We have already encountered Limhi in the context of his coming role as successor to Noah. Limhi is discovered by Ammon, who has been sent from Zarahemla to locate the Nephite colonists in Lamanite lands (see Mosiah 7–8). The current scriptural account is a flashback leading up to the discovery by Ammon. Here is the situation with regard to Limhi: He is the last of the Nephite kings in the colony established by Zeniff among the Lamanites in the land of Nephi beginning around 200 b.c. We have seen that the aging Zeniff confers the kingdom upon his son, Noah, around 160 b.c. But Noah’s profligacy and wickedness propel the people into a state of bondage and oppression at the hands of their Lamanite hosts. With the demise of Noah, the people confer the kingdom on his son, Limhi, around 145 b.c. (see Mosiah 19:26).
Limhi’s leadership is defined by a threefold agenda: (1) to remind the people continually that wickedness leads to enslavement, both physical and spiritual—“and behold, it is because of our iniquities and abominations that he [the Lord] has brought us into bondage” (Mosiah 7:20); (2) to preserve peace, order, and a prevailing attitude of trust in God and hope for deliverance—“Therefore, lift up your heads, and rejoice, and put your trust in God, in that God who was the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob; and also, that God who brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt” (Mosiah 7:19); and (3) to seek an effective means for escape and eventual return to the homeland of Zarahemla.