Notes and Communications: "As a Garment in a Hot Furnace" John
A. Tvedtnes In Mosiah 12:3, Abinadi prophesied "that the life of
king Noah shall be valued even as a garment in a hot furnace."
Noah's priests reported the words a little differently, "thy
life shall be as a garment in a furnace of fire" (Mosiah 12:10).
The prophecy was fulfilled when King Noah was burned to death
(Mosiah 19:20). Mark J. Morrise has shown that Abinadi's words
fit the pattern of a simile curse, of which he gives examples.1
Hugh Nibley suggested that Abinadi borrowed from the simile
curse in Isaiah 50:9, 11 (cited in 2 Nephi 7:9, 11): "Who is he
that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment;
the moth shall eat them up. . . . Behold, all ye that kindle a
fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks; walk in the
light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled."2
But the Isaiah parallel is only a partial one, for verse 11
(which mentions fire) has nothing to do with the garment, which
is consumed by the m