“Gathers the People to the Temple”

Monte S. Nyman

In inviting his people to put their trust in God, Limhi combines four Old Testament incidents, which had been recorded earlier in the brass plates (v. 19). The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is Jesus Christ (see Exodus 3:14–15; John 8:58; 1 Nephi 19:10). Christ is the Lord who led the children of Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 13:18; 1 Nephi 5:15; 1 Nephi 17:23–25). Moses was commanded of the Lord to part the Red Sea and Israel was able to walk through the Red Sea on dry ground (Exodus 14:21–22; 1 Nephi 4:2; 17:26–27). The Israelites were fed manna in the wilderness that preserved them (Exodus 16:14–15; 1 Nephi 17:28). Some of the many other things that the Lord did for Israel that Limhi does not specify, were mentioned earlier in the Book of Mormon. Moses smote the rock and water came out to quench their thirst (Exodus 17:6; 1 Nephi 17:29). The Lord led them by day [in a cloud], and by night [in a pillar of fire] (Exodus 13:21–22; 1 Nephi 17:30). He destroyed the wicked according to his word, three thousand in one day (Exodus 32:28). He swallowed up in the earth the wicked who followed Korah and two hundred and fifty incense burners on another day (Numbers 16:32–35). Fourteen thousand and seven hundred were destroyed by a plague because of murmuring against Moses (Numbers 16:49). Nephi testified “that according to his word he did destroy them” (1 Nephi 17:31). He also testified that the Lord “sent fiery serpents among them; and after they were bitten, he prepared a way that they might be healed” (1 Nephi 17:41; see Numbers 21:8–9). Indeed, one of the major purposes of the Book of Mormon is “proving to the world that the holy scriptures are true” (D&C 20:11); or that “These last records [the Book of Mormon], which [Nephi] has seen among the Gentiles, shall establish the truth of the first [the Bible]” (1 Nephi 13:40). Limhi also acknowledged the hand of the Lord in bringing his forefathers out of Jerusalem and preserving them in this land (Mosiah 7:20).

Book of Mormon Commentary: These Records Are True

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