“I Will Be Slow to Hear Their Cries”

Ed J. Pinegar, Richard J. Allen

King Noah, the paragon of evil, greed, and promiscuity, is diametrically opposite of the nobility and valor of his namesake from the Old Testament. When a branch of the House of Israel descends to the depths of depravity displayed by King Noah’s generation in what the Lord has decreed will be a land of promise for the faithful, there is always an inexorable and predictable response from heaven: prophetic intervention. In this case, King Noah encounters Abinadi. It is an encounter that begins with a majestic call to repentance (Mosiah 11:20–25) and continues with the predictable rejection of that call, bringing a second encounter of greater forcefulness. This, in turn, leads to the martyrdom of the Lord’s anointed and, eventually, the demise of the forces of evil. This is a case study in the condition of the heart, for Noah and his people display hearts so hardened that they are impenetrable. From them we can extract a lesson for our day, i.e., the Lord commands that we bring before Him the acceptable offering of a broken heart and a contrite spirit (see Psalm 51:17; 2 Nephi 2:7; 3 Nephi 9:20; Mormon 2:14; Moroni 6:2; D&C 59:8).

Commentaries and Insights on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 1

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