KnoWhy # 310 May 8, 2017 Image via lds.org Why Did Abinadi Use a Disguise? “And it came to pass that after the space of two years that Abinadi came among them in disguise, that they knew him not, and began to prophesy among them.” Mosiah 12:1 When Abinadi first preached repentance unto the peo- Biblical scholar Richard Coggins has explained that in pleThe of King Know Noah, they were “wroth with him, and sought these types of biblical narratives, “one of the parties dis- to take away his life” (Mosiah 11:26). After hearing re- guises himself (or in one case herself), but the disguise is ports of Abinadi’s prophecies, King Noah also sought to penetrated, and God’s will is conveyed in a form which slay Abinadi, but the “Lord delivered him out of their is liable to be quite unacceptable to the one seeking it.”4 hands” (v. 26). Two years later, Abinadi again preached Coggins also argued that the appearance of prophetic unto the people, but this time he “came among them in disguises in several Old Testament stories, all from the disguise, that they knew him not” (Mosiah 12:1). An- same historical period, is “surely not simply a matter of gered by Abinadi’s prophecies of impending captivity, coincidence.” Rather, with the use of a prophetic dis- afflictions, and destruction, the people bound and car- guise, “a theological point is being made.”5 ried him before King Noah for judgment (vv.1–9). These stories typically depict a contest or conflict be- Some have found Abinadi’s use of a disguise rather puz- tween God and an earthly king. As Alan Goff has noted, zling, seeing that he sought to conceal his identity while “All of the kings or their heirs in the biblical disguise at the same time openly preaching among the people.1 stories meet with brutal deaths, and in each case the dy- It’s possible that the disguise was merely used to gain nasty fails.”6 The same outcome befell King Noah, who entrance to the city, and that after he was among the was burned to death by his own people and whose people it was no longer needed.2 Yet when this story is dy-nasty ended after the reign of his son (Mos. 19:20). compared to biblical stories which also deal with pro- phetic messengers, kings, and disguises,3 it seems that As for the disguise itself, it’s notable that right before it there is likely more to Abinadi’s disguise than initially is mentioned in the text, the narrator reported that the meets the eye. “eyes of the people were blinded” (Mosiah 11:29).7 This suggests that the disguise typifies the inability of wicked 1 people to discern between truth and error.8 King Noah ered” (Isaiah 29:10). By using a disguise to literally cov- himself arrogantly asked, “Who is Abinadi, that I and er or obscure his identity, Abinadi symbolically demon- my people should be judged of him, or who is the Lord, strated the spiritual blindness of the people—especially that shall bring upon my people such great affliction?” their inability to recognize a true prophet.14 They may (Mosiah 11:27). Although Noah’s question was surely have outwardly accepted Moses and the laws that he meant to be rhetorical, it ironically demonstrates his revealed, but as Abinadi declared, “I perceive that they personal lack of spiritual perception. He could discern are not written in your hearts” (Mosiah 13:11). When it neither the Lord nor his prophetic servant. came to the things of God, they were spiritually asleep. Interestingly, Noah’s statement is hauntingly similar to Taylor Halverson remarked, “For the priests of Noah Pharaoh’s challenge to Moses: “Who is the Lord, that I who held Moses in the highest esteem, it is incredible should obey his voice to let Israel go?” (Exodus 5:2).9 that they were impervious to a prophet who came in There are other important connections to Moses as well. the name of Lord with a face that did shine like unto It was Moses who revealed the Ten Commandments Moses. If they truly followed Moses, why weren’t they to Israel, and Abinadi severely rebuked King Noah willing to follow a prophet who looked like and taught and his priests for neither teaching nor keeping these like Moses?”15 commandments (Mosiah 13:11–26).10 When Moses re- turned from the presence of the Lord, “the skin of his In some ways, Abinadi’s disguise may also be symbolic face shone; and [the people] were afraid to come nigh of Jesus Christ and His earthly ministry.16 To King Noah him” (Exodus 34:30). For this reason, Moses “put a veil and his priests, Abinadi quoted prophecies that the on his face” when speaking with the Israelites (v. 33).11 Messiah Himself would be unrecognizable to His peo- ple because He would appear as an ordinary man. He The symbolism of the veil—and its connection to a would have “no form nor comeliness” or “beauty that disguise—may be especially significant. It’s possible we should desire him” (Mosiah 14:2; cf. Isaiah 53:2). that King Noah and his people didn’t initially identi- Instead, he would be “despised” because the people “es- fy Abinadi as the man who had previously preached teemed him not” (v. 3).17 As recorded in the gospel of among them. Even after the people apprehended Abina- John, Jesus Christ “was in the world, and the world was di, they repeatedly referred to him as “a man” or “this made by him, and the world knew him not” (John 1:10, man” or, in the words of King Noah, as a “fellow” who emphasis added). Similarly, Abinadi “came among [the was “mad.”12 The record never once mentions that they people] in disguise, that they knew him not” (Mosiah recognized him. 12:1, emphasis added). Their eyes were surely opened, though, when Abinadi’s Hugh Nibley explained, “God had visited the earth in disguise (whatever its physical nature) was symbolical- remote times; he had spoken to Abraham and to Moses. ly unveiled and “his face shone with exceeding luster, ... But to ask men to believe that that same God had even as Moses’ did while in the mount of Sinai” (Mosiah spoken in their own day, and to a plain man who walked 13:5). Whether or not they had already identified him as their streets—that was simply too much to take! … It Abinadi the preacher, there would have been no ques- was a test that few have ever passed: the humiliating test tion at this point that they were dealing with Abinadi of recognizing a true prophet and taking instruction the prophet. The people “durst not lay their hands on from the weak and humble things of the earth.”18 him,” and King Noah himself was so disturbed that he “was about to release him, for he feared his word” (Mo- The world today is undergoing this same test. True siah 17:11). Tragically, Noah’s priests persuaded him to prophets and apostles are among the people, and yet knowingly execute a true prophet of God, and in the they mostly remain “hid from the world” (Doctrine and process, seal his own terrible fate.13 Covenants 86:9).19 As in times past, modern prophets may look like ordinary men and talk like ordinary men, but their prophetic keys and inspired teachings tran- scend mortal wisdom and authority.20 Centuries earlier, Isaiah prophesied that the Lord had pouredThe outWhy a “spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your Among all of King Noah’s priests, Alma alone “be- eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he cov- lieved the words which Abinadi had spoken” (Mosiah 2 17:20), and through him the church of God was estab- of the Old Testament 50 (1991): 56–59; Alan Goff, “Un- lished among the Nephites (Mosiah 18:17–18). Those critical Theory and Thin Description: The Resistance to who similarly awaken themselves to the influence of the Hi s t or y,” Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 7, Holy Ghost will discern the voice of the True Shepherd no. 1 (1995): 194–196. speaking through His modern prophets and apostles (see John 10:27).21 And like Alma, those who recog- 4. Coggins, “On Kings and Disguises,” 55. nize these true messengers for who they really are must sometimes “dare to stand alone” in defense of their 5. Coggins, “On Kings and Disguises,” 55. teachings.22 6. Alan Goff, “Abinadi’s Disguise and the Fate of King Noah,” Insights 20, no. 12 (2000): 2. Taylor Halverson, “Mosiah 12–16. Martyr in Disguise,” 7. For an analysis of the source documents and narra- TheFurther Interpreter Reading Foundation, May 11, 2016, online at tive layers of this story, see John W. Welch, The Legal mormoninterpreter.com. Cases in the Book of Mormon (Provo, UT: BYU Press and the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholar- Alan Goff, “Abinadi’s Disguise and the Fate of King ship, 2008), 140–145. Noah,” Insights 20, no. 12 (2000): 2. 8. See Goff, “Abinadi’s Disguise and the Fate of King Alan Goff, “Uncritical Theory and Thin Description: Noah,” 2 for further discussion of symbolic blindness. The Resistance to History,”Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 7, no. 1 (1995): 170–207. 9. Goff, “Uncritical Theory and Thin Description,” 193 © Book of Mormon Central, 2016 made this connection, noting that “Abinadi’s vocabu- lary doesn’t invoke just the prophet-king confrontations from the Deuteronomistic history but also that between Moses and Pharaoh.” 1.