“The Kingdom Conferred Upon Him by the People”

Brant Gardner

While there is no break between verses 24 and 25, we should mentally insert a small one. There is a change of place, occasion, and meaning between these verses. These verses have two actors, the king of the Lamanites, and Limhi "being the son of the king, having the kingdom conferred upon him by the people…." Thus we have a formal exchange between two rulers, and binding acceptance of the terms of subjugation, the payment of the tribute to the Lamanites. This imposition of tribute is ironically the very thing that Zeniff had long ago feared would be the goal of the Lamanites.

The next interesting piece of information we learn is that Limhi has "the kingdom conferred upon him by the people." It is very probable that at this point in time the news of Noah's death has not made it to the city. Had they known that Noah had died, Limhi would have been king by right of accession. The people "confer" the kingdom on Limhi precisely because the transference was seen as abnormal. He was king because they allowed him to be, perhaps presuming that Noah was still alive, but certainly rejected as a king. In selecting Limhi they affirmed their principles of succession while denying the further legitimacy of Noah's kingship. This event would appear to confirm the view that the meeting of Gideon's men and those returning from their flight would have occurred outside of the city and the fate of Noah was not yet known.

Multidimensional Commentary on the Book of Mormon

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