"We generally say that Abinadi was burned at the stake- and that may be true, although technically it might not be the whole story. The scripture does not say he was 'burned at the stake'; it says he 'suffered death by fire' (Mosiah 17:20). A statement in Mosiah 17:13 catches our attention: 'And it came to pass that they took him and bound him, and scourged his skin with faggots, yea, even unto death.' Three words in the foregoing sentence should be noted. The first is that they bound him. That seems self-explanatory. The second is that they scourged him. To scourge means to whip, flail, or beat. The third term is faggots: 'He was scourged with faggots, yea, even unto death.' A faggot is a bundle of sticks or twigs, used for fuel. This passage seems to say that Abinadi's tormentors took burning torches and poked him with these, burning his skin until he died. And then, says the record, 'He fell, having suffered death by fire; . . . having sealed the truth of his words by his death' (Mosiah 17:20)." (Book of Mormon Symposium Series, edited by PR Cheesman, MS Nyman, and CD Tate, Jr., 1988, p. 102)
Hugh Nibley
"How do you scourge the skin with faggots, and what's the difference between scourge and scorch? They're the same word, the same word exactly. Scourge, scorch, scotch, score-it means to damage the skin of someone. Our word scratch is the same thing. And you have the very same thing in Semitic languages. Harash is the Hebrew word for scratch and for to plow. Harataha is the Arabic word for 'mar the surface, engrave, make a mark on something, or plow the ground.' They all have that same word that means 'to scorch, to scourge, to scratch.' When his skin started to curl up, in other words, he said this. It's interesting. The faggots are burning brands. They burn, and we think of scourging as with a scourge, as 'to scourge with a whip.' But they're the same word exactly. They scourged him and scorched him-in other words, he was being fried. It's not a comfortable way to die, either." (Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Lecture 36, p. 109)