“If These People Commit Sins and Iniquities They Shall Be Answered Upon Their Own Heads”

W. Cleon Skousen

Now Mosiah points out a fallacy in the monarchial system that the people may not have even thought about. That is the unfairness of heaping the blame on the head of the king for any mistakes that are made. He feels this is unfair to both the people and the king. He wants to set up a nation of liberty in which the burden of making decision is shared with all the people. Here is how he said it:

“For behold I say unto you, the sins of many people have been caused by the iniquities of their kings; therefore their iniquities are answered upon the heads of their kings. And now I desire that this inequality should be no more in this land, especially among this my people; but I desire that this land be a land of liberty, and every man may enjoy his rights and privileges alike, so long as the Lord sees fit that we may live and inherit the land, yea, even as long as any of our posterity remains upon the face of the land. And many more things did king Mosiah write unto them, unfolding unto them all the trials and troubles of a righteous king, yea, all the travails of soul for their people, and also all the murmurings of the people to their king; and he explained it all unto them. And he told them that these things ought not to be; but that the burden should come upon all the people, that every man might bear his part.”

Treasures from the Book of Mormon

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