Mormon appears to indicate that Mosiah accumulates the records of the people in anticipation of the coming change in government. Why does Mormon choose to edit his records in such a way that the translation of the plates found by Limhi’s people should follow the denial of the sons of Mosiah to follow Mosiah in kingship? The only indication that Mormon gives is that the people were anxious to know what was on the plates. While this is certainly true, it is not a complete answer.
One of the problems we have is that Mormon gives us no time frame for any of these events. We have no firm dating until Mosiah 29:45-6 where we learn of the death of both Alma the Elder and Mosiah II 509 years after the departure from Jerusalem under the Nephite accounting of years.
To recount just a few important dates, the deaths of Alma and Mosiah II would correlate to 92 BC. Mosiah was enthroned as king in 124 BC, 462 Nephite years from the departure from Jerusalem. The reunification of the people of Alma and Limhi with the people of Zarahemla had to occur after Mosiah was made king, and therefore somewhere between these two dates of 124 BC and 92BC.
We have 32 of our calendar years in which all of the events of the creation of the church and the conversion of Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah must have taken place. When would they have occurred? It is certain that the establishment of the church would have occurred within a year or so after the reunification, which would certainly have been a minimum of a year after the departure of Aaron. Adding a couple of years for safety, we might guess that perhaps 120 BC would be a reasonable date for the establishment of the church.
It does not appear from Mormon’s account that Alma and Mosiah die immediately after this event with the records. Certainly Mosiah doesn’t appear to think that Alma is near death, as he gives the records over to Alma without a discussion of Alma’s succession. Nevertheless, these events had to occur somewhere near the end of his reign or he would not be considering the possibility of transferring kingship. Placing the conversion of the sons of Alma and Mosiah near the end of this timeframe gives them enough time to have a church established, to have made a decision to fight against it, and to have had some time to be successful at this endeavor.
This situation adds another wrinkle to the request of the sons of Mosiah to preach to the Lamanites. The journey would take some time, and no matter how successful or unsuccessful, Mosiah could not be sure that his sons would return speedily. It is perhaps very directly related to the departure of all of his sons for the mission to the Lamanites that begins turning Mosiah’s thoughts to the transferal of rule.
With all of his sons declining to become king, a fact that would have been decided prior to their departure, Mosiah would know that he had to prepare for a transfer of power that might not be without controversy and contention. Indeed, he specifically notes that he fears the possibility of contentions over the transfer of power (Mosiah 29:7).
With this frame of mind, it would appear that Mosiah is preparing for the worst. In case of a very dangerous upheaval, he takes care first of what he considers most important – the sacred records. He prepares to turn the records over to Alma for safekeeping, probably hoping thereby to keep them from danger in a possible war for power among the people of Zarahemla.
This worry would not be totally unfounded considering both the normal nature of mankind and the known religious divisions that existed in Zarahemla society. There were ready-made fault lines along which his people could divide given a contentious transfer of power.
It would appear that one of the tasks that he gives himself is the translation of the record on the gold plates that were found by the people of Limhi (Mosiah 8:9). These plates would have been given to Mosiah soon after Limhi’s people had arrived, since Limhi and his people were quite interested in having them translated (see Mosiah 8:11-12). Clearly they had not been translated until this date, perhaps (as a rough guess) twenty years after Mosiah had received them.
Why Mosiah had delayed so long is not explained, but perhaps he understood that the change in leadership might not yield one who would have the power to use the two stones (the Urim and Thummin and never so named in the Book of Mormon) that would allow for their translation. As part of Mosiah’s preparation for the transfer or the records to Alma the Elder for safekeeping, he apparently decides that he may no longer delay the translation of this record.