Rhetoric: Abinadi finally comes to the point of answering the question earlier asked of him by expanding on Isaiah 52:7/Mosiah 12:21. He recites and expounds the theme of that verse so that it is clear that he is answering the question, but that he is doing so in the light of the rest of his discourse. The original verse reads: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings; that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good; that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth” (Mosiah 12:21/Isaiah 52:7).
Abinadi’s connection between his discourse and this verse rests on three assumptions: the idea that “feet” represent an action; that Isaiah’s trilogy of publishing peace, good tidings, and salvation are all terms for the same thing; and that this peace/good tidings/salvation is the atonement through the Messiah who is to come.
It is particularly important that Abinadi quotes the end of Isaiah 52:7 (Mosiah 12:21): “Thy God reigneth.” Since Abinadi’s point has been that God himself should come down to atone, he interprets Isaiah’s declaration as directly referring to the Messiah. For Abinadi, Isaiah’s statement is a direct declaration of the Messiah as God and of the triumph of this God who is the Messiah.
Not only can the priests not properly keep the law of Moses without teaching about the coming Messiah, but they do not even understand that the verses they are using to trap Abinadi declare the very Messiah they deny.