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Book of Mormon Commentary
Mosiah Chapter 12
MOSIAH'S SONS GO ON A MISSION TO THE LAMANITES, VER. 1-26
Mos 12:11 And the Lord said unto Mosiah, Let them go up, for many shall believe on their words, and
they shall have eternal life; and I will deliver thy sons out of the hands of the Lamanites.
12:11 The king received a delegation consisting of his four sons and a few friends. They wanted
permission to go on a mission to the "land of Nephi, that they might... impart the word of God to their
brethren, the Lamanites" (1, 2). They had faith "that perhaps they might cure them of their hatred
towards the Nephites" (3).
This was a difficult decision for the king. He remembered the failure of Zeniff's mission, and the great
struggle some of them had to get out of bondage to the Lamanites. He was getting old, and his sons
would be expected to carry on the government. However, after many days of their pleading, Mosiah was
willing to submit the matter to the Lord. The answer was to let them go, and "I will deliver thy sons out
of the hands of the Lamanites."
Mos 12:14 Now King Mosiah had no one to confer the kingdom upon, for there was not any of his sons
who would accept of the kingdom;
12:14 Mosiah was not only a good and wise king, but he was a man of God. One of the things he must
do before he gave up the throne was to translate and engrave the record from the twenty-four gold
plates. His people "were desirous beyond measure, to know concerning those people who had been
destroyed" (17; 5:61, 62).
Mos 12:18 And now he translated them by the means of those two stones which were fastened into the
two rims of a bow.
12:18 Ammon referred to these as "interpreters" (5:73). It seems that they were of ancient origin,
"prepared from the beginning, and were handed down from generation to generation, for the purpose of
interpreting languages" (Mos, 12:19). (See Exod. 28:30; Lev. 8:8; Deut. 33:8; Ezra 2:63.) The Book of
Mormon does not use the term, Urim and Thummim," but it does describe them.
Urim and Thummim; according to the, Hebrew (Exod. 28:30) the literal signification of these two words
is lights and perfections, or the shining and the perfect. According to St. Jerome, doctrine and judgment.
According to the Septuagint, declaration or manifestation, and truth. They were worn in or attached to
the breastplate of the high priest when inquiring of God.
Of the Urim and Thummim and its purpose, Joseph Smith said an angel told him: There were two
stones in silver bows, and these stones fastened to a breastplate constituted what is called the Urim and
Thummin, deposited with the plates [of the Book of Mormon], and the possession and use of these
stones was what constituted seers in ancient or former times, and that God had prepared them for the
purpose of translating the book.
Concerning their use and later disposition, Joseph Smith said: By the wisdom of God they remained
safe in my hands until I had accomplished by them what was required at my hand, when according to
arrangements the messenger called for them, I delivered them up to him, and he has them in his charge
until this day, being the second day of May, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.
Oliver Cowdery states of the work done with Urim and Thummim: Day after day I continued,
uninterrupted, to write from his mouth, as he translated, with the Urim and Thummim, or, as the
Nephites would have said, "Interpreters,” the history, or record, called "The Book of Mormon."