#abish

So I was reading (listening on the app actually!), to the Book of Mormon today and found these two items practically back to back:

Alma 19:16 - "...save it were one of the Lamanitish women, whose name was Abish, she having been converted unto the Lord for many years, on account of a remarkable vision of her father"

Alma 23:14 "And the Amalekites were not converted, save only one;"

Since the last post was about the two Lamanite queens whose conversion story makes it into the Book of Mormon, I figure I should talk about Abish next.

Alma 19:16 gives me very strong Xenophilious and Luna Lovegood vibes. A positive father-daughter relationship, but they are both very eccentric. My personal headcanon is that Abish is autistic. She perceives the world differently than everyone else and has stronger emotional responses to situations than what neurotypical people would consider normal, but she still plays an essential role in her countries conversion (playing the role that King Laman’s wife played in gathering the people to listen to the King teach the gospel with the help of the missionaries).  Abish, while peculiar, is a good example and a righteous woman. I am grateful we have her name even though it makes me uncomfortable.

I’ll be honest that I have always felt awkward at Abish being one of the named examples of women in the Book of Mormon. Like really? Only three women in the Book of Mormon are named in their story: Sariah, Abish, and Isabel. Abish is the most faithful, but she is a quirky individual that turns into an emotional mess when something everyone else saw would go poorly went poorly. Isabel is a harlot. That’s it. That’s all we know...at least Alma understands that it was his son’s fault for chasing after her and not Isabel’s fault. And then Sariah whose main story is about her complaining and then being converted while her husband appears to be the absolute angel (a story I will study deeper at a later date). It would be like Moroni’s chewing out the chief judge on assumptions, Ether living under his rock, and King Noah were the only named male representations in the Book of Mormon. Sariah was more than her trial of faith of sending her sons on what seemed like a death mission, just like Moroni was more than his angry military letters.  Abish had spiritual insight, testimony, and great knowledge like Ether. King Noah was a product of his environment much like Isabel. But we don’t get to see their full stories.