25 And it came to pass
that the king of the Lamanites made an oath unto them, that his people should
not slay them.
26 And also Limhi,
being the son of the king, having the kingdom conferred upon him aby
the people, made oath unto the king of the Lamanites that his people should pay
tribute unto him, even one half of all they possessed.
27 And it came to pass
that Limhi began to establish the kingdom and to establish peace among his
people.
28 And the king of the
Lamanites set guards round about the land, that he might keep the people of
Limhi in the land, that they might not depart into the wilderness; and he did
support his guards out of the tribute which he did receive from the Nephites.
29 And now king Limhi
did have continual peace in his kingdom for the space of two years, that the
Lamanites did not molest them nor seek to destroy them.
Mosiah 19:25-29
The people of Limhi are under the rule of the
Lamanites. A treaty was made with the
Lamanites. On the Lamanites part, they
agreed not to kill Limhi’s people. Limhi’s
people agreed to pay tribute to the king in the amount of one-half of all they
owned. A treaty was a very serious
matter.
The making of the treaty is to be
understood as a very serious and sacred matter.24 On
the human side, it was the basis for an era of peace, even though the peace
chiefly benefited the Lamanites (see Mosiah 19:25—27, 29).25 According
to Old Testament law, the breaking of an agreement between two parties led to
whatever consequences were spelled out in the "curses" of the
oaths—the classic example being the one between the Israelites, who were about
to possess the promised land, and the Lord.26 As
is plain from his response, the Lamanite king's promise that "his people
should not slay" the people of Limhi (Mosiah 19:25) was reversed as one of
the penalties for breaking the treaty.[1]
“Noah dies and Limhi is made king. His generation will pay
for the sins of Noah: they are in bondage to the Lamanites having to pay half
their possessions in tribute (Mosiah 19:26). This is slavery pure and simple.”[2]
Living in peace with the Lamanites, Limhi began to establish
his kingdom. They were forced to deal
with guards watching over them. They
were free, to a point. The guards were
there to prevent them from leaving the land.
The guards were supported with the tribute the Lamanite king received.
For two years, there was peace between Nephites and
Lamanites.
[1] Marriage
and Treaty in the Book of Mormon: The
Case of the Abducted Lamanite Daughters, S. Kent Brown, Maxwell Institute,
accessed November 5, 2014.
[2] Historical
Narrative, Literary Narrative—Expelling Poetics from the Republic of History,
Alan Goff, Maxwell Institute, accessed November 5, 2014.
No comments:
Post a Comment