Peace, Then Persecution
Limhi and his people returned to the city of Nephi and settled back into their land in peace.
After many days, the Lamanites grew angry with the Nephites again and began pushing into the borders of their land. They couldn’t kill them—their king had made an oath to Limhi—but they slapped them across the face, bossed them around, loaded them down with heavy burdens, and drove them like pack animals. All this happened to fulfill what the Lord had said.
The suffering of the Nephites was severe. There was no way out. The Lamanites had them surrounded on every side.
Three Doomed Battles
The people began complaining to the king about their suffering, demanding to fight back. They pressured him relentlessly until he finally gave in and let them do what they wanted.
They gathered together again, put on their armor, and marched out against the Lamanites to drive them from their land. The Lamanites crushed them, drove them back, and killed many of them.
A heavy grief fell over Limhi’s people. Widows mourned for their husbands. Sons and daughters mourned for their fathers. Brothers mourned for brothers. There were so many widows now in the land. Day after day they cried out in terror of the Lamanites. Their constant cries stirred up the rest of Limhi’s people to rage against the Lamanites. They went to battle again—but were driven back again, losing many more lives. They went a third time and suffered the same fate. Those who survived limped back to the city of Nephi.
Broken and Crying Out
They humbled themselves completely, accepting the yoke of slavery, submitting to beatings, to being driven around like animals, to being burdened however their enemies pleased. They humbled themselves to the very depths. They cried out to God—all day long they cried to him—begging him to deliver them from their suffering.
The Lord was slow to hear their cries because of their wickedness. Still, he did hear them. He began softening the hearts of the Lamanites so they eased up on the burdens. But he didn’t see fit to deliver them from slavery. Slowly they began to do better in the land. They raised more grain, more livestock, more herds. They didn’t go hungry anymore.
There were far more women than men now. So King Limhi commanded every man to share his resources to support the widows and their children, so they wouldn’t starve. They did this because so many men had been killed. Limhi’s people stayed together as much as possible and protected their grain and their flocks. The king himself wouldn’t go outside the city walls without his guards, afraid he might somehow fall into Lamanite hands. He ordered his people to watch the surrounding land, hoping to catch the priests who had fled into the wilderness—the ones who had kidnapped the Lamanite daughters and brought such devastation. They wanted to capture them and punish them. These priests had been sneaking into the land of Nephi at night, stealing grain and other valuable things. So Limhi’s people laid traps for them.
Ammon Arrives
There was no more trouble between the Lamanites and Limhi’s people—until the day Ammon and his brothers arrived in the land. The king was outside the city gates with his guard when he spotted Ammon and his brothers. Thinking they were Noah’s priests, he had them seized, tied up, and thrown in prison. If they had been Noah’s priests, he would have had them executed. But when he discovered they weren’t—that they were his own people from the land of Zarahemla—he was overwhelmed with joy.
A Land of Bones
Before Ammon arrived, King Limhi had sent a small group of men to search for the land of Zarahemla. They couldn’t find it and got lost in the wilderness. But they did find a land that had once been populated—a land covered with dry bones, a land that had been destroyed. Thinking it was Zarahemla, they returned to the land of Nephi, arriving just days before Ammon showed up. They brought back a record with them—a record of the people whose bones they’d found. It was engraved on metal plates.
Limhi was overjoyed again when Ammon told him that King Benjamin had a gift from God that let him translate such engravings. Ammon was glad too. But Ammon and his brothers were also filled with grief because so many of their people had been killed. They also mourned because King Noah and his priests had led the people into so much sin and wickedness against God. They mourned for Abinadi’s death. And they mourned because Alma and his people had left—people who had formed a church of God through his strength and power, and through faith in the words Abinadi had spoken. They mourned their departure because they didn’t know where they’d gone. They would have gladly joined them, because they too had made a covenant with God to serve him and keep his commandments.
Making Covenants
After Ammon arrived, King Limhi also made a covenant with God, along with many of his people, to serve him and keep his commandments. King Limhi and many of his people wanted to be baptized, but there was no one in the land with authority from God to do it. Ammon refused, considering himself unworthy. So they didn’t form themselves into a church yet, waiting on the Spirit of the Lord. They wanted to become like Alma and his brothers, who had fled into the wilderness. They wanted to be baptized as a witness and testimony that they were willing to serve God with all their hearts. But they had to wait. The account of their baptism will be given later.
Now all the focus of Ammon and his people, and King Limhi and his people, was on one thing: escaping from the Lamanites and breaking free from slavery.