Noah and His Fifty

Did you know that Mormon compares the wicked king Noah and his fifty to Laban and his fifty?

In his words to his brothers, following an encounter with Laban, Nephi compared the powerful official and his servants to Pharaoh and the Egyptian armies. Nephi’s brothers complained that Laban could command fifty soldiers, who could easily slay them. "How is it possible," they wondered, "that the Lord will deliver Laban into our hands? Behold, he is a mighty man, and he can command fifty, yea, even he can slay fifty; then why not us?" (1 Nephi 3:31).

Nephi then reminded his brothers of the Lord’s power. "Let us be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord; for behold he is mightier than all the earth, then why not mightier than Laban and his fifty, yea, or even than his tens of thousands?" (1 Nephi 4:1).

Nephi recalled how the Egyptian armies who pursued and sought to slay the children of Israel were drowned in the Red Sea. "The Lord is able to deliver us, even as our fathers, and to destroy Laban, even as the Egyptians" (1 Nephi 4:1-3).

In his account of the wicked king Noah, Mormon tells how Noah’s people boasted in their own power, after a great victory over the Lamanites.

And now because of this great victory they were lifted up in the pride of their hearts; they did boast in their own strength, saying that their fifty could stand against thousands of Lamanites (Mosiah 11:19).

By drawing upon words from the story of Laban and Lehi’s sons, Mormon places Noah in the role of Laban, and his people in the role of Laban’s fifty. The implication is that Noah and his "fifty" will be destroyed if they do not repent.

Nephi also told his brothers that the Lord was able to deliver them and destroy the powerful Laban (1 Nephi 4:3). After Noah’s people boasted of their victory, the Lord, through his prophet Abinadi, warned them that if they did not repent, he would "deliver them into the hands of their enemies" (Mosiah 11:21).¹

Key Insights

Mormon uses Nephi’s words to highlight the pride and wickedness of Noah and his unrepentant people, who were like Laban and the wicked of Jerusalem. While they boasted of their own power and abilities, they would face bondage and destruction unless they repented, and sought and depended upon their Lord’s strength. This shows us that we must always remember and acknowledge the Lord’s blessings in our lives and remain humble, lest we become like the Nephites of old (D&C 38:39).

¹ Laban was slain while drunk (1 Nephi 4:7, 18). Noah was a wine bibber (Mosiah 11:15). Like Laban, Noah would not keep the commandments (1 Nephi 4:11; Mosiah 11:2) and rejected the words of Abinadi (Mosiah 17:12), just as Laban had rejected the word of the Lord (1 Nephi 4:11).