29 For behold, the
Lord hath said: I will not succor my people in the day of their transgression;
but I will hedge up their ways that they prosper not; and their doings shall be
as a stumbling block before them.
30 And again, he
saith: If my people shall sow filthiness they shall reap the chaff thereof in
the whirlwind; and the effect thereof is poison.
31 And again he saith:
If my people shall sow filthiness they shall reap the east wind, which bringeth
immediate destruction.
32 And now, behold,
the promise of the Lord is fulfilled, and ye are smitten and afflicted.
33 But if ye will turn
to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve
him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own
will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage.
Mosiah 7:29-33
Continuing his chastisement of his people, Limhi explain the
Lord will not assist them in their sin.
This was a common warning given Israel in the Old Testament. Joshua warned, “If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and
do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good” (Joshua 24:20). Samuel told Israel, “But if ye will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the
commandment of the LORD, then shall the hand of the LORD be against you, as it
was against your fathers” (1 Samuel 12:15).
Zechariah forewarned, “And the Spirit
of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above
the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the
commandments of the LORD, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the LORD, he hath
also forsaken you” (2 Chronicles 24:20).
They will not prosper.
In fact, the Lord will place stumbling blocks before the people. “Therefore
thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and
the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his
friend shall perish” (Jeremiah 6:21).
The people of sown sin; therefore, they will reap
chaff. Hosea taught, “For they have sown the wind, and they shall
reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it
yield, the strangers shall swallow it up” (Hosea 8:7). Paul told the Galatians:
7
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap.
8
For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that
soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Galatians 6:7-8
John the Baptist told the people, “Whose fan [OR winnowing fork] is in his hand, and he will throughly
purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner [GR storehouse,
granary]; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable” (Luke 3:17).
If the people sow filthiness, they will “reap the east wind, which bringeth immediate destruction.”
The Lord promised what would happen if the people were
wicked, and they are now “smitten and
afflicted.”
In spite of their sin and bondage, it they “turn to the Lord … and put your trust in
him, and serve him with all diligence of mind … he will … deliver your out of
bondage.” Moroni writing what he may
well have thought was his farewell at the end of his father’s book wrote, “O then ye unbelieving, turn ye unto the
Lord; cry mightily unto the Father in the name of Jesus, that perhaps ye may be
found spotless, pure, fair, and white, having been cleansed by the blood of the
Lamb, at that great and last day” (Mormon 9:6).
Limhi reminds his people that the
Lord can redeem them as well, if they bring themselves into the necessary
relationship with him. He explains that through their wickedness under King
Noah they separated themselves from this relationship with the Lord, but Limhi
tells them to "turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your
trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind" and that "if
ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you
out of bondage" (Mosiah 7:33).[1]
[1] The
Lord Will Redeem His People: Adoptive Covenant and Redemption in the Old
Testament and Book of Mormon, Jennifer Clark Lane, Maxwell Institute,
accessed August 28, 2014.
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