25 Therefore, choose
you by the voice of this people, judges, that ye may be judged according to the
claws which have been given you by our fathers, which are correct,
and which were given them by the hand of the Lord.
26 Now it is not
common that the voice of the people desireth anything contrary to that which is
right; but it is common for the lesser part of the people to desire that which
is not right; therefore this shall ye observe and make it your law—to do your
business by the voice of the people.
27 And if the time
comes that the voice of the people doth choose iniquity, then is the time that
the judgments of God will come upon you; yea, then is the time he will visit
you with great destruction even as he has hitherto visited this land.
28 And now if ye have
judges, and they do not judge you according to the law which has been given, ye
can cause that they may be judged of a higher judge.
29 If your higher
judges do not judge righteous judgments, ye shall cause that a small number of
your lower judges should be gathered together, and they shall judge your higher
judges, according to the voice of the people.
30 And I command you
to do these things in the fear of the Lord; and I command you to do these
things, and that ye have no king; that if these people commit sins and
iniquities they shall be answered upon their own heads.
31 For behold I say
unto you, the sins of many people have been caused by the iniquities of their
kings; therefore their iniquities are answered upon the heads of their kings.
32 And now I desire
that this inequality should be no more in this land, especially among this my
people; but I desire that this land be a land of liberty, and every man may
enjoy his rights and privileges alike, so long as the Lord sees fit that we may
live and inherit the land, yea, even as long as any of our posterity remains
upon the face of the land.
33 And many more
things did king Mosiah write unto them, unfolding unto them all the trials and
troubles of a righteous king, yea, all the travails of soul for their people,
and also all the murmurings of the people to their king; and he explained it
all unto them.
Mosiah 29:25-33
Mosiah told them that they would be judged according to the
Law of Moses, given by the hand of the Lord.
Mosiah believed the majority would usually desire what is righteous
while a minority would not.
We have an early example of the people exerting righteous
judgment. This occurred early in Alma2’s
term as chief judge.
3
Now this was alarming to the people of the church, and also to all those who
had not been drawn away after the persuasions of Amlici; for they knew that
according to their law that such things must be established by the voice of the
people.
4
Therefore, if it were possible that Amlici should gain the voice of the people,
he, being a wicked man, would deprive them of their rights and privileges of
the church; for it was his intent to destroy the church of God.
5
And it came to pass that the people assembled themselves together throughout
all the land, every man according to his mind, whether it were for or against
Amlici, in separate bodies, having much dispute and wonderful contentions one
with another.
6
And thus they did assemble themselves together to cast in their voices
concerning the matter; and they were laid before the judges.
7
And it came to pass that the voice of the people came against Amlici, that he
was not made king over the people.
Alma 2:3-7
Alma2 would also point out the consequences of
their choices. “I ought not to harrow up in my desires, the firm decree of a just God,
for I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether it be
unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto men, yea, decreeth
unto them decrees which are unalterable, according to their wills, whether they
be unto salvation or unto destruction” (Alma 29:4).
Because all of the people together
had appointed their judges and lawyers, they were communally responsible for
the conduct of those men. Indeed, King Mosiah had made the people vicariously
liable for the wrongs of their leaders, not under the old concepts of kingship,
but because the new leaders were to be chosen "by the voice of the
people" (Mosiah 29:26–27; Alma 10:19).[1]
Should the people choose and unrighteous judge, the
judgments of God will come upon them.
There will be destruction throughout the land. The people have seen the consequences of
iniquity in the past.
This possibility was very real as it occurred a number of
times. “For as their laws and their governments were established by the voice
of the people, and they who chose evil were more numerous than they who chose
good, therefore they were ripening for destruction, for the laws had become
corrupted” (Helaman 5:2). “Democracy would carry risks and
responsibilities, as Mosiah understood and impressed on his people
(see Mosiah 29:27, 30). Remarkably, the risks the young Nephite state
encountered typify those generally experienced during the modern progression to
democracy.”[2]
It is true that some environments
favor virtue as others do sin, that "an unrighteous king doth pervert the
ways of all righteousness" (Mosiah 29:23), and sometimes "the voice
of the people doth choose iniquity" (Mosiah 29:27), but that is no excuse
for an individual; he is not thereby deprived of his knowledge of good and evil
or his free agency…[3]
Click
here for Elder Maxwell’s warning about the danger of majorities not making
righteous choices.
Judges will also be accountable for their decisions. Judges would be judged by other judges, so
there would be a form of a check on all judges.
The check for higher judges will be for a few lower judges to be called
upon to judge the higher judges, “according
to the voice of the people.”
In the past, kings have caused the people to commit
iniquities (see 1 Kings. 14:16; 1 Kings. 15:26; 1 Kings. 16:2; and 1 Kings.
21:22). Inequalities, such as they are,
should end. This should become a land of
liberty, all enjoying the same rights and privileges.
Much more was written by King Mosiah, explaining the “trials and troubles of a righteous king,
all the travails of soul for their people, and also all murmurings of the
people to their king.”
[1] The
Trial of Alma and Amulek, Maxwell Institute, accessed January 4, 2015.
[2] For
the Peace of the People: War and Democracy in the Book of Mormon, Ryan W.
Davis, Maxwell Institute, accessed January 4, 2015.
[3] Good
People and Bad People, Hugh Nibley, Maxwell Institute, accessed January 4,
2015.
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