12 And now, concerning
this king Benjamin—he had somewhat of contentions among his own people.
13 And it came to pass
also that the armies of the Lamanites came down out of the land of Nephi, to
battle against his people. But behold, king Benjamin gathered together his
armies, and he did stand against them; and he did fight with the strength of
his own arm, with the sword of Laban.
14 And in the strength
of the Lord they did contend against their enemies, until they had slain many
thousands of the Lamanites. And it came to pass that they did contend against
the Lamanites until they had driven them out of all the lands of their
inheritance.
15 And it came to pass
that after there had been false Christs, and their mouths had been shut, and
they punished according to their crimes;
16 And after there had
been false prophets, and false preachers and teachers among the people, and all
these having been punished according to their crimes; and after there having
been much contention and many dissensions away unto the Lamanites, behold, it
came to pass that king Benjamin, with the assistance of the holy prophets who
were among his people—
17 For behold, king
Benjamin was a holy man, and he did reign over his people in righteousness; and
there were many holy men in the land, and they did speak the word of God with
power and with authority; and they did use much sharpness because of the
stiffneckedness of the people—
18 Wherefore, with the
help of these, king Benjamin, by laboring with all the might of his body and
the faculty of his whole soul, and also the prophets, did once more establish
peace in the land. (Words of Mormon 1:12-18)
Mormon introduces us to King Benjamin in the Words of Mormon.
There were contentions among his people. The Lamanites were attacking from the
land of Nephi. Benjamin gathered the armies and led them in battle, carrying
the sword of Laban, as did Nephi when defending his people.
“The people having loved Nephi exceedingly, he having been a
great protector for them, having wielded the sword of Laban in their defence,
and having labored in all his days for their welfare” (Jacob 1:10).
“The sword that Nephi took from Laban played an important
role in Nephite history, not only as the model after which the Nephites later
made swords to defend themselves, but also and perhaps more importantly as a
symbol of the legitimate authority of the Nephite rulers, beginning with Nephi
himself.”[1]
“As for his own exemplification of discipleship, we begin to
learn of Benjamin's character well before his sermon. Just as this special king
labored to produce his own necessities, he personalized his leadership in other
ways. As a warrior-king, he ‘did fight with the strength of his own arm, with
the sword of Laban’ in putting down unrest (Words of Mormon 1:13), to which
false christs, false prophets, and false preachers doubtless contributed.”[2]
The Lord strengthened the Nephite armies as the battled the
Lamanites. “The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless
his people with peace” (Psalm 29:11).
Zeniff explains how he and his people were strengthened by
the Lord.
“Yea, in the strength of the Lord did we go forth to battle
against the Lamanites; for I and my people did cry mightily to the Lord that he
would deliver us out of the hands of our enemies, for we were awakened to a
remembrance of the deliverance of our fathers.
“And God did hear our cries and did answer our prayers; and
we did go forth in his might; yea, we did go forth against the Lamanites, and
in one day and a night we did slay three thousand and forty-three; we did slay
them even until we had driven them out of our land” (Mosiah 9:17-18).
They eventually drove the Lamanites out of the lands of
their inheritance. “And it came to pass that they came many times against us,
the Nephites, to battle. But our kings and our leaders were mighty men in the
faith of the Lord; and they taught the people the ways of the Lord; wherefore,
we withstood the Lamanites and swept them away out of our lands, and began to
fortify our cities, or whatsoever place of our inheritance” (Jarom 1:7).
There had been false Christs in the land.
“And Jesus answered, and said unto them: Take heed that no
man deceive you;
“For many shall come in my name, saying—I am Christ—and
shall deceive many;
“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall
kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations, for my name’s sake;
“And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one
another, and shall hate one another;
“And many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many”
(Joseph Smith—Matthew 1:5-9).
Their voices were silenced and punished according to their crimes.
There were also false prophets, preachers, and teachers.
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing,
but inwardly they are ravening wolves” (Matthew 7:15).
“And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many”
(Matthew 24:11).
“For in those days there shall also arise false Christs, and
false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch, that, if
possible, they shall deceive the very elect, who are the elect according to the
covenant” (Joseph Smith—Matthew 1:22).
They, too, were punished for their crimes. There had been
contention and dissensions among the Nephites. Some were lead away “unto the
Lamanites.”
“Now the people which were not Lamanites were Nephites;
nevertheless, they were called Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, Zoramites,
Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites.
“But I, Jacob, shall not hereafter distinguish them by these
names, but I shall call them Lamanites that seek to destroy the people of
Nephi, and those who are friendly to Nephi I shall call Nephites, or the people
of Nephi, according to the reigns of the kings” (Jacob 1:13-14).
King Benjamin, with the assistance of the prophets, preached
to the people.
“And there were exceedingly many prophets among us. And the
people were a stiffnecked people, hard to understand” (Enos 1:22).
“Thus, well prior to the great sermon, King Benjamin had
been involved with typical single-mindedness in his successful efforts to deal
with contention and dissension. He acted, as was his pattern, ‘with all the
might of his body and the faculty of his whole soul’ and established peace in
the land (Words of Mormon 1:18).”[3]
King Benjamin was a holy man who reigned in righteousness.
Many holy men in the land spoke the word of God with power and authority “But
this is not all; [the sons of Mosiah] had given themselves to much prayer, and
fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of
revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God” (Alma
17:3).
“Let every soul be subject [GR be submissive, render
obedience] unto the higher powers [GR authority]. For there is no power but of
God: the powers that be are ordained of God” (Romans 13:1).[4]
Because of the stiffneckedness of the people, the holy men
frequently spoke with sharpness to them.
“And there was nothing save it was exceeding harshness,
preaching and prophesying of wars, and contentions, and destructions, and
continually reminding them of death, and the duration of eternity, and the
judgments and the power of God, and all these things—stirring them up
continually to keep them in the fear of the Lord. I say there was nothing short
of these things, and exceedingly great plainness of speech, would keep them
from going down speedily to destruction. And after this manner do I write
concerning them” (Enos 1:23).
“Behold, I am laboring with them continually; and when I
speak the word of God with sharpness they tremble and anger against me; and
when I use no sharpness they harden their hearts against it; wherefore, I fear
lest the Spirit of the Lord hath ceased striving with them” (Moroni 9:4).
“No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by
virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness
and meekness, and by love unfeigned;
“By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly
enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile—
“Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the
Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him
whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy” (D&C 121:41-43).
With the help of the holy men, he established peace in the
land, “by laboring with all the might of his body and the faculty of his whole
soul.”
[1] “The
Sword of Laban as a Symbol of Divine Authority and Kingship,” Brett L.
Holbrook, Journal of Book of Mormon
Studies 2/1 (1993):39–72.
[2] King
Benjamin's Sermon: A Manual for Discipleship, Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Maxwell Institute website.
[4] “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power in
the church but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God” (JST Romans
13:1).
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