Feast Upon the Words of Christ and Let Your Soul Delight in Fatness: Mosiah 29:32-39

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.

34 And he told them that these things ought not to be; but that the burden should come upon all the people, that every man might bear his part.

35 And he also unfolded unto them all the disadvantages they labored under, by having an unrighteous king to rule over them;

36 Yea, all his iniquities and abominations, and all the wars, and contentions, and bloodshed, and the stealing, and the plundering, and the committing of whoredoms, and all manner of iniquities which cannot be enumerated—telling them that these things ought not to be, that they were expressly repugnant to the commandments of God.

37 And now it came to pass, after king Mosiah had sent these things forth among the people they were convinced of the truth of his words.

38 Therefore they relinquished their desires for a king, and became exceedingly anxious that every man should have an equal chance throughout all the land; yea, and every man expressed a willingness to answer for his own sins.

39 Therefore, it came to pass that they assembled themselves together in bodies throughout the land, to cast in their voices concerning who should be their judges, to judge them according to the law which had been given them; and they were exceedingly rejoiced because of the liberty which had been granted unto them.

Mosiah reminds his people there was to be no inequality among them. Earlier we read, “And there was a strict command throughout all the churches that there should be no persecutions among them, that there should be an equality among all men” (Mosiah 27:3). Later we read, “For there was a law that men should be judged according to their crimes. Nevertheless, there was no law against a man’s belief; therefore, a man was punished only for the crimes which he had done; therefore all men were on equal grounds” (Alma 30:11).

Mosiah’s kingdom was to be a land of liberty. Speaking to his family, Lehi told them, “Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever” (2 Nephi 1:7).

Jacob would reaffirm this sentiment. “And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the land, who shall raise up unto the Gentiles” (2 Nephi 10:1).

Mormon stops quoting Mosiah at this point by telling us, “[a]nd many more things did king Mosiah write unto them” (Mosiah 29:33).

“Due both to the difficulty in engraving plates (Jacob 4:1) and to the fact that writers of the Book of Mormon were trying to summarize countless records from a long and complex history, we constantly find phrases indicating editorial condensations and omissions. One such phrase is ‘And many more things did king Benjamin teach his sons, which are not written in this book’ (Mosiah 1:8) and ‘many more things did Mosiah write unto them’ (Mosiah 29:33). Nevertheless, the Book of Mormon is an inspired book. In its final form it is thoughtfully structured and written, and it is evident that conscious planning, not chance, went into its composition.”[1]

Mosiah told them things which should not happen. “[T]he burden should come upon all the people, that every man might bear his part” (Mosiah 29:34).

“One of the prices of kingship is that a king must assume personal responsibility for many of the iniquities of his subjects (Mosiah 29:30-34, 38). Mosiah specifically wanted to protect his sons from this burden. He desired ‘that the burden should come upon all the people, that every man might bear his part’ (Mosiah 29:34), and that each be willing ‘to answer for his own sins’ (Mosiah 29:38).”[2]

Mosiah explained disadvantages of having a wicked king to rule them. They have to deal with…

· his iniquities and abominations.
· wars.
· contentions.
· bloodshed.
· stealing.
· plundering.
· committing of whoredoms.
· all manner of iniquities which cannot be enumerated.

He made sure they understood these things were not to be as they were “expressly repugnant to the commandments of God” (Mosiah 29:36). After hearing his words, the people accepted the truth of what he wrote.

The people no longer desired there to be a king. They wanted all to “have and equal chance throughout all the land; yea, and every man expressed a willingness to answer for his own sins” (Mosiah 29:38).

“In a monarchy, the king ultimately bears the sole responsibility for maintaining the state. In a representative system, such responsibilities need to be decided upon and enacted by group acceptance, which, just by virtue of including others, leads to greater indecision as well as to potentially harmful compromise.”[3]

The people assembled and selected those who would be their judges.