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Book of Mormon Commentary
Mosiah Chapter 5
Mos 5:27 O ye my people, lift up your heads and be comforted: for behold, the time is at hand, or is not
far distant, when we shall no longer be in subjection to our enemies, notwithstanding our many
strugglings, which have been in vain; yet I trust there remaineth an effectual struggle to be made.
5:27 The king thus begins telling his people the good news. He predicted, "The time is. ..not far distant,
when we shall no longer be in subjection to our enemies." Though they had failed many times before,
help was near. "Rejoice, and put your trust in God" (28). He declared their bondage was caused by
Zeniff's "being over-zealous to inherit the land of his fathers" (32). King laman had signed a treaty with
him for the "sole purpose of bringing this people into subjection" (34).
Mos 5:35 And behold, we at this time do pay tribute to the king of the Lamanites, to the amount of one
half of our corn, and our barley, and even all our grain of every kind, and one half of the increase of our
flocks, and our herds;
5:35 Failure to deliver the tribute meant death (36). "Many of our brethren have been slain... and all
because of iniquity" (40). King limhi acknowledged that their suffering was caused by their failure to
"hearken unto his words" and they had "contentions among them, even so much that they did shed blood
among themselves" (42).
Among those slain by his own people was "a prophet... [Mos. 9:1-20) who told them of their wickedness
and... even the coming of Christ" (43). Thus they "brought down the wrath of God upon them" (46).
"But if ye will turn to the lord with full purpose of heart... he will... deliver you out of bondage" (52).
Mos 5:54 And he caused that Ammon should stand up before the multitude, and rehearse unto them all
that had happened unto their brethren, from the time that Zeniff went up out of the land, even until the
time that he himself came up out of the land.
5: 54 Ammon gave this history and added "the last words which King Benjamin had taught them" (55).
THE TWEN1Y-FOUR GOLD PLATES, VER. 57-86
Mos 5:57 And it came to pass that he caused that the plates which contained the record of his people,
from the time that they left the land of Zarahemla, should be brought before Ammon, that he might read
them.
5:57 While the Nephites under Zeniff made many mistakes, yet they realized the value of keeping a
record of day-by-day happenings. These plates were brought to Ammon that he might learn the history
of this people. When he had finished reading, the king asked Ammon "if he could interpret languages"
(58). He said he could not (59).
The king then told Ammon about sending a group of forty-three men to look for the land of Zarahemla.
He wanted to get help from his “brethren” to throw off the yoke of Lamanite "bondage” (60). But they
became lost and wandered into "a land among many waters” (61) which was "covered with bones of
men and of beasts and... ruins of buildings of every kind” (62). The most important of their discoveries
was a book of twenty-four engraved gold plates. They brought these back with them and also large
breastplates made “of brass, and of copper" (64, 65). They brought some swords, the hilts of which had
"perished and the blades... were cankered with rust'. (66).