Alma 21:11-23

11  Therefore, when he saw that they would not hear his words, he departed out of their synagogue, and came over to a village which was called Ani-Anti, and there he found Muloki preaching the word unto them; and also Ammah and his brethren.  And they contended with many about the word.

12  And it came to pass that they saw that the people would harden their hearts, therefore they departed and came over into the land of Middoni.  And they did preach the word unto many, and few believed on the words which they taught.

13  Nevertheless, Aaron and a certain number of his brethren were taken and cast into prison, and the remainder of them fled out of the land of Middoni unto the regions round about.

14  And those who were cast into prison suffered many things, and they were delivered by the hand of Lamoni and Ammon, and they were fed and clothed.

Alma 21:11-14 (Emphasis mine)

Aaron and his brethren left and went to Ani-Anti and found Muloki, Ammah, and his other brethren preaching there.  All they were able to do was argue with a bunch o people.  They left for Middoni.

Here they found few who would believe in their words.  It was also here that Aaron and a few of his brethren were arrested and jailed.  Those that weren’t fled.

This brings us up to date on the occurrences in Alma 20.

The lack of success that Aaron and his company experienced demonstrates the challenge faced in preaching the gospel.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ taught that there would be challenges.

13  ¶ Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

14  Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Matthew 7:13-14 (Emphasis mine)

15  And they went forth again to declare the word, and thus they were delivered for the first time out of prison; and thus they had suffered.

16  And they went forth whithersoever they were led by the Spirit of the Lord, preaching the word of God in every synagogue of the Amalekites, or in every assembly of the Lamanites where they could be admitted.

17  And it came to pass that the Lord began to bless them, insomuch that they brought many to the knowledge of the truth; yea, they did convince many of their sins, and of the traditions of their fathers, which were not correct.

Alma 21:15-17 (Emphasis mine)

In this set of verses, we see an interesting pattern found in the Book of Mormon.  This pattern is bondage for the servants of the Lord, suffering while in bondage, release brought about through the hand of the Lord, and then success in their missionary work.  Richard Rust discusses this pattern.

“Bondage is often considered in the Book of Mormon to be a necessary condition as preparation for conversion or salvation. After Aaron was freed (Alma 21:14-15), he and his brothers were tremendously successful—as though they somehow needed to go through the experience of physical captivity as a price to be paid in order to deliver others from spiritual bondage. Further, the bondage suffered by peoples such as Alma's group was beyond what humans could do to solve it, requiring the power of God to be shown directly: ‘They were in bondage, and none could deliver them except it were the Lord their God’ (Mosiah 24:21). Similarly, the most oppressive spiritual bondage has to be overcome miraculously by the power of God himself. This is the core of the testimony of Alma the Younger, and it is also the experience of the Lamanites whom Ammon and his brethren taught. Through their teaching, they were moved out of the imprisoning power of Satan and into the refuge of God's love (see Alma 26:15).”  [i] (Emphasis mine)

We briefly return to Ammon and Lamoni.

18  And it came to pass that Ammon and Lamoni returned from the land of Middoni to the land of Ishmael, which was the land of their inheritance.

19  And king Lamoni would not suffer that Ammon should serve him, or be his servant.

20  But he caused that there should be synagogues built in the land of Ishmael; and he caused that his people, or the people who were under his reign, should assemble themselves together.

21  And he did rejoice over them, and he did teach them many things.  And he did also declare unto them that they were a people who were under him, and that they were a free people, that they were free from the oppressions of the king, his father; for that his father had granted unto him that he might reign over the people who were in the land of Ishmael, and in all the land round about.

22  And he also declared unto them that they might have the liberty of worshiping the Lord their God according to their desires, in whatsoever place they were in, if it were in the land which was under the reign of king Lamoni.

23  And Ammon did preach unto the people of king Lamoni; and it came to pass that he did teach them all things concerning things pertaining to righteousness.  And he did exhort them daily, with all diligence; and they gave heed unto his word, and they were zealous for keeping the commandments of God.

Alma 21:18-23 (Emphasis mine)

Lamoni and Ammon return to the kingdom of Ishmael.  After all that had happened, Lamoni told Ammon he was no longer a servant. 

Synagogues were built and he called the people together.  They were told they had been freed from the oppressions of Lamoni’s father.  They had the freedom to worship however, they wanted, as long as they were in the land where Lamoni reigned. 

Ammon continued to preach the word of the Lord to the people.  His successes continued and the people were fervent living the gospel.

In the October 2009 session of General Conference, Elder Dale Renlund talked about zeal among the converts of the sons of Mosiah.

 “The lives of the people who were converted by the preaching of the sons of Mosiah offer some insights as to how one avoids rejecting the mightily changed spiritual heart. Of them, we read that ‘as many as were brought to the knowledge of the truth, through the preaching of Ammon and his brethren, … and were converted unto the Lord, never did fall away.’

“How did they successfully endure to the end? We know that they were ‘distinguished for their zeal towards God, and also towards men; for they were perfectly honest and upright in all things; and they were firm in the faith of Christ, even unto the end.’

“Their zeal towards God likely reflects an eagerness to please God and worship Him with fervor and passion. Their zeal towards men suggests an ardent interest in helping and serving others. Being perfectly upright and honest in all things suggests that they held their covenants firmly and did not rationalize their commitments to God or man. We further know that they taught their children the gospel in their homes. We know that they buried their weapons of war, distancing themselves from temptations.

“They must have frequently assessed the condition of their spiritually changed hearts. They did not simply assume that all was well. By figuratively examining their changed hearts, they could identify any early hardening or rejection and treat it.” [ii]   (Emphasis mine)

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[i] Book of Mormon Imagery, Richard Dilworth Rust, Maxwell Institute, accessed September 17, 2011.

[ii] Preserving the Heart’s Mighty Change, Elder Dale G. Renlund, October 2009 General Conference.

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.