Often during his reign there was peace. But as the kingdom
grew, a new generation arose that did not believe the long-held social
practices, and disregarded the righteous laws to give themselves pleasure.
Among the young rebels were the sons of the king himself, four of them. And
their best friend, the son of the high priest of the church. The parents were
heartbroken.
But a miracle happened, and the sons saw the error of their
ways, and sought to repair the damage they had done within the kingdom. And
many regarded their sorrow and repented with them.
The sons of the king asked if they could go on a quest, to
the north, to teach the ideas of love and peace that they had discovered unto
the barbaric people who had waged war on them from time to time through the
centuries. If they could bring them the peace within, they could bring peace
between the nations.
The king was anxious about his beloved sons going so far,
among such a bloodthirsty people. But the word of God came to him, and assured
him good would come of the quest, and the sons’ lives would be kept safe. So
they parted.
The king waxed old. He would need to pass the crown to a
successor. He and trusted advisors searched the kingdom for a suitable
successor, but the king was agitated. Whoever they chose, he feared contentions
would arise, leading to anger, separations, even war. It could destroy the
souls of many of his beloved people.
He brought his concerns before the people. He said, “Now it
is better that a man should be judged of God than of man, for the judgments of
God are always just, but the judgments of man are not always just.” He said, “If
it were possible that you could have just men to be your kings, who would
establish the laws of God, and judge this people according to his commandments—even
as my father did for this people—then it would be expedient that you should
always have kings to rule over you.” He reminded them that he, himself, as
king, had labored to serve them, had judged them according to the laws of God—that
there should be no stealing, plundering, murdering, nor any manner of iniquity,
or else they would be punished according to their crimes.
But a wicked king, he warned them, can cause great iniquity
to be committed among his people, to their destruction. Such people fall into
bondage. “And ye cannot dethrone an iniquitous king save it be through much
contention, and the shedding of much blood. For he has his friends in iniquity,
and keeps his guards about him. And he tears up the laws of those who have
reigned in righteousness before him. And he enacts laws according to his own
wickedness, and he destroys anyone who disobeys his laws. He will send his
armies against any rebels, to destroy them.” Such a king destroys civilization among his
people.
So he proposed a brand new way. He said, “Therefore, choose
you by the voice of this people, judges, that ye may be judged according to the
laws which have been given you by our fathers, which are correct, and which
were given them from God.”
And he gave them his reasoning. “Now it is not common that
the majority voice of the people desires anything contrary to what is right;
but it is common for the lesser part of the people to desire what is not right.
Therefore, this shall be your law—to be governed by the voice of the people.”
Their thriving would depend on the righteousness of the
people, instead of the righteousness of their king. He warned them, “If the
time comes that the voice of the people choose iniquity, then the judgments of
God will come upon you with destruction, as has happened with other ancient
peoples in this land.”
He set up a system for the judges: “Now if you have judges
that do not judge you according to the law, you can cause those judges to be judged
of a higher judge. And if your higher
judges do not judge righteously, you shall cause a small number of your lower
judges to gather together, to judge your higher judges.”
He declared, “I desire that this land be a land of liberty,
and every man may enjoy his rights and privileges alike, so long as the Lord
sees fit that we may live and inherit the land, yea, even as long as any of our
posterity remains upon the face of the land.”
His declarations went out to the people, and they gave up
their desire for a king to rule over them. They assembled themselves together
in bodies through the land, to cast in their voices concerning who should be
their judges, to judge them according to the law. And they rejoiced because of
the liberty which had been granted unto them.
The people lived in peace for some time. But not as long as
hoped.
It happened that corruption came within not many years.
Lawyers found that they could make more money if they stirred people up to go
against one another before the law[ii].
And some of the judges could be bought to rule against the rightness of the
law.
Always there continued to be strife between the righteous
church members and the nonbelievers. The corruption was mainly among the
nonbelievers. Laws needed to be declared to protect the believers from
persecution for their beliefs. That helped for a time. But pride and corruption
spread even among the churchgoers, which was a stumblingblock for sincere
seekers of truth and goodness[iii].
The system of government by the voice of the people—democracy,
in the form of elected judges and written law—lasted for about a century, which
is the common length of time for self-government experiments to last.
About a quarter century into the reign of the judges, a
group arose to alter the law. They didn’t want to change just a few tiny points
in the law; they wanted to throw out the government by judges, ignore the voice
of the people, and reinstate a king[iv].
It was those of “high birth” who wanted a monarchy, so they could institute
privileges for themselves, and power and authority over the people. They didn’t
like equality before the law.
For a time the voice of the people settled the matter,
because the people voted to maintain their liberty. But war from outside came
to the land, and the dissenters, the kingmen, refused to fight. They were put
in prison to be dealt with according to the law. The swiftness of the justice
did away with the kingmen faction entirely.
But the war continued for many years. The military leader
was a strong and righteous man. He put up a flag to remind them of what they
fought for: “In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace,
our wives, and our children.”[v]
The good and righteous people succeeded in fighting off the
invaders. But there was corruption within the land, secret societies that conspired
together in secret theft and murder, for the purpose of gaining wealth and
power. The spread of this plague of corruption led to the eventual end of the
reign of the judges[vi]. The people separated
into tribes, each according to their family relations. Some tribes worked among
themselves in righteousness, but many more did not, and they fought one with
another, vying for power over one another. And there was war and chaos
throughout the land, which only a return to righteousness could resolve.
What do we learn from this kingdom’s story?
·
It is better to be ruled by the voice of the
people than by a monarch.
·
Liberty is the blessing of a righteous people
who self-rule according to longstanding laws of righteousness.
·
Corruption from within is a greater danger than
invaders from without
·
Judges and government leaders ignoring the
written law cannot be tolerated, if liberty is to be maintained.
·
Most of the time, the majority will choose
right, but a minority will be choosing wrong.
·
When the majority chooses unrighteousness,
destruction follows.
This story of the voice of the people is different from our
nation. But it could be a cautionary tale for us, or for any people who love
liberty. I think the principles apply:
·
It is better to have self-rule, rather than
monarchy or other forms of tyranny.
·
Usually the majority chooses right, especially
when written long-standing laws are in place to protect our liberties.
·
It could happen that leaders go astray, and that
judges go wrong, but those can be corrected—if the people are diligent in
holding them accountable. But if corruption is allowed to spread, eventually a
majority chooses to disregard the law and make new laws that support tyranny
and savagery.
·
If the corruption isn’t rooted out—if a majority
of the people are not righteous, if they do not insist on maintaining their
freedom to live in righteous liberty—then the government of the people will
decay into chaos and tyranny, which is the common lot of mankind.
We have had too much of the decay. It’s time to reject the
pressure of the libertine and return to the laws of liberty.
[i] This is my retelling of a
story from The Book of Mormon. The kingdom is called Zarahemla, and the king is
Mosiah, son of King Benjamin. The story of beginning the reign of the judges is
found in Mosiah 29, which is estimated to have taken place about 92 BC. The
location is unknown, but somewhere in the Americas, probably within Central
America. Some quotes in the story are paraphrased; see the scriptures for actual quotes.
[ii] Alma 11:20
[iii] Alma 4:10
[iv] Alma 51
[v] Alma 46:12
[vi] 3 Nephi 7:2, around AD
30.
