[King Noah vs.Men of Gideon]
[Peace Ceremony of Men of Gideon]
The Daughters of the Lamanites
[How to Deal With Your Enemies]
[Lamanite Daughters Abducted]
117 King Noah is one of the most clearly drawn characters in the Book Mormon. He is drawn as a great artist would do it, by what he does and not by what he says. It’s very subtle throughout the Book of Mormon here.
117 Let’s talk about King Noah now and what happened. Alma and his people ran away, and they got back to Zarahemla, so they [Noah’s soldiers] weren’t able to catch up with them. They searched in vain and didn’t find Alma and his people And they searched in vain and couldn’t find them [Alma’s people].
117,118 Mosiah 19:1 The king’s forces were not up to the task. He lost face, and the king’s forces were small. They had dwindled, and they weren’t able to do the job. Already because of his excesses, he had alienated a good part of the people, a small number. The forces of the king were small because there was division among the remainder of the people. He had been alienating the people with his excesses. Also, his wastefulness and extravagance had given rise to this popular unrest, and an opposition party was formed by Gideon. A little later we find out that his group actually bears his name—they’re called the men of Gideon. They’re referred to a number of times by that name, making it very clear who they were.
118 Mosiah 19:3-6 “And the lesser part [notice] began to breathe out threatenings against the king [ah, things are getting tough here, and the opposition party is becoming outspoken]. And now there was a man among them [the opposition party] 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” So this was a personal feud going on, and this was a real revolution, if you pronounce that you’re going to slay the king. He met him and he chased him to the top of the tower. Verse 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.” Remember, it was the tower from which you could view the whole land. Notice that it’s on a small scale. He chased him through the town, and the king went up the tower with Gideon hot on his heels. Gideon pursued him right to the top, a very dramatic moment here. Verse 6: “The king cast his eyes round about towards the land of Shemlon [that means east], and behold, the army of the Lamanites were within the borders of the land.” So he [Gideon] could see them, don’t worry. He could see that things were stirring on the eastern part of the country, and they were coming in from that side when he got on the high tower.
118,119 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. He said, “Gideon, spare me, for the Lamanites are upon us [he uses that as the ruse, you see; it’s the enemy at the gates routine, and it was mostly to get him out of the jam], and they will destroy us; yea, they will destroy my people” (Mosiah 19:7). So Gideon gave him the benefit of the doubt. He spared him and let him go. These are interesting human relationships that go on in the Book of Mormon. And then what did he do? He said the king was concerned about his own life; that was what really concerned him. He had no appetite for fighting, notice. He had lost his nerve along with most of the army. He panicked and said, we’ll clear out of town. He ordered a general evacuation—a silly thing to do. It shows again that he’s not really a strong character at all. He did it again when they go a little further on. He ordered his soldiers with himself to leave the women and children and hightail it to save themselves. Then when he got out with them, he fled with just a company of priests to get away from them. This is the kind of man he was, and we’re going to see this all through here. Nice reflection on King Noah. So he lost his nerve along with most of the army, and in the Book of Mormon, the actions tell the story and speak for themselves. He ordered a general retreat to the wilderness, an evacuation. This is the reverse of the Rechabites, you’ll notice. He went out with his court, and especially with his priests, his immediate accomplices. They accompanied him deeper and deeper into the woods while he left more and more of the others farther and farther behind.
121,122 The king [Noah] escapes here with his court ever deeper into the woods, and it has happened with many others. It happens repeatedly through the Book of Mormon. Lehi left Jerusalem because the pressure was too great. And then Nephi left his brethren in the New World and went off by himself. Then, Mosiah left Nephi’s community after Nephi died, of course, and went out and ended up in [Zarahemla]. Then Ammon left Zarahemla and went out and tried to convert the people. So we have this process going on all the time. Then finally the Saints came west here, didn’t they? As George Albert Smith used to say, “We came west of our own free will because we had to.” We had no choice—we were driven out, like Israel in the wilderness.
122 So it’s God’s wandering people. God’s people are always being driven out. They’re always wandering because here, as Paul says of Abraham, we are pilgrims and strangers. Here we have no abiding kingdom; don’t look for it. So I smile when I see these books called How to Have a Happy Life or Secrets of Successful Living and all that sort of tripe. Don’t fool yourself. We’re too strong on that in the Church, because this isn’t where we’re going to have our successful living. This isn’t what we’re going for at all. It’s the eternities, and eternity is a big thing.
122 Mosiah 19:9-13 Well, we go on with our story now, “And the king commanded the people that they should flee before the Lamanites [a foolish thing to do], and he himself did go before them, and they did flee into the wilderness, with their women and their children. And it came to pass that the Lamanites did pursue them, and did overtake them, and began to slay them [you can’t evacuate a whole people all at once; they catch up with them; and then the king panicked again]. 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 [still running away—what a king]. Now there were many that would not leave them [they wouldn’t do it—they wouldn’t follow the king; he has a ruinous effect wherever he goes], but had rather stay and perish with them. And the rest left their wives and their children and fled [so part were left behind].. .. Those who tarried with their wives and children caused that their fair daughters should stand forth and plead with the Lamanites that they would not slay them.”
123 Mosiah 19:14-16 “And it came to pass that the Lamanites had compassion on them, for they were charmed with the beauty of their women [this is chivalric; the Lamanites are always shown as being barbarians, but this is a more chivalric attitude than the others]. Therefore the Lamanites did spare their lives, and took them captives and carried them back to the land of Nephi.” They went back with the women. That crowd went back, and they delivered up King Noah, when they caught him, into the hands of the Lamanites and delivered up their property. You can come back and settle again but you’ll be sharecroppers from now on. We’ll get one-half of your crops, one-half of your gold, silver, and everything else [they were told]. And this was a condition on which they went back and suffered. Then we have Limhi. This is where Ammon found Limhi. They were completely enclosed. Notice this interlacing and all this harking back. It’s very complicated [and amazing] how the author keeps this all in order, because there are different plates being used here. Verse 16: “And now there was one of the sons of the king among those that were taken captive, whose name was Limhi [he is the one Ammon found, or that found Ammon].
123 Mosiah 19:17,18 Another love-hate issue surfaces, a very interesting reflection on character, you’ll notice here. Verse 17: “And now Limhi was desirous that his father should not be destroyed [Limhi was a righteous man, but Noah was his father; he did the noble and right thing, even though Noah was his father, which threatened to make him unpopular]; nevertheless, Limhi was not ignorant of the iniquities of his father, he himself being a just man.” Even in such a cesspool there can be just men, and there are. It never gets that bad. Limhi had feelings [for his father]. He was Noah’s son, and we don’t judge people. Don’t judge people by their parents and relatives. Verse 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.” Gideon wasn’t going to let up; he was a tough character, you know that. He pursued him all the way. Gideon still had it in for the king; he secretly continued the searching operation. He caught up with the whole royal force, except the king and his priests who had skipped on ahead again. He [the king] was always leaving his supporters in the lurch if he could get away faster. “And it came to pass that they met the people in the wilderness, all save the king and his priests.” The king and the priests were the cause of the whole trouble, so when they fled, there was no reason why the people shouldn’t go back. So they decided they’d go back again, all the rest of them.
123,124 Mosiah 19:19 Or would they? This is what happened; this is why the king had gone on ahead. “Now they had sworn in their hearts that they would return to the land of Nephi [so they wanted to go back; they wanted to go back to their wives and children; they didn’t want to be out here with the king].... And the king commanded them that they should not return [they had to stay with him again] and they were angry with the king, and caused that he should suffer, even unto death by fire” (Mosiah 19:20). This is the priests that went on with them. They were going to go back, and finally he commanded the last group that was with him to continue, and this had gone too far. They were going to go back, so they burned the king. This is the normal thing. It’s very interesting
124 Mosiah 19:22-24 So this is what they did. They burned the king, and then they fled by themselves without the king. “And it came to pass that they were about to return to the land of Nephi, and they met the men of Gideon.” Once they got rid of the king, everybody wanted to go back home to the land of Nephi. But was it safe? They’d have to go back under these conditions, that they share, because of what they’d done. They went back to the land of Nephi, and on their way back who should they meet but the men of Gideon. And notice the MEN OF GIDEON is definitely a title here. It’s referred to four times all of a sudden. We find in verse 24 that Gideon wasn’t present with them. They weren’t called the men of Gideon because they were his company. He was back home, and they called themselves the men of Gideon. So it was a regular party now. (I guess we should capitalize it.) “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 [so they explained the situation back home to them]. And the people told the men of Gideon that they had slain the king, and his priests had fled from them farther into the wilderness.” This was the rest of the company that went. The priests went on ahead after they got rid of the king. So the priests were the ones who were off in the woods by themselves, and they really did some mischief.
125 Mosiah 19:24 “And it came to pass that after they had ended the ceremony, that they returned to the land of Nephi.” This is a very interesting thing here—what ceremony, you immediately ask? Notice the men of Gideon—we’re going to find out about them here. The term men of Gideon is used three times in these two verses like a title. Gideon’s followers, as might be expected, had formed a party around the old reliable fire-eater. Gideon was not with them, as we learn in verse 24. They were a special party or alliance to bear the name even in his absence, the party of Gideon. He’d been going right from the beginning, too. Now the 24th verse: “And it came to pass that after they had ended the ceremony, that they returned to the land of Nephi.” Now what ceremony is mentioned in verse 24? Well, it’s very clear. Remember these people had left the town, and Gideon had come to catch up with them and punish their leader. Gideon couldn’t leave Noah alone—he was on his heels all the time.
125 So they were hostile parties who were opposed to each other. One was the refugees, and the other was the avenging party following them, so they were hostile. They couldn’t go back home together until they had settled, smoked the peace pipe, and had the ceremony. You have to have a ceremony before you can reach peace with a hostile group. You either fight them or have the ceremony, so that’s what they did. They had a peace ceremony. They always have that, but this is putting it so casually, as if Joseph Smith knew exactly what he was saying. They carried out certain rites of reconciliation here, which is very common and has to be done, as far as that goes. It’s unthinkable to omit it. Then they went back and told Gideon himself all that they told the men of Gideon about the king, his old rival. Then Limhi and the Lamanite king both agreed and swore to the treaty. Limhi hadn’t left; they’d been out with Gideon’s people. They swore to the treaty under which the Nephites would settle down as wards of the Lamanites, completely surrounded by them. This was the condition that Ammon found them in. And the treaty was respected on both sides for two years, as we learn in verse 29, but it had the seeds of conflict in it.
125,126 Mosiah 19:28 Incidentally, I should have noted something at the beginning of this chapter here. Chapters 15 and 16 are the doctrinal chapters of Abinadi, and then 17 and 18 describe Alma’s community in the wilderness by the waters of Mormon as an idyllic setting. But these chapters, from 19 on, are the most enlightening of all. After the description of the Church, the subject here is how to deal with your enemies. Many interesting test cases are presented here for our profit and learning on how to deal with your enemies. They’re dealing with enemies here. Notice this settlement we’ve just mentioned. They made their peace. After the ceremony, they were all ready to go back home and be happy together, but they were still dealing with them. Then Limhi was under very close guard by the Lamanite king. You’ll notice in verse 28 that the Lamanite king was taking no chances; he’d had experience. He sent out inspection teams to insure compliance. “And the king of the Lamanites set guards round about the land.” He’s going to watch to make sure they keep the treaty now that they’ve made it. It shows various ways of dealing with enemies, various degrees.
126 Mosiah 19:29: Now in the next chapter it breaks into a real cold war. Two years was all they could take of this; the pressure was too great on them. After they made an oath and paid a tribute of one half, “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 [he was going to keep them here; they had been fooled too many times; this departing into the wilderness had been routine]; and he did support his guards out of the tribute which he did receive from the Nephites.” So the tributes they paid went to support the guards that watched over them, a very normal operation. You’ve got to pay for them somehow. All right, we collect half the Nephites’ crops, and that pays for the guards. Verse 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.” It was profitable to them, but it wasn’t very pleasant for the Nephites. So what are they going to do?
126 Mosiah 20:1,2 More dealing with your enemies in chapter 20. “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.” Now this reminds us of all sorts of things. Notice, there was a particular place to sing and dance and make themselves merry. At the end of the year, after all the formal dances have taken place, then the girls among the Hopis have three dances. These are fun dances. They are for relaxation more than anything, but they are still very ritually conditioned. They go out to the desert alone by themselves to celebrate. They go to a big black rock that has a lot of bumps in it, and these bumps are supposed to have significance. As it says here, the girls go out to a particular place to make themselves merry. That’s exactly what they’re doing.
132 Mosiah 20: 3-5 These [Lamanite] girls were out there [dancing]. The discredited priests of Noah were afraid to go home, and they watched a small company of the girls. If a man watches these rites, he’s [supposed to be] struck blind. “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 daughters of the Lamanites they carried into the wilderness.” This is plundering, which used to be a common thing, according to an anthropologist at Berkeley. They used to teach that the bridal veil came from that. You had to catch your bride, and so you went and threw a net over her. That was the bridal veil, the net you threw over her to catch her.
133 Mosiah 20:8 When they found out that their daughters were missing and didn’t come home, they thought naturally it was the people of Limhi that had fled out there from the town—they hadn’t all come back, and that they had done this. Now we have a very interesting business on how to deal with a very touchy, dangerous situation. Notice how well the leaders, Limhi and the Lamanite king, handled it. This is what happened: “And now Limhi had discovered them from the tower, even all their preparations for war did he discover [like the glistening goggles that I was talking about; I mean, if that dark thing disturbs the peace of our celebration here, you can see what all this shining metal would do in the woods]; therefore he gathered his people together, and laid wait for them in the fields and in the forests [so that’s what the terrain was, and he was going to catch them].... The people of Limhi began to fall upon them from their waiting places, and began to slay them. And it came to pass that the battle became exceedingly sore, for they fought like lions for their prey” (Mosiah 20:8-10). And they won—they fought like dragons. That’s a very interesting thing that it uses the word dragons here. There was this surprising ferocity. You wouldn’t think dragons, a concept from the Old World, would be found among these people, but it is. The one-horn and the two-horn societies get themselves up as savagely as possible, and you know in Central America this is common. The warrior phratries, every one of them, had monsters for their emblems, and they wore the mask. You see this on the vase paintings and the murals, etc. They wore these monster masks for emblems, and there was nothing more popular than the snake with the horns and all the rest. The dragons, and other monsters appear there. So it says they fought like dragons. The Lamanites must have been pretty spectacularly gotten up. They did these things later on, even more so.
133,134 Mosiah 20:12 There was a great deal of slaughter with their warrior castes. Verse 12: “And it came to pass that they found the king of the Lamanites among the number of their dead [they thought he was dead but he was only wounded].... And they took him and bound up his wounds, and brought him before Limhi.” Well, that was the right thing to do, of course. And then what happened? They brought him for execution and said, “Let us slay him.” But you notice Limhi was a very sensible person. He was tolerant of his own father, because there was nothing much he could do about it. Being that kind of a person, his father was going to go on doing it. But he did what he thought was right because he was a righteous man. Here again, they all came saying, hurray, hurray, we’ve won; let’s put the king to death—which is the thing you do. That’s what checkmate is—”the king is dead.” In all Semitic languages, and especially Egyptian, mat means dead. Checkmate means “the king is dead,” when you win the game. We’ve won the game; let’s kill the king. But Limhi said, no. “Ye shall not slay him, but bring him hither that I may see him [and they question him]. .. . What cause have ye to come up to war against my people? [what are you fighting for, anyway?] Behold, my people have not broken the oath that I made unto you [but they thought they had broken the oath]; therefore, why should ye break the oath that ye made unto my people?” You broke your oath, we didn’t break ours—the usual charges.
134 Mosiah 20:15 “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.” Limhi had heard nothing concerning this. He didn’t know anything about this breaking of the oath, because it was the priests who had done it, not his people. So he said, “I will search among my people, and whosoever has done this thing shall perish.” I’ll launch a thorough investigation, he says in verse 16. This is not the usual reaction. The usual reaction would be “boys will be boys.” Following lots of atrocities, we can just say “boys will be boys,” but he’s going to see that this is done.
134 Mosiah 20:17-20 “Now when Gideon had heard these things, he being the king’s captain ...” He was there when they had brought the captive king up there; naturally the chief military man had to be present for consultation. So he said, hey, we know who did that, remember? Don’t search this people; go out and look for the priests of thy father [paraphrased]. Now there’s a very interesting rhetorical device used here. It tells us what the word is here. In Arabic, for example, and in Hebrew less, you cannot begin a sentence cold. You just can’t say “he went into the house” or “there was a house on the hill.” You have to begin with HINNEH, behold. Behold, this happened, whether it’s a nominal sentence or a verbal sentence. You begin with HINNEH or behold, or it is so. But in urgent cases you have to introduce what you’re saying by an excitement word. In Egyptian you have to use it before every sentence. In this case it would be WN IN. And notice the way he builds up here. The way it’s translated here is behold. He says in verse 18: “For do ye not remember the priests of thy father whom this people sought to destroy? [he gets more excited about it]. And are they not in the wilderness? And are not they the ones who have stolen the daughters of the Lamanites?” And now behold, and tell is redundant, but it’s used three times in this sentence: “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. And behold, they come with their numerous hosts” (Mosiah 20:19-20). See, he builds up the climax and excitement; he says we’ve got to act quickly here. It’s just like it came to his mind in a flash. He knows who it was now, so he uses this series of beholds which are very Semitic, very eloquent, and very necessary. Anybody could see that. Joseph Smith knew this very well, of course [speaking ironically].
135 Mosiah 20:20 “And behold, they come with their numerous hosts; and except the king doth pacify them toward us we must perish [you’ve got to do something]. 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?” All this progeny of evil comes of us, from our debate, from our dissension. It always comes back to our own guilt. Here we are, having come full circle here.
135 Question: Why do you think that Limhi became king after his father was deposed instead of Gideon seizing power?
Answer: He didn’t seize power. It was the Lamanites that made him king; they put him in. The Lamanites trusted him, and he was a man you could trust. He was reliable. You’ll notice he had this agreement all along with the Lamanite king, and that’s why he was in. Gideon was a fire-eater. He was chasing around anyway. He was too busy getting rid of Noah.
135 Question: Are you saying that if the Lamanite king hadn’t put Limhi in charge, Gideon might have become king and seized power? Answer: Yes, if he had seized power. He was a revolutionary and had already chased the king out with a sword. He was not necessarily ambitious, but he had a thing for Noah— one of these classic feuds.