In Mosiah 7, Ammon and his group, leave Zarahemla to look for the Nephites who left a few decades earlier, led by Zeniff (incidentally the other story told twice that I posted about). He meets the present king in the land of Nephi, whose name is Limhi, the grandson of Zeniff. In Mosiah 8, Limhi tells Ammon about a group that went looking for Zarahemla, but got lost in the wilderness and found a land with "dry bones" and old records that they brought with them. When this conversation ends, we are brought back in time in Mosiah 9-21 to read about Zeniff and everything that happened up to the point when Ammon got there.
What I find pretty neat is how Mormon in Mosiah 21 brings us back to the conversation between Ammon and Limhi after having repeated briefly some of the elements that led to this meeting. In the table below we see how the detailed version is given in Mosiah 7 and 8 and how Mormon repeats the main elements of the story in Mosiah 21, but also adds a few details. For instance, he says that Limhi first thought that Ammon and his brethren were the priest of Noah, which explains why he treated them the way he did in Mosiah 7. But this detail would just not have made sense in chapter 7 because Noah and his priest had not been introduced yet.
The repetition that we see in the table below is an example of an old literary device called inclusio, framing the whole side story about the Nephite group who inherited the land of their fathers far away from the main body in Zarahemla.
This is just another example of the complexity of the Book of Mormon text.
Mosiah 7
7 And behold, they met the
king of the people who were in the land of Nephi, and in the land of Shilom; and they were
surrounded by the king’s guard, and were taken, and were bound, and were committed
to prison.
8 And it came to pass when
they had been in prison two days they were again brought before the king, and
their bands were loosed; and they stood before the king, and were permitted,
or rather commanded, that they should
answer the questions which he should ask them.
9 And he said unto them:
Behold, I am Limhi, the son of Noah, who
was the son of Zeniff, who came up out of the land of
Zarahemla to inherit this land, which was the land of
their fathers, who was made a king
by the voice of the people.
10 And now, I desire to know the cause
whereby ye were so bold as to come near the walls of the city, when I, myself, was with my guards
without the gate?
11 And
now, for this cause have I suffered that ye should be preserved, that I might
inquire of you, or else I
should have caused that my guards should have put you to death. Ye are permitted to speak…
14 And
now, it came to pass that after Limhi had heard the words of Ammon, he was exceedingly glad, and said: Now, I know of a surety that my
brethren who were in the land of Zarahemla are yet alive.
And now, I will
rejoice; and on the morrow I will cause that my people shall rejoice
also…
Mosiah 8
6 Now, as soon as Ammon had
read the record, the king inquired of him to know if he could interpret languages, and
Ammon told him that he could not.
7 And the king said unto
him: Being grieved for the afflictions of my people, I caused that forty
and three of my people should take a journey into the wilderness, that
thereby they might find the land of Zarahemla, that we might appeal
unto our brethren to deliver us out of bondage.
8 And they were lost in the wilderness
for the space of many days, yet they were
diligent, and found not the land of Zarahemla but returned to this land,
having traveled in a land among many waters, having discovered a land which was covered with bones of men, and of
beasts, and was also covered with ruins of buildings of every kind, having
discovered a land which
had been peopled with a people who were as numerous as the hosts of
Israel.
9 And for a testimony that the things that they had said are true they
have brought twenty-four plates which
are filled with engravings, and they are of pure gold...
13 Now Ammon
said unto him: I can assuredly tell thee, O king, of a man that can translate the records; for he has wherewith that he can
look, and translate all records that are of ancient date; and it is a gift from
God. And the things are called interpreters, and no man
can look in them except he be commanded, lest he should look for that he ought
not and he should perish. And whosoever is commanded to look in them, the same
is called seer.
14
And behold, the king of the people who are in the land of Zarahemla is
the man that is commanded to do these things, and who has this high gift from
God
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Mosiah 21
22 And it
came to pass that there was no more disturbance between the Lamanites and the
people of Limhi, even until the time that Ammon and
his brethren came into the land.
23 And the king having been without the gates of the city with his guard, discovered Ammon and his
brethren; and supposing them to be priests of Noah therefore he caused that
they should be taken, and
bound, and cast into prison. And had they
been the priests of Noah he
would have caused that they should be put to death.
24 But when he found that
they were not, but that they were his brethren, and had come from the land of Zarahemla, he was filled with
exceedingly great joy.
25 Now king Limhi had sent, previous to the
coming of Ammon, a small number of men to search for the land of
Zarahemla; but they could not find it, and they were lost in the wilderness.
26 Nevertheless, they did find a land which had
been peopled; yea, a land which was covered with dry bones; yea, a land
which had been peopled and which had been destroyed; and they, having
supposed it to be the land of Zarahemla, returned to the land of Nephi,
having arrived in the borders of the land not many days before the coming of Ammon.
27 And they brought a record
with them, even a record of the people whose bones they had found; and it was
engraven on plates of ore.
28 And now Limhi was again
filled with joy on learning from the mouth of Ammon that king Mosiah had a gift from God, whereby he
could interpret such engravings; yea, and Ammon also did rejoice.
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