And now king Noah was about to release him, for he feared his word; for he feared that the judgments of God would come upon him.
But the priests lifted up their voices against him, and began to accuse him, saying: He has reviled the king. Therefore the king was stirred up in anger against him, and he delivered him up that he might be slain.
Mosiah 17: 11-12
King Noah almost had a redeeming moment there. He almost changed. Almost repented. He almost changed the destiny of his people, or at least the destiny of his own soul. But he didn't. His priests, the people he had chosen to be with him, convinced him not to, but to kill the prophet instead.
What are some of the things that we almost do, but our friends influence us to do otherwise, or actually do, because of their influence? I don't know much about people and their behavior, but I think people act differently when they're around different people. You almost certainly act differently at home than you do at work. Do you act differently when you're with your friends than when you're alone? Are the people you choose to be around a good influence, or a bad one?
King Noah almost changed his life - almost saved his soul, but he didn't, because of the influence of his "friends." Now, I don't think any of us would commit murder, no matter how our friends influenced us, but would we use worse language with our friends than we would, say, at church? Would we gossip about people with our friends? Are we more mean when we're with our friends, or more polite? Do our friends make us better people, or worse?
I think it'd be a good idea to pay attention to how we act, and to see if the people we spend time with influence how we act, and whether that influence is for the better, or the worse. Good friends can help us make good decisions. Bad friends can jeopardize our souls.
4 comments:
You are right! I had almost forgotten that about King Noah. Maybe he wasn't going to repent, just let Abinadi go. That would have changed their world, anyway.
The people with whom we associate CAN have a profound influence on us.
And we can have a tremendous influence on those around us. How are we using our power?
You need to hear Hank Smith's talk CD "I Love My Friends". We LOVE IT! And he hits on this exact thing. He says, what if King Noah's friends had been a good influence? What if they had said, You know, you really are being a jerk, instead of saying, Are you going to let him say those things about you? Brother Smith says, maybe the rest of the Book of Mormon would have been Abinadi and King Noah going on missions together. ;)
We take that talk tape with us on EVERY road trip, so when we come down to Sac, we'll have Tom copy it so you guys can all have a copy. It's simply one of our very favorites. :)
I think that if he had let Abinadi live, Abinadi would have preached to him a little more. I think it's probable that King Noah would have repented after that. Then again, that's just my guess.
Thank you, Sariah! I look forward to listening to it. ^^
It is possible that Noah's priests were referring to Ex. 22:28, which says, "Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people," making the argument that Abinadi was cursing the ruler of the people by prophesying of the evil that would come upon King Noah for his wickedness.
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