Abinadi declares that the priests of Noah are not correctly interpreting the law of Moses. Rather than being intimidated by the priests’ claim, Abinadi affirms himself as the law’s champion, thereby placing the priests in exactly the position they had attempted to place him. He then lists three ways in which they violate the law of Moses: They set their hearts upon riches, commit whoredoms, and cause the people to sin.
Greed is certainly reprehensible, but how does it violate the law of Moses? The law does not prevent people from being well-to-do or suggest that poverty is preferable to affluence. The explanation lies in the Book of Mormon’s two earlier examples of prophetic warnings against riches. Jacob had not objected to riches per se, but to their unequal distribution (Jacob 2:17–19). Similarly Benjamin had stressed the responsibility of those who have toward those who have not (Mosiah 4:16–25). Thus, Abinadi follows what appears to be a consistent Nephite reading of the law of Moses: that it desires the common good of the people and counsels against the social and economic separation that riches can bring. The priests violate this principle, not by their possession of riches but by their desire. In addition to desiring riches, they also desire superiority to the people. Their seats are even elevated above those of ordinary worshippers (Mosiah 11:11). This inequality violates the law as the great Nephite prophets have interpreted it.
Abinadi’s second accusation concerns whoredoms and harlots. As did Jacob, Abinadi would not be arguing against the principle of polygyny, but rather against the specifics of the Noahite practice. As previously noted, the people of Noah have returned to the same geographic area that saw these same social pressures develop in early Nephite society (as reported in Jacob). As in Jacob’s time, at least some of these wives may have been indigenous women and, accompanying the marriages, may have been the adoption of foreign religious practices. (See commentary accompanying Mosiah 11:14; Jacob 2:12–13, 32–34.) They are not simply committing sexual sin, serious though that is, but open acts of rebellion against Yahweh.
Abinadi’s third accusation is that the priests are teaching these things to the people. Clearly the priests have grafted new practices and ideas onto the inherited religion. They are directly responsible for “perverting” the people’s beliefs to the point that they not only fail to recognize Yahweh’s prophet but willingly capture him and deliver him up to a trial that will inevitably end in his death. In this accusation, Abinadi foreshadows the Messiah’s teaching on the Sermon on the Mount: “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:19).