Come Follow Me (Mosiah 29, Alma 1-4)
Anyone reading this who knows me well won't be surprised to see this post coming. Chapter 29 of Mosiah is one of my top three favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon.
To fully appreciate the parallels between the restructuring of Nephite government to the American founding in 1789, first take a look at something pivotal in chapter 28 - the impetus of the restructuring, so to speak.
Like the American founders, King Mosiah studied the records of many peoples. He studied the brass plates brought from the Old World, as well as the Nephite record up to his time. These were added to with the recently acquired records of Zeniff, Alma, and the extinct Jaredite nation.
None of these are entirely happy records. Deceit, betrayal, bondage, debauchery, unjust trials, narrow escapes, and even an execution. The extinct record warned particularly about secret combinations which seek to overthrow governments, and how allowing them without fighting them led to the very extinction itself. Like I said, grim stuff.
I'm particularly fascinated with the reaction of Mosiah's people to the public reading of the Jaredite record - what I would argue might be the grimmest part of the entire Book of Mormon. I repeat - THIS IS NOT A HAPPY STORY. If it weren't for my other top two favorite chapters ever in that record, both of which recount face-to-face conversations with Jesus Christ, you'd need a whole lot of chocolate for the dementor attack that is the Book of Ether.
Sorry about that parentheses. I just really want to get this idea across - Ether is a huge downer of a read. You know - a lot like reading the news today. And yet Mosiah read this bleak, dark record to his people, and Mormon makes this fascinating, important commentary as to why - which we would do well to remember when we want to look away and not pay too close attention to the world on fire around us:
"Now this account did cause the people of Mosiah to mourn exceedingly, yea, they were filled with sorrow; nevertheless it gave them much knowledge, in the which they did rejoice." (Mosiah 28:18)
Knowing hard things is a lot like making the decision Eve made in the Garden of Eden to eat the fruit. I love that Mormon adds this brief commentary that some knowledge, while it brings joy in the knowing, also brings sorrow in the knowing. It's something bittersweet to know both the good and the evil; it will ever be a hallmark of mortality.
The founders of modern America did something very similar as they mined nuggets of knowledge from poring over the records of ancient civilizations - including Greece, Rome, and interestingly - Israel and the early Anglo Saxons - the Anglo Saxons very possibly being descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. The founders were students of history, and this also made them students of human nature.
In reading Mosiah 29, it's very apparent King Mosiah was a similar student.
Students of human nature can almost seem prescient in their ability to predict certain outcomes. But maybe it's just inevitable natural consequences of immersing oneself in the history of humanity and seeing the same patterns play out again and again.
There will always be people who want nothing but power and influence over others, seeing other humans as either stepping stones or stumbling blocks towards it.
There will always be people who want to do away with that kind of tyranny and bondage, and will lift their voices and spend out their lives to warn and to rally others to protect themselves from oppression.
There will always be people who see the showdown coming between the liberty-loving patriots and those thirsting for power, who hedge up their bet by siding with the tyrant, becoming either willing or unwitting toadies with no other desire but to protect their own interests.
There will always be people who want to be left alone, possibly hoping if they ignore eating that fruit long enough, their lives can go on normally and they can completely stay out of the fray.
Same roles throughout history. Similar scripts. Different players. But you study enough of them, and the patterns are unmistakable. Seeing those patterns, the founders were "wise, and look[ed] forward to these things" (Mosiah 29:10), as did King Mosiah.
The result was a completely new way of doing things, The result was an ancient democratic republic uncannily similar to the democratic republic of 1787.
The result was a daring experiment in self-government. Cecil B. DeMille asserted:
"God means us to be free. With divine daring, He gave us the power of choice."
Which begs the question - can we govern ourselves? What principles must a society live by to pull it off?
That's what both the American founders and King Mosiah seemed determined to discover. Many of them are set forth in Mosiah chapter 29.
I love how you condensed the highs and lows of the book of Ether: “If it weren't for my other top two favorite chapters ever in that record, both of which recount face-to-face conversations with Jesus Christ, you'd need a whole lot of chocolate for the dementor attack that is the Book of Ether.” 😂 🥰🥰