A thorny problem

When Mosiah sought the voice of the people on who should succeed him he did not already know that he wanted to propose a system of judges instead of a king. He may have even requested their input before his sons set off on their mission to the Lamanites. When he saw that the people requested an unwilling candidature he studied out the history of king Noah as well as the Jaredites history that he had recently become aquatinted with and clearly saw the precariousness of a monarchy. Knowing his own experience of the challenge of being a king he studied and prayed about potential alternative forms of government that might be more stable. He might have looked to Jewish history to consider a system of judges which he eventually proposed.