Suffered Death by Fire

One of the themes surrounding the story of Abinadi and King Noah is suffering death by fire. When Abinadi came back the second time, he made it clear what was going to happen to Noah when he quoted these words of the Lord: “And it shall come to pass that the life of king Noah shall be valued even as a garment in a hot furnace; for he shall know that I am the Lord” (Mosiah 12:3). This statement was in part a response to Noah’s words two years previously: “Who is Abinadi, that I and my people should be judged of him, or who is the Lord, that shall bring upon my people such great affliction?” (Mosiah 11:27) Noah in the end learned that he was in fact accountable before the Lord for his actions. The people repeated the words of Abinadi to the king: “And he also prophesieth evil concerning thy life, and saith that thy life shall be as a garment in a furnace of fire” (Mosiah 12:10). This was fulfilled later in the story when the people finally were fed up with him: “They were angry with the king, and caused that he should suffer, even unto death by fire” (Mosiah 19:20). Before that happened, though, Noah put Abinadi to death at the stake for his testimony of the gospel. Mormon recorded, “When Abinadi had said these words, he fell, having suffered death by fire; yea, having been put to death because he would not deny the commandments of God, having sealed the truth of his words by his death.” It is hard to imagine the pain such a death entails, but Abinadi somehow had the strength while suffering those final moments to make one more prophecy to Noah and the priests: “Behold, even as ye have done unto me, so shall it come to pass that thy seed shall cause that many shall suffer the pains that I do suffer, even the pains of death by fire; and this because they believe in the salvation of the Lord their God…. And in that day ye shall be hunted, and ye shall be taken by the hand of your enemies, and then ye shall suffer, as I suffer, the pains of death by fire” (Mosiah 17:15, 18, 20). This was not a prophecy of what was to come imminently with the death of Noah—Abinadi had already prophesied that—but rather what would happened many years later. There would be more death by fire in subsequent years even after Noah and Abinadi were gone.

                It was probably about 60 or 70 years later when the fulfillment of this prophecy came. The “seed of Amulon and his brethren” were mostly slain in battle with the Nephites, but the remainder “fled into the east wilderness, and having usurped the power and authority over the Lamanites, caused that many of the Lamanites should perish by fire because of their belief.” Here they inflicted more death by fire, just as Abinadi had prophesied, and then they reaped the consequence: “Now this martyrdom caused that many of their brethren should be stirred up to anger; and there began to be contention in the wilderness; and the Lamanites began to hunt the seed of Amulon and his brethren and began to slay them; and they fled into the east wilderness.” To make sure we saw the connection with the prophecy of Abinadi, Mormon commented, “Thus the words of Abinadi were brought to pass, which he said concerning the seed of the priests who caused that he should suffer death by fire. For he said unto them: What ye shall do unto me shall be a type of things to come. And now Abinadi was the first that suffered death by fire because of his belief in God; now this is what he meant, that many should suffer death by fire, according as he had suffered. And he said unto the priests of Noah that their seed should cause many to be put to death, in the like manner as he was, and that they should be scattered abroad and slain, even as a sheep having no shepherd is driven and slain by wild beasts; and now behold, these words were verified, for they were driven by the Lamanites, and they were hunted, and they were smitten” (Alma 25:5-12). Though the priest of Noah themselves may have escaped some of this suffering in mortality—surely they received their due portion in the Spirit World—ultimately their seed was destroyed because of iniquity. It reminds me of Isaiah’s statement: “The seed of evildoers shall never be renowned” (Isaiah 14:20). Their memory was erased, while on the other hand the words of Abinadi profoundly influenced the Nephites from that point on and are still powerful for us today. The story reminds us that while the righteous will sometimes suffer, good will triumph over evil in the end and we will all stand accountable to the Lord for the choices we make.