Some deliverance stories roar across the pages of scripture with parted seas and pillars of fire. Others slip in quieter, through the back wall of a city, beneath the cover of night, and leave us breathless with their beauty.
In Mosiah 22, Gideon steps forward as a Moses-type. There’s no burning bush or audible call from heaven, and yet, his story follows a sacred pattern—one we’ve seen before in the pages of Exodus. If we read closely, we’ll see that Gideon, like Moses, becomes a vessel of deliverance. But his approach is different from Moses’s and it has roots in 1 Nephi.
Let’s take a walk through Mosiah 22 and trace the echoes of the Exodus. We’ll discover how Gideon rises as a deliverer, how the Lord uses “deep sleep” as a tool of liberation, and how the wilderness always marks the beginning of a new covenant journey.
Gideon Steps Forward: A Willing Deliverer
Gideon didn’t need a burning bush. He didn’t need to be summoned by angels or pushed forward by plagues. He knew his people needed help. He had an idea. And he volunteered.
“Now O king, if thou hast not found me to be an unprofitable servant, or if thou hast hitherto listened to my words in any degree, and they have been of service to thee, even so I desire that thou wouldst listen to my words at this time, and I will be thy servant and deliver this people out of bondage.” (Mosiah 22:4)
Contrast this with Moses. When the Lord called Moses from the burning bush and declared, “I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt,” Moses protested: “Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh?” (Exodus 3:10–11, KJV). Moses resisted. He doubted his capacity and begged the Lord to send someone else (see Exodus 4:13).
Gideon, on the other hand, assumed the title of deliverer without hesitation. His confidence wasn’t born of arrogance. It was grounded in his previous service to King Limhi and his intimate understanding of the city’s layout. He knew there was a door in the back wall. He knew the habits of the guards. And, like Nephi when commanded to build a ship, he trusted that what seemed impossible could be done.
Nephi once declared, “If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them… How is it that he cannot instruct me, that I should build a ship?” (1 Nephi 17:50–51). Gideon shares that same faith-fueled practicality. He doesn’t wait to be called. He steps in. And in doing so, he shows us that deliverers come in many forms—some with staffs and miracles, some with tools to build a boat, others with strategy and courage.
The Symbolism of Sleep and Death
In Mosiah 22, it isn’t thunder or plague that opens the way for God’s people—it’s sleep. In scripture, sleep often stands in for death.
When Jesus prepared to raise Lazarus, He told His disciples: “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep” (John 11:11, KJV). When they misunderstood, He clarified plainly: “Lazarus is dead” (John 11:14).
Death, paradoxically, becomes the doorway to life for Moses’s and Limhi’s people.
“Behold the back pass, through the back wall, on the back side of the city. The Lamanites, or the guards of the Lamanites, by night are drunken… we will pass through the secret pass… when they are drunken and asleep.” (Mosiah 22:6–7)
This symbolic link between sleep and death stretches back to the Exodus. On the night of Passover, the destroying angel “smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt… and there was a great cry in Egypt” (Exodus 12:29–30, KJV). But the Israelites, protected by the blood of the lamb, were spared. Death passed over them. It was this final act—the death of Egypt’s firstborn—that unlocked the Israelites’ chains and forced Pharaoh to let them go.
In Mosiah 22, we find a gentler echo of that moment. There is no angel of death. But the Lamanite guards are rendered inert—drunken and asleep. The bondage they represent is lifeless for a moment. And in that moment, the people escape.
As we watch Limhi’s people slip through the shadows while their captors lie unconscious, we’re invited to remember another night when God made a way through death—one that passed over the faithful and humbled the proud. It’s this memory that gives God credit for delivering his people.
Deliverance in Sacred Pattern
These echoes are more than literary parallels by the authors of the Book of Mormon. They point to a deeper truth: the Lord delivers His people through sacred patterns, and this pattern repeats every single day. He calls His people to gather their households and move forward together—flocks, families, and faith in tow.
And always, always, He invites us to see these stories not as ancient history, but as living archetypes.
When Nephi read Isaiah, he taught: “I did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for our profit and learning” (1 Nephi 19:23). That invitation stands today. When we read of Gideon and Moses, we are to see ourselves in their shoes. We are to plead with the Lord to deliver us from captivity of sin and death. Our God is a God who delivers.
What This Means for Us
You may not be asked to free a people from bondage. But you will be asked to lead. To serve. To speak up when the way seems shut. The Lord’s work today still needs Gideons—those who step forward, see the problem, and offer to help. I believe that’s why we have Gideon’s example in these latter days. Sometimes the call comes—We’d like you to be the Relief Society President—and we feel unworthy and incapable, like Moses. Sometimes the impossible call comes—I’d like you to build a ship or unite the Elders Quorum—and we step up without complaining because we know God can do all things. And sometimes we simply see a need—Can I hold that door for you? Watch your children? Can the youth clean out your window wells?—and we step forward to meet it.
When you rise up as a Moses-type, God stands with you. The same God who led Israel through the Red Sea and Limhi’s people through the wilderness is the God who walks with you.
So the next time you read Mosiah 22, linger a little longer. See the Exodus in the shadows. See the temple patterns in the movement of the people. And see yourself in Gideon—a quiet deliverer, forged in faith, walking a path well-worn by prophets before him.
Because the God of deliverance hasn’t changed.
Feasting with Nephi 
Have you ever thought about this scripture this way? Share your thoughts!