Mosiah 20:1-26

 Chapter 20

Lamanite daughters are abducted by the priests of Noah—The Lamanites wage war upon Limhi and his people—They are repulsed and pacified. About 145–123 B.C.

1  NOW there was a place in Shemlon where the daughters of the Lamanites did gather themselves together to sing, and to dance, and to make themselves merry.
2  And it came to pass that there was one day a small number of them gathered together to sing and to dance.
3  And now the priests of king Noah, being ashamed to return to the city of Nephi, yea, and also fearing that the people would slay them, therefore they durst not return to their wives and their children.
4  And having tarried in the wilderness, and having discovered the daughters of the Lamanites, they laid and watched them;
5  And when there were but few of them gathered together to dance, they came forth out of their secret places and took them and carried them into the wilderness; yea, twenty and four of the daughters of the Lamanites they carried into the wilderness. 

Mosiah 20:1-5 (Emphasis mine) 

The priests took off, saving their lives.  They were afraid to go back because they knew that they would probably die for their actions.  I have to think that at least some of them had to be ashamed that the left their wife and children behind and saved their own lives instead.

One day they saw some of the "daughters of the Lamanites" out together having a good time.  They hid, and when they had the chance, they kidnapped 24 of the young women.

As we read this account, it appears that the place where the young women went was outside of a city, but not in the wilderness (see verse 5).  Verse 4 tells us that they had discovered them there, and that they watched them.  John Welch, Robert F. Smith, and Gordon C. Thomasson (click here for source) wrote about this event. "There the priests found the young women, hid themselves and watched, and sprang out of their hiding places, taking the young women into the wilderness (see Mosiah 20:2-5). The Hebrew idiom translated "lying in wait" usually connotes premeditation and planning, implying that the priests may well have known of this place and the custom for young women to be there." (Emphasis mine)

6  And it came to pass that when the Lamanites found that their daughters had been missing, they were angry with the people of Limhi, for they thought it was the people of Limhi.
7  Therefore they sent their armies forth; yea, even the king himself went before his people; and they went up to the land of Nephi to destroy the people of Limhi.
8  And now Limhi had discovered them from the tower, even all their preparations for war did he discover; therefore he gathered his people together, and laid wait for them in the fields and in the forests.
9  And it came to pass that when the Lamanites had come up, that the people of Limhi began to fall upon them from their waiting places, and began to slay them.
10  And it came to pass that the battle became exceedingly sore, for they fought like lions for their prey.
11  And it came to pass that the people of Limhi began to drive the Lamanites before them; yet they were not half so numerous as the Lamanites.  But they fought for their lives, and for their wives, and for their children; therefore they exerted themselves and like dragons did they fight.

Mosiah 20:6-11 (Emphasis mine)

 

It's not too surprising that the Lamanites would be upset over the kidnapping of 24 of their young women.  They blamed the people of Limhi for breaking the treaty they had made with them.  In a case like that, war is not an unheard of response.

 

Fortunately, Limhi was on the tower and saw the Lamanites preparing for war.  He was able to get his people prepared for war. 

 

They waited and ambushed the Lamanites as they came towards the Nephite land.  Mormon tells us that it was quite a battle because they fought for their lives and their families.  We will see this motivation (their lives and families) praised by Mormon as a reason to fight later in the Book of Mormon.

12  And it came to pass that they found the king of the Lamanites among the number of their dead; yet he was not dead, having been wounded and left upon the ground, so speedy was the flight of his people.
13  And they took him and bound up his wounds, and brought him before Limhi, and said: Behold, here is the king of the Lamanites; he having received a wound has fallen among their dead, and they have left him; and behold, we have brought him before you; and now let us slay him.
14  But Limhi said unto them: Ye shall not slay him, but bring him hither that I may see him.  And they brought him.  And Limhi said unto him: What cause have ye to come up to war against my people?  Behold, my people have not broken the oath that I made unto you; therefore, why should ye break the oath which ye made unto my people?
15  And now the king said: I have broken the oath because thy people did carry away the daughters of my people; therefore, in my anger I did cause my people to come up to war against thy people.
16  And now Limhi.  Therefore he caused a search to be made among his people.

Mosiah 20:12-16 (Emphasis mine)

The Lamanite king was seriously wounded in the battle; he appeared to have died and was left behind as the Lamanites retreated.

When it was realized that he was alive, his wounds were treated.  They informed Limhi and wanted him executed.  Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and Limhi had him brought to him for questioning.

The Lamanite king explained why they attacked.  He believed that Limhi's people were responsible for the kidnapping.  This was the first Limhi had heard of this.  He promised the king that, if any of his people were responsible, he would find them and have them executed.

17  Now when Gideon had heard these things, he being the king's captain, he went forth and said unto the king: I pray thee forbear, and do not search this people, and lay not this thing to their charge.
18  For do ye not remember the priests of thy father, whom this people sought to destroy?  And are they not in the wilderness?  And are not they the ones who have stolen the daughters of the Lamanites?
19  And now, behold, and tell the king of these things, that he may tell his people that they may be pacified towards us; for behold they are already preparing to come against us; and behold also there are but few of us.
20  And behold, they come with their numerous hosts; and except the king doth pacify them towards us we must perish.
21  For are not the words of Abinadi fulfilled, which he prophesied against us—and all this because we would not hearken unto the words of the Lord, and turn from our iniquities?
22  And now let us pacify the king, and we fulfil the oath which we have made unto him; for it is better that we should be in bondage than that we should lose our lives; therefore, let us put a stop to the shedding of so much blood.

Mosiah 20:17-22 (Emphasis mine)

Gideon is now the King's captain.  When he heard what had happened, he went to the  King and said, "Our people wouldn't do this.  Do you remember your father's priests?  They're wandering in the wilderness.  They were most likely the ones who did this."

Then he told Limhi that the words of Abinadi had been fulfilled - "... 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..." Mosiah 12:2

23  And now Limhi told the king all the things concerning his father, and the priests that had fled into the wilderness, and attributed the carrying away of their daughters to them.
24  And it came to pass that the king was pacified towards his people; and he said unto them: Let us go forth to meet my people, without arms; and I swear unto you with an oath that my people shall not slay thy people.
25  And it came to pass that they followed the king, and went forth without arms to meet the Lamanites.  And it came to pass that they did meet the Lamanites; and the king of the Lamanites did bow himself down before them, and did plead in behalf of the people of Limhi.
26  And when the Lamanites saw the people of Limhi, that they were without arms, they had compassion on them and were pacified towards them, and returned with their king in peace to their own land.

Mosiah 20:23-26 (Emphasis mine)

Limhi followed Gideon's  advice.  He went to the king, explained what had happened and that his people will no longer slay the Lamanites.

They went forth and the king pleaded on behalf of the people of Limhi.  When they heard their kings words, and saw that the Nephites were not armed, they had compassion towards them, and that ended the war and peach came into the land.

We see how the people were still paying for the wickedness of the people as well as King Noah and his priests.  All the problems were caused by the priests.  Abinadi's words were again fulfilled.  

Gideon is an interesting man.  Here was a man of war counseling peace.  Hugh Nibley wrote:

"Gideon is the last man you would expect to do this. But he had the experience of these things, and he knew. It's the old commander that knows. The most passionate talks I've ever heard against war in the Army have been by generals, without any exception. They know what it is, and boy do they light in! There were some wonderful ones by Omar Bradley, Max Taylor, and others. Eisenhower said some pretty strong things, too. 'Therefore, let us put a stop to the shedding of so much blood,' Gideon said, with his rush of excitement. This is the Gideon who chased the king up the tower with a sword, and all that sort of thing. He is the one who is making a plea to put an end to all this bloodshed, whatever they do." (Emphasis mine)

Lecture 38: Mosiah 20-23, Hugh W. Nibley, Maxwell Institute, accessed August 4, 2011.

Both sides showed wisdom.  "Limhi explained that the priests in the wilderness were the most likely kidnappers. Notice that Limhi took the blame for his father's behavior, and the king was pacified. Everybody did the sensible thing, and Limhi was a realist ... [I]nstead of standing tall the king humiliated himself. The Lamanite king humiliated himself before his own people to plead for the enemy. Can we imagine doing such a thing today as that? Both sides were being very reasonable, and they solved their problem that way." (Emphasis mine)  (See reference above for source article)

Mosiah 19:13-29

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 19:13-15 (Emphasis mine) 

While many deserted their families to save their own hides, many stayed with them.  They had their daughters plead with them to spare their lives.  The Lamanites were convinced because of the beauty of their daughters. 

Instead, they took them captive and told them they could possess their land of Nephi if they would deliver one-half of everything to the Lamanites and continue to pay tribute to the Lamanite king.

The Lamanites also demanded that Noah be turned over to them. 

16  And now there was one of the sons of the king among those that were taken captive, whose name was Limhi.
17  And now Limhi was desirous that his father should not be destroyed; nevertheless, Limhi was not ignorant of the iniquities of his father, he himself being a just man.

Mosiah 19:16-17 (Emphasis mine)

Noah's son, Limhi, was apparently a member of Alma(1)'s congregation.  Being a good man, he was aware of the sins of his father.  Still, he did not want his father turned over to the Lamanites.  Limhi will play an important part in this account, as we will read later.

18  And it came to pass that Gideon sent men into the wilderness secretly, to search for the king and those that were with him.  And it came to pass that they met the people in the wilderness, all save the king and his priests.
19  Now they had sworn in their hearts that they would return to the land of Nephi, and if their wives and their children were slain, and also those that had tarried with them, that they would seek revenge, and also perish with them.
20  And the king commanded them that they should not return; and they were angry with the king, and caused that he should suffer, even unto death by fire.

Mosiah 19:18-20 (Emphasis mine)

After the Lamanites made their demand, Gideon sent a group to search for the king and those who fled with him.  Eventually, they found the group, but the priests and Noah weren't there.

It seems that those who fled and left their families behind were feeling remorse and sorrow.  They wanted to go back and find their families.  If they had been slain, they would seek revenge.  

Noah didn't like this.  He told them they should stay.  This inflamed their anger, and they took out their anger on the king by causing his death by fire.  This fulfilled Abinadi's prophecy made to the king:

3  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 12:3

9  But I finish my message; and then it matters not whither I go, if it so be that I am saved.
10  But this much I tell you, what you do with me, after this, shall be as a type and a shadow of things which are to come.

Mosiah 13:9-10

13  And it came to pass that they took him and bound him, and scourged his skin with faggots, yea, even unto death.
14  And now when the flames began to scorch him, he cried unto them, saying:
15  Behold, even as ye have done unto me, so shall it come to pass that thy seed shall cause that many shall suffer the pains that I do suffer, even the pains of death by fire; and this because they believe in the salvation of the Lord their God.
16  And it will come to pass that ye shall be afflicted with all manner of diseases because of your iniquities.
17  Yea, and ye shall be smitten on every hand, and shall be driven and scattered to and fro, even as a wild flock is driven by wild and ferocious beasts.
18  And in that day ye shall be hunted, and ye shall be taken by the hand of your enemies, and then ye shall suffer, as I suffer, the pains of death by fire.

Mosiah 17:13-18

So ended the life of wicked King Noah. 

21  And they were about to take the priests also and put them to death, and they fled before them.
22  And it came to pass that they were about to return to the land of Nephi, and they met the men of Gideon.  And the men of Gideon told them of all that had happened to their wives and their children; and that the Lamanites had granted unto them that they might possess the land by paying a tribute to the Lamanites of one half of all they possessed.
the people told the men of Gideon that they had slain the king, and his priests had fled from them farther into the wilderness.
24  And it came to pass that after they had ended the ceremony, that they returned to the land of Nephi, rejoicing, because their wives and their children were not slain; and they told Gideon what they had done to the king.
25  And it came to pass that the king of the Lamanites made an oath unto them, that his people should not slay them.

Mosiah 19:21-25 (Emphasis mine)

 

Once they were done with Noah, they turned to the priests and were ready to put them to death.  The priests were able to escape.  (The priests and their offspring will again appear in the record.) 

They were about to begin their journey when they saw the search party.  There was much discussion.  They told the search party what had happened to Noah and the priests.  The other group told them that their families survived.  They rejoiced over the news.  Both groups returned.

In verse 24, we have what seems to be strange wording.  It says:  "... after they had ended the ceremony, that they returned to the land of Nephi ..."  The problem is that there was no mention of a ceremony prior to verse 24.  What was meant?

There are two possible explanations.

The first is from Royal Skousen. 

"In part 3 of volume 4 of the critical text, Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon ... I discuss under Mosiah 19:24 how sermon could have accidentally been replaced by ceremony. Basically, I propose the following: the scribe for the original manuscript (which [unfortunately no longer exists]) spelled sermon as cermon, which was then misread as ceremony (and spelled as cerimony) when Oliver Cowdery copied the word from the original manuscript into the printer's manuscript. Such a [possible explanation] is possible once we recognize that the vocabulary for the original Book of Mormon text dates from the 1500s and 1600s."
The Archaic Vocabulary of the Book of Mormon. Royal Skousen, Maxwell Institute, accessed August 2, 2011. 

The second is from John Tvedtnes.

"I find myself disagreeing with one of Skousen's recommended [corrections]. In Mosiah 19:24, he suggests reading 'after they had ended the sermon' instead of 'after they had ended the ceremony.' He writes, 'The word ceremony does not make sense here, nor is there any older meaning of the word that might work' (p. 64). I assume that he has not read my chapter on 'the Nephite Purification Ceremony,' in which I explain that the Nephites mentioned in this passage had just killed King Noah, an act that would have called for purification under the law of Moses.If Skousen has read that piece, perhaps he disagrees with my assessment, in which case he may give his reasons in one of his forthcoming volumes." (Emphasis mine) 
Reconstructing the Book of Mormon, John A. Tvedtnes, Maxwell Institute, accessed August 2, 2011.

26  And also Limhi, being the son of the king, having the kingdom conferred upon him by the people, made oath unto the king of the Lamanites that his people should pay tribute unto him, even one half of all they possessed.
27  And it came to pass that Limhi began to establish the kingdom and to establish peace among his people.
28  And the king of the Lamanites set guards round about the land, that he might keep the people of Limhi in the land, that they might not depart into the wilderness; and he did support his guards out of the tribute which he did receive from the Nephites.
29  And now king Limhi did have continual peace in his kingdom for the space of two years, that the Lamanites did not molest them nor seek to destroy them.

Mosiah 19:26-29 (Emphasis mine)

Once the groups arrive back, the people reunited with their families (for better or worse), a government was organized.  Limhi, the son of King Noah, was made King.  He agreed to pay 1/2 of everything tribute.  Limhi went about establishing his kingdom.  

The king of the Lamanites did not want the people of Limhi to leave.  The lost tribute would most certainly be missed.  To keep them under Lamanite rule, guards were placed around the land so they would not be able to leave.  

For two years, Limhi was able to keep peace in his kingdom.

An so ends Chapter 19.