Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Mosiah 19:1-15


Chapter 19

Gideon seeks to slay King Noah—The Lamanites invade the land—King Noah suffers death by fire—Limhi rules as a tributary monarch. About 145–121 B.C.

1 AND it came to pass that the army of the king returned, having searched in vain for the people of the Lord.
2 And now behold, the forces of the king were small, having been reduced, and there began to be a division among the remainder of the people.
3 And the lesser part began to breathe out threatenings against the king, and there began to be a great contention among them.
4 And now there was a man among them whose name was Gideon, and he being a strong man and an enemy to the king, therefore he drew his sword, and swore in his wrath that he would slay the king.
5 And it came to pass that he fought with the king; and when the king saw that he was about to overpower him, he fled and ran and got upon the tower which was near the temple.
6 And Gideon pursued after him and was about to get upon the tower to slay the king, and the king cast his eyes round about towards the land of Shemlon, and behold, the army of the Lamanites were within the borders of the land.
7 And now the king cried out in the anguish of his soul, saying: Gideon, spare me, for the Lamanites are upon us, and they will destroy us; yea, they will destroy my people.
8 And now the king was not so much concerned about his people as he was about his own life; nevertheless, Gideon did spare his life.
9 And the king commanded the people that they should flee before the Lamanites, and he himself did go before them, and they did flee into the wilderness, with their women and their children.
10 And it came to pass that the Lamanites did pursue them, and did overtake them, and began to slay them.
11 Now it came to pass that the king commanded them that all the men should leave their wives and their children, and flee before the Lamanites.
12 Now there were many that would not leave them, but had rather stay and perish with them.  And the rest left their wives and their children and fled.
13 And it came to pass that those who tarried with their wives and their children caused that their fair daughters should stand forth and plead with the Lamanites that they would not slay them.
14 And it came to pass that the Lamanites had compassion on them, for they were charmed with the beauty of their women.
15 Therefore the Lamanites did spare their lives, and took them captives and carried them back to the land of Nephi, and granted unto them that they might possess the land, under the conditions that they would deliver up king Noah into the hands of the Lamanites, and deliver up their property, even one half of all they possessed, one half of their gold, and their silver, and all their precious things, and thus they should pay tribute to the king of the Lamanites from year to year.
Mosiah 19:1-15

The army that had been searching for Alma1’s congregation returned, having failed to find them.  The army was small and, within Noah’s people, they were divided.  Some began to murmur about the King and threatened him. 

One man in particular was fed up with Noah.  Gideon drew his sword and swore he would kill the king.  He fought with Noah and, when he was about to be killed, Noah ran to the tower near the temple.  Gideon was about to climb onto the tower, when Noah saw an army of the Lamanites was approaching the borders of his kingdom.

Verse 6 gives us some information about distances in the land of Shemlon.  “From this tower Noah spotted a Lamanite army coming up out of the land of Shemlon toward Nephi (see Mosiah 19:6). For a Zeniffite to have such a view, the distance to Shilom could hardly have exceeded ten miles and the near border of Shemlon would have been within twenty miles.”[1]  We had a better understanding of what is meant by wilderness.  “[A]s in the Old World the ‘wilderness’ in question was not jungle, for when Gideon chased the wicked king to the top of the tower, the two could see from there that ‘the army of the Lamanites were within the borders of the land’ (Mosiah 19:6), which means that the invading host had only the poorest sort of cover.”[2]

Noah cried out to Gideon, begging him to spare his life.  The Lamanite army was coming and he was concerned about the safety of his people.  Gideon spared his life.

Mormon informs us something we already assumed.  Noah did not care on whit about his people.  He was more concerned about saving his sorry old hide.  “Here’s a comment on the character of [Noah] in verse 8. The king wasn’t really interested in his people—it was his own life he wanted to save. That reflects on his character. You notice [Noah’s] greatest sin was not lechery or luxury; it was his meanness. He was a mean, petty person. He had no feelings for anybody else but a great deal for himself. It’s characteristic here of people with great power.”[3]

The king and his people fled from the Lamanites, taking their families with them.  Unfortunately, the Lamanite army caught up to them, and began to kill them.

Noah commanded the men to leave their families behind and save their sorry lives.  Many refused, but there were a few cowards.  They left them behind to they could save themselves.

“The reader is led to see the contrasting lives, not just of Alma and Amulon, but of the people of Limhi and Alma and the people of Amulon. Both Alma and Amulon led colonies into the wilderness: Alma and his people, when Noah’s soldiers discovered their ‘movement,’ ‘took their tents and their families and departed into the wilderness’ (Mosiah 18:32, 34). Amulon and his followers also fled into the wilderness, but at Noah’s command they left their families behind (see Mosiah 19:11-23).  The wicked priests abandoned their wives when King Noah ‘commanded them that all the men should leave their wives and their children, and flee before the Lamanites’ (Mosiah 19:11), then they went about trying to find substitute wives.[4]

Those that stayed behind had their daughters plead with the Lamanites to spare them.  The Lamanites were charmed by the beauty and please of the daughters.  They chose to spare them.

There was a price.  They agreed to live in Lamanite captivity.  They would be allowed to possess the land of Nephi.  They agreed to deliver King Noah to the Lamanites.  They would pay one-half of all their possessions to the Lamanite king each year.


[1] Mormon’s Map – Distances and Directions, Maxwell Institute.
[2] The Nature of Book of Mormon Society, Hugh Nibley, Maxwell Institute.
[3] Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 2 – Lecture 37: Mosiah 19-20, Maxwell Institute.
[4] The Stealing of the Daughters of the Lamanites, Alan Goff, Maxwell Institute.

No comments:

Post a Comment