Book of Mormon: The Importance of Communicating Clearly instead of Assuming and Acting Rashly in the Stories of Limhi (Mosiah 20)
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The stories with Limhi show the importance of communicating clearly instead of acting on assumptions.
This first mentioned is the last to happen; it’s when Ammon and his men show up. At first, Limhi is going to kill them; but he decides to hear them out, and luckily for him and his people, they are not the priests of king Noah, but saviors from Zarahemla, whom Limhi had searched for but thought destroyed:
Mosiah 7:7 And behold, they met the king of the people who were in the land of Nephi, and in the land of Shilom; and they were surrounded by the king’s guard, and were taken, and were bound, and were committed to prison.
8 And it came to pass when they had been in prison two days they were again brought before the king, and their bands were loosed; and they stood before the king, and were permitted, or rather commanded, that they should answer the questions which he should ask them.
9 And he said unto them: Behold, I am Limhi…
10 And now, I desire to know the cause whereby ye were so bold as to come near the walls of the city, when I, myself, was with my guards without the gate?
11 And now, for this cause have I suffered that ye should be preserved, that I might inquire of you, or else I should have caused that my guards should have put you to death. Ye are permitted to speak.
12 And now, when Ammon saw that he was permitted to speak, he went forth and bowed himself before the king; and rising again he said: O king, I am very thankful before God this day that I am yet alive, and am permitted to speak; and I will endeavor to speak with boldness;
13 For I am assured that if ye had known me ye would not have suffered that I should have worn these bands. For I am Ammon, and am a descendant of Zarahemla, and have come up out of the land of Zarahemla to inquire concerning our brethren, whom Zeniff brought up out of that land.
14 And now, it came to pass that after Limhi had heard the words of Ammon, he was exceedingly glad, and said: Now, I know of a surety that my brethren who were in the land of Zarahemla are yet alive. And now, I will rejoice; and on the morrow I will cause that my people shall rejoice also.
Mosiah 21:23 And the king having been without the gates of the city with his guard, discovered Ammon and his brethren; and supposing them to be priests of Noah therefore he caused that they should be taken, and bound, and cast into prison. And had they been the priests of Noah he would have caused that they should be put to death.
The second situation is when king Noah commands his men to not go back. I don’t know why, when they had already sworn a blood oath that they were going to:
Mosiah 19:19 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.
Then the same men:
Mosiah 19:21 … they were about to take the priests also and put them to death, and they fled before them.
They could have arrested them, held them, taken them back, waited for the new king to decide; but they figured they’d go ahead and try it, and so the priests ran. That led to many future problems.
Here’s a lifesaver. The Lamanites assume the people of Lehi kidnapped their daughters, which led to many Lamanites being slain:
Mosiah 20:6 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.
11 And it came to pass that the people of Limhi began to drive the Lamanites before them…
The Nephites find the Lamanite king, and want to kill him; but they take him to king Limhi, who wants to ask him questions. By doing so, king Limhi finds out the reason for the attack:
12 And it came to pass that they found the king of the Lamanites…
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.
Had they killed the king, they might not have ever known.
King Limhi searches for the guilty among his people, but Gideon has the truth.
16 And now Limhi had heard nothing concerning this matter; therefore he said: I will search among my people and whosoever has done this thing shall perish. Therefore he caused a search to be made among his people.
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?
And it’s a good thing they didn’t kill the king, because even if they had known the reason for the Lamanite attacks, it wouldn’t have been enough; the king can save them:
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.
22 And now let us pacify the king…let us put a stop to the shedding of so much blood.
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.
The Lamanite king tells his people the truth, and along with other reasons, the Lamanites stop the attack:
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.
Finally, king Limhi and Ammon want to get the Nephites out; but how? Limhi does something most leaders would never do: he gathers his people, and asks them:
Mosiah 22:1 And now it came to pass that Ammon and king Limhi began to consult with the people how they should deliver themselves out of bondage; and even they did cause that all the people should gather themselves together; and this they did that they might have the voice of the people concerning the matter.
2 And it came to pass that they could find no way to deliver themselves out of bondage, except it were to take their women and children, and their flocks, and their herds, and their tents, and depart into the wilderness; for the Lamanites being so numerous, it was impossible for the people of Limhi to contend with them, thinking to deliver themselves out of bondage by the sword.
3 Now it came to pass that Gideon went forth and stood before the king, and said unto him: Now O king, thou hast hitherto hearkened unto my words many times when we have been contending with our brethren, the Lamanites.
4 And now O king, if thou hast not found me to be an unprofitable servant, or if thou hast hitherto listened to my words in any degree, and they have been of service to thee, even so I desire that thou wouldst listen to my words at this time, and I will be thy servant and deliver this people out of bondage.
5 And the king granted unto him that he might speak. And Gideon said unto him:
6 Behold the back pass, through the back wall, on the back side of the city. The Lamanites, or the guards of the Lamanites, by night are drunken; therefore let us send a proclamation among all this people that they gather together their flocks and herds, that they may drive them into the wilderness by night.
7 And I will go according to thy command and pay the last tribute of wine to the Lamanites, and they will be drunken; and we will pass through the secret pass on the left of their camp when they are drunken and asleep.
8 Thus we will depart with our women and our children, our flocks, and our herds into the wilderness; and we will travel around the land of Shilom.
9 And it came to pass that the king hearkened unto the words of Gideon.
That’s a LOT of communication situations with good and bad consequences!
Book of Mormon Notes-- How deep can you dig? 