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King Noah

The second king of the Zeniffite colony in the land of Nephi — son of Zeniff, taxer of a fifth part, builder of elegant buildings and a high tower, condemner of Abinadi — who “did not walk in the ways of his father” and dies by fire at the hands of his own people.

(Disambiguation: this page concerns Noah the son of Zeniff, second king over the colony in the land of Nephi — “Limhi, the son of Noah, who was the son of Zeniff” (Mosiah 7:9) — not any other bearer of the name.)

Account

Succession

Zeniff’s record closes in his own voice: “And now I, being old, did confer the kingdom upon one of my sons; therefore, I say no more” (Mosiah 10:22). The narrator names the son and delivers the verdict in the same breath: “Zeniff conferred the kingdom upon Noah, one of his sons; therefore Noah began to reign in his stead; and he did not walk in the ways of his father” (Mosiah 11:1). The next verse states the standard he traded away: “he did not keep the commandments of God, but he did walk after the desires of his own heart” (Mosiah 11:2).

The regime: wives, taxes, new priests

The catalog of the reign opens with the marriages: “And he had many wives and concubines. And he did cause his people to commit sin, and do that which was abominable in the sight of the Lord” (Mosiah 11:2).

[Textual] — shared phrasing. Noah’s first listed sin is described in the exact phrase Jacob’s temple sermon used for the condemned precedent:

  • Mosiah 11:2: “And he had many wives and concubines. And he did cause his people to commit sin, and do that which was abominable in the sight of the Lord.”
  • Jacob 2:24: “Behold, David and Solomon truly had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable before me, saith the Lord.”

The phrase “many wives and concubines” occurs in the record this wiki covers only three times: Jacob 1:15 (“like unto David of old desiring many wives and concubines, and also Solomon, his son”), Jacob 2:24, and Mosiah 11:2 (possessive variants “his wives and his concubines” recur at Mosiah 11:4, 11:14). Both passages also attach the same verdict word — “abominable.” The rule the practice breaks is stated at Jacob 2:27: “there shall not any man among you have save it be one wife; and concubines he shall have none.” See Chastity & marriage.

The economy of the reign is a tax: “he laid a tax of one fifth part of all they possessed, a fifth part of their gold and of their silver, and a fifth part of their ziff, and of their copper, and of their brass and their iron; and a fifth part of their fatlings; and also a fifth part of all their grain” (Mosiah 11:3). Its stated purpose: “all this did he take to support himself, and his wives and his concubines; and also his priests, and their wives and their concubines; thus he had changed the affairs of the kingdom” (Mosiah 11:4).

The priesthood is replaced wholesale: “he put down all the priests that had been consecrated by his father, and consecrated new ones in their stead, such as were lifted up in the pride of their hearts” (Mosiah 11:5). The narrator closes the loop between tax and priests: “thus they were supported in their laziness, and in their idolatry, and in their whoredoms, by the taxes which king Noah had put upon his people; thus did the people labor exceedingly to support iniquity” (Mosiah 11:6). The people’s own corruption is attributed to speech: “they also became idolatrous, because they were deceived by the vain and flattering words of the king and priests; for they did speak flattering things unto them” (Mosiah 11:7).

⚖️ Interpretation — weigh this. The qualification Noah selects his priests by is the phrase Jacob used to indict the rich at the temple: “consecrated new ones in their stead, such as were lifted up in the pride of their hearts” (Mosiah 11:5) / “because some of you have obtained more abundantly than that of your brethren ye are lifted up in the pride of your hearts” (Jacob 2:13). But the phrasing itself cannot carry the link: the exact formula recurs within this very chapter — Mosiah 11:19, of the people’s war-pride, with no riches in view — and near-variants stand at 2 Nephi 26:20 (“pride of their eyes”) and 2 Nephi 28:15 (“puffed up in the pride of their hearts”), so it is the record’s productive idiom, not a pointed echo. What is offered for weighing is the context parallel: both Jacob 2:13 and Mosiah 11:5–6 attach the formula to riches-driven pride (costly apparel from riches; priests funded by the fifth-part tax). See Riches & pride.

The building program

“King Noah built many elegant and spacious buildings; and he ornamented them with fine work of wood, and of all manner of precious things, of gold, and of silver, and of iron, and of brass, and of ziff, and of copper” (Mosiah 11:8) — then “a spacious palace, and a throne in the midst thereof” (Mosiah 11:9), then “fine work within the walls of the temple” (Mosiah 11:10). The temple furnishing gets a purpose clause the narrator does not soften: seats of pure gold with a breastwork “that they might rest their bodies and their arms upon while they should speak lying and vain words to his people” (Mosiah 11:11).

Then the tower: “he built a tower near the temple; yea, a very high tower, even so high that he could stand upon the top thereof and overlook the land of Shilom, and also the land of Shemlon, which was possessed by the Lamanites; and he could even look over all the land round about” (Mosiah 11:12). A second great tower follows on the hill north of Shilom, “and thus he did do with the riches which he obtained by the taxation of his people” (Mosiah 11:13).

The summary verse joins heart, riches, and time: “he placed his heart upon his riches, and he spent his time in riotous living with his wives and his concubines; and so did also his priests spend their time with harlots” (Mosiah 11:14). The program ends in vineyards: “he planted vineyards round about in the land; and he built wine-presses, and made wine in abundance; and therefore he became a wine-bibber, and also his people” (Mosiah 11:15).

The war posture

The Lamanites “began to come in upon his people, upon small numbers, and to slay them in their fields” (Mosiah 11:16). Noah’s response is measured by the narrator as insufficient — he sent guards, “but he did not send a sufficient number” (Mosiah 11:17). When his armies win a single engagement (Mosiah 11:18), the victory curdles: “because of this great victory they were lifted up in the pride of their hearts; they did boast in their own strength, saying that their fifty could stand against thousands of the Lamanites; and thus they did boast, and did delight in blood, and the shedding of the blood of their brethren, and this because of the wickedness of their king and priests” (Mosiah 11:19). Note that the pride formula applied to Noah’s hand-picked priests at Mosiah 11:5 is here applied to the people at large, with the cause assigned explicitly to “their king and priests.”

Abinadi condemned

Into this reign “there was a man among them whose name was Abinadi,” prophesying repentance or bondage (Mosiah 11:20). Noah’s reaction supplies his most famous recorded words: “Who is Abinadi, that I and my people should be judged of him, or who is the Lord, that shall bring upon my people such great affliction?” (Mosiah 11:27) — followed by the order: “I command you to bring Abinadi hither, that I may slay him” (Mosiah 11:28). The chapter closes on the king’s settled state: “king Noah hardened his heart against the word of the Lord, and he did not repent of his evil doings” (Mosiah 11:29).

Two years later Abinadi returns in disguise and delivers the prophecy that names the king’s end: “the life of king Noah shall be valued even as a garment in a hot furnace” (Mosiah 12:3) — restated by the people who deliver Abinadi bound to the king as “thy life shall be as a garment in a furnace of fire” (Mosiah 12:10). (The prophecy-and-fulfillment connection is registered on Abinadi; its fulfillment is narrated below.) The accusers flatter the throne directly: “we are guiltless, and thou, O king, hast not sinned” (Mosiah 12:14). Noah “caused that Abinadi should be cast into prison” and convenes his priests in council (Mosiah 12:17).

In the trial Noah speaks twice at decision points, and both times the text shows him movable:

Abinadi dies by fire (Mosiah 17:20), having told his executioners “ye shall suffer, as I suffer, the pains of death by fire” (Mosiah 17:18).

Gideon and the tower

After Alma’s people escape and the king’s reduced forces return empty-handed (Mosiah 19:1–2), “the lesser part began to breathe out threatenings against the king” (Mosiah 19:3). Gideon, “a strong man and an enemy to the king,” draws his sword and “swore in his wrath that he would slay the king” (Mosiah 19:4). Overpowered, Noah “fled and ran and got upon the tower which was near the temple” (Mosiah 19:5) — and from it “cast his eyes round about towards the land of Shemlon, and behold, the army of the Lamanites were within the borders of the land” (Mosiah 19:6).

[Textual] — shared phrasing (internal narrative callback). The tower of chapter 19 is introduced with the wording of its construction notice in chapter 11, and its stated purpose is the very act performed on it:

  • Mosiah 11:12: “he built a tower near the temple; yea, a very high tower, even so high that he could stand upon the top thereof and overlook the land of Shilom, and also the land of Shemlon, which was possessed by the Lamanites.”
  • Mosiah 19:5–6: “got upon the tower which was near the temple” — “the king cast his eyes round about towards the land of Shemlon, and behold, the army of the Lamanites were within the borders of the land.”

Reported as textual fact: the structure built to overlook Shemlon is where Noah, fleeing for his life, sees the Lamanite army coming from the direction of Shemlon. What the narrator intends by the symmetry is left to the reader.

Noah’s plea spares him: “Gideon, spare me, for the Lamanites are upon us, and they will destroy us; yea, they will destroy my people” (Mosiah 19:7). The narrator immediately glosses the plea: “the king was not so much concerned about his people as he was about his own life; nevertheless, Gideon did spare his life” (Mosiah 19:8).

⚖️ Interpretation — weigh this. Noah’s recorded speech leans on the possessive: in two verses he says “my people” four times — “I and my people,” “bring upon my people such great affliction” (Mosiah 11:27), “stir up my people to anger,” “contentions among my people” (Mosiah 11:28) — and his plea on the tower again ends “they will destroy my people” (Mosiah 19:7). The narrator’s only direct verdict on his motives inverts the claim: “the king was not so much concerned about his people as he was about his own life” (Mosiah 19:8). “My people” is itself common royal speech in this book (Benjamin, Zeniff, and Limhi all use it), so the possessive pattern alone carries no weight; what is distinctive is the adjacency at Mosiah 19:7–8, where the narrator’s only direct verdict on Noah’s motives inverts the plea of the immediately preceding verse. The reading offered for weighing is that the record stages that contrast deliberately; the juxtaposition is textual fact, the design an interpretive claim the text never states.

Flight, abandonment, death by fire

Noah “commanded the people that they should flee before the Lamanites, and he himself did go before them” (Mosiah 19:9). When the pursuit begins to overtake them, “the king commanded them that all the men should leave their wives and their children, and flee before the Lamanites” (Mosiah 19:11). The people split on the order: “there were many that would not leave them, but had rather stay and perish with them. And the rest left their wives and their children and fled” (Mosiah 19:12).

The men who fled with Noah “had sworn in their hearts that they would return to the land of Nephi” (Mosiah 19:19). The end comes on that oath: “the king commanded them that they should not return; and they were angry with the king, and caused that he should suffer, even unto death by fire” (Mosiah 19:20) — his own people, executing the manner of death Abinadi’s prophecy had attached to him: “the life of king Noah shall be valued even as a garment in a hot furnace” (Mosiah 12:3), and the manner Abinadi himself had just suffered (Mosiah 17:20). The priests escape (Mosiah 19:21); the men confess to Gideon’s search party “that they had slain the king” (Mosiah 19:23). (The prophecy-fulfillment connection is registered on Abinadi.)

His son Limhi — who “was desirous that his father should not be destroyed; nevertheless, Limhi was not ignorant of the iniquities of his father, he himself being a just man” (Mosiah 19:17) — receives the kingdom from the people under Lamanite tribute (Mosiah 19:26).

The retrospectives

Noah’s name becomes the record’s shorthand for what a wicked king costs. Ammon and his brethren, sorrowing over the colony’s dead (Mosiah 21:29), lay its state at the king’s feet: “king Noah and his priests had caused the people to commit so many sins and iniquities against God; and they also did mourn for the death of Abinadi” (Mosiah 21:30 — the mourners are most naturally Ammon’s party, whose sorrow 21:29 carries into the verse). Alma, founding his community, teaches from his own complicity: “remember the iniquity of king Noah and his priests; and I myself was caught in a snare, and did many things which were abominable in the sight of the Lord” (Mosiah 23:9) — and draws the political conclusion: “ye have been oppressed by king Noah… therefore ye were bound with the bands of iniquity” (Mosiah 23:12), “trust no man to be a king over you” (Mosiah 23:13).

A generation later, Mosiah’s letter abolishing kingship makes Noah the proof-case. The premise: “how much iniquity doth one wicked king cause to be committed, yea, and what great destruction!” (Mosiah 29:17). The evidence: “Yea, remember king Noah, his wickedness and his abominations, and also the wickedness and abominations of his people. Behold what great destruction did come upon them; and also because of their iniquities they were brought into bondage” (Mosiah 29:18). The argument’s structure — good kings possible (“if ye could have men for your kings who would do even as my father Benjamin did,” Mosiah 29:13) but not guaranteed (Mosiah 29:16) — belongs to Kings & judges; the contrast with king Benjamin is the text’s own.

Significance

Noah is the record’s fullest portrait of a wicked king, and the text builds the portrait by inventory rather than epithet: wives and concubines (Mosiah 11:2), the fifth-part tax (11:3), purged and replaced priests (11:5), buildings, palace, towers, vineyards (11:8–15), each item tied back to “the riches which he obtained by the taxation of his people” (11:13). The narrator’s causal chain runs downward from the throne: the people “labor exceedingly to support iniquity” (11:6), are “deceived by the vain and flattering words of the king and priests” (11:7), and shed blood “because of the wickedness of their king and priests” (11:19).

Against Abinadi he frames the whole contest in one question — “Who is Abinadi, that I and my people should be judged of him, or who is the Lord” (Mosiah 11:27) — yet the trial chapters show him as the weakest will in his own court: ready to release the prophet out of fear (Mosiah 17:11) until his own hand-picked priests (Mosiah 11:5) prevail upon him (Mosiah 17:12).

His afterlife in the record is argumentative. Three voices independently invoke him as the standing example — Limhi’s people (Mosiah 21:30), Alma (Mosiah 23:9, 23:13), and Mosiah (Mosiah 29:18) — and the last of these makes “remember king Noah” a hinge of the transition from kings to judges. Within the narrative, the abolition of Nephite kingship is argued from this one reign.

Key references

Zeniff · Abinadi · Alma the Elder · Limhi · Gideon · King Benjamin · Kings & judges · Riches & pride · Chastity & marriage · Land of Nephi · Cited & minor figures · Index · Connections

Sources

The Book of Mormon (Mosiah 7, 10–13, 17, 19, 21, 23, 29; Jacob 1–2 for cross-reference ends).

Every quote on this page is lifted verbatim from raw/ (Mosiah 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 19, 21, 23, 29; Jacob 1, 2; 2 Nephi 26, 28 for distribution notes). Textual facts are cited to their verse. The one [interpretive] callout is flagged as a new claim requiring a disprove-check and is offered for weighing, not asserted as settled. The mos-noah-pride phrasing connection is marked borderline with its full corpus distribution disclosed. Whether the death-by-fire fulfills Mosiah 12:3 as the text presents it is narrated from the cited verses; the prophecy-fulfillment connection record is hosted on Abinadi.