The priests of Noah abandoned their homes and families in an effort to avoid death at the hands of an invading Lamanite army (see Mosiah 19:9-223). According to Kent Brown, two years later (see Mosiah 19:29), the priests crept back to the outskirts of their former colony and, presumably in order to stay alive, "carried off [fellow colonists'] grain and many of their precious things," coming "by night," which made their thievery potentially a capital crime (Mosiah 21:21). It was while they were in the neighboring wilderness that they stumbled upon "a place in Shemlon where the daughters of the Lamanites did gather themselves" (Mosiah 20:1). After discovering "the daughters of the Lamanites, they laid and watched them; And when there but few of them gathered together to dance, they came forth out of their secret places and took them and carried them into the wilderness" (Mosiah 20:4-5).
The sudden disappearance of the young women led to an immediate rupture in the treaty--a suzerain-vassal relationship between Lamanite overlords and the subject Nephite colony, then under the leadership of Limhi--a rupture that brought military reprisal against the Nephites (see Mosiah 20:6-11). The Lamanite king and his people suspected that the Nephites were responsible for the wrong. When both parties grasped that it was the renegade priests who had kidnapped these young women (see Mosiah 20:17-19, 23-24), they set out to discover the whereabouts of the priests and their captives in order to punish the priests, without success. When a disoriented Lamanite army accidentally located them many months later, the priests craftily escaped punishment by obliging their "wives" to intercede on their behalf, thereafter easing themselves into Lamanite society, even taking positions of responsibility (see Mosiah 23:30--24:1, 4).
A number of legal and social issues stem from the narrative. the most important is the fact that, at the end of this series of events, the women are called "wives" and the priests "husbands" (Mosiah 23:33-34) The terms are most significant, for they establish the legal framework for the outcome of the story. Perhaps just as important is the observation that the editor of the account, Mormon, has accepted the terminology of his source. Plainly, by so doing he demonstrates that in his culture--although he lived much later--the women were thought of as legally married. Additionally, one might wonder about the legal status of the priests' previous wives whom they had abandoned.
The terminology not only interprets the outcome of the situation but also invites us to enter the world of the Old Testament where laws deal rather extensively with marriage, including that of a master to a captive woman. Clear evidence also exists for laws dealing with abandoned wives and children in such a circumstance. A number of elements in the account can be understood best in light of either the Mosaic code or Old Testament events that established legal norms.
1. The Lamanite women were illegally taken: the priests "took them and carried them away" (Mosiah 20:5; cf. Mosiah 20:15:23). Subsequently they were considered "stolen" (Mosiah 20:18; 21:20-21). Of particular note, according to the Mosaic code is the assumption that these Lamanite girls were "married" without the "consent" of their parents, particularly of the fathers, and that "there [was] a complete break with her family."
A . Marriages were allowed between Israelite males and foreign women whose city, lying at a distance "very far off," had been sacked by an Israelite army (Deuteronomy 20:15, see Deuteronomy 20:10-15). but of course, the Lamanite daughters were not foreigners, which made things worse.
B. If the girls were betrothed to be married, under Mosaic law the priests of Noah would be thought of as rapists. In such a situation, the men would be sentenced to die. In contrast, in the case of an unmarried virgin, biblical law holds that the rapist must pay a fine, marry the woman, and never divorce her (see Deuteronomy 22:28-29). Thus the decree of death to the priests, issued by both the Lamanite king and the Nephite ruler Limhi (see Mosiah 20:7, 16), strongly suggests that some of the young women were already betrothed to be married.
C. The Bible also speaks against "humiliating" a woman. According to this view, even though the Lamanite women were later reckoned as wives of the renegade priests, the route to their marriages was through defiled beds, thus humbling the women.
2. As a consequence of the taking of the Lamanite girls, the covenant treaty between the Lamanites and Nephites was immediately considered broken by the Lamanite king.
A. According to Old Testament law, the breaking of an agreement between two parties led to whatever consequences were spelled out in the "curses" of the oaths--the classic example being the one between the Israelites, who were about to possess the promised land, and the Lord. As is plain from his response, the Lamanite king's promised that "his people should not slay" the people of Limhi (Mosiah 19:25) was reversed as one of the penalties for breaking the treaty and thus the Lamanite king sought "to destroy" the Nephite colony. In general, when a treaty has evidently been broken, the question is, "How flagrant must a violation be before the sovereign could legitimately muster his military forces and attack the recalcitrant vassal?"
3. When the Lamanite army came upon the new settlement founded by the priests and their wives, to all appearances the wives were willing to intercede for their husbands. There was no visibly abusive compulsion on the part of the former priests. As a result the priests were allowed to keep both their lives and their wives--a decision not subsequently overturned by the Lamanite king because, afterward, he appointed Amulon to serve as a regent king over the colony of alma, "his people" (Mosiah 23:39).
4. The offspring of these "wives" were numbered with the Lamanties and eventually involved in wars with the Nephites in the which many if not all were "destroyed."
[S. Kent Brown, "Marriage and Treaty in the Book of Mormon," in The Disciple As Scholar: Essays on Scripture and the Ancient World in Honor of Richard Lloyd Anderson, pp. 1-18]
Note* So the marriages between the priests and the abducted women were perhaps recognized according to Mosaic law. But how? Had the priests of Noah conveniently instructed their "wives" in the Mosaic law? Had they implied to their "wives" that their only salvation with honor was to stay by them? Had they treated their wives decently? Did the wives stand up for their "husbands" because of their love for them? Were the "wives" impressed with the former "position" and "intellect" of their husbands. Were they impressed by how the priests of Noah could steal grain from Limhi's people and survive in the wilderness? What of the Lamanite women? or is that not the perspective of a Nephite record? What is the lesson to be taught here? Is it that no matter how great man's knowledge of the law, or misuse of the law in utilizing it to their advantage to enrich or spare their lives, ultimately they will lose their eternal lives and their offspring will be "destroyed"? There is a covenant lesson to be taught here but what are the details? [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]