Why did the priests ask about the meaning of this specific verse? Mosiah 12:21

Why did the priests ask about the meaning of this specific verse? Mosiah 12:21

Abinadi is taken before the wicked priests. He starts delivering them his prophetic message, which is essentially the broken record of the scriptures: repent, or be destroyed.

The priests aren't much pleased with this message. They tell King Noah, "Look, here's a blasphemic blasphemer blaspheming blasphemy. What'd you ever do that was evil? You're a great guy. Whatcha gonna do with him?"

King Noah puts him in jail and thinks about it for a while. But apparently he couldn't - or wouldn't - make a decision, because the priests say, "Bring him here, and we'll question him."

And then, of all the things they could have asked him, they bring up a prophesy of Isaiah (see Isaiah 52:7) and say, "What does this mean?"

Why?

Here are the reasons my daughter and husband came up with:

1. They thought it was an easy question and they knew the answer, so if he said something different than what they thought was the answer, they could trick him into saying the wrong thing and then they would have a justifiable cause to put him to death.

2. They thought it was an impossible to answer question. They didn't know the answer - they didn't even necessarily believe there was an answer, so whatever Abinadi said was bound to trap him and be justifiable as a cause to put him to death.

3. It was an authentic question, perhaps even posed by Alma.

So what does the prophesy talk about?

Isaiah 52:7 and a bit onward is one of those dual (triple? quadro?) prophesies that are Isaiah's specialty. It is about both the restoration of the gospel in the latter days and the second coming of Jesus Christ to the earth. The wicked priests of King Noah didn't understand these prophesies because they were myopically cherry-picking from the Mosaic Law. They clearly didn't understand the point of the Law of Moses, which is to be a preparatory law that witnesses of Jesus Christ.

Abinadi totally sounds like he is mocking them.

"You mean to say that you guys call yourselves priests, and you're asking me what these scriptures mean!? What the heck are you teaching the people?"

"We teach the Law of Moses."

"Then why don't you keep it yourselves?! The Law of Moses can be summed up in the Ten Commandments. Let me repeat them for you, since apparently you've forgotten what they are."

He repeats the Ten Commandments.

By the way, these commandments are definitely still in force today, and a general good model for civilized secular societies to live by, especially such shockers as "Thou shalt not kill." "Thou shalt not steal." "Thou shalt not bear false witness (aka lie)."

"Have you taught the people to keep these commandments? No. Do you keep them yourselves?

...No!"

"Take this man away...and KILL him!"

Answer:
The priests were trying to trick Abinadi into making some verbal misstep that would give them an excuse to kill him.

Does this kind of so-called trial bring any other similar examples from the scriptures to mind? Jesus Christ himself was falsely accused in a similar "trial" before the Sanhedrin. He was accused of blasphemy. He was beaten, made to wear a crown of thorns, had his side dashed by a spear, forced to carry his own cross, then nailed to the cross. The cross was on a public thoroughfare, between the crosses of two common thieves. His cross had mocking words tacked to the top of it, "This is Jesus, King of the Jews."

He allowed this to happen. The sacrifice of God himself was the only price sufficient enough to pay for the sin and pain of the world. Through this sacrifice he obtained the power to understand and individually save every human who ever has and ever will live. It is mind-blowing to think about.

When Abinadi was martyred for bearing his testimony of Jesus Christ, he joined the ranks of many other previous righteous men and women who stood by their faith and took upon themselves the name of Jesus Christ, though it meant certain death. It is critically important to me that I always be willing to do the same.