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LESSON #1: MAKING SENSE OF MOSIAH
Well, if there is any book in the Book of Mormon that is the most chronologically complicated, it would be the Book of Mosiah. It’s a bit all over the place and, granted, a little hard to follow. You’ve got a number of various journeys taking place, you have simultaneous accounts running, you’ve have flashbacks, and even flashbacks within flashbacks, and everybody seems to get lost in the wilderness at some point in the story, I mean, you’re just not cool if you don’t get lost in wilderness in the Book of Mosiah. So if you’re like me, and you can just picture it visually, it tends to make a little more sense. So before we get into the real meat of the lesson, the spiritual message of these chapters of Mosiah, I’d like to lead you through a brief visual overview of how the Book of Mosiah is put together as if it were told chronologically, at least up to chapter 24 because the narrative becomes a bit easier to understand after that point.
So we’re going to pick up the story a number of years before King Benjamin arrives on the scene and travel back to about 200 BC when Benjamin’s father, Mosiah 1st has been appointed King over the land of Zarahemla. That’s where the Nephite population is concentrated. The Lamanites, on the other hand, control the lands that Lehi had originally settled when he and his family first arrived in the promised land. And they called that land the land of Nephi—which is kind of ironic that the Lamanites actually inhabit the land of Nephi. So keep that in mind as you study the Book of Mormon.
Chronologically speaking, the first chapter of Mosiah would be Mosiah 9. And at some point during Mosiah 1’s reign, a man named Zeniff, and a group of Nephites decide to enter the lands of the Lamanites and propose a treaty with them to inhabit the now decaying city of Lehi-Nephi. And lo and behold, the Lamanite King agrees. He moves his people out of the area and allows Zeniff and his people to occupy it and rebuild the city. To Zeniff, this is a pleasant surprise. Wow! The Lamanites are being awfully accommodating here. However it’s a trap. The King of the Lamanites is hoping that the Nephites will build up the area, and then later he will be able to attack them and put them into bondage before they get too strong.
Well, after a number of years, that’s exactly what happens. The Lamanites do attack Zeniff’s people and attempt to overtake them. They try twice and they fail twice. Zeniff’s people are able to hold them off and maintain the city. And that’s going to take us all the way to Mosiah chapter 10.
Now Zeniff eventually dies but before he does he confers the kingdom on his son Noah. Yes, that Noah. The infamous King Noah who reigns in iniquity with his cronies, the wicked priests. So the Lord sends a prophet by the name of Abinadi to warn them and call them to repentance. The story and teachings of Abinadi comprise chapters 11 all the way to 17. Eventually however, Abinadi is burned by Noah.
But before Abinadi is burned, one of those wicked priests, a man by the name of Alma believes Abinadi and begins to stand up for him. This angers King Noah, and he orders Alma to be put to death, but Alma escapes and secretly goes about preaching Abinadi’s words and leads a group of people to a place called the waters of Mormon, where he baptizes them. That story is found in Mosiah 17-18.
But back in town, eventually the Lamanites are up to their old tricks, and they decide to attack the land of Lehi-Nephi again to accomplish their original design of putting them into bondage, and this time THEY WIN. They conquer the city, King Noah is burned (by his own people, by the way, not the Lamanites), and the people are planning on doing the same to the wicked priests, but they escape. Then Noah's son, Limhi (a righteous man, actually) reigns in his stead as a sort of tributary monarch under Lamanite control. All of that is described in Mosiah 19.
In the meantime, while all this has been happening. Alma has established a new city with his followers called the land of Helam, and there they are living in peace. This is described in Mosiah 23.
But those wicked priests out there in the wilderness are getting a bit lonely and so they decide that they need some wives, but I think they understand that they can’t just walk into Lehi-Nephi or the Lamanite lands and start asking for dates. So they kidnap 24 of the daughters of the Lamanites and carry them into the wilderness. That’s Mosiah 20.
Limhi’s people now. During their captivity, Limhi sends a group of men to try and find the city of Zarahemla, because, at that point, they are under such strict taxation and bondage to the Lamanites that they just want a way out. But they don’t know where Zarahemla is anymore. But those men he sends don’t find Zarahemla, they get lost, like everybody does. But they do come across a land covered in bones and ruins. And what they’ve stumbled upon is the remains of the Jaredite nation from hundreds of years prior. Therefore, they return to the city of Lehi-Nephi unsuccessful, resigned to their lot. That story is found in Mosiah 21:25-27.
Now back in Zarahemla, during all these years, Mosiah has been succeeded by Benjamin, who has then been succeeded by Mosiah 2nd. And Mosiah 2nd decides to allow a man named Ammon and a group of others to try and find out whatever happened to the people of Zeniff who had left all those years ago. And in their search, they DO stumble upon Limhi’s people in the city of Lehi-Nephi.
That story takes us all the way back to Mosiah 7-8. Everything that we’ve been looking at so far between Mosiah 9 and 21 has been a flashback.
Well, luckily for Limhi and his people, Ammon actually knows the way back to Zarahemla. Maybe they finally got smart and left a bread crumb trail or something. I don’t know, but they devise a plan to escape. The Lamanite guards are made drunk, and they sneak out through the city gates and make their way back to Zarahemla to join with Mosiah’s people. This happens in Mosiah 22.
Well what about Alma and those wicked priests out there?
An army of Lamanites has been sent out to look for the priests that had kidnapped their daughters, which they eventually find. And they are about to kill them, but somehow the priests have convinced these girls to like them, and they plead for their husbands. The Lamanites are appeased, and they allow them to join them. They want to make their way back to their lands in the land of Nephi, but of course, they get lost. And while they’re out there wandering around, who do they happen to stumble upon but Alma and his people in the land of Helam. Now they promise Alma that if he will help them get back to the land of Nephi that they’ll let them be free. Alma agrees and shows them the way. but they don’t keep their promise. They do come back and put Alma’s people in bondage. And in a cruel, ironic twist of fate, who do the Lamanites decide to put in charge over Alma and his people? None other than the wicked priests. That story takes place in Mosiah 23-24.
Well, Alma and his people suffer for a time. But they pray, and eventually the Lord sees fit to deliver them. A deep sleep comes over their guards, and Alma and his people make their way back to the city of Zarahemla where they are welcomed by the people. And that is how Mosiah 24 ends. Everybody is back in the land of Zarahemla and safe.
Well, I hope that was more helpful than it was confusing. There is certainly a lot happening within the pages of this book and we’ll be referring back to this timeline over the next few lessons
And one quick point here. The fact that Mosiah has such a complicated timeline to me speaks to the fact that Joseph Smith really did translate the Book of Mormon and did not write it by himself. Can you imagine trying to keep track of all those storylines, and flashbacks, and characters, and for it all to work out without any discrepancies or errors? That, to me, is a testament to the fact that this a true account and not a mere work of fiction. It also augments one of the biggest lessons that we learn from the book of Mosiah. You might reflect on that whole turn of events and conclude, “Wouldn’t it have been better had everyone just stayed in the land of Zarahemla to begin with? Then they wouldn’t have had all these complications”. And to that I say, “Yes! That’s the key. Life gets complicated outside the walls of Zarahemla.” Let’s examine that theme a little more closely.
LESSON #2: DON’T LEAVE ZARAHEMLA!
OBJECT
For an object to this lesson, see if you can get your hands on a warning sign of some sort. Or you could just show this slide if you prefer. But if you’d like an actual sign to display, I’ll put an Amazon link in the video description below. (https://amzn.to/3WcPnlSW)
ICEBREAKER
Then for an icebreaker, you could ask your students if any have ever been to the Grand Canyon before. Then inform them that on average, at least 1 to 2 people per year lose their lives every year by falling into it. Now, by and large, those incidents happen because people knowingly decide to leave the relative safety of the walkways, guardrails, and fences to venture out on to the cliffs and pinnacles at the canyon’s edge in an effort to get impressive pictures or selfies to post on their social media accounts. They ignore the numerous signs and warnings, and they wander out into dangerous territory. And this isn’t just a modern phenomenon. One of the first recorded incidents of people falling into the Grand Canyon happened in 1925 when Louis W. Thompson set up his camera and walked back from it to get into the frame. While stepping back, he lost his footing and plummeted to his death. Since then, dozens of other tourists have climbed fences, ignored warnings and then, met the same fate as Louis all those years before. One such instance is the story of Gabriel Comerford, who in 1999 asked some bystanders to take a picture of him while he clambered over the guardrail and out onto a pinnacle. Sadly, he too lost his footing and fell over the edge of the cliff. In fact, if you wanted, you could show them a brief video of a close call. It shows two women out on the cliffs attempting to get a picture, when one of them slips, but catches her balance just in time. You can click up here if you’d like to see that really quick (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaklbme75g8&t=26s) It just goes to show, though, how easily and quickly things can go wrong when you ignore the warning signs. The moral of the story? Don’t leave places of safety! Life is good behind the guardrails. When we decide to ignore well intentioned warning signs, we place ourselves in enemy territory, and perhaps, put our very lives at risk.
Now these stories remind me a lot of the Book of Mosiah. I just walked you through a brief history of the movements of all the various groups of people we encounter in this portion of the Book of Mormon and much of that story can be traced back to the decision of one man and a group of his followers who decide to leave Zarahemla to settle in Lamanite controlled lands. Now there’s a negative way of approaching that story and there is a positive one as well. We’ll do both. But we’re going to start with the negative and then we’ll cover the positive. That one man, as I said earlier, was Zeniff and Zeniff is not a wicked man, but I might call him foolhardy? Dangerously optimistic? Or we’re going to get a much better descriptive word for him in Mosiah chapter 7.
LIKENING THE SCRIPTURES
And that’s where we’ll begin. Mosiah chapter 7 is a great place to practice the skill of likening the scriptures. We’re going to examine that story, and see if it can teach us something that can help us with our own decisions. Therefore, we’re going to liken the city Zarahemla to the safety of the gospel of Jesus Christ, his restored Church, or the commandments and counsels that it teaches. The lands of the Lamanites, on the other hand, we’re going to compare to the world, or sin, or life outside the safety of Christ’s church. So what Could Zeniff’s actions represent? Let’s compare that action to somebody that decides to leave the safety of Christ’s path, his Church, or the commandments and counsels of the gospel.
Now, how many of you know a Zeniff? Someone who has left Zarahemla? They’ve left the path, they’ve left Christ’s church, or they’ve decided to ignore one or many of the commandments? Or, maybe that person is you. You’ve had the experience of being a Zeniff. You’ve left Zarahemla at some point in your life, or your contemplating leaving Zarahemla. Or someone you love is a Zeniff? However you approach it, with that perspective, these chapters can teach us some deep and powerful insights.
And we’re actually introduced to the Zeniff story near its conclusion. In fact, three generations have passed since that fateful day that he and his people left the city. Zeniff is long since dead at this point when we pick the story up at the beginning of Mosiah chapter 7. And I’m just going to summarize verses 1-16 and tell you that it describes the story of a man named Ammon, not the Ammon who cuts off all the arms, that’s a different Ammon that comes later, but Ammon, a resident of Zarahemla, who leads a group of men to go out and look for what became of Zeniff and his people. Because since they had left all those years ago, they had not been seen or heard from since. And King Mosiah 2nd relents and allows Ammon and a group of men to set off into the wilderness to go and find their brethren. Which, if we’re likening the scriptures, Ammon could be a great symbol or example of those who seek to find and bring back the lost. To reactivate or rescue those that have left the fold. Sometimes, that’s what they need. They just need someone who knows the way and is willing to lead them back to Zarahemla. And in Ammon’s efforts, lo and behold, they do find Zeniff’s people, or their descendants at least. Zeniff’s grandson, Limhi, is the leader now. And they discover that Limhi’s people are in bondage to the Lamanites. Things are not good. But when Ammon shows up, and tells them that they know the way back to Zarahemla it fills them with hope. And King Limhi gathers his people together for a speech.
And starting in verse 17, King Limhi is going to do three things. One, he’s going to do a recap of what he feels brought them to their current state—the mistakes that were made that led them to that situation. Two, he’s going to describe the consequences of those mistakes. But then, he’s also going to do one thing more. He’s going to speak of hope. He’s going to tell them what he felt they needed to do in order to obtain their freedom once again and return to the land of Zarahemla.
SEARCH
And that’s what we’re going to look for here. We’re going to approach this as a marking activity. Encourage your students to pick three different colors, and create the following labels in their scriptures.
The Trap, or Where did they go wrong?
The Consequences, or What were the results of making those mistakes?
And The Hope, or What did they need to do in order to escape those consequences?
Then, you can either encourage your students to read Mosiah 7:17-33 on their own, or you can do it as a class, or you can read it to them as a teacher, or you could play a recording of it from the Church website or Gospel Library app. Either way, number your students off as 1’s, 2’s, or 3’s and encourage them to search those verses from that particular perspective. Looking for the trap, the consequences, or the hope. Then after you’ve read, ask your students to share what they found. What did they mark? And as you have that discussion, when they share a phrase, be ready to ask them how we can liken that to ourselves. What does that teach us about leaving the safety of the gospel and church, and also, what does it teach us about returning back.
Here are some of my thoughts.
Zeniff begins with the message of hope. He says in verse 18. Lift up your heads and be comforted. What a great way to begin. It’s not with a reprimand, it’s not with an, “I told you so.” It’s, “Be comforted. There is a way out! We can be freed from our enemies!” The message to us? To those who may have strayed. Don’t abandon hope. Satan wants you to hang your head down and fill you with despair. But there’s no need for this. Be comforted, there is a way back.
However, he also says, “I trust that there remaineth an effectual struggle to be made.” We also need to keep that in mind. Coming back isn’t always going to be easy. There may be some obstacles to overcome. Some habits to abandon. Changes to be made. And I don’t think it’s so much an effectual struggle with God, but with ourselves. We have to turn our hearts back to God. With Limhi’s people, they’re going to have to plan a risky escape. And then, even if it works, they will still have to make their way through the wilderness back to the land of Zarahemla. Getting ourselves back to Zarahemla, or leaving behind the lands of the Lamanites, is typically going to require an effectual struggle.
But, verse 19. Lift up your heads and rejoice. Put your trust in God and this will work! The same with us. If we put our trust in God, he can deliver us! And then notice what Limhi says next. He gives two examples from the scriptures of peoples that God had delivered out of trouble. The children of Israel, and Lehi and his family. The message? We can find hope in the scriptures. They will help you to trust in God and give you examples of what he can do for you! If God can forgive an Alma the Younger, or a Paul, then he can forgive me. If he can lead the children of Israel out of bondage, he can lead me out of spiritual bondage. If a prodigal son can return and be embraced by a loving father, then so can I. The scriptures are full of great examples of people returning.
But then there’s a shift in his speech. He’s going to explain what got them there—or where they went wrong. So let’s put away our HOPE color for a minute and pull out our TRAP one. At the end of verse 20 Limhi says the reason they are in their current predicament is a direct result of their iniquities and abominations. Sin is where they went wrong. It’s just that simple. Disobedience to God’s laws will eventually lead to undesirable ends in the long run. Though, an interesting point. Zeniff’s people didn’t end up in bondage immediately after they leave Zarahemla. No, it’s not until decades later that the bondage comes. There were probably times where Zeniff’s people looked around and said,, “Hey, I’m glad we left Zarahemla! Things are good. What were those Zarahemlaites so worried about. We’re thriving. We’re free. There’s no issues with living in Lamanite lands.” Well, the message is, the consequences for leaving don’t always hit at the moment we leave. There is usually a time period when things seem to be great. But don’t be fooled. It never lasts. Eventually, the bondage will come.
Verse 21 really gives a great description of how that often works. Limhi observes that his grandfather Zeniff was “over-zealous” to inherit the land of his fathers. I think that’s what happens to a lot of us when we leave Zarahemla. We do it because we’re overzealous to obtain something that we want. Overzealousness often leads us to be rash in our decisions because whatever it is that we want, we want it right now. We want to see what the world has to offer. We want to settle in the city of Lehi-Nephi because it seems more exciting and promising. We start to see the walls of Zarahemla more as a barrier than a protection.
The issue with over-zealousness is that there is always somebody waiting in the wings, ready to take advantage of that eagerness. Verse 21 tells us that Zeniff was deceived by the cunning and craftiness of King Laman. Who’s our King Laman? The adversary, and his servants that do uphold his work. There are the cunning and the crafty who are ever ready to exploit our zealousness. The alcohol and tobacco industry are ready to feed our overzealousness to fit in or to feel good. The pornography industry is eagerly waiting to tell us that nobody gets hurt by its product. Hollywood produces filth and passes it off as entertainment by appealing to our basest “natural man” instincts. The world may promise us ease and freedom from the work of Zion, and commandments, and sacrifices, and the callings of Christ’s church. And Satan himself is always there ready to promise you freedom, pleasure, and good times outside the city walls, all the while chuckling under his breath “You’re mine”. Beware of overzealousness. The wise will temper their desires, bridle their passions, put off the natural man, and try to look further down the road with an eternal perspective to the long-term consequences of their decisions.
Well, what does this deception bring them? Let’s take out our consequences color.
In :22 subjection, bondage, and they are forced to pay tribute to the King of the Lamanites. In :23 these things are grievous to be borne, bring great affliction, and give the people great reason to mourn. :24 speaks of mourning again. In :25 he says that a great evil has come upon them. These are the consequences of leaving Zarahemla. And now, they’re trapped. And I’ve spoken to people in that trap. It is grievous. It is afflicting. It is a great evil. My wife worked a long time in a rehab center for women and saw people every day who were bearing grievous burdens, suffering great afflictions, and mourning over past choices.
Bondage and severe taxation are great metaphors for the consequences of sin. And how? Why bondage? Well, sin always leads to a loss of freedom and agency. Satan sought to destroy our agency in the premortal realm and some things never change. He’s still trying to destroy agency. Sin always leads to some kind of bondage or loss of agency. For example, I’ll give you the sin, and you give me the bondage.
Let’s start with an easy one: Alcohol/Tobacco/Drugs. Where’s the bondage? Addiction. Ask the person who is addicted to drugs, tobacco, or alcohol how free they feel. They’ve lost control. They no longer have the ability to say no to these things without a lot of help and work. They’ve lost agency.
Lying: Where’s the bondage? Well, we get trapped by that lie. We have to cover it up, or keep lying to maintain the legitimacy of the first lie. We have to keep track of all our lies and who we told what. Not to mention all the consequences that most likely will come when the truth comes out. The bondage of always worrying that we might be caught.
Pornography or Gambling: Again, addiction, we feel we can’t stop as they pull us deeper and deeper into their clutches.
And then there’s crime: Where’s the bondage there? In that case, it can lead you to actual prison. How free do you think prisoners feel?
How about some tougher ones. What about anger? Where’s the bondage there? How about the way we feel when we can’t take back that thing we said or did to someone we love. Or our anger leads to innocent people being hurt.
How about not keeping the Sabbath day holy? The bondage of lost blessings, guidance, or isolation from God’s people and church.
And in each of those cases, there’s always something the adversary exacts of us. There is a tribute to be paid. What are the taxes of sin?
When we break the Word of Wisdom we pay with our health
With lying: we pay with a loss of trust
Pornography: our peace of mind, our ability to have a meaningful relationship with an actual human being.
Gambling: A loss of all our money
And then one of the biggest things we pay for whatever sin we commit, is the companionship of the Holy Ghost. We lose the Spirit which is a type of bondage all on its own. We may have to pay with our happiness, our knowledge, our opportunities, our self-worth, or our peace of mind.
When you really stop to consider the consequences of sin, it’s just not worth it, is it? These things are truly grievous to be born, cause great affliction, and give us great reason to mourn.
But what if we’re not looking at leaving Zarahemla as representing sin, but leaving the faith. Not everybody who leaves the Church is out there committing terrible sins. But where’s the bondage in that choice? What is lost by making that decision? Well, we forfeit all the wonderful blessings the gospel has to offer us. The blessings of spiritual guidance, temples, scripture, truth, the unity, and community of the Saints, and so much more.
Verses 24-28 I would place in the "TRAP" category as Limhi states that the reason they are in this situation is because of iniquity. And “if this people had not fallen into transgression the Lord would not have suffered that this great evil should come upon them. And then after describing what they did to Abinadi he says “Therefore, who wondereth that they are in bondage, and that they are smitten with sore afflictions.” Sometimes it takes people a long time to come to this conclusion. Often they will fight against the consequences or deny the role of their decisions in bringing them about. Or they get angry at God because “the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin” as Mormon says later in the Book of Mormon (Mormon 2:13). We’ll take a closer look at this phenomenon in chapter 21. You’ll see that it took Limhi’s people some time to get to this level of humility and accepting that responsibility. They didn’t get to this point quickly or easily.
In 30-32 we find the fundamental principle of sin. This is the dark side of the law of the harvest. You reap what you sow. If you plant filthiness, you will harvest chaff in the whirlwind.
But, lest we get too discouraged with all of this, Limhi ends on a note of hope. Vs. 33. But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage. There is an escape, a cure, a solution. Turn back to God, and you can be delivered.
TRUTH
Don’t leave Zarahemla! When we choose to leave the safety of the gospel, Church, or commandments, it will only lead to bondage, tribute, and grievous burdens. BUT, there is always hope and a way back.
TAKING IT TO HEART
Where do you see yourself in this story?
Enjoying the safety and prosperity of Zarahemla?
Feeling overzealous to leave and explore the world outside the walls of the city?
Leaving the city and feeling excited about the “freedom” you expect to enjoy?
Bearing the grievous burdens of bondage?
Seeking to find or rescue the lost like Ammon?
Making your way back to Zarahemla in hope?
And wherever we see ourselves, I hope we can take the lessons we’ve learned from Mosiah 7 as guidance for what to do next.
THE TAKEAWAY
And as a conclusion to all of this, I would plead with all to choose to stay. Stay within the protective, secure walls of the city of God. Let’s not jump the fences and wander out to the edge of the cliff because we think we’ll get a better view or that it can’t really be that dangerous. Nothing will happen to us! Maybe others, but not us. If I could sum up the major message of the entire Book of Mosiah in just three words, I would say “Don’t leave Zarahemla!” with an exclamation point. Beware of overzealousness. Heed the warning signs left by King Limhi and his people here in the Book of Mormon. It’s best to stay in Zarahemla and far away from the lands of the Lamanites. However, if we ever do find ourselves in bondage, paying the heavy taxes of servitude, remember that there is a way out. Christ provides rescue, and escape. We’ll take a look at how that escape takes place for Limhi and Alma’s people in Mosiah 21 and 24 and dive a little deeper into this principle. But remember, we can get back to Zarahemla! It’s not too far! It’s not too late! There is hope.
HANDOUT ACTIVITY
One additional activity that you could do with this particular lesson is this handout. It’s a word search, but also a secret message activity. The challenge is to find all of the indicated words and then, circle the letters that are left over or were not a part of any of the words and enter them in the spaces below. When this is done, the secret message reveals itself. The solution to this puzzle is “DON’T LEAVE ZARAHEMLA!” See how that works.
NOTE ON MOSIAH 8
Now, Mosiah 8. I’m actually going to include the lesson from chapter 8 with next week’s lesson if that’s OK. Thematically, I like to pair chapter 8 with chapter 11 as we talk about a problem that we’re going to call “King Noah Blindness.” But still, let me give you a brief summary of what’s happening here. Ammon shares with King Limhi everything that has happened back at home in Zarahemla since Zeniff left all those years ago. He fills him in on their history and even includes the teachings of King Benjamin. And then Limhi shares with Ammon their history and an interesting tale--how he had sent out a group of men to try and find the city of Zarahemla, but instead had found the ruins of the lands of the Jaredites and a record of that people engraven on plates. But, they’re written in a language that nobody can interpret or understand. This is when Ammon informs Limhi that back in Zarahemla, there is somebody that can interpret records. There is a SEER in Zarahemla—King Mosiah, as a prophet, has the gift of seership, and the Urim and Thummim to help him to translate things of that nature. And he explains to the King what a seer is and how blessed they are to have one in their midst. We’ll talk more about that in depth next week. But if you wanted to include that chapter in this week’s lesson, you could easily connect it with the lesson we just talked about by making the point that: One of the greatest reasons to stay in Zarahemla, is that there is a SEER there. When we leave Zarahemla, it’s so much easier to get lost and blinded because you lose access to the perspective and guidance that a SEER offers. So, stay in Zarahemla, and trust the vision of the SEER. His counsels and leadership can help us to avoid the bondage and taxation of living in Lamanite lands. But let’s move on to chapters 9 and 10 though.
LESSON #3 SEEING WITH ZENIFF’S EYES
OBJECT
The lesson from this section is the more positive approach to the decision made by Zeniff to leave Zarahemla. A suggested object for this section of scripture would be a pair of glasses. They could be prescription glasses, or sunglasses, or safety glasses, or glasses with colored lenses. And you could bring those glasses out and say that glasses change the way we see things. They can make things clearer; they can protect your eyes; they can modify the appearance of everything you look at. And the way we see things, the way we look at thing can make all the difference in what we think, believe, and how we act. Let’s remember that today as we study a man who saw things differently than the others around him and the effect it had.
ICEBREAKER
So an icebreaker you might use for this would be to show a few headlines from world conflicts and atrocities that have occurred over the years. I try not to be too graphic or discouraging but I think it’s important to help your students recognize the reality of these kinds of situations in our world today and the relevance the Book of Mormon has in helping us to understand and cope with it.
So here are a few of the pictures I would show, and I ask you to consider the following question.
What motivates people to do such terrible things to each other? Things like the Holocaust, suicide bombings, genocides, and terrorist attacks. And whatever your thoughts on that topic are, I believe there’s a phrase in Mosiah 10:17 that sums up these kinds of issues really well. Can you find it? We know that throughout the Book of Mormon there are some terrible things that take place between the Nephites and the Lamanites. Atrocities committed, wars fought, many innocent people killed. What motivated those kinds of things? And it's hate or at its most extreme manifestation, eternal hatred. That verse tells us that the Lamanites had an eternal hatred for the Nephites. That means long-lasting, abiding, or persistent hatred. Enos gave us another good descriptive word for it: he called it a fixed hatred.
LIKEN THE SCRIPTURES
Is that problem relevant to our day? I believe it is, and can you think of any modern-day examples of eternal or fixed hatred between people?
The Israeli’s and Palestinians, that’s a conflict that has been around for decades.
For many years it was Russia (or the Soviet Union) and the United States, which for a brief time, it seemed like things were getting better, but sadly it seems like we’re slipping more and more into Cold War like antagonism and again. .
What about the conflict between militant Islam and the western world. Events like 9/11, bombings in Bali, Spain, France, London, and most recently Moscow, come to mind.
On the other side of that conflict, there have been deadly attacks carried out on Muslim mosques in Canada and New Zealand and other areas of the world.
There are tribal factions in Africa that carry out horrific kidnappings and killings, with conflicts in Sudan, the Congo, Somalia, and Uganda.
There’s the Sunni--Shiite conflict within the Muslim world throughout the Middle East, which is a conflict that’s been going on for centuries.
We could point to race relations in America or South Africa, the Drug Wars in Mexico, or religious disputes between different faiths.
And these are just examples of that problem at the global or national level. What about
gang conflicts, political strife, and even sports rivalries have turned ugly in certain places. There are conflicts between neighbors, classmates, and even hatreds between siblings and spouses.
Almost everywhere you turn, you will see examples of hatred causing some of the most painful and destructive scenes in our modern world.
Well, where does it come from? What causes eternal and fixed hatreds to develop? How do people get to the point where they are willing to carry out such destructive and even murderous acts on other people? Even on innocent individuals and children. Well, in Mosiah 10, Zeniff’s people are being attacked by the Lamanites, and he tries to help his people and us to understand why the Lamanites have this desire to destroy them. He’s going to trace that hatred back to its genesis. And as we study his words, see if you can find any parallels between how the eternal hatred between Nephites and Lamanites developed to latter-day eternal hatreds.
HANDOUT
So let’s look for some key words or phrases to help up understand the process of eternal hatreds. See if you can fill out this chart while we study Mosiah 10:12-18. And in our last arrow there you can see our result: Eternal Hated, but how do we get there. How do these kinds of things arise in our world?
Starting in vs. 12-13, can you see our first key word? What’s the first step towards eternal hatred?
12 They were a wild, and ferocious, and a blood-thirsty people, believing in the tradition of their fathers, which is this—Believing that they were driven out of the land of Jerusalem because of the iniquities of their fathers, and that they were wronged in the wilderness by their brethren, and they were also wronged while crossing the sea;
13 And again, that they were wronged while in the land of their first inheritance, after they had crossed the sea, and all this because that Nephi was more faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord—therefore he was favored of the Lord, for the Lord heard his prayers and answered them, and he took the lead of their journey in the wilderness.
Did you catch it. Wronged. Our first step is that there is a real or perceived wrong that has taken place. One party feels like they’ve been mistreated or harmed in some way. With Nephites and Lamanites, this goes all the way back to Nephi and Laman. Now, at this point in the Book of Mormon, that’s about a 500-year-old conflict, and they’re still referring to it. I think that all of the situations that we mentioned above can be traced back to some similar kind of incident-whether its Palestinians and Israelis, militant Islam and the western world, or race relations, one side has been or felt wronged by the other.
Well, after you feel like you’ve been wronged, what does that typically lead to? Let’s find our next key word in Mosiah 10:14-16.
14 And his brethren were wroth with him because they understood not the dealings of the Lord; they were also wroth with him upon the waters because they hardened their hearts against the Lord.
15 And again, they were wroth with him when they had arrived in the promised land, because they said that he had taken the ruling of the people out of their hands; and they sought to kill him.
16 And again, they were wroth with him because he departed into the wilderness as the Lord had commanded him, and took the records which were engraven on the plates of brass, for they said that he robbed them.
Key word here? Wroth. You feel wronged and it makes you wroth or angry with the other person or group.
Now the rest of the key words all appear in verse 17. Feeling wroth towards somebody leads to another emotion. What is it?
17 And thus they have taught their children that they should hate them, and that they should murder them, and that they should rob and plunder them, and do all they could to destroy them; therefore they have an eternal hatred towards the children of Nephi.
I’m going to say that the word hate comes next. When anger is planted, hatred is grown. And then, that hatred leads to what? Murders, robbing, and doing all you can do to destroy them—or let’s call it “the will to destroy.” And that’s where we get horrific acts like 9/11, the holocaust, wars, terrorism, and killings.
Now I believe there is one more step here between the will to destroy and eternal hatred, and it’s probably the saddest and most tragic. Look very closely at verse 17 and see if you can find the step that turns hatred into eternal hatred or fixed hatred. What is it that perpetuates hate for years and even centuries?
They teach their children to hate. Oh, how sad is that? Where you take an impressionable and innocent child and plant in its mind and heart, hatred for other human beings. That’s what makes these conflicts drag on and on forever, making it almost impossible to eradicate. Where the conflicts of the grandparent’s age, become the conflicts of the child’s age, and then the grandchildren’s age. They become generational conflicts, perpetual conflicts, eternal conflicts.
I remember reading a news story a number of years ago where the mother of a Palestinian suicide bomber was being interviewed by a news agency. Her son had gotten onto a crowded bus with a bomb strapped to his chest and blown it up, killing most of the Jewish passengers on board. Well, the interviewer expressed his condolences for her loss, to which she replied with something like, Oh I’m not sad at all, I’m proud of what he’s done, I have a 10-year-old son that I hope dies in the same way! And I think, really? How terrible is that. Her hatred was so strong that she hated her enemies more than she what? More than she loved her own children. That’s really strong hatred. That’s eternal or fixed hatred.
Another story that comes to mind was told by Frederick W. Babbel who toured Europe after World War II with Ezra Taft Benson. He tells a story where the parents of a 3-year-old deaf child came seeking a priesthood blessing from him. He says:
"Before I could say a word, I was told by the Spirit, “This young boy could be healed this very night if his parents would lose the hatred which they have in their hearts.” I was decidedly shocked and troubled, because I had never before met this family and did not want to question their attitude. But I was restrained from sealing the anointing.
After a moment’s pause, I removed my hands from the boy’s head and said to his parents, “What is it that you hate so deeply?”
They looked startled. Then the husband said, “We can’t tell you.”
“I don’t need to know,” I replied, “but as I placed my hands upon your son’s head, I was assured that he might be healed this very night and be restored to you whole if you will only lose the hatred which you have in your hearts.”
After some troubled glances back and forth between the couple, the husband again spoke. “Well, if that is the case,” he said, “our son will have to go through life as he is, because we won’t give up our hating!”
Frederick W. Babbel (On Wings of Faith, p. 160-161).
Hatred is truly tragic. And those hatreds, I’m afraid will most likely continue on forever and ever until parents learn to love their children more than they hate their enemies and stop teaching their children to hate.
SOLUTIONS?
I sure hope that there is nobody watching this video who has fallen into this hatred trap. But if you have, is there any hope for situations like this? How do you cure eternal hatred? Are there any possible solutions to this problem? I believe there are. Let’s fill out the second chart now and you’ll notice that I haven’t framed this one as a process so much as a list of different things that I believe can help eternal hatreds to be solved. One part of the solution I’ve already mentioned above. Stop teaching hatred to children. That’s one way. Another part of the solution I feel is found in chapter 9. I call it, seeing with Zeniff’s eyes. The only way these eternal hatreds can be solved is if we begin to see with Zeniff’s eyes.
What do I mean by that? Read Mosiah 9:1 looking for how Zeniff saw the Lamanites. What glasses did he have on when he looked at them? And pull out the glasses you brought at this point. Were they eternal hatred glasses? Judgmental glasses? Exploitative glasses? What can you find?
Verse 1 holds that answer. When Zeniff goes down with his group of spies initially with the intent to destroy Lamanites, he says ,“When I saw that which was good among them I was desirous that they should not be destroyed”.
That, to me, is the first step to solving these kinds of problems. We’ve got to change the way we view our supposed enemies. Stop looking for the faults, stop looking for the negative, and start looking for what’s good in them. You might remember Jacob making that point back in Jacob chapter 4. We’ve talked about this already. Look for the good in the other side. Other nations, other cultures, other religions. Look for the good in your spouses, your children, your neighbors, your ward members. If you look for it, you are certain to find it. Maybe that’s why Christ taught us to pray for our enemies; it conditions our minds to look for the good within them. If the Israelis would look for the good in the Palestinians, and the Palestinians would look for the good in the Israelis, that problem might begin to be resolved. If the Sunni’s could look for the good in the Shiites, and vice versa, the whites and blacks, the democrats and republicans, estranged siblings or husbands and wives. Any kind of conflict can begin to be resolved when opportunities are sought to see the good.
The next step I see is in verse 2. Zeniff desires to make a treaty with them. So seek to find a resolution to your conflict. Seek to understand why they feel wronged and wroth. Perhaps you can find a win/win solution to your problem or at least an acceptable compromise. Which, granted, is difficult, and complicated, and requires a great deal of patience and negotiation. But that’s far better than the violent alternative.
Then solution 3 I see come later in verse 5. Can you find anything there? We learn there that Zeniff desires to possess the land in peace. Zeniff was certainly an idealist. He wants to put the past behind them. He believes, sincerely, that Lamanites and Nephites could live side by side in peace.
This reminds me of an experience I had while visiting Ireland. Maybe some of you are familiar with the saying “to chance your arm”. Well, I discovered the origin of that phrase while visiting St. Patrick’s cathedral in Dublin. I was walking around the cathedral when I saw an old door on display with a large hole cut out of the middle of it. That caught my attention and I decided to read the placard next to it. It said that in 1492 there were two Irish families in the middle of a bitter feud, the Butlers and the Fitzgeralds. Offenses had been committed on both sides, and as the conflict got more out of hand, the Butlers sought refuge from the attack in the cathedral while the Fitzgeralds surrounded the building. After some time for tempers to cool off and reason to return, the head of the Fitzgerald family pounded on the door telling the Butlers that they could come out now, that he wanted to make peace. The Butlers refused thinking it was a trick to get them to come out so they could be slaughtered. They refused to open the door. That’s when the leader of the Fitzgeralds ordered that a hole be cut in the door, after which he reached his arm through and offer a handshake for peace. Now you can see the risk in that right? If the Butlers wished, they could very easily have cut off his arm. But this gesture, this “chancing” of his arm, convinced the Butlers that he was sincere. And I’m sure that must have been quite unsettling to reach that defenseless arm through the door in the darkness. But what a relief when he felt that other hand grasp his in a token of peace, the door opened, and the conflict resolved. I think that a lot of the world’s conflicts could be solved if one side would sincerely and willfully "chance their arm" so to speak and offer a treaty of peace.
TAKING IT TO HEART
With that in mind, I encourage you to reflect on your own life. Now you may not be able to do anything about the world’s conflicts. But are there any conflicts or hatreds that you have been caught up in? Is there another individual or group of people that you are hostile toward, in your family, in your ward, in your community, in the world in general? If so, I encourage you to learn from this story and consider the following question:
Is there any way that you could apply Zeniff’s example to your own life? If so, how? Are any of his solutions applicable to your situation?
I WILL GO AND DO
If they are, how could you implement them in your own life? Maybe it’s just to ponder and find the good in them. Maybe it’s hammering out and negotiating through an acceptable treaty or workable compromise with them. Or maybe it’s believing in and devising a way to live in peace, side by side, with someone who sees things differently than you. To disagree without being disagreeable. To challenge ideas, not individuals. To make a treaty or “chance your arm” with them to establish peace. At the very least, don’t preserve hate into the next generation or perpetuate a heritage of hate. Let the conflict end with you.
BUT IT FAILED!
Before we end, I can imagine that some of you are wondering about my conclusion here. You might argue, but wait, Zeniff’s experiment failed. The only reason the king of the Lamanites made a treaty with him was so that he could later take advantage of him. It was all a trick. Perhaps he would have done well to heed the Savior’s advice when he instructs us to be “wise as serpents, but harmless as doves”. But you very well could argue that Zeniff’s idealism and overzealouness betrayed him! See, you can’t eliminate eternal hatred even if you try. In fact, one of the saddest problems with trying to see the good in your enemies is what happens in verse 2.
2 Therefore, I contended with my brethren in the wilderness, for I would that our ruler should make a treaty with them; but he being an austere and a blood-thirsty man commanded that I should be slain; but I was rescued by the shedding of much blood; for father fought against father, and brother against brother, until the greater number of our army was destroyed in the wilderness; and we returned, those of us that were spared, to the land of Zarahemla, to relate that tale to their wives and their children.
How do some of our own people react when you try to see the good or make peace with the enemy? You become the enemy now. The conflict is no longer a horizontal conflict, between you and your enemy, but now it creates a vertical conflict within your own community. National wars become civil wars. Your own people or kindred may turn against you. They say things like, "any friend of my enemy is also my enemy". Gosh it just goes to show you how difficult a problem like eternal hatred is to get rid of and how hard we ought to work not to let them get started in the first place.
A modern example of this. When Anwar Sadat of Egypt decided to make peace with Israel, he was assassinated. But who assassinated him? Israelis? No, some of his own people. When Yitzhak Rabin wanted to make peace with the Palestinians, he was assassinated. By who? Palestinians? No, one of his own people.
This happens on a more personal scale as well. I remember a co-worker who told me that his wife’s parents had cut ties with one of her brothers for whatever reason. Well, she decided to speak on behalf of her brother to try to smooth things over. Unfortunately, for her efforts, she too was cut off from her parents contact for the mere act of standing up for him. It’s really sad how these things can escalate.
So, is it even worth it to try? Does the world have any hope for curing eternal hatred? I think it does. The answer comes later in the Book of Mormon. The sons of Mosiah are a good example of this. They decide to go into the Lamanite nation and teach them the gospel, and many of them laugh them to scorn. But they go anyway. And does it work? Yes and No. They are able to convert a large portion of the Lamanite nation. King Lamoni and his father. They succeed with them. But again, we have an example of horizontal conflict becoming vertical conflict where those Lamanites that have not been converted start to slaughter those that have, the people that become known as Anti-Nephi-Lehis. So maybe that suggests that you can conquer eternal hatred in individuals but not in entire nations. However, eventually, later in the Book of Mormon, the idealism of both Zeniff and the sons of Mosiah will be vindicated when two idealistic brothers by the names of Lehi and Nephi manage to teach and convert the entire Lamanite nation. So much so that the Lamanites give up their conquered lands and make peace with the Nephites, and you have this wonderful portion of the Book of Mormon where there are no conflicts or wars between the two cultures.
THE TAKEAWAY
And what is it that worked? What really is the only solution to the world’s eternal hatreds? It’s the gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s the only lasting solution. I believe that missionaries do more to create peace in this world than all armies, charities, governments, and peace keeping forces of the world combined can do. In this world full of conflict and hatred, I almost can’t stand to watch the news anymore, it’s too discouraging, I look forward to the day when Jesus Christ will return and reign over this world in total peace and harmony. Until that day, I hope that we can all seek to look for the good in all, to find resolutions in conflict by maybe “chancing our arm” so that we may live in peace with one another, and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ far and wide, the only true solution to the world’s endless problems. As I have traveled to different parts of the world, I have come to the conclusion that this is possible. There are so many good people out there in the world. More good than bad and it’s made me optimistic about human nature. And though it may sound trite and cliche, I do pray for world peace, and know that one day it will be possible through the power and love and atonement of Jesus Christ.
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