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]
[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.
[5]
Converging
Paths: Language and Cultural Notes on the Ancient Near Eastern Background of
the Book of Mormon, Stephen D. Ricks, Maxwell Institute, accessed June 28,
2014.
[6]
The
Book of Mormon and the Dead Sea Scrolls, Stephen D. Ricks, Maxwell
Institute, accessed June 28, 2014.
No comments:
Post a Comment