This account ends rather abruptly and confusingly. Limhi ends by praising the Lord, and certainly finding that a seer is living and available (in Zarahemla) is reason for praising God. What is confusing is the specific nature of his praise. How do these sentiments fit into the context that produced them? How does Limhi get from a seer to a “wild flock which fleeth from the shepherd, and scattereth?”
We begin with verse 20. Limhi contrasts the “marvelous…works of the Lord” with the “blind and impenetrable…understandings of the children of men.” These concepts create a parallel of opposition. The two phrases should be read together, and understood as parallels of contrast. For Limhi, the focal point is the “blind and impenetrable…understandings….”
Limhi is placing himself in the position and of the blind and impenetrable understandings. He has the physical plates, but they are impenetrable to him. On his own, Limhi might as well be blind, for he can understand nothing of what he presumes to be the “great mystery” they contain.
Contrasted to this is are the “marvelous…works of the Lord” who can read and reveal these texts. The Lord is able to reveal wisdom.
That paralleled set of contrasts, the wise-and-revealing God/ the blind-and-not-understanding man, is further elaborated by augmenting the description of man. Because the beginning of the comparison is explicit, this stated continuing lament for the understanding-blindness of man serves to implicitly praise God through the unstated but understood contrast to the expanded lament. In other words, there is no parallel praise to God that is written to balance the lament about man. However, that praise is structurally implied, and the meaning is supplied, even when not directly stated.
Verse 21 compares man without the wisdom of God to a “wild flock which fleeth from the shepherd, and scattereth, and are driven, and are devoured by the beasts of the forest.” The shepherd, like God, is there to provide wisdom and order. It is the “wild flock” that runs from that source of wisdom, and perishes without the guidance they need.
In the context of the conversation with Ammon, Limhi understands Mosiah as seer to be one who can reveal the will of the Lord. He sees Mosiah as a great man who can be “…a great benefit to his fellow beings” (verse 18). Mosiah as the revealer of the will of God is the one who can provide the wisdom God’s children require to safely maneuver through life.