Practice English Speaking&Listening with: Why Did King Limhi Think Gideon’s Escape Plan Would Work? (Knowhy #100)

Mosiah 22 depicts how the people of Limhi escaped bondage by exploiting Lamanite drunkenness.

Limhi asked Gideon to deliver a tribute of wine to the Lamanite guards. Once the guards

were drunk, “the people of Limhi did depart by night into the wilderness.” In this narrative,

Limhi’s people are depicted as outsmarting the Lamanites by getting them drunk and taking

advantage of the situation, which may seem a little too easy by today’s standards.

But did you know that the Book of Mormon's depiction of drunkenness is consistent with

Biblical narratives? In the words of one scholar, drunkenness in the Hebrew Bible is condemned

as something that “rendered one insensible and imperceptive.”

But it wasn’t just the physical realities of getting drunk that made Limhi so confident in the plan.

With cultural precedence and faith that God would help them escape to

fulfill their desire to be baptized, Limhi saw getting the Lamanites drunk in order to escape,

as a means to an end. And now you know why.