23 And now, in the
first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye
are indebted unto him.
24 And secondly, he
doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he
doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are,
and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?
25 And now I ask, can
ye say aught of yourselves? I answer
you, Nay. Ye cannot say that ye are even
as much as the dust of the earth; yet ye were created of the dust of the earth;
but behold, it belongeth to him who created you.
26 And I, even I, whom
ye call your king, am no better than ye yourselves are; for I am also of the
dust. And ye behold that I am old, and
am about to yield up this mortal frame to its mother earth.
27 Therefore, as I
said unto you that I had served you, walking with a clear conscience before
God, even so I at this time have caused that ye should assemble yourselves
together, that I might be found blameless, and that your blood should not come
upon me, when I shall stand to be judged of God of the things whereof he hath
commanded me concerning you.
Mosiah 2:23-27
Why are we indebted to God?
Because he crated us and gave us life.
“Benjamin strikes here a double blow: first he reshapes our thinking
about service by redefining it as exclusively service to God, and second, he
reduces all service to God as ultimately unprofitable (see Mosiah
2:23–24). Even royal service is not exempt from this sobering reduction: ‘I
[your king] ... am [no] more than a mortal man ... like as yourselves, subject
to all manner of infirmities in body and mind; ... I ... am no better than ye
yourselves are; for I am also of the dust’ (Mosiah 2:10–11, 26).”[1]
“In October of 1998 Hurricane Mitch devastated many parts of
Central America. President Gordon B. Hinckley was very concerned for the
victims of this disaster, many of whom lost everything—food, clothing, and
household goods. He visited the Saints in the cities of San Pedro Sula and
Tegucigalpa, Honduras; and Managua, Nicaragua. And like the words of the loving
prophet Elijah to a starving widow, this modern prophet’s message in each city
was similar-to sacrifice and be obedient to the law of tithing.
“But how can you ask someone so destitute to sacrifice?
President Hinckley knew that the food and clothing shipments they received
would help them survive the crisis, but his concern and love for them went far
beyond that. As important as humanitarian aid is, he knew that the most
important assistance comes from God, not from man. The prophet wanted to help
them unlock the windows of heaven as promised by the Lord in the book of
Malachi (see Mal. 3:10; Mosiah 2:24).”[2]
Again, Benjamin tells us we are required to keep the Lord’s
commandments. When we do, we are
immediately blessed. “By humility and
the fear [OR reverence of the LORD] of the LORD are riches, and honour, and
life. Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward [OR perverse]: he that
doth keep his soul shall be far from them.” (Proverbs 22:4-5).
But, we become indebted to him and “will be, forever and
ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?”
“[Benjamin] is setting the keynote, which is absolute equality.
And that follows naturally from the proposition that we owe everything to God,
to whom we are perpetually and inescapably in debt beyond our means of
repayment: ‘In the first place ... ye are indebted unto him ... and will
be forever and ever’” (Mosiah 2:23-24) (emphasis in original).[3]
“[C]am ye say [anything at all] of yourselves?” We are made of the dust of the Earth. Jacob reminded the Nephites they were dust of
the Earth.
“And now, my brethren, I have spoken unto you concerning
pride; and those of you which have afflicted your neighbor, and persecuted him
because ye were proud in your hearts, of the things which God hath given you,
what say ye of it?
“Do ye not suppose that such things are abominable unto him
who created all flesh? And the one being
is as precious in his sight as the other.
And all flesh is of the dust; and for the selfsame end hath he created
them, that they should keep his commandments and glorify him forever” (Jacob
2:20-21).
Alma2 taught Corianton, “Now behold, my son, I
will explain this thing unto thee. For
behold, after the Lord God sent our first parents forth from the garden of
Eden, to till the ground, from whence they were taken—yea, he drew out the man,
and he placed at the east end of the garden of Eden, cherubim, and a flaming
sword which turned every way, to keep the tree of life” (Alma 42:2).
To whom does the dust belong? It belongs to the Lord. “It is his property, not yours! What is more,
no one can even pay his own way in the world, let alone claim a surplus…”[4] The Lord simply asks “…only two things:
first, to recognize his gifts for what they are, and not to take credit to
ourselves and say, ‘This is mine’…”[5]
“The Book of Mormon tells us that the essence of repentance
is knowing exactly what we are. King Benjamin really rubs it in: ‘Therefore, of
what have ye to boast? And now I ask, can ye say ought of yourselves? … Ye
cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of the earth’ (Mosiah 2:24-25).”[6]
Benjamin reminds the people, “I, whom ye call your king, am
no better than ye yourselves are.” Can
you imagine many of today’s politicians confessing this? Why is he no better than the people? “I am also of the dust.” Benjamin is old, and is “about to yield up
this mortal frame to its mother earth.”
“Benjamin taught powerfully that he as king was no better
than any other person in the society (see Mosiah 2:10–11). He told his people
that he too was of the dust, an extraordinary concession for any king to make
(see Mosiah 2:26). Although his people may have understood this more as an
expression of personal humility than as a plank in a political manifesto, the
notion that all people in the land were of the dust and were therefore
fundamentally equal to each other would have had a strong potential for leveling
political attitudes and strengthening democratic tendencies within that
society.”[7]
Benjamin served his people “walking with a clear conscience
before God.” He called the people
together to give them his farewell message so he would be found blameless and
their blood would not come upon him at the final judgment. “He also warns his
people in a most solemn manner of the perils of transgressing the commandments of
God. The king wanted to make sure that the blood of no person should come upon
him for lack of proper instruction (Mosiah 2:27).”[8]
This reason was similar to Jacob’s reason for
preaching. “And we did magnify our
office unto the Lord, taking upon us the responsibility, answering the sins of
the people upon our own heads if we did not teach them the word of God with all
diligence; wherefore, by laboring with our might their blood might not come
upon our garments; otherwise their blood would come upon our garments, and we
would not be found spotless at the last day” (Jacob 1:19).
[1] Benjamin's
Speech: A Masterful Oration, John W. Welch, Maxwell Institute, accessed
July 10, 2014.
[2] Tithing-a
Commandment Even for the Destitute, Elder Lynn G. Robbins, April 2005
General Conference.
[6] The
Book of Mormon: Forty Years After, Hugh W. Nibley, Maxwell Institute,
accessed July 10, 2014.
[7] Democratizing
Forces in King Benjamin's Speech, John W. Welch, Maxwell Institute,
accessed July 10, 2014.
[8] Types
of Literature in the Book of Mormon: Historical Narrative, Memoir, Prophetic
Discourse, Oratory, Sidney B. Sperry, Maxwell Institute, accessed July 10,
2014.
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