Mosiah 7 All

The Book of Mormon > Mosiah > Chapter 7

Questions

Verse 1

• What does it mean to go "up"? Does that mean in elevation, northward, or what?
• Is there a difference between the "land" and the "city" of Lehi-Nephi.
• What does the word "teasings" mean here?

Verse 2

• Why would the king need to "grant" the men to go on the expedition to Lehi-Nephi?
• Is there a significance to the number 16, or does this just happen to be the number of men chosen to go?

Verse 3

• Who is this Ammon? Did King Mosiah name his own son after this "descendant of Zarahemla"? If so, why? Was Mosiah perhaps married to a high-ranking "descendant of Zarahemla" himself? Perhaps even a relative (daughter or sister) of Ammon? Why was a "descendant of Zarahemla" sent out as a leader of a Nephite expedition? Was he just the leader of this party, or did he have a leadership role within his own people, perhaps as a direct descendant of the previous Mulekite King Zarahemla?

Verse 4

• What is the significance of the men wandering 40 days? How and where else is the phrase "forty days" used in the scriptures? How often is this phrase associated with "wilderness" and mountains or hills?

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The Book of Mormon > Mosiah > Chapter 7

Questions

Verse 6

• What does it mean that these men were "brethren" of Ammon? Does that mean that they were blood relatives or even brothers, and hence all royal Mulekite descendants of Zarahemla?
• If these men are Mulekites, why are they being sent to inquire about lost Nephites?
• Why are we given the names of these men, who we never hear from again? Or do we hear about them again, but perhaps haven't recognized it? Is this Amaleki the same man (Amlici--perhaps a variant spelling, see here) who 30 years later becomes the leader of the Amalekites/Amlicites who give Alma so much trouble in the first half of the Book of Alma?
• Is there a connection between this Helem and the Helam that Alma baptizes in the Waters of Mormon? Does this similarity of names indicate a blood relationship between the two, or merely some other cultural connection?
• What are the parallels between the mission of this Ammon and his three brothers to the Land of Lehi-Nephi and the mission of Ammon (the son of Mosiah) and his three brothers to the Land of Nephi?
• What other scriptural or cultural examples do we have of journeys taken by four brothers? What literary or other patterns might be suggested by these stories?

Verse 9

• Limhi claims to have been "made a king by the voice of the people". Does that imply that he was elected, or does this mean something else? What kind of a king is "made...by the voice of the people"?

Verse 10

• With such high tensions between the people of Limhi and their Lamanite neighbors/overlords, why would the king be outside the gates of the city?

Lexical notes

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• Bacabs In Ancient Mesoamerica, there was an important tradition of four divine brothers--known to the Maya as the Bacabs. There were also tales of four brothers as founding fathers of various groups. It is possible that the stories of the two Ammon journeys, each involving four brothers, somehow resonated with these stories of divine brothers. More explorations of this here.

The Book of Mormon > Mosiah > Chapter 7

Questions

Verse 13

• In what sense does Ammon use the term "brethren" here? Does he mean just his own Mulekite relatives, or does he mean something else? Do the Mulekites and Nephites consider themselves united and "brethren" at this time?

Verse 14

• What does Limhi mean by his own use of the term "brethren"?

Verse 15

• Why would Limhi think it better to be a slave to the Nephites than to pay tribute to the Lamanites?

Lexical notes

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Exegesis

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The Book of Mormon > Mosiah > Chapter 7

Questions

Verse 17

• What is this temple? Is it the same temple originally built by Nephi?

Verse 18

• What does the word effectual mean? What is Limhi saying when he says "there remaineth an effectual struggle"?
• What does it mean to "lift up your heads"? What does this have to do with being comforted?

Verse 20

• What does it mean to say that God "brought [Limhi's people] into bondage"? What role did God play in their falling into bondage?

Lexical notes

• In the New Testament, the King James Translation uses the word "effectual" most often in conjunction with the word "work" as a translation of the Greek verbs Energeia or Energeo--both signifying power, work, or energy that "effects" some kind of change (cf. Eph 3:7, Eph 4:16). The verb Energeia is only used when describing supernatural spiritual powers (be they good or evil). While we have no idea what original word was used in verse 18, it is possible that in the Biblical lexicon of Joseph Smith, the phrase translated here as 'effectual struggle" similarly means a struggle conducted by supernatural or divine power--as seems to be indicated in the following verse. If so, Limhi is saying that while they have already struggled themselves, they are about to receive supernatural power to aid in that struggle.

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The Book of Mormon > Mosiah > Chapter 7

Questions

Verse 21

• What does it mean that Zeniff "was made king over this people"? How was he selected? What did it mean for him to be a king? Why might he have been so chosen?
• What does it mean to be "over-zealous"? In what way was Zeniff "over-zealous"? Why would he be so interested in inheriting the "land of his fathers"?

Verse 25

• How does the theme of contentions play out throughout the record of Zeniff?

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Verse 22

• Corn John L. Sorenson wrote an interesting article on whether or not the Nephites encountered and intermingled with other native american groups upon arriving in the New World. One point he makes is that this early mention of "corn" (repeated in Mosiah 9:9 and 14) is evidence of cultural intermingling because maize is only a domestic plant whose care must be explained to newcomers (think Thanksgiving Story) but that had already become predominant in Nephite culture (as indicated by primary placement in both of these verses). Sorenson, John L. When Lehi's Party Arrived in the Land, Did They Find Others There? Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, 1992. Pp. 1-34. Of course, there is an older use of the word "corn" that predates Europeans' introduction to maize.

The Book of Mormon > Mosiah > Chapter 7

Questions

Verse 26

• In most of this chapter, Limhi uses the word God. But here he refers to Abinadi as "a prophet of the Lord". What does this mean? Is this a reference to Abinadi's specific teachings about Christ?
• What does it mean for Abinadi to have been "a chosen man of God"? In what sense was he "chosen"?

Verse 27

• What reason does Limhi give here for Abinadi's martyrdom? How might his teachings have formed the basis for a capital offense?

Verse 29

• What does it mean for the Lord to "not succor [his] people?
• How does the Lord "hedge up [the] ways [of his people]"? What does it mean to hedge up?
• In what sense do the Nephites understand the term "prosper"? How might this be related to scriptural promises?
• How can our doings become a stumbling block?

Verse 30

• What does it mean to "sow filthiness"?
• What does it mean to "reap the chaff thereof in the whirlwind"? Does this mean the chaff of filthiness? What does that even mean?
• How is the "effect" of reaping the chaff a "poison"?

Lexical notes

• Succor. This word appears three times in the King James Version of the Holy Bible (as succour). It appears six times in the Book of Mormon and twice in the Doctrine & Covenants. According to the 1828 Webster's Dictionary, succor (the verb) means "literally, to run to, or run to support; hence, to help or relieve when in difficulty, want or distress; to assist and deliver from suffering; as, to succor a besieged city; to succor prisoners" and as a noun, means "aid; help; assistance; particularly, assistance that relieves and delivers from difficulty, want or distress."
• Hedge up. In the KJV of the Old Testament, this phrase only appears once at Hosea 2:6.

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The Book of Mormon > Mosiah > Chapter 7

Questions

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Lexical notes

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Exegesis

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