Mosiah 12

(All of my own thoughts are in red type 6/20 Green 3/21 orange 6/22  Brown 2023.)

Chapter 12

Abinadi is imprisoned for prophesying the destruction of the people and the death of King Noah—The false priests quote the scriptures and pretend to keep the law of Moses—Abinadi begins to teach them the Ten Commandments. About 148 B.C.

  1 And it came to pass that after the space of two years that Abinadi came among them in disguise, I wonder what his disguise was? I don’t think they had things like wigs and sunglasses. Maybe he shaved or grew a beard and mustache; different clothes or head wrap? that they knew him not, and began to ^aprophesy among them, saying: Thus has the Lord commanded me, saying—Abinadi, go and prophesy unto this my people, for they have hardened their hearts against my words; they have repented not of their evil doings; therefore, I will ^bvisit them in my anger, yea, in my fierce anger will I visit them in their iniquities and abominations. What good is a disguise if you say your name and you say the same things you said 2 years ago? Won’t they immediately know who you are? Was the disguise just to get in the city? 
1. Hardened hearts against God's word
2. Don't repent - evidence hearts are hard
THEN:
God visits you IN your iniquity and abomination Noticing they had 2 years after Abinadi’s first preaching to heed his warning.
  2 Yea, wo be unto this generation! And the Lord said unto me: Stretch forth thy hand Is this significant or just an expression...and prophesy, saying: Thus saith the Lord, it shall come to pass that this generation, because of their iniquities, shall be brought into ^abondage, and shall be smitten on the ^bcheek; yea, and shall be driven by men, and shall be slain; and the vultures of the air, and the dogs, yea, and the wild beasts, shall devour their ^cflesh. Bondage and/or death! This sounds like a decree, not a warning anymore. 
  3 And it shall come to pass that the ^alife of king Noah shall be valued even as a garment in a hot ^bfurnace; for he shall know that I am the Lord. Is this a prophecy or a declaration?
  4 And it shall come to pass that I will smite this my people with sore afflictions, yea, with famine and with ^apestilence; and I will cause that they shall ^bhowl all the day long. Part of acknowledging God's hand in all things is accepting that "natural" afflictions are or can be from Him and not "just nature".
  5 Yea, and I will cause that they shall have ^aburdens lashed upon their backs; and they shall be driven before like a dumb ass.
  6 And it shall come to pass that I will send forth ^ahail among them, and it shall smite them; and they shall also be smitten with the ^beast wind; and ^cinsects shall pester their land also, and devour their grain. I think I heard once that the “east wind” is the one that brings no rain.
  7 And they shall be smitten with a great pestilence—and all this will I do because of their ^ainiquities and abominations. It’s amazing to read of ALL the judgments. One kind would be enough suffering, but all of it? Bondage, death, famine, bugs and rodents, hail, no rain for crops or to drink...nothing about this is something a person could escape the effects of.
  8 And it shall come to pass that except they repent I will utterly ^adestroy them from off the face of the earth; a lot of people reading these cursings would hope to die, but part of the cursing is that most don’t die, for God is trying to bring you to humility so you will repent. yet they shall leave a ^brecord behind them, and I will preserve them for other nations which shall possess the land; yea, even this will I do that I may discover the abominations of this people to other nations. And many things did Abinadi prophesy against this people. Pretty clear warning. I wonder what other things he prophesied... And who is this record left for? US! This will be OUR fate if we don’t learn from them. This is the testimony they left for us.
  9 And it came to pass that they were angry with him; and they took him and carried him bound before the king, and said unto the king: Behold, we have brought a man before thee who has prophesied evil concerning thy people, and saith that God will destroy them.
 10 And he also prophesieth evil concerning thy ^alife, and saith that thy life shall be as a garment in a furnace of fire.
 11 And again, he saith that thou shalt be as a stalk, even as a dry stalk of the field, which is run over by the beasts and trodden under foot.
 12 And again, he saith thou shalt be as the blossoms of a thistle, which, when it is fully ripe, if the wind bloweth, it is driven forth upon the face of the land. And he pretendeth the Lord hath spoken it. And he saith all this shall come upon thee except thou repent, and this because of thine iniquities.
 13 And now, O king, what great evil hast thou done, or what great sins have thy people committed, These are Nephites. They know full well what sins they have committed that we should be ^acondemned of God or judged of this man? They seem to focus on Abinidi’s prophecies about the king more than the people, as if they hope to upset him by making him feel personally attacked. 
 14 And now, O king, behold, we are ^aguiltless, and thou, O king, hast not sinned; therefore, this man has ^blied concerning you, and he has prophesied in vain.
 15 And behold, we are strong, we shall not come into bondage, or be taken captive by our enemies; yea, and thou hast prospered in the land, and thou shalt also prosper. Be careful to not equate prosperity to righteousness. It can be, but it can also be a chain forged to bring you into captivity.
 16 Behold, here is the man, we deliver him into thy hands; thou mayest do with him as seemeth thee good.
 17 And it came to pass that king Noah caused that Abinadi should be cast into prison; and he commanded that the ^apriests should gather themselves together that he might hold a council with them what he should do with him. Interesting that the people didn’t just kill him instead of bringing him to the king. Did they want the king to be accountable to God...just in case what Abinadi was saying was true? Why did the king call the priests in council? Did the king want to shift accountability to them...just in case there was truth to Abinadi’s prophesies?
 18 And it came to pass that they said unto the king: Bring him hither that we may question him; and the king commanded that he should be brought before them.
 19 And they began to question him, that they might cross him, that thereby they might have wherewith to ^aaccuse him; but he answered them boldly, and withstood all their questions, yea, to their astonishment; for he did ^bwithstand them in all their questions, and did confound them in all their words. I want to have this kind of courage and confidence that I could confound my enemies. This is evidence that God has your back. Satan, clearly, does not have theirs. And in a contest between the two, God will always win. I wonder if the king/priests needed to hear Abinadi's words for themselves before they would feel justified in killing him.
 20 And it came to pass that one of them said unto him: ^aWhat meaneth the words which are written, and which have been taught by our fathers, saying: Oh...mistake number one for you guys: Never bring up your righteous fathers or the scriptures and think you’ll win a debate with Abinadi.
 21 ^aHow beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him ^bthat bringeth good tidings; that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good; that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth;
 22 ^aThy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again Zion; Who brings Zion? The Lord! Were they wondering about who this watchman would be and when Zion would come? 
 23 Break forth into joy; sing together ye waste places of Jerusalem; for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem;
 24 The Lord hath made bare his holy ^aarm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God? If the prophet is the "arm" then he will be seen by all (thru technology). If Pres. Nelson ends COVID or whatever is plaguing the earth at the time he does it, he will be showing them the salvation of God is in Jesus Christ. So....this didn’t happen. Next opportunity may be when all the world is dying from the “solution” and the prophet raises the “brass serpent” for people to look to and be healed. The people are dying now with increasing numbers. No brass serpent yet....
Look at all the Book of Mormon references to this phrase. We should know what this means as well.

1 Nephi 22:10 And I would, my brethren, that ye should know that all the kindreds of the earth cannot be blessed unless he shall make ^abare his arm in the eyes of the nations.11 Wherefore, the Lord God will proceed to make bare his arm in the eyes of all the ^anations, in bringing about his covenants and his gospel unto those who are of the house of Israel.

Mosaiah 15:31 The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the ^asalvation of our God.

3 Nephi 16:20 The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God.

3 Nephi 20:35 The Father hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of the Father; and the Father and I are one.40 And then shall they say: ^aHow beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings unto them, that ^bpublisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings unto them of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion: Thy God reigneth!

D&C 133:2 The Lord who shall suddenly ^acome to his temple; the Lord who shall come down upon the world with a curse to ^bjudgment; yea, upon all the nations that ^cforget God, and upon all the ungodly among you.3 For he shall make ^abare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the ^bsalvation of their God.

25 And now Abinadi said unto them: Are you ^apriests, and pretend to teach this people, and to understand the spirit of prophesying, and yet desire to know of me what these things mean?
26 I say unto you, wo be unto you for perverting the ways of the Lord! For if ye understand these things ye have not taught them; what would be the evidence among the people if they were taught and correctly understood this passage? What would we be like if we understood it? Why did Mormon include this passage? He could have summarized...therefore, ye have perverted the ways of the Lord.
 27 Ye have not applied your ^ahearts to ^bunderstanding; therefore, ye have not been wise. Therefore, what teach ye this people? Maybe meaning, "If you haven't taught "this"...then what have you been teaching? Why did the priests choose this passage of scripture? What does it mean to “apply your heart to understanding”? 
 28 And they said: We teach the law of Moses. Crazy to think these people still teach the law of Moses and have a form of religion but are feeling so justified in their sins. (Calling evil good and good evil). Have they really been so blinded that they really think they haven’t done anything to warrant to outright smack they are getting from the Lord? That’s pretty blind...
 29 And again he said unto them: If ye teach the ^alaw of Moses why do ye not keep it? Why do ye set your hearts upon ^briches? Why do ye commit whoredoms and ^cspend your strength with harlots, yea, and cause this people to commit sin, that the Lord has cause to send me to prophesy against this people, yea, even a great evil against this people? Here are their sins. They seek riches (we do that); they commit whoredoms and spend their time with harlots (which means prostitution - our world has a major problem with pornography, even in the church); cause this people to commit sin (do they do that by incorrectly teaching them and setting a bad example for them?)
 30 Know ye not that I speak the ^atruth? Yea, ye know that I speak the truth; and you ought to tremble before God. I love that they really did know the truth but denied it openly. Peer pressure? 
 31 And it shall come to pass that ye shall be smitten for your iniquities, for ye have said that ye teach the law of Moses. And what know ye concerning the law of Moses? ^aDoth salvation come by the law of Moses? What say ye? Here is a tactic for talking with “the other side”. Ask them questions back. 
 32 And they answered and said that salvation did come by the law of Moses. So they believe in the scriptures and salvation and God?
 33 But now Abinadi said unto them: I know if ye ^akeep the commandments of God ye shall be saved; yea, if ye keep the commandments which the Lord delivered unto Moses in the mount of ^bSinai, saying:
 34 ^aI am the Lord thy God, who hath ^bbrought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Remember what God has done for you. Even though he didn’t free these Nephites from Egypt, God freed their ancestors and they are blessed through that miracle. We should count God’s blessings to our ancestors as blessings we should still be grateful for. 
 35 Thou shalt have no ^aother God before me. They had made their riches and themselves their God.
 36 ^aThou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing in heaven above, or things which are in the earth beneath. They worshiped the works of their own hands.
 37 Now Abinadi said unto them, Have ye done all this? I say unto you, Nay, ye have not. And have ye ^ataught this people that they should do all these things? I say unto you, Nay, ye have not. Noticing he did not interpret the scripture they put forth to him.