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.
“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.
“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.
“And it came to pass that he
was obedient unto the word of the Lord, wherefore he did as the Lord commanded
him.
“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.
[2]The
Book of Mosiah: Thoughts about Its Structure, Purposes, Themes, and Authorship,
Gary L. Sturgess, Maxwell Institute.
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