those that the earlier Israelites and the family of Lehi faced. Of course
Limhi knew the reason for the suffering of his people. He laid it squarely at
the feet of his father and the earlier generation's rejection of the word of the
Lord brought by the prophet Abinadi (Mosiah 7:25—28). Even so, King Limhi was
determined to escape, and he was given hope by the successes of his forbears
(Mosiah 7:33).[5]
[1] The
Temple in the Book of Mormon: The Temples at the Cities of Nephi, Zarahemla,
and Bountiful, John W. Welch, Maxwell Institute, accessed August 23, 2014.
[2]The
Book of Mosiah: Thoughts about Its Structure, Purposes, Themes, and Authorship,
Gary L. Sturgess, Maxwell Institute, accessed August 23, 2014.
[3] Limhi
in the Library, John Gee, Maxwell Institute, accessed August 23, 2014.
[4] Limhi
in the Library, John Gee, Maxwell Institute, accessed August 23, 2014.
[5] The
Exodus Pattern in the Book of Mormon, S. Kent Brown, Maxwell Institute,
accessed August 23, 2014.
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