The Hill North of the Land Shilom

As Mormon described the activities of King Noah, he wrote this: “And it came to pass that he caused many buildings to be built in the land Shilom; and he caused a great tower to be built on the hill north of the land Shilom, which had been a resort for the children of Nephi at the time they fled out of the land; and thus he did do with the riches which he obtained by the taxation of his people” (Mosiah 11:13). Those “children of Nephi” were the ones who left with Mosiah (the first) from the land of Nephi and traveled to Zarahemla. Their departure was described by Amaleki in these words: “They departed out of the land into the wilderness, as many as would hearken unto the voice of the Lord; and they were led by many preachings and prophesyings. And they were admonished continually by the word of God; and they were led by the power of his arm, through the wilderness until they came down into the land which is called the land of Zarahemla” (Omni 1:13). Apparently as they were on their way out of the land of Nephi, they stopped on this hill north of the land of Shilom and it was a “resort” for them, likely indicating a place of refuge from the Lamanites. Surely Noah was not thinking about the faith of his fathers who had been temporarily in that place as they were led by the hand of the Lord under the guidance of a prophet. Rather, Noah built there a tower so that he could see the Lamanites coming, relying on his own wisdom and strength to defend his people. He rejected the more valuable “watchmen on the tower,” prophets who could help him understand and do the will of the Lord. And that of course led to his own demise.

            This hill north of the land of Shilom appears again in this story. After Noah was killed, Limhi began to rule while under bondage to the Lamanites. Eventually King Mosiah (the second) in Zarahemla sent Ammon and a group of men to try to find the people of Zeniff in the land of Nephi. Mormon recorded what happened to them, “They wandered many days in the wilderness, even forty days did they wander. And when they had wandered forty days they came to a hill, which is north of the land of Shilom, and there they pitched their tents.” Undoubtedly this was the very same hill where the children of Nephi originally found refuge and where King Noah built his tower (likely since destroyed by the Lamanites). Ammon left twelve of his men there while he went into the land of Shilom, and eventually once Limhi learned who they all were, he rejoiced that these brethren on the hill would be the means of their salvation: “And now, king Limhi commanded his guards that they should no more bind Ammon nor his brethren, but caused that they should go to the hill which was north of Shilom, and bring their brethren into the city, that thereby they might eat, and drink, and rest themselves from the labors of their journey” (Mosiah 7:4-5, 16). The hill that proved useless for preserving Noah’s life—despite the tower he built there—was figuratively the means of bringing freedom to the people of Limhi through their Nephite brethren. Mormon recorded that as Limhi’s people followed Ammon and his brethren, they were saved: “And it came to pass that the people of king Limhi did depart by night into the wilderness with their flocks and their herds, and they went round about the land of Shilom in the wilderness, and bent their course towards the land of Zarahemla, being led by Ammon and his brethren” (Mosiah 22:11). And so, what matters most is not the physical towers we build or the riches we possess, but rather it is our willingness to follow the servants of God. Only as we take His servants to be our guides will we too be led out of bondage and to our figurative promised land.