“Sought to Take Away His Life”

Brant Gardner

There is a story here that we do not have. It is abundantly clear why those who had embraced the new culture/religion would want to remove Abinadi - he was attacking their very lifestyle and all that they believed that they had achieved. We might assume that it was the officials who were wroth, but it appears that it was the people themselves who rejected Abinadi.

In verse 26 it is apparently the people to whom Abinadi was preaching who sought his life. Noah does not appear to hear of Abinadi until after this event, witnessed by the following verse. Thus it is convenient to blame Noah for the apostasy of the people, but their bondage was brought on by their own decisions, and not simply the rule of Noah.

Multidimensional Commentary on the Book of Mormon

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