Mosiah and the Jaredite Records

One of the reasons King Mosiah gave to his people to end the reign of the kings was the experience of King Noah that had produced so much wickedness and destruction among the people.  Mosiah said, "Yea, remember king Noah, his wickedness and his abominations, and also the wickedness and abominations of his people. Behold what great destruction did come upon them; and also because of their iniquities they were brought into bondage" (Mosiah 29:18).  As far as we are aware, the main body of Nephites had had only righteous kings up to this point.  Nephi was the first king as recorded in 2 Nephi 5:18, and there were subsequent kings according to Jacob: "And whoso should reign in his stead were called by the people, second Nephi, third Nephi, and so forth, according to the reigns of the kings; and thus they were called by the people, let them be of whatever name they would" (Jacob 1:11).  The only significant detail about these kings was given to us by Jarom who recorded, "But our kings and our leaders were mighty men in the faith of the Lord; and they taught the people the ways of the Lord" (Jarom 1:7).  When Mosiah I and his people escaped from the land of Nephi to Zarahemla, he became king there (apparently no longer keeping the name of "Nephi" as a king), and then there was of course Benjamin and Mosiah II who followed him, all of these as righteous men of God.  It's possible that there were unrighteous kings prior to Mosiah's escape, but there's no record of that among the Nephites except for the reign of King Noah.  So, it would seem at first glance, that the impetus for Mosiah's new plan of government was inspired especially by the experience of Noah and his people.

               A book I listened to, though, suggested that probably more influential than the story of King Noah were the records of the Jaredites that Mosiah had translated.  This seems to be why Mormon made such a long aside in Mosiah 28 to tell us about his translation of the Jaredite record.  After Mosiah learned that his sons would not take the kingdom, the account reads, "Therefore he took the records which were engraven on the plates of brass, and also the plates of Nephi, and all the things which he had kept and preserved according to the commandments of God," followed by an eight-verse aside about the translation of the Jaredite record, and then Mormon completed his thought from verse 11 in verse 20: "And now, as I said unto you, that after king Mosiah had done these things, he took the plates of brass, and all the things which he had kept, and conferred them upon Alma, who was the son of Alma."  In between those two verses Mormon told how Mosiah translated the Jaredite record so that the Lord could "discover to every creature who should possess the land the iniquities and abominations of his people" (Mosiah 28:15).  Mormon, before telling us about Mosiah’s new system of government, wanted to emphasize that in those Jaredite records Mosiah learned of the great wickedness of the Jaredites and many of their kings.

            It is not clear to me when exactly Mosiah translated the twenty-four plates, for this chapter that tells us he translated them took place about 30 years after he received them from the people of Limhi (as recorded in Mosiah 22:14).  It is possible that he waited three decades to translate them, but I think it's more likely that Mormon was simply mentioning it here because he wanted us to see the connection to Mosiah's decision in chapter 29—it was from the Jaredite record that Mosiah really saw how much a bad king could ruin a society.  These scriptures proved to be invaluable in saving the Nephite nation from would-be wicked kings—such as Amlici and Amalickiah—who were to come on the stage shortly after Mosiah’s death.  Mosiah received timely revelation from this Jaredite record that allowed him to set up a government that would be much more able to endure the turbulent times following his death.