Prophet or Loss: Mosiah1/Zeniff, Benjamin/Noah, Mosiah2/Limhi and the Emergence of the Almas PDF feed of Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship
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Abstract: Mormon’s overwhelmingly dominant rhetorical purpose is to testify of Christ, which he and his protagonists often directly do. But he also communicates his testimony more subtly through carefully crafted historical narratives. His use of frame narratives is especially artful. In the Book of Mosiah, Mormon frames the dispiriting account of Zeniff and Noah’s rule with the story of its aftermath: the suffering of Limhi and his people, which is recounted both before and after the central Zeniff/Noah narrative and which underscores the folly in the narrative it frames. The Limhi story is, in turn, framed by a Mosiah family narrative that features prophet kings Mosiah1, Benjamin, and Mosiah2 and that, likewise, underscores the folly in the Zeniff/Noah/Limhi story through pointed contrasts with Mosiah1/Benjamin/Mosiah2, the antitypes of the Zeniff-family kings. Benjamin’s great discourse on Christ, the most important component of the Mosiah narrative is also set within a frame narrative, a coronation account, which creates a political subtext in that great spiritual sermon and that, likewise, underscores the folly of the Zeniff family’s failure to follow the prophets God sent them. The article concludes by discussing the emergence of the Almas as the first family of Nephite history, the connecting thread that runs through Mormon’s account of the next ten generations of Nephite history.
In the Book of Mormon, Mormon uses narrative to illustrate important truths. One truth he copiously illustrates is that bad things happen, even to good people, if they choose to reject the counsel of God that comes to them through prophets. One way Mormon artfully teaches this truth is by recounting the parallel histories of two contemporary dynasties, the prophet-led Mantic dynasty of Mosiah1 in the land of [Page 368]Zarahemla and the contrasting Sophic dynasty of a good-man, Zeniff, in the land of Nephi.1
Things must be alike in important ways to form a clear contrast. We contrast apples with oranges, not with prepositions. Understanding this, Mormon illustrates his truth about the importance of prophets by recounting historical narratives that are similar on a large number of dimensions but that repeatedly prove to be type and antitype when the parallels are closely examined. To be specific, Mormon develops his theme that it is foolish to reject the guidance of God that comes to us through prophets by comparing and contrasting the lives of the similarly situated monarchs Mosiah1 and Zeniff, Benjamin and Noah, and Mosiah2 and Limhi.
Mormon develops these contrasts and marks the emergence of the Almas as the first family of the Nephite nation, as the connecting thread that will run through the succeeding ten generations of Nephite history, using a sophisticated literary technique, the frame narrative. (A frame narrative is a story that has another story embedded in it, with the main story both preceding and following the embedded story.2) In the Book of Mosiah, three comparatively short frame narratives comment on and add new dimensions of meaning to the longer, embedded main narratives that they frame.
Mosiah1/Zeniff
Let us begin with the contrast between the first Mosiah, Mosiah1 and his antitype, Zeniff.
Abstract: Mormon’s overwhelmingly dominant rhetorical purpose is to testify of Christ, which he and his protagonists often directly do. But he also communicates his testimony more subtly through carefully crafted historical narratives. His use of frame narratives is especially artful. In the Book of Mosiah, Mormon frames the dispiriting account of Zeniff and Noah’s rule with the story of its aftermath: the suffering of Limhi and his people, which is recounted both before and after the central Zeniff/Noah narrative and which underscores the folly in the narrative it frames. The Limhi story is, in turn, framed by a Mosiah family narrative that features prophet kings Mosiah1, Benjamin, and Mosiah2 and that, likewise, underscores the folly in the Zeniff/Noah/Limhi story through pointed contrasts with Mosiah1/Benjamin/Mosiah2, the antitypes of the Zeniff-family kings. Benjamin’s great discourse on Christ, the most important component of the Mosiah narrative is also set within a frame narrative, a coronation account, which creates a political subtext in that great spiritual sermon and that, likewise, underscores the folly of the Zeniff family’s failure to follow the prophets God sent them. The article concludes by discussing the emergence of the Almas as the first family of Nephite history, the connecting thread that runs through Mormon’s account of the next ten generations of Nephite history.
In the Book of Mormon, Mormon uses narrative to illustrate important truths. One truth he copiously illustrates is that bad things happen, even to good people, if they choose to reject the counsel of God that comes to them through prophets. One way Mormon artfully teaches this truth is by recounting the parallel histories of two contemporary dynasties, the prophet-led Mantic dynasty of Mosiah1 in the land of [Page 368]Zarahemla and the contrasting Sophic dynasty of a good-man, Zeniff, in the land of Nephi.1
Things must be alike in important ways to form a clear contrast. We contrast apples with oranges, not with prepositions. Understanding this, Mormon illustrates his truth about the importance of prophets by recounting historical narratives that are similar on a large number of dimensions but that repeatedly prove to be type and antitype when the parallels are closely examined. To be specific, Mormon develops his theme that it is foolish to reject the guidance of God that comes to us through prophets by comparing and contrasting the lives of the similarly situated monarchs Mosiah1 and Zeniff, Benjamin and Noah, and Mosiah2 and Limhi.
Mormon develops these contrasts and marks the emergence of the Almas as the first family of the Nephite nation, as the connecting thread that will run through the succeeding ten generations of Nephite history, using a sophisticated literary technique, the frame narrative. (A frame narrative is a story that has another story embedded in it, with the main story both preceding and following the embedded story.2) In the Book of Mosiah, three comparatively short frame narratives comment on and add new dimensions of meaning to the longer, embedded main narratives that they frame.
Mosiah1/Zeniff
Let us begin with the contrast between the first Mosiah, Mosiah1 and his antitype, Zeniff.