Zeniff’s people’s battle with the Lamanites continued. He
tells us his people, “putting their trust in the Lord” faced them in battle.
It was a bloody battle. In the end, they defeated the
Lamanites and “did drive them out of our land” (Mosiah 10:20). They returned to
their land and “again began to tend their flocks and to till their ground”
(Mosiah 10:21).
Zeniff ends his record by telling us that, “I, being old,
did confer the kingdom upon one of my
sons; therefore, I say no more. And may the Lord bless my people” (Mosiah 10:22).
That son’s name was Noah. Dr. Daniel Peterson describes this as “a very unfortunate choice, as it turned out (although we
know nothing of the alternatives).”[1]
Mormon tells us about King Noah. “Noah began to reign in his
stead; and he did not walk in the ways of his father … [H]e did not keep the
commandments of God, but he did walk after the desires of his own heart ... And
he did cause his people to commit sin, and do that which was abominable in the
sight of the Lord” (Mosiah 11:1-2).
Noah lived a luxurious lifestyle, supported by an excessive
tax on the people. “[H]e laid a tax of one fifth part of all they possessed, a
fifth part of their gold and of their silver, and a fifth part of their ziff,
and of their copper, and of their brass and their iron; and a fifth part of
their fatlings; and also a fifth part of all their grain” (Mosiah 11:3).
He “put down all the priests that had been consecrated by
his father, and consecrated new ones in their stead, such as were lifted up in
the pride of their hearts” (Mosiah 11:5). One of these priests was a man named Alma.
A few years into Noah’s reign, the Lord sent the prophet
Abinadi to preach repentance to Noah and his people. He told them, “Wo be unto
this people, for I have seen their abominations, and their wickedness, and
their whoredoms; and except they repent I will visit them in mine anger. And except
they repent and turn to the Lord their God, behold, I will deliver them into
the hands of their enemies; yea, and they shall be brought into bondage; and
they shall be afflicted by the hand of their enemies” (Mosiah 11:20-21).
Needless to say, Noah was angry. He commanded that Abinadi was
to be brought before him, saying “I command you to bring Abinadi hither, that I
may slay him, for he has said these things that he might stir up my people to
anger one with another, and to raise contentions among my people; therefore I
will slay him” (Mosiah 11:28). Abinadi escaped and was not seen for two years.
When he returned he continued to preach to the people,
telling them, “the Lord said unto me: Stretch forth thy hand and prophesy,
saying: Thus saith the Lord, it shall come to pass that this generation,
because of their iniquities, shall be brought into bondage, and shall be
smitten on the cheek; yea, and shall be driven by men, and shall be slain; and
the vultures of the air, and the dogs, yea, and the wild beasts, shall devour
their flesh. And it shall come to pass that the life of king Noah shall be
valued even as a garment in a hot furnace; for he shall know that I am the Lord”
(Mosiah 12:2-3).
He was brought before Noah and his priests. They questioned
him and challenged him, but he stood up to them and continued to preach his
message.
After Abinadi finished preaching the word of the Lord to
them, “the king commanded that the priests should take him and cause that he
should be put to death” (Mosiah 17:1). One priest disagreed.
“[T]here was one among them whose name was Alma, he also
being a descendant of Nephi. And he was a young man, and he believed the words
which Abinadi had spoken, for he knew concerning the iniquity which Abinadi had
testified against them; therefore he began to plead with the king that he would
not be angry with Abinadi, but suffer that he might depart in peace. But the
king was more wroth, and caused that Alma should be cast out from among them,
and sent his servants after him that they might slay him” (Mosiah 17:2-3).
Alma “fled from before them and hid himself that they found
him not. And he being concealed for many days did write all the words which
Abinadi had spoken” (Mosiah 17:4).
[1] Authority in the Book of
Mosiah, Daniel C. Peterson, Maxwell Institute website.
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