Mosiah 21

The peace didn’t last long. Before many days had passed, the angry Lamanites began harassing the Nephites again. Their king had forbidden his people to kill them, but had said nothing about abusing the Nephites. The Lamanite guards began treating the Nephites like prisoners. They were beaten, ordered about, loaded with burdens, and treated like pack animals. The prophecies of God were being fulfilled.

The Nephites were heavily guarded, now, and unable to escape the adversity imposed upon them. Things got so bad that they tried to drive the Lamanites out by force, but the Lamanites were too strong and retaliated by killing many of them. It was a grievous time. Wives mourned for their dead husbands and children cried for their dead fathers. Everyone lived in fear.

The fear gave way to anger and the Nephites tried once more to defeat the Lamanites, and again failed, suffering heavy casualties in the attempt. They even tried a third time to relieve themselves from slavery and failed yet again. There was nothing left for them to do but to submit to the slavery and allow themselves to be beaten and driven by their enemies, so they humbled themselves before the Lamanites and cried out to God all day long for deliverance.

God was slow to hear their cries, because he remembered how they’d turned away from him in their time of prosperity. Nonetheless, he did hear them and began to ease their burdens by softening the Lamanites’ anger towards them; but, he didn’t release them from their slavery. Slowly, they began to prosper again. As their harvests became more abundant and their livestock thrived, the kingdom was relieved of constant hunger. As a result of the wars, the women greatly outnumbered the men; King Limhi ordered that his people should support the widows and fatherless children so that they wouldn’t starve.

The renegade priests who had stolen the Lamanite women and caused so much trouble were now stealing the kingdom’s harvests from the fields, and whatever else they could take. The Nephites watched their lands carefully, hoping to capture and punish the priests.

When Ammon and his party from Zarahemla were discovered outside the city’s walls, they were thought to be these renegade priests. That is why they were bound, imprisoned, and so badly mistreated. Had they been the priests, they would have been put to death. When King Limhi found out that they were his relatives from the land of Zarahemla, he was overjoyed.

In the depths of their slavery, King Limhi sent an expedition out to find the land of Zarahemla, in hopes of leading his people out of their captivity. When the party found the ruins of the Jaredite people, they had mistakenly believed them to be the ruins of Zarahemla. This expedition had returned to the land of Nephi in despair, just a few days before Ammon and his party arrived.

Now, King Limhi was doubly blessed. His brothers in the land of Zarahemla were alive and well, and King Benjamin had a gift from God that would enable them to translate the strange writing on the Jaredites’ golden plates.

Ammon was sorry to hear about the Lamanite wars, the death of so many brothers, the sins and troubles with Noah and his priests, and the unfortunate death of the prophet Abinadi. He was gladdened to hear of the church that Alma had been inspired by Abinadi to establish, but saddened to hear about the disappearance of Alma and his blessed people.

No one knew where Alma and his followers had gone. The kingdom’s people would have gladly followed them because they had since entered into a similar covenant themselves, to serve God and honor his commandments. They wished for Alma’s return because now they, too, wanted to be baptized in God’s name, but none of them was authorized by God to perform this rite. Ammon also declined to baptize the people, saying that he was too unworthy a servant of God’s to do this for them. Their desire to be baptized as a testimony of their willingness to serve God, and form a church as Alma had, would have to wait. For now, all of their efforts would have to be applied toward delivering themselves from their enslavement to the Lamanites.