BOM Mosiah 11

In today’s reading, Mosiah 11, we meet one of the most notorious villains in the Book of Mormon:  King Noah.

I’ve always thought that monarchy has the potential of being an excellent form of government:  After all, if you knew for a certainty that a particular child would someday be king or queen, that child could be given all of the specific kinds of education and training that would equip him or her to assume that role competently and well.

Unfortunately, monarchy is clearly among the worst forms of government, too.  Why?  Because, typically, when a good old monarch dies, his or her successor isn’t chosen on the basis of merit.  There’s little or no merit or choice involved at all.  Thus the great philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius was replaced by his loathsome son Commodus, and Zeniff was succeeded by Noah.

But wouldn’t you love to have your tax rate reduced to Noah’s oppressive twenty-percent?  (See verse three.)

Notice, too, the boastfulness and arrogant self-assurance described in verse nineteen, which is precisely what I referred to in yesterday’s comment on Mosiah 10.

And note the arrogance of Noah himself:  “Who is the Lord?” he demands in verse 27.

I suspect that he knows by now.