This is the first mention of the king being present, but he had heard all he wanted to hear. The king’s order to take Abinadi away could not be carried out (vv. 1–2). The Lord had delivered him out of the hands of the enemy two years before (11:26), and he was protecting him this time. From this second encounter, we learn a great principle. The Lord’s servants will be protected until their mission is completed (vv. 3–4). The Prophet Joseph Smith acknowledged this same protection:
The Lord Almighty has preserved me until today. He will continue to preserve me by the united faith and prayers of the Saints, until I have fully accomplished my mission in this life, and so firmly established the dispensation of the fulness of the priesthood in the last days, that all the powers of earth and hell can never prevail against it. [ TPJS, 258; see also 328]
Having read the account in the plates of brass, Mormon, or whoever kept the record of Zeniff during the wicked reign of King Noah, must have known of the ancient account where the face of Moses reflected the Spirit of the Lord.
29 And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.
30 And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. [Exodus 34:29–30]
The Book of Mormon verifies the King James translation of this passage, and also clears up a controversy among biblical scholars.
The Catholic translators of the Douay Version followed the pattern of the Septuagint Bible by translating the same verse as follows:
“And they knew not his face was horned from the conversation with the Lord. And Aaron and the children of Israel seeing the face of Israel horned, were afraid to come near.” Because of this faulty interpretation, the great sculptor Michelangelo put horns on his famous statue of Moses! The Book of Mormon again comes to the support of its companion scripture, the Bible, and clarifies an area of controversy; the face of Moses “shone” when he came off the mount.
Abinadi’s words of truth spoken “with power and authority from God” (v. 8) cut to the hearts of King Noah’s people (vv. 7–8) because, as Nephi said, “the guilty taketh the truth to be hard” (1 Nephi 16:2). That same power and authority restrained the people enabling Abinadi to finish his mission. Abinadi’s attitude of having no concern for his physical life if he obtained eternal salvation (Mosiah 13:9) was also reflected by the Prophet Joseph: “I shall not be sacrificed until my time comes; then I shall be offered freely” ( TPJS, 274). Abinadi now adds a conditional prophecy. Whatever the king and his people shall do to Abinadi will be a type and shadow of what will come upon them (v. 10). The fulfillment of these words in every aspect will be seen as the Book of Mormon account continues.