Saturday, June 28, 2014

Mosiah 1:13-18

13 Yea, and moreover I say unto you, that if this highly favored people of the Lord should fall into transgression, and become a wicked and an adulterous people, that the Lord will deliver them up, that thereby they become weak like unto their brethren; and he will no more preserve them by his matchless and marvelous power, as he has hitherto preserved our fathers.
14 For I say unto you, that if he had not extended his arm in the preservation of our fathers they must have fallen into the hands of the Lamanites, and become victims to their hatred.
15 And it came to pass that after king Benjamin had made an end of these sayings to his son, that he gave him charge concerning all the affairs of the kingdom.
16 And moreover, he also gave him charge concerning the records which were engraven on the plates of brass; and also the plates of Nephi; and also, the sword of Laban, and the ball or director, which led our fathers through the wilderness, which was prepared by the hand of the Lord that thereby they might be led, every one according to the heed and diligence which they gave unto him.
17 Therefore, as they were unfaithful they did not prosper nor progress in their journey, but were driven back, and incurred the displeasure of God upon them; and therefore they were smitten with famine and sore afflictions, to stir them up in remembrance of their duty.
18 And now, it came to pass that Mosiah went and did as his father had commanded him, and proclaimed unto all the people who were in the land of Zarahemla that thereby they might gather themselves together, to go up to the temple to hear the words which his father should speak unto them.
Mosiah 1:13-18

Benjamin reminded his sons of the promise made to Nephi that his people would be a chosen people, protected by the Lord, as long as they keep His commandments.  Should they become a “wicked and an adulterous people,” they will become weak like the Lamanites.  They will no longer be preserved by the power of God.

We see these promises in other scripture.  In Hebrews we read:

4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
Hebrews 6:4-6

Around 40 B.C., the Nephites had become a wicked people.  Mormon gave us a description of the state the people were in at that time.

24 And they saw that they had become weak, like unto their brethren, the Lamanites, and that the Spirit of the Lord did no more preserve them; yea, it had withdrawn from them because the Spirit of the Lord doth not dwell in unholy temples—
25 Therefore the Lord did cease to preserve them by his miraculous and matchless power, for they had fallen into a state of unbelief and awful wickedness; and they saw that the Lamanites were exceedingly more numerous than they, and except they should cleave unto the Lord their God they must unavoidably perish.
26 For behold, they saw that the strength of the Lamanites was as great as their strength, even man for man.  And thus had they fallen into this great transgression; yea, thus had they become weak, because of their transgression, in the space of not many years.
Helaman 4:24-26

In our time, the Lord revealed that we are under the same promise and warning made by the Lord to the Nephites.  “But inasmuch as they keep not my commandments, and hearken not to observe all my words, the kingdoms of the world shall prevail against them” (D&C 103:8). 

Had the Lord not “extended his arm in the preservation of our fathers,” they would have been defeated by the Lamanites.  The Lamanites were motivated by their hatred of the Nephites.

Duane Boyce looks at this hatred.

We know that Nephite dissenters who became Lamanites were more hardened in their hatred for the Nephites than were other Lamanites (see Alma 24:29–30; 43:6; 47:36). But this doesn’t mean that these other Lamanites didn’t also hate the Nephites. They did; and they had a long history of doing so.

Jacob, for example, speaks in the earliest days of Lamanite “hatred” for the Nephites—and he does so while praising them for their superiority to the Nephites (Jacob 3:7). He also reports that the Lamanites “delighted in wars and bloodshed” and that they “had an eternal hatred against us,” and sought “by the power of their arms to destroy us continually” (Jacob 7:24). King Benjamin also speaks of the Lamanites’ early “hatred” toward the Nephites (Mosiah 1:14).[1]

After reminding Mosiah of the promises of the Lord, Benjamin gave his son a charge concerning the kingdom he was about to rule.  David did something similar with Solomon.

1 GIVE the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son.
2 He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment.
3 The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness.
4 He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.
Psalms 72:1-4

In addition to his charges, Benjamin gave Mosiah the brass plates, the plates containing Nephite history, and the sword of Laban.  This is the first time we read of these things being passed on to a new king.  It appears that Nephi began this tradition of passing certain things on to the new king. 

Having worked hard to unify his political and religious control, Benjamin took great care to see that this situation continued into the reign of his son. To his son Mosiah he passed the Liahona, the sword of Laban, and all the plates (see Mosiah 1:16). These were customary symbols of kingship among the Nephites, and they relate to the orb, scepter, and book of the law used as royal symbols in many civilizations.[2]

Benjamin gave special emphasis to the Liahona.  As long as Lehi’s party was righteous, the Liahona worked and gave them direction for their travels.  When they were unfaithful, the Liahona stopped working.  They were forced to wander on their own.  “Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the LORD hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy” (Lamentations 1:5).

Mormon reminds us,

2 Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One—yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity.
3 And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him.
Helaman 12:2-3

Benjamin gives us insight into Lehi’s party journey in the wilderness.  We know little of what happened during their journey.  S. Kent Brown looks at this and gives us come insight as to what might have occurred.

It is important to add a few words about the kinds of vicissitudes that the party met along the way. Nephi said of their troubles that "we did . . . wade through much affliction," afterward characterizing the hardships less vividly as "afflictions and much difficulty" (1 Nephi 17:1, 6). Later Book of Mormon authors who had consulted the full set of records added important details, speaking of the family's suffering from both "famine" and "all manner of diseases" while crossing the desert (Mosiah 1:17; Alma 9:22).[3]

It is this eastward stage of the journey that apparently took the most time. And it may well have been in this segment that, in the recollection of King Benjamin, the party "did not . . . progress in their journey, but were driven back, . . . and . . . were smitten with famine and sore afflictions" (Mosiah 1:17). While "famine and sore afflictions" occasionally characterized the family's trip from the first camp to Nahom, their eastward route along the south edge of Arabia's Empty Quarter would have brought more intense troubles since they were leaving areas of population and cultivation.[4]

Having received his father’s instructions, he did what Benjamin had commanded him.  A proclamation was sent forth, telling them people in the land of Zarahemla to gather at the temple.  There, they would hear Benjamin’s great sermon.

The temple was an important part of Nephite society.  “A society's most sacred spot is the location where the sacred act of coronation takes place … In the Nephite case, the temple at Zarahemla was the sacred site chosen for Benjamin's address to the people and for Mosiah's consecration as king (see Mosiah 1:18).”[5]

Stephen Ricks further explains the importance of the temple.

Temples played a vitally important role among the peoples of the Book of Mormon. Following their arrival in the promised land, Nephi built a temple "after the manner of the temple of Solomon save it were not built of so many precious things" (2 Nephi 5:16), where Nephi's brothers Jacob and Joseph later taught as priests (see Jacob 1:17–8). Subsequently, temples were built in Zarahemla (see Mosiah 1:18, 2:1, 5–7) and in Bountiful, where the risen Christ appeared to the people (see 3 Nephi 11:1; compare Mosiah 6:3).[6]


[1] Were the Ammonites Pacifists? Duane Boyce, Maxwell Institute, accessed June 28, 2014.
[2] Benjamin, the Man: His Place in Nephite History, John W. Welch, Maxwell Institute, accessed June 28, 2014.
[3] New Light from Arabia on Lehi's Trail, S. Kent Brown, Maxwell Institute, accessed June 28, 2014.
[4] A Case for Lehi's Bondage in Arabia, S. Kent Brown, Maxwell Institute, accessed June 26, 2014.
[6] The Book of Mormon and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Stephen D. Ricks, Maxwell Institute, accessed June 28, 2014.

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