Abinadi, after he had read the Ten Commandments from the Hebrew Scriptures, a copy of which presumably had been made of the writings found on the brass plates of Laban, asked the priests to tell him whether or not they taught their people to observe them.
As priests to a people who claimed fellowship with their Nephite brethren in Zarahemla all of whom were taught to observe the Law of Moses, did they fulfill unto their own believers this obligation of the Priesthood?
They had been appointed priests by wicked King Noah, but how different was their course than that taken by the priests ordained by Benjamin, the King in Zarahemla.
Three years before he died, and at the time he gave authority to his son, Mosiah, to reign in his stead, King Benjamin "appointed priests to teach the people, that therefore they might hear and know the commandments of God." (Mosiah 6:3)
No doubt Abinadi read to the priests the instructions Moses gave unto the Children of Israel long after the marvelous showing of God's power on Mount Sinai. Moses said, "Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them... Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God.... "(Deut. 4:1-2)
Also, "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and thou shalt talk of them when thou sitteth in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou riseth up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates." (Deut. 6:5-9)
Moses, in the instructions just cited, said, "And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart..." "Why?" "To what end?" We imagine Abinadi asked. Noah's priests knew the answer, yet they opened not their mouths. We presume Abinadi then read to them the reply of the Lord, himself: To the end"that ye may remember, and do all my commandments: and be holy unto your God... I am the Lord your God." (Num. 15:39-42)
Abinadi said to the priests, "The commandments of God...are not written in your hearts."
Abinadi also said that the commandments of God are not part of your lives;you have spent your days in the study of deceit and folly. The law, according to you, was made to break, and not to keep. Abinadi was wrathful in denouncing Noah's priests.
When we think of the utter neglect of the priests in teaching God's commandments to the people, we think, too, of the prayer offered by King David, with which the priests were undoubtedly familiar, "Show me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day." (Ps. 25:4-5)