Mosiah 20:12-26

12 And it came to pass that they found the king of the Lamanites among the number of their dead; yet he was not dead, having been wounded and left upon the ground, so speedy was the flight of his people.

13 And they took him and bound up his wounds, and brought him before Limhi, and said: Behold, here is the king of the Lamanites; he having received a wound has fallen among their dead, and they have left him; and behold, we have brought him before you; and now let us slay him.

14 But Limhi said unto them: Ye shall not slay him, but bring him hither that I may see him.  And they brought him.  And Limhi said unto him: What cause have ye to come up to war against my people?  Behold, my people have not broken the oath that I made unto you; therefore, why should ye break the oath which ye made unto my people?

15 And now the king said: I have broken the oath because thy people did carry away the daughters of my people; therefore, in my anger I did cause my people to come up to war against thy people.

16 And now Limhi had heard nothing concerning this matter; therefore he said: I will search among my people and whosoever has done this thing shall perish.  Therefore he caused a search to be made among his people.

17 Now when Gideon had heard these things, he being the king's captain, he went forth and said unto the king: I pray thee forbear, and do not search this people, and lay not this thing to their charge.

18 For do ye not remember the priests of thy father, whom this people sought to destroy?  And are they not in the wilderness?  And are not they the ones who have stolen the daughters of the Lamanites?

19 And now, behold, and tell the king of these things, that he may tell his people that they may be pacified towards us; for behold they are already preparing to come against us; and behold also there are but few of us.

20 And behold, they come with their numerous hosts; and except the king doth pacify them towards us we must perish.

21 For are not the words of Abinadi fulfilled, which he prophesied against us—and all this because we would not hearken unto the words of the Lord, and turn from our iniquities?

22 And now let us pacify the king, and we fulfil the oath which we have made unto him; for it is better that we should be in bondage than that we should lose our lives; therefore, let us put a stop to the shedding of so much blood.

23 And now Limhi told the king all the things concerning his father, and the priests that had fled into the wilderness, and attributed the carrying away of their daughters to them.

24 And it came to pass that the king was pacified towards his people; and he said unto them: Let us go forth to meet my people, without arms; and I swear unto you with an oath that my people shall not slay thy people.

25 And it came to pass that they followed the king, and went forth without arms to meet the Lamanites.  And it came to pass that they did meet the Lamanites; and the king of the Lamanites did bow himself down before them, and did plead in behalf of the people of Limhi.

26 And when the Lamanites saw the people of Limhi, that they were without arms, they had compassion on them and were pacified towards them, and returned with their king in peace to their own land.

Mosiah 20:12-26

Limhi’s people have successfully defeated the Lamanite army.  As they walked through the battlefield, the found the Lamanite king, seriously wounded.  He had been left by his army’s retreat.

They bound the king and treated his wounds.  He was brought before Limhi.  They wanted him dead.

Limhi refused to have him put to death.  Instead, he wanted the king brought to him.  When the king arrived, Limhi asked him the most obvious question.  Why have you started a war?  We haven’t broken the oath we made, yet you broke the oath.  Why?

The Lamanites were aware that the crime was kidnapping, and possibly worse, for the king told Limhi that "thy people did carry away the daughters of my people" (Mosiah 20:15). Hence, as I understand this passage, either there were witnesses, or one or more of the young women successfully escaped the priests.^[1]

Obviously, Limhi knew nothing about this.  He assured the king he would question his people.  If they find the guilty party, he would be put to death.  

Gideon, the king’s captain, went to him.  He asked him not to question his people and look for someone who committed this crime.  He reminded him about his father’s priests.  They had to have been the ones responsible for the kidnaping. 

Gideon suggested he explain all this to this king.  This may calm things as they are preparing another attack.  The Lamanites were many, the Nephites were few.

Gideon reminded Limhi the words of Abinadi had been fulfilled.  His father suffered death by fire.  The people of Limhi are in bondage to the Lamanites and are facing possible annihilation.  “Abinadi's stature as a prophet of Christ was securely enhanced by the prompt and literal fulfillment of his prophecies about the fate of Noah and his priests. Abinadi prophesied that the people of Limhi would be hunted and driven, which soon came to pass (Mosiah 20:21).”^[2] 

Gideon’s final argument was it is better to be in bondage than dead.  This would put an end to any more bloodshed.

Limhi took Gideon’s advice.  He went to the king and explained the situation with his father and is priests.  He explained they were responsible for the kidnapping. 

The king accepted Limhi’s word.  He told Limhi he would go to his people, unarmed, and see to it his people would not kill Limhi’s people.

The king then performed a remarkable act of humility.  He went before his army, “bow[ed] himself before them, and did please in behalf of the people of Limhi.”

Seeing the people of Limhi had no arms, they returned to their land and the two societies lived in peace.  Hugh Nibley sums up the resolution of the situation.

Here was a perfect set-up for a long war; but because Limhi took the pains to investigate, and Gideon talked sense instead of heroic clichés, and a proud king was willing to humble himself before his subjects, and those subjects were willing to have compassion on a hereditary foe, and because the people of both sides, though both had been attacked without provocation, were able to see that a mistake had been made, the story had a happy ending.[3]

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[1] Marriage and Treaty in the Book of Mormon:  The Case of the Abducted Lamanite Daughters, S. Kent Brown, Maxwell Institute, accessed November 10, 2014.

[2] The Legal Cases in the Book of Mormon – The Trial of Abinadi, Maxwell Institute, accessed November 10, 2014.

[3] Since Cumorah – Good People and Bad People, Hugh Nibley, Maxwell Institute, accessed November 10, 2014.