This passage records the fear that came upon Noah’s court as they witness a visible transformation in Abinadi—a shining “luster”—through the power of the Spirit. Abinadi’s warning not to touch him echoes Nephi’s experience in building the ship when he warns off his angry brothers. The brothers received that message just as clearly as Noah’s court (1 Ne. 17:47–49). Moses’s face, after he descended from Mount Sinai, shone so brightly that he veiled himself (Ex. 34:30). Heavenly beings are frequently described in terms of “light” (see, for instance, JS—History 1:16, 30). Manifestations from the spiritual realm may be accompanied by what we perceive as light, and the powerful presence of the Spirit with Abinadi transformed and lighted his face. Possibly the light extended to his entire person but was most evident in his face as that would be where the priests would naturally concentrate their vision.
Text: Daniel H. Ludlow comments on the comparison between Abinadi’s “luster” and Moses’s visage:
This statement is of particular interest because of the controversy among biblical scholars and translators concerning the facial appearance of Moses after he had talked with the Lord on the mount of Sinai. The King James Version renders Exodus 34:30 as follows: “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.” However, the Catholic translators of the Douay Version followed the pattern of the Septuagint Bible by translating the same verse as follows: “And he knew not that his face was horned from the conversation with the Lord. And Aaron and the children of Israel seeing the face of Moses horned, were afraid to come near.” Because of this faulty interpretation, the great sculptor Michelangelo put horns on his famous statue of Moses!
John Gray, professor of Hebrew and Semitic languages at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, provides background on the events in Exodus 34:29:
The word translated as veil, used only here, probably means a cult mask—such as is well attested in antiquity and among the Arabs in connection with prophecy—which Moses used to use when speaking an oracle from Yahweh. Since the tradition was embarrassing to later orthodoxy (cf. Ezek. 13:18) the P author [Priestly author in the documentary hypothesis] explains the mask as worn on only one occasion to cover the awesome afterglow on Moses’ face resulting from the divine encounter (cf. Paul’s explanation, 2 Cor. 3:13). In vs. 35a, however, omission in the LXX [Septuagint] of the skin of Moses’ face suggests that these words were repeated by an editor from vss. 29–30 and that the meaning is rather that the face of Moses… shone when he was wearing the mask. No doubt it was made of burnished metal—cf. an Arab cult mask of gold—or decorated with metal pieces, perhaps from the ornaments contributed by the people ([Ex.] 33:1–6). “Shone” translates a rare word which contains the consonants of horn and was so rendered in the Vulg[ate]—whence Michelangelo’s famous statue of Moses with horns. Possibly vs. 35a originally described the mask as having horns.
If John Gray is correct, the transformation of understanding from “cult mask” to simply “shining” had occurred by the time of Ezekiel, who preaches in the early years of the Babylonian exile. This suggests that the change had occurred by Lehi’s time and that shining was religiously and culturally understood as a reflection of the Spirit among the Nephites.