The Reign of King Mosiah

We have relatively little information about what happened to the Nephites at Zarahemla during the time of the second Mosiah, though it appears that it was a time of peace and righteousness.  King Mosiah started his reign around 124 BC at the age of 30, and he died at the age of 63, after reigning as king for 33 years.  This was about 91 BC and was the time when the Nephites switched systems of government (see Mosiah 6:4, 29:46).  His father King Benjamin was still alive when he started his reign, and he lived for three years until about 121 BC.  Around that same year Mosiah also sent men to find out about the people of Zeniff who had gone up to the land of Nephi.  This group was led by Ammon, and it is not totally clear how long that group was with the people of King Limhi before they all escaped, though it seems from the story that it was a relatively short time period.  Thus the group with King Limhi and his people likely arrived back in Zarahemla around 121-120 BC where they “joined Mosiah’s people, and became his subjects…. And it came to pass that Mosiah received them with joy” (Mosiah 22:13-14).

               When the Lamanites came back from unsuccessfully chasing the people of Limhi, they found the people of Alma and they were put under bondage.  We don’t know how long exactly they were in bondage, but from the story it appears that it was not very long.  The chapter sub-headers suggest that they made it back to Zarahemla around the year 120, not too long after Limhi.  At this point, when Mosiah had likely reigned only about four years, the various groups were now back together again and there were “seven churches in the land of Zarahemla” and “the Lord did pour out his Spirit upon them, and they were blessed, and prospered in the land” (Mosiah 25:23-24).  From that point on until the death of King Mosiah is mentioned in Mosiah 29—nearly thirty years later—there are no more indications as far as I can tell of when the events described took place.  We know that at some point “there were many of the rising generation that could not understand the words of king Benjamin” who rebelled, and so this was likely at least ten or more years into Mosiah’s reign (e.g. if someone had been say five years old at the time of Benjamin’s speech, the year Mosiah was king, he or she wouldn’t likely have become rebellious until at least the age of a teenager).  Mosiah gave Alma the authority over the Church and they grappled with the difficult issues of some rebellious members as recorded in Mosiah 26.  But, it appears, most of the people were righteous.  Among those who were rebellious were Alma and the sons of Mosiah who were visited by the angel, changed their ways, and started to preach to the people.  We don’t know when exactly this was, but some time later near the end of the reign of Mosiah his sons rejected the kingdom and asked to go among the Lamanites.  They took “leave of their father, Mosiah, in the first year of the judges; having refused the kingdom which their father was desirous to confer upon them,” which was about 91 BC (Alma 17:6). 

               So Mosiah 25-29 (about 13 pages) covers a period largely of peace and righteousness among the people of Nephi that lasted approximately 30 years and of which we know relatively little.  By way of contrast, Alma 1-61 (about 155 pages) covers the next 30 years, from 91 BC to about 62 BC.  That thirty-year period was filled with difficulties, including the stories of Nehor, the Amlicites, the people of Ammonihah, the Zoramites, Amalickiah, and the great war between the Nephites and the Lamanites.  Clearly it was a much more turbulent time for the Nephites.  Perhaps the one thing this shows is the great power that King Benjamin’s speech had to unify the people in righteousness.  The covenant they made in Mosiah 5 seemed to have had a lasting impact on their society for at least the next three decades.  They had their “hearts are changed through faith on his name” which faith in Christ brought a time of great peace among the people (Mosiah 5:7).