King Limhi spoke to his people after the arrival of Ammon and pointed out that because of sin, the Lord "will not succor my people in the day of their transgression” (7:29), but "if my people shall sow filthiness they shall reap the east wind, which bringeth immediate destruction," and thus "the promise of the Lord is fulfilled, and ye are smitten and afflicted" (7:31–32). But then he added the positive side of the covenant in verse 33: "But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him," "who was the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob," he will "deliver you out of bondage" (7:19, 33). In saying this, I think Limhi may well have had in mind the powerful promise given by God in Leviticus 26:40–44, offering the opportunity for his people to be reconciled with God:
If they shall confess their iniquity, and … be humbled … [t]hen will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and … Isaac, and … Abraham. … I will not cast them away … to break my covenant with them: for I am the Lord their God (Leviticus 26:40–44).
It is clear that the Law of Moses applied to these Nephites just as it did to other descendants of the patriarchs. The Lord had told the Israelites that "all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the Lord thy God" (Deuteronomy 28:45). Limhi knew that this was true: "[I]f this people had not fallen into transgression the Lord would not have suffered that this great evil should come upon them. But behold, they would not hearken unto his words."
Many of the problems faced by Zeniff’s community, when they sinned and broke their covenants, were the same afflictions imposed upon the Israelites if they broke their covenants. For example, in Mosiah 9:14–16, the people of Zeniff living in Shilom were attacked and "a numerous host of Lamanites came upon them and began to slay them, and to take off their flocks, and the corn of their fields." Again, in Mosiah 11:13–17, when King Noah and the Nephites broke their covenants through oppression of the people and through immorality, "the Lamanites began to come in" upon the people of King Noah, "to slay them in their fields, and while they were tending their flocks … and drove many of their flocks out of the land."
Both of these events are reminiscent of what the Lord had said, in the law of Moses, would happen to those who broke their covenants: "Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and … thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face and … thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies" (Deuteronomy 28:31). If they refused to repent, they were warned that they would be in bondage to their enemies, which also corresponds with the warning given in Leviticus 26:25.
The Book of Mormon repeatedly demonstrates that the covenant God made with ancient Israel still applied to the Nephites. Likewise, the blessings as well as the curses of God’s covenants apply to us today as well, if we do not repent and accept his atoning mercy. In verse 33, Mormon gave the Lord’s covenant requirements a happy ending:
But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage.
So, what do we need to do to get help from the Lord? According to this verse, there are three things we must do: (1) Turn to the Lord; (2) Trust Him; and (3) Serve Him.
And, when will the Lord deliver us? "According to his own will and pleasure"—that is the part that we do not like so much. We often want him to deliver us from our trials now and we want to prescribe the way we want it done.
| Curses or Blessings | Leviticus 26 | Deuteronomy 28 | Mosiah |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flocks Violently Taken Away |
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| Delivered into Hands of Enemies |
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| No Man Save Them |
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| Blindness |
| Mosiah 11:29 (cf. 8:20) | |
| Smitten Before Enemies |
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| Slain |
| ||
| Devoured By Wild Beasts | |||
| Crops Smitten |
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| Famine |
| ||
| Pestilence | |||
| Fear and Lamentation |
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| Insects Devour Crops | |||
| Destruction and Desolation | Mosiah 12:8 (8:8?) | ||
| Diseases |
| ||
| Scattered | |||
| Internal Bloodshed |
| ||
| Enemies Oppress and Eat Up Fruit of Labor | |||
| Few Left | Mosiah 21:17 (22:2; 25:9?) | ||
| Pine Away in Iniquity |
| ||
| Cursed Because Did Not Hearken to God |
| ||
| God Will Remember If They Repent |
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Book of Mormon Central, "How Do the Covenants in the Scriptures Apply to Me Today?" KnoWhy 369 (October 3, 2017).
S. Kent Brown, "Curse, Cursing(s)" in Book of Mormon Reference Companion, ed. Dennis Largey (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book, 2003), 224–225.
Hugh Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, 4 vols. (Provo, UT: FARMS, 1993), 2:265.
Joseph Fielding McConkie and Robert L. Millet, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 4 vols. (Salt Lake City, UT: Bookcraft, 1987–1992), 2:189.