Better to be a slave to the Nephites

This is what King Limhi says to Ammon when he finds out that Ammon is from Zarahemla.

For behold, we are in bondage to the Lamanites, and are taxed with a tax which is grievous to be borne. And now, behold, our brethren will deliver us out of our bondage, or out of the hands of the Lamanites, and we will be their slaves; for it is better that we be slaves to the Nephites than to pay tribute to the king of the Lamanites. (Mosiah 7:15)

That last bit about how slavery to the Nephites would be better than paying tribute to the Lamanites struck me recently.  It speaks to how the lowest status among good people who are in harmony with one’s beliefs is better than being an ally or tributary to wicked people who are hostile.

Of course, Limhi seems to have not known that the Nephites didn’t have slaves. (A later Ammon explains the absence of slavery to the Lamanite King Lamoni.) Maybe the Limhi’s people had slaves and assumed the Nephites elsewhere had slaves too.  But the facts were that there were no slaves among the Zarahemla Nephites at that time, so living with the Zarahemla Nephites was definitely to be preferred.

I think this also has a spiritual dimension too.  To be a slave in Zion is far better than to be an ally or tributary of Babylon. 

Do we believe that?  Or do we hold back doing what is required by God, thinking we are being enslaved?  The truth is, if we are not servants of God, then we are slaves of the devil.

Today let’s rejoice in being part of Zion and our privilege of serving there, which brings us so many great blessings.

Limhi’s Drive to Understand

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Something that is neat about King Limhi in the Book of Mosiah is that he a drive to understand why people do what they do.

We can see this when Limhi has first contact with Ammon as Ammon comes into the land.  Ammon broke some kind of security protocol Limhi had and yet Limhi doesn’t automatically kill him, he keeps him alive and asks him why he did what he did.

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; (Mosiah 7: 10-12)

We see another example of this when Limhi’s people bring the wounded Lamanite king to him.  Although his people want to kill the Lamanite king immediately, Limhi stops them because he wants to know why the Lamanite king broke his oath that he would not attack the Nephites.

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? (Mosiah 20:13-14)

Limhi seems to have the view that people generally have good reasons for what they do and sometimes they are very good ones.  He seems to have realized that one doesn’t take the trouble to find out what those reasons are, one misses important opportunities or important information.

Because Limhi took the trouble to listen to Ammon’s reasons for breaking security protocol—protocol that Ammon certainly didn’t know about—he learned that Ammon was from Zarahemla.   Because Limhi took the trouble to listen to the Lamanite king’s grievance against the Nephites, he was able to make peace.

Today let’s take the time to understand those who seem to intent on driving us crazy or offending us or misbehaving.  Maybe we’ll learn something helpful.

Captain Moroni’s Impetus for Peace Covenants with the Lamanites

One of the things that is remarkable about Captain Moroni is how he frequently tries to bring battles with the Lamanites to a close by requiring the Lamanites to enter into a covenant that they won’t go to battle against the Nephites again.  This is very peculiar and refreshingly large-hearted and trusting.  How did he get the idea that he could do such a thing?

I suspect that he might have gotten the idea from the record of Zeniff and Limhi.  Zeniff is the first one that makes promises with Lamanites and we can see that at the beginning these promises did a pretty good job of allowing Lamanites and Nephites to live in fairly close proximity to each other without bloodshed.  Perhaps this was previously believed to be impossible.

Captain Moroni could have learned from Zeniff and Limhi’s records that the Lamanites had a culture that took their promises, oaths, and covenants very seriously, and this made him willing to try using that factor to build peace between the Nephites and Lamanites.

We can also make agreements requiring nonaggression from our enemies.  Conficts happen, but if there is a promise not to fight, then that keeps fighting from happening except in really serious conflicts.

Better to be slaves to the Nephites

 

For behold, we are in bondage to the Lamanites, and are taxed with a tax which is grievous to be borne. And now, behold, our brethren will deliver us out of our bondage, or out of the hands of the Lamanites, and we will be their slaves; for it is better that we be slaves to the Nephites than to pay tribute to the king of the Lamanites. (Mosiah 7:15)

It looks like Limhi has an attitude of learned helplessness because of the three previous attempts to free themselves from Lamanite domination by battle.  Yet this changes as Gideon suggests the people escape by night rather than fight their way out.

We also see here that Limhi understands it is preferable to serve those politically and socially friendly and aligned with your values than it is to serve those who are hostile. 

We might also apply this to our lives and say it is better to be a slave of Christ and serve in the church than it is to be a slave to Satan, sin, and the world.  The religious are often called deluded sheep and slaves by those who only see all the work and time we put into our church duties and meetings. They don’t see or feel the great blessings that come, however, so to them it looks like all give and no reward. 

I for one do feel that it is better to be a slave of Christ and the church than to be a tributary to the world.  How about you?

In this Wise

Every once in a while I totally geek out in the scriptures and find myself focusing something that appears at first glance to be unimportant, but which I can’t help but become curious about and research.  This is probably one of those posts, so if you want to come with me down my little rabbit-hole, you’re perfectly welcome, but otherwise, don’t feel obligated.  I did eventually draw a little lesson from it, for those of you who want to continue reading, so maybe it will benefit you as it did me.

Okay, disclaimers out of the way.. on we go, fellow scripture geeks! (waving sword above head)

Here’s the verse I looked at, which is from the beginning of King Limhi’s speech to his people after the arrival of Ammon.  I noticed that Mormon introduced the speech in a very interesting way.

And it came to pass that when they had gathered themselves together that he spake unto them in this wise, saying: 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. (Mosiah 7:18, emphasis added)

I am fascinated by “in this wise”!  It implies to me “in this way,” and makes me think that the speech put in was not necessarily a direct quotation of Limhi but a synthesis and summary of his main points and direction of thought.  If Limhi had been an elaborate speaker, that could account for Mormon’s desire to hurry it up a bit.

I went online and looked for synonymous expressions of “in this wise” and found the following:

Thus

And so forth

And so on

Even so

In such a manner

In such wise

In this degree

In this way

To this extent

..which confirms my supposition that it was the Reader’s Digest condensed version.  It might be interesting if a statistical word print was done on Limhi’s speech to see if it matched Mormon’s or not.

When you go back and read what we have of Limhi’s speech, you realize it covers a ton of ground.

1. Salvation is near; be happy
2. Trust God who delivered our fathers
3. We’re in bondage because of wickedness
4. The Lamanites planned to bring us into bondage
5. We have great reason to mourn: 1) tax 2) bondage 3) death 4) sin 5) killing a prophet 6) contention
6. A prophet told the people about Christ and to repent
7. Christ would be a man
8. The prophet was killed
9. The Lord doesn’t save wicked people
10. Turn to God, trust Him, serve Him, and we’ll be delivered.

All in all, it is about how the people are about to be delivered.  It says, “Look, we’re in a bad place right now, we did these bad things, but if we will repent and trust the Lord and keep His commandments, things can get better from here.”  It’s a great one for members who have turned away from the Lord for whatever reason and are feeling stuck or enslaved.   I can remember using it that way a few times myself when I felt oppressed by oodles of schoolwork and had let my efforts to serve the Lord flag a little.  It inspired me to get back on the stick and begin again to do all I could do.

Okay, so what can we learn from this little detail showing Mormon collapsed Limhi’s speech with “in this wise”?  I think it shows how anxious Mormon was to use the plates to the best advantage and give his readers the best of spiritual things.  It demonstrates a certain economy of transmission—that there is no point in saying more if just enough will do.  That is a great concept we tend to forget.  If we can write unlimited-length blog posts with no cost for the length that doesn’t mean we should.

Sometimes I have worried that my blog posts are too short and that they don’t give enough.  Yet if Mormon saw fit to compress Limhi’s speech to the essentials, I suppose I need not be ashamed of a blog post stripped to the essentials. 

I find it rather funny that this blog post started with examination into something that seemed nonessential and turned into a reflection on transmitting the best of spiritual things.  Does that mean this blog post preaches against its own existence?  :-B

You decide.

King Noah on the Tower vs. King Limhi on the Tower

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Recently I noticed there are two difference incidents involving enemy armies detected from the top of a tower in the Book of Mosiah.  In the first, King Noah is trying to escape from Gideon, who wants to kill him, and King Noah flees and gets on the tower. 

6 And Gideon pursued after him and was about to get upon the tower to slay the king, and the king cast his eyes round about towards the land of Shemlon, and behold, the army of the Lamanites were within the borders of the land.

7 And now the king cried out in the anguish of his soul, saying: Gideon, spare me, for the Lamanites are upon us, and they will destroy us; yea, they will destroy my people.

8 And now the king was not so much concerned about his people as he was about his own life; nevertheless, Gideon did spare his life.

9 And the king commanded the people that they should flee before the Lamanites, and he himself did go before them, and they did flee into the wilderness, with their women and their children.

10 And it came to pass that the Lamanites did pursue them, and did overtake them, and began to slay them. (Mosiah 19:5-10)

I have no idea just what Noah thought getting on the tower did for him in his extremity; maybe it allowed him to fight from height?  But from the top, he just happens to notice a Lamanite army in the borders of the land.

In the second incident one chapter later, it is Limhi who is on top of the tower.

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.

8 And now Limhi had discovered them from the tower, even all their preparations for war did he discover; therefore he gathered his people together, and laid wait for them in the fields and in the forests.

9 And it came to pass that when the Lamanites had come up, that the people of Limhi began to fall upon them from their waiting places, and began to slay them. (Mosiah 20:6-9)

King Limhi manages to discover all the Lamanite preparations for war from the top of this tower.

Now, whenever there are similar incidents, in the Book of Mormon, it is helpful to make a comparison between them to see what we can learn from the similarities and differences. 

Similarities

Both King Noah and King Limhi used the same tower.  They both used it to spot the Lamanite armies.  This makes me think that tower was built for that very purpose as sort of an early warning system.  It was more economical than surrounding the land with guards because it only required one man on the tower, but for guards it required an army which would have to be paid to stand idle.  In that small Nephite community, men were at premium (or at least that is the impression I get).

I think the watchtower is meant to be a symbol for prophets.  Just as the tower allowed the watcher to see the enemy army when it was still far away, prophets can see spiritual threats before they become obvious to the rest of us.  They warn us ahead of time so we can prepare to fight them.

Differences

King Noah seems to have not used the tower nearly as well as Limhi did.  King Noah only happened to notice an invading Lamanite army, whereas Limhi seems to have made a habit of getting on the tower to see what he could see. 

King Noah only got on the tower when he was in trouble, but Limhi seems to have got on the tower regularly, even when he was not in trouble.  We learn from this that listening to the prophets can’t be something that you do only when you are in trouble because then you won’t be able to deal with the larger issues and threats that come.  Instead, you have to regularly consult them for advice (in the Ensign magazines and conference addresses) and make their messages a real part of your life so that you’ll be able to pick up on the patterns that indicate an advance warning.

King Noah only saw the Lamanite army just as it was invading, so there was no time to prepare a defense.  All he and the Nephites could do was retreat and hope to escape.  Limhi, on the other hand, saw all the Lamanite preparations, so he knew what was coming.  He didn’t dismiss what he saw; he knew what it meant, and so he took action.  He prepared his people to fight back, and when the Lamanites invaded, the Nephites had the advantage of surprise. 

One example of an invading “army” we have been warned against by the prophets is pornography.  Our society is becoming more porn-ified.  We have been warned against it, and not only do we need to resist it in our media consumption, we have to raise our voices for decency in our society.   I have mentioned to grocery store managers (in a nice way) about how I’m bothered by certain magazine covers in the magazine racks.  Today I sent an email to a local news organization objecting to footage of dancing inside an adult entertainment business.   I’m almost beginning to think that it might help me to streamline future protests by making up some sort of form letter conveying my general concerns about the pornification of society, how the particular media organization/store is contributing to that trend, and facts about the harms of pornography, which I can then customize with pertinent conditions of a particular exposure to indecency and then send it quickly.  

The above insight about King Noah’s vigilance versus King Limhi’s vigilance has crystallized for me the conviction that we have to see these different incidents as part of a general invasion that requires us to fight.

Breaking the taboo in order to save

6 And Ammon took three of his brethren, and their names were Amaleki, Helem, and Hem, and they went down into the land of Nephi.

 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, the son of Noah, who was the son of Zeniff, who came up out of the land of Zarahemla to inherit this land, which was the land of their fathers, who was made a king by the voice of the people.

 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; (Mosiah 7:6-12)

When Ammon and his buddies meet King Limhi and his guards outside the city walls, somehow this is a particularly taboo place and occasion.  It is so boldly taboo that King Limhi specifically tells them that the only reason he kept them alive was to ask them why they were so bold. 

This makes me wonder.  Was external excess to King Limhi so restricted that the only way Ammon would not be killed would be to meet the king when and where he did?  Or did he meet the king at a particularly bad time (and any other time would have been better) and only his boldness about breaking the taboo (on accident) saved him?    I really don’t know.  Either way the Lord brought about the meeting, restrained King Limhi, and kept Ammon and his group alive so that Limhi and his people could ultimately be saved.

It is interesting that in this meeting both Limhi and Ammon are ignorant, and so in a sense, they both wrong each other.  Ammon approaches the king at a bad time and place because he doesn’t know there is anything bad about it.  The king tosses Ammon and his buddies in prison and was very close to killing them because he doesn’t know who they are and what their intentions are.  And yet they are both good and just men.  I suppose this can teach us that sometimes we may wrong each other out of ignorance of the full facts, and the Lord can help us keep from doing something hasty.

Imagine if the king had killed Ammon and his men, the very people who could lead them out of bondage and show them the way to Zarahemla.  It makes me wonder how often we might disregard the very things or people that could help us out of our problems, disregarding them just because they do something out of ignorance at first that offends us?

Another lesson we can get from this story is from Ammon’s viewpoint.  It may be that in order to save people spiritually we have to break some cultural rules against mentioning religion in casual conversation, speaking in times and places that our friends don’t think are the best.

Limhi’s people humble themselves

13 And they did humble themselves even to the dust, subjecting themselves to the yoke of bondage, submitting themselves to be smitten, and to be driven to and fro, and burdened, according to the desires of their enemies.

14 And they did humble themselves even in the depths of humility; and they did cry mightily to God; yea, even all the day long did they cry unto their God that he would deliver them out of their afflictions. (Mosiah 21:13-14)

When I was reading this recently it stuck out to me all of a sudden the different ways humility is described in these verses.

I notice that when they humble themselves “to the dust,” it is to men, and when they humble themselves “in the depths of humility,” it is to God. This suggests that humility to God is deeper than humility to men.

Verse 3 has some interesting words associated with humbling oneself (even if it is to men)—“subjecting themselves” and “submitting themselves.” This shows us that self control goes along with humility. Force is not required; the decision to obey is made without force. In the case of King Limhi’s people, they didn’t humble themselves until they had been beaten three times in battle, but if they hadn’t finally humbled themselves, they would have been completely forced into it.

It could be argued that because the people of Limhi “cried mightily…all the day long…unto their God that he would deliver them out of their afflictions” (v14) that they weren’t totally subjected by the Lamanites. They still wanted to be free and hoped God could free them, rather than being content to be slaves. This shows it is possible to have an outward humility while still wanting out.

When they humbled themselves to God, we see that this humility consisted of mighty prayer for deliverance, which they most wanted. However, it didn’t yet extent to repentance and forsaking their sins. “And now the Lord was slow to hear their cry because of their iniquities…” (Mosiah 21:15) It seems repentance was the final ingredient needed for total humility.

It is possible that their bondage to the Lamanites was a learning experience and training and chastisement that would help them learn to submit and subject themselves to the Lord. It would help them appreciate the lighter demands the Lord makes.

These verses make me think hard about what I do to indicate my humility to the Lord. Does my humility involve:

• Subjecting myself?
• Submitting myself?
• Crying mightily to God all the day long?
• Repenting?

I think I have incorporated a few of those factors, but I don’t think I have implemented them all. How about you?

The other Ammon and priesthood worthiness

We talk a lot about Ammon, missionary son of Mosiah, but recently I realized that the other Ammon (the one in the Book of Mosiah, the one who finds the people of Limhi) is a pretty good missionary too, though he had some problems.

32 And now since the coming of Ammon, king Limhi had also entered into a covenant with God, and also many of his people, to serve him and keep his commandments.

33 And it came to pass that king Limhi and many of his people were desirous to be baptized; but there was none in the land that had authority from God. And Ammon declined doing this thing, considering himself an unworthy servant.

34 Therefore they did not at that time form themselves into a church, waiting upon the Spirit of the Lord. Now they were desirous to become even as Alma and his brethren, who had fled into the wilderness.

35 They were desirous to be baptized as a witness and a testimony that they were willing to serve God with all their hearts; nevertheless they did prolong the time; and an account of their baptism shall be given hereafter. (Mosiah 21:32-35)

“since the coming of Ammon, king Limhi had also entered into a covenant with God, and also many of his people, to serve him and keep his commandments.” (emphasis added) – This suggests that Ammon had had a good influence on Limhi and his people somehow. This made me curious to go searching for what Ammon did that brought this about and I found it near the very beginning of the story, in Mosiah 8:2-3.

2 And he [Limhi] 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.

3 And he [Ammon] also rehearsed unto them the last words which king Benjamin had taught them, and explained them to the people of king Limhi, so that they might understand all the words which he spake. (Mosiah 8:2-3)

Ammon must have repeated for King Limhi and his people everything from that powerful sermon of King Benjamin’s and explained it all. Undoubtedly this would lead the people to want to repent and make a covenant with God as King Benjamin’s people had. I have personally seen in my life recently how sharing stories of courageous, righteous acts can inspire others to do the same thing.

But back to Mosiah 21:32-35.

And it came to pass that king Limhi and many of his people were desirous to be baptized; but there was none in the land that had authority from God. And Ammon declined doing this thing, considering himself an unworthy servant. (v33)

Verse 33 shows us something important—for a baptism to occur, there must not only be someone who wants to be baptized, there must also be someone else with 1) authority from God who is 2) spiritually prepared to baptize. All the priests of Noah were gone, but fortunately, Ammon somehow had priesthood authority… except there was a problem--Ammon declined to baptize on the grounds he didn’t feel worthy at that time.

I think we can get a number of lessons from this.

First, Ammon is a good example of understanding his own spiritual status. We have no idea why he considered himself unworthy, but it is commendable that he had the courage to decline even when he was the only one around with authority. (That must have been very difficult; think of the pressure that was on him!)

Second, it shows us how important it is that priesthood ordinances be performed by worthy individuals. Ammon valued worthiness as a priesthood holder more than just making people happy by “going with the flow.”

Third, it shows how important it is to live so as to always be spiritually prepared at any time to perform priesthood ordinances. Ammon probably never imagined he might someday be the only one around with authority to baptize, and modern priesthood holders get to see the consequences of this so that they can learn not to make the same mistake.

Another good thing about these verses is that they show something very interesting—the covenant with God can be a separate act from baptism, but baptism still has to take place eventually as a witness or testimony of that covenant. How might this principle be important? Some people find the gospel at a time in their lives when they can’t get baptized immediately. For instance, a teenager whose parents will not allow him/her to get baptized can still make a covenant with God to serve Him, and keep that covenant to the time they come of age to get baptized. As another example, individuals in prison who find and believe the gospel can’t get baptized until they are released, but making a covenant with God can serve them for the time in prison until they can be baptized as a witness they made that covenant.

Ammon is an interesting character in the Book of Mormon. He taught the words of King Benjamin such that many people were convinced they needed to covenant with the Lord and get baptized. Yet his unworthiness stymied him from exercising his priesthood power fully. I hope the men of the church can avoid his predicament.

House Hunting and Zeniff’s Over-zealousness

My husband and I have been renting since 2005. My husband really wants to buy a house. I’d like to buy too. We started looking at houses in December of 2008 but couldn’t find anything we really liked in a decent price range. So we decided to give it another year before we started looking again.

But our realtor still sends us emails of houses coming on the market. And we keep opening those emails.

On Friday I caved and asked to look at a particular house I had had my eye on—house #1. The realtor showed me three. All of them were disappointing. I actually liked house #2 better than house #1; it had a brand spankin' new upgraded kitchen and master bathroom. Too bad it also had three enormous roof leaks, interior water damage, and a certain parfum de mildew. I could fill a page describing all the things that were wrong in that house, and I could fill another page describing all the things that were right about that house. (I won’t subject you to these pages, though.) Yesterday I kept thinking about it, wondering if we should just cave and buy it and put in the money to get it fixed and livable.

Then, in my scripture study, I happened upon these verses. King Limhi is speaking.

21 And ye all are witnesses this day, that Zeniff, who was made king over this people, he being over-zealous to inherit the land of his fathers, therefore being deceived by the cunning and craftiness of king Laman, who having entered into a treaty with king Zeniff, and having yielded up into his hands the possessions of a part of the land, or even the city of Lehi-Nephi, and the city of Shilom; and the land round about—
22 And all this he did, for the sole purpose of bringing this people into subjection or into bondage. 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; and even one half of all we have or possess the king of the Lamanites doth exact of us, or our lives. (Mosiah 7:21-22)

The thing that always gets me whenever I’m reading about Zeniff’s over-zealousness is how he could have possibly have been deceived by the Lamanite king. These are LAMANITES he’s treating with! These are the people who have historically sworn in their wrath to wipe out all things Nephite! Does anyone else think it’s a really REALLY bad idea to set up living quarters near Lamanites, or is it just me? I mean, come on! Surely we can all see the problems coming!

Zeniff was so excited about settling in at Lehi-Nephi that he minimized the seriousness of the Lamanites’ dangerously close proximity. He was willing to overlook that “minor” detail to get what he wanted.

Now, as I think about my house hunting in light of this story, I am not going to go so far as to say that our realtor is trying to enslave us with cunning and craftiness. (He’s LDS, after all, and he’s a really nice guy. (And he’s not paying me to say that.)) But it seems to me that if I want to be smarter than Zeniff, I should keep my zeal for home ownership in check before I do something foolish like minimize the problems that could result from buying a house with significant water damage. Something better will come along.

When you haven’t heard from someone for a while

I noticed some interesting things when I was reading the scriptures a few days ago.

1 And now, it came to pass that after king Mosiah had had continual peace for the space of three years, he was desirous to know concerning the people who went up to dwell in the land of Lehi-Nephi, or in the city of Lehi-Nephi; for his people had heard nothing from them from the time they left the land of Zarahemla; therefore, they wearied him with their teasings.
2 And it came to pass that *king Mosiah granted that sixteen of their strong men might go up to the land of Lehi-Nephi, to inquire concerning their brethren. (Mosiah 7:1-2)

Some phrases that struck me as significant were:

• “his people had heard nothing from them [the people living in Lehi-Nephi]”
• “he [King Mosiah] was desirous to know concerning the people”,
• King Mosiah sent men to “inquire concerning their brethren”.
  

I think that this act of inquiring shows a certain amount of charity toward people who haven’t been present for a long time. We think about people we haven’t seen in a while. We haven’t heard from them in a while. So we want to find out what’s going on with them and we have to take action. This can be applied in our families, and also in the church. When we notice we haven’t seen someone in a while, we can inquire about them. Christ calls this “searching out the lost sheep”.

As it happened in this story in the Book of Mormon, it was a good thing that King Mosiah didn’t say something like, “Oh, they’re probably doing fine. Maybe they don’t want to hear from us; if they wanted to talk to us, we would have heard from them by now. We’ll just wait for them to send us news.” We know that those people in the land of Lehi-Nephi were in bondage to the Lamanites and having a very difficult time of it. They had even tried to send men to find Zerahemla to appeal for help, but they hadn’t been able to find it, so they were stuck. The first thing King Limhi said when he found out who Ammon and his party were was:

…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.
15 For behold, we are in bondage to the Lamanites, and are taxed with a tax which is grievous to be borne. And now, behold, our brethren will deliver us out of our bondage, or out of the hands of the Lamanites, and we will be their slaves; for it is better that we be slaves to the Nephites than to pay tribute to the king of the Lamanites. (Mosiah 7:14-15)

Limhi had been wondering the same things about the people of Zerahemla! It was a good thing that King Mosiah decided to take action by sending those men to try to find Lehi-Nephi.

I wonder how many people who are inactive really want to come back and need us to inquire after them and go find them?

I can think of at least three people who I want to inquire about.

(And isn't nice that the application Facebook exists now so that we can check someone's status? We just have to make sure we also send messages too and actually make contact. Knowing a person's status was never intended to be a substitution for having a real conversation.)