< Mosiah 11 >
Character of King Noah
v. 1 .... therefore Noah began to reign in his stead; and he did not walk in the ways of his father.
Found in Chapter 11:1-7, 14-15:
v. 1: He did not walk in the ways of his father
v. 2: doesn't keep the commandments, walks after the desires of his own heart
v.2: has many wives and concubines
v.3: Taxes the people heavily (1/5 of all they own)
v.5: gets rid of good priests and puts his own priests in their places....people who tell him what he wants to hear, a group of yes men.
v.6: lazy, idolatrous
v.14: sets his heart of riches, rioutous living, and harlots
v.15: makes wine in abundance, becomes a wine bibber
Compare King Noah to King Benjamin. Why do you think the people are wiling to support a man like that?
v. 7: The people became idoaltrous, because they were decieved by the vain and flattering words of the king and priests; for they did speak flattering things unto them.
The leaders were telling the people what their natural man wanted to hear. Excuses to justify sinful behavior.
v. 1 .... therefore Noah began to reign in his stead; and he did not walk in the ways of his father.
Found in Chapter 11:1-7, 14-15:
v. 1: He did not walk in the ways of his father
v. 2: doesn't keep the commandments, walks after the desires of his own heart
v.2: has many wives and concubines
v.3: Taxes the people heavily (1/5 of all they own)
v.5: gets rid of good priests and puts his own priests in their places....people who tell him what he wants to hear, a group of yes men.
v.6: lazy, idolatrous
v.14: sets his heart of riches, rioutous living, and harlots
v.15: makes wine in abundance, becomes a wine bibber
Compare King Noah to King Benjamin. Why do you think the people are wiling to support a man like that?
v. 7: The people became idoaltrous, because they were decieved by the vain and flattering words of the king and priests; for they did speak flattering things unto them.
The leaders were telling the people what their natural man wanted to hear. Excuses to justify sinful behavior.
v. 14 And it came to pass that he placed his heart upon his riches, and he spent his time in riotous living with his wives and concubines; and so did also his priests spend their time with harlots.
Where your heart is“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” - (Luke 12:34)
But when your heart clings to them, you begin to believe:
Once your heart is on riches, you look to them for things only God can give: security, meaning, comfort, validation, power, control
The danger isn’t the treasure —it’s that your heart migrates toward what you trust most. Noah trusted wealth more than God.
God does not speak easily to hearts full of: pride, vanity, self-trust, entitlement, addiction to display
Wealth isn’t the issue. But a heart claimed by wealth becomes deaf. Abinadi’s words bounced off Noah because there was no spiritual space left.
When what you treasure most is material, you become terrified of:
Noah’s fear made him irrational:
The tragic irony:
Noah sought freedom through wealth…and ended up trapped:
Where your heart is“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” - (Luke 12:34)
But when your heart clings to them, you begin to believe:
- “I am what I own.”
- “My safety comes from my wealth.”
- “My status determines my worth.”
Once your heart is on riches, you look to them for things only God can give: security, meaning, comfort, validation, power, control
The danger isn’t the treasure —it’s that your heart migrates toward what you trust most. Noah trusted wealth more than God.
God does not speak easily to hearts full of: pride, vanity, self-trust, entitlement, addiction to display
Wealth isn’t the issue. But a heart claimed by wealth becomes deaf. Abinadi’s words bounced off Noah because there was no spiritual space left.
When what you treasure most is material, you become terrified of:
- losing status
- losing comfort
- losing power
- losing admiration
- losing economic control
Noah’s fear made him irrational:
- he fled his own people
- betrayed women and children
- panicked rather than repented
The tragic irony:
Noah sought freedom through wealth…and ended up trapped:
- by his habits
- by his vanity
- by his counselors
- by his pride
- by his inability to repent
v. 14 And it came to pass that he placed his heart upon his riches, and he spent his time in riotous living with his wives and concubines; and so did also his priests spend their time with harlots.
Riotous LivingThe phrase is from the prodigal son: Riotout living (In Greek, the word is: ἀσώτως — asōtōs). It mean a lifestyle of reckless self-indlugence. It's living without purpose, boundaries, or discipline, driven by appetite rather than wisdom. Wastefulness, moral recklessness, running away from covenant identity.
Riotous living is what people do when they haven't found home.
In modern terms it might look like: compuslive spending, addictive behavoir, destroying relationships, chasing highs, escapism, binge-anything, living without responsbility, refusing to comfront your inner pain.
Riotous LivingThe phrase is from the prodigal son: Riotout living (In Greek, the word is: ἀσώτως — asōtōs). It mean a lifestyle of reckless self-indlugence. It's living without purpose, boundaries, or discipline, driven by appetite rather than wisdom. Wastefulness, moral recklessness, running away from covenant identity.
Riotous living is what people do when they haven't found home.
In modern terms it might look like: compuslive spending, addictive behavoir, destroying relationships, chasing highs, escapism, binge-anything, living without responsbility, refusing to comfront your inner pain.
v. 15 ... and made wine in abundance, and therefore he became a wine-bibber, and also his people.
In the 1st century Jewish world, calling someone a “winebibber” meant:
It was a character attack, not a statement of drinking habits. So when Jesus’ critics say: “Behold a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!” (Matthew 11:19)
They’re not accusing Him of drunkenness. They’re saying: “He breaks our social and religious expectations. He eats with the wrong people. He’s too joyful. He’s not rigid like us.”
It ties to an Old Testament legal phrase: In Deuteronomy 21:20, rebellious sons are accused of being: “a glutton and a drunkard”…and are subject to community discipline.
This became a cultural shorthand. Calling Jesus a winebibber aligns Him rhetorically with:
His enemies were trying to classify Him with the “lawless.”
In Jesus' case, it is also a reminder that joy, fellowship, and compassion are as much a part of God’s character as solemnity.
In the 1st century Jewish world, calling someone a “winebibber” meant:
- morally corrupt
- lacking self-control
- worldly
- unclean or impure
- associated with sinners and parties
- behaving beneath the dignity of a righteous teacher
- Someone morally unrestrained or worldly
It was a character attack, not a statement of drinking habits. So when Jesus’ critics say: “Behold a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!” (Matthew 11:19)
They’re not accusing Him of drunkenness. They’re saying: “He breaks our social and religious expectations. He eats with the wrong people. He’s too joyful. He’s not rigid like us.”
It ties to an Old Testament legal phrase: In Deuteronomy 21:20, rebellious sons are accused of being: “a glutton and a drunkard”…and are subject to community discipline.
This became a cultural shorthand. Calling Jesus a winebibber aligns Him rhetorically with:
- the rebellious,
- the disobedient,
- the morally lax.
His enemies were trying to classify Him with the “lawless.”
In Jesus' case, it is also a reminder that joy, fellowship, and compassion are as much a part of God’s character as solemnity.
v. 29 Now the eyes of the people were blinded; therefore they hardened their hearts against he words of Abinadi, and they sought from that time forward to take him.
Blinded by bad leadersWho are the Noah's of our lives? Someone who asks you to lower your standards or beliefs. Friends, professors, celebrities, politicians, lifestyles?
Who does God send to help the people? A prophet, a person to turn them back to God. In this case, he sends Abinadi
Blinded by bad leadersWho are the Noah's of our lives? Someone who asks you to lower your standards or beliefs. Friends, professors, celebrities, politicians, lifestyles?
Who does God send to help the people? A prophet, a person to turn them back to God. In this case, he sends Abinadi