Before moving on to Mosiah 25, I would like to review the similarities in the accounts about Limhi’s people and Alma(1)’s people. Both were released from bondage. Both were release in similar ways. Yet, one account seems to exclude divine help while the other can only be accomplished through divine help.
A note here. Information from this part of the post comes from Understanding the Book of Mormon by Grant Hardy. I don’t have access to my hardback copy of the book, so I using my eBook copy. Unfortunately, there are no page numbers available. You can find Hardy’s full comments and observations in Chapter 6 under the The Deliverances of Limhi’s People and Alma1’s people.
To review. Limhi’s people were released through a plan apparently devised by Gideon. Nowhere in Mosiah 22 do we see any reference to God or divine help. Gideon proposes his plan to Limhi. Limhi accepts the plan. They get the Lamanite guards drunk and are able to escape. An army perused them, but were unsuccessful in catching up with them. They eventually made it safely to Zarahemla and were welcomed by King Mosiah(2) and his people.
The army pursuing Limhi’s people got lost as they returned home. They found Alma(1) and his people. They said they would leave them alone if they helped them return home. They were helped and promptly put the people under bondage and control of an old enemy – Amulon. They were persecuted and forced to work under harsh conditions. Their hearts were open to the Lord, and, at first, they were strengthened and able to endure their burdens “cheerfully.” Some time later, the voice of the Lord came to Alma(1) telling him they would be freed in the morning. They got things packed and ready to go. Come morning, a deep sleep came upon the guards and the people were able to escape. After a number of days, they arrived in the city of Zarahemla, and were “also” welcomed by King Mosiah(2) and his people.
We have two similar accounts, two miraculous escapes; one apparently by the cunning of man, the other by divine intervention. What do we make of these two accounts?
Hardy explains that Mormon put these stories together (Mosiah 22; Mosiah 23-24). He did so wanting us to read them as a pair. He next points out examples of language used by Mormon in both accounts.
They both “gather(ed) their flocks together,” “depart(ed) … into the wilderness,” and “after many/twelve days in the wilderness ... they arrived in the land of Zarahemla … and (King) Mosiah received them with joy.” (Mosiah 22:10, 11, 13, 14; Mosiah 24:18, 20, 25).
Hardy writes “the idea that none could deliver them but God appears only four times in the book of Mormon, each time associated with the peoples of Limhi and Alma:”
Mosiah 11:23: “except this people repent and turn unto the Lord their God, they shall be brought into bondage; and none shall deliver them, except it be the Lord the Almighty God” (Abinadi’s initial prophecy to Noah’s people).
Mosiah 23:23: “For behold, I will show unto that they were brought into bondage, and none could deliver them but the Lord their God, yea, even the God of Abraham and Isaac and of Jacob” (Mormon’s cautious editorial foreshadowing).
Mosiah 24:21: “they poured out their thanks to God because he … had delivered them out of bondage; for they were in bondage, an none could deliver them except it were the Lord their God” (Mormon’s narrative summary).
Alma 36:2: “I would that ye should do as I have done in remembering the captivity of our fathers; for they were in bondage, and none could deliver them except it was the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Alma(2)’s sermon to his son Helaman).
What are we to make of this? Was one sheer luck because someone came up with a good idea and the other made possible by the hand of the Lord? We read that King Mosiah(2) asked Alma(1) to preach to the people. The people were in large bodies, and Alma(1) went from group-to-group. When he arrives at the group made up of the people of Limhi, he told them “they should remember that is was the Lord that did deliver them” (Mosiah 25:16). He reminded them that, even though it could be perceived that their freedom was obtained through human cunning, it was actually the Lord that delivered them.
Grant Hardy writes:
“The contrast that appears in Mormon’s telling of the two accounts remains, but he softens the edges just a bit here, allowing us to wonder how exactly an army night have lost the tracks of a large, slow-moving party that included women and children as well as animals (Mosiah 22:8, 15-16). Was there a torrential downpour? A washed-out bridge? A deadly altercation within the Lamanite army? A significant injury or illness? Perhaps God was involved in some way or another (later, at Alma 1:8, Gideon is described by the narrator as someone ‘who was an instrument in the hands of God in delivering the people of Limhi out of bondage’), but Mormon does not provide any more details. He simply moves on with his history, having made his point that God’s purposes can be accomplished through both ordinary competence and miraculous intervention.”
“The contrast that appears in Mormon’s telling of the two accounts remains, but he softens the edges just a bit here, allowing us to wonder how exactly an army night have lost the tracks of a large, slow-moving party that included women and children as well as animals (Mosiah 22:8, 15-16). Was there a torrential downpour? A washed-out bridge? A deadly altercation within the Lamanite army? A significant injury or illness? Perhaps God was involved in some way or another (later, at Alma 1:8, Gideon is described by the narrator as someone ‘who was an instrument in the hands of God in delivering the people of Limhi out of bondage’), but Mormon does not provide any more details. He simply moves on with his history, having made his point that God’s purposes can be accomplished through both ordinary competence and miraculous intervention.”
