Thursday, July 30, 2020

Words of Mormon 1:10-14


10 Wherefore, it came to pass that after Amaleki had delivered up these plates into the hands of king Benjamin, he took them and put them with the other plates, which contained records which had been handed down by the kings, from generation to generation until the days of king Benjamin.
11 And they were handed down from king Benjamin, from generation to generation until they have fallen into my hands.  And I, Mormon, pray to God that they may be preserved from this time henceforth.  And I know that they will be preserved; for there are great things written upon them, out of which my people and their brethren shall be judged at the great and last day, according to the word of God which is written.
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.
Words of Mormon 1:10-14

After having told us some things about him, Mormon returns to the record.  There are two sets of plates, the large plates of Nephi (“Upon the other plates should be engraven an account of the reign of the kings, and the wars and contentions of my people; wherefore these plates are for the more part of the ministry; and the other plates are for the more part of the reign of the kings and the wars and contentions of my people” [1 Nephi 9:4]) and the small plates of Nephi. 

The large plates were kept by the king.  “And I, Jarom, do not write more, for the plates are small.  But behold, my brethren, ye can go to the other plates of Nephi; for behold, upon them the records of our wars are engraven, according to the writings of the kings, or those which they caused to be written” (Jarom 1:14).  On these plates were kept the historical record of the Nephites.  

The small plates of Nephi had been kept by descendants of Lehi.  Nephi passed the plates on to his brother, Jacob.  For four hundred years, the plates had been handed down from father to son (or, in one case, a brother).  When we reach Amaleki, we learn he has no son.  He decides to pass the small plates on to the king, King Benjamin.  For the first time, we have only one custodian of the plates.

“Benjamin held these records, along with the large plates of Nephi that had been entrusted to him by his father, Mosiah (see Words of Mormon 1:10), thereby consolidating for the first time since Nephi these important elements of Nephite religious leadership and political power in the hands of a single individual.”[1]

Once the two sets of plates were turned over to one person, King Benjamin, they were never given to two separate people. They were passed down from generation-to-generation, ending up with Mormon. 

Mormon is sure they will be preserved because of the great things written upon them.  The day will come when “my people and their brethren shall be judged.”  Nephi knew this, writing, “Wherefore, he shall bring forth his words unto them, which words shall judge them at the last day, for they shall be given them for the purpose of convincing them of the true Messiah, who was rejected by them; and unto the convincing of them that they need not look forward any more for a Messiah to come, for there should not any come, save it should be a false Messiah which should deceive the people; for there is save one Messiah spoken of by the prophets, and that Messiah is he who should be rejected of the Jews” (2 Nephi 25:18).  The Savior told the Nephites, “For behold, out of the books which have been written, and which shall be written, shall this people be judged, for by them shall their works be known unto men” (3 Nephi 27:25).

During his reign, King Benjamin faced contentions among his people as well as a major battle against the Lamanites.  Benjamin led the army fought against the Lamanites.  As the king, he wielded the sword of Laban.

King Benjamin functioned much like a Hebrew king would be expected to function.

“[T]he Hebrew king was responsible for the ‘functions of judicial and political administration’; he acted as judge, and was also ‘called upon to fulfill a political task, in the course of which he also took upon himself the religious functions’; and he was ‘commissioned by God to administer justice.’ Benjamin clearly filled these perennial roles: as warrior, he had led the Nephites into victorious battle against invading troops and quelled rebellion in his own lands (see Words of Mormon 1:12–16); as judge, it is evident that he had established justice and enforced the laws against slavery, murder, theft, adultery, and ‘any manner of wickedness’ (Mosiah 2:13); and as religious leader, he received revelation from God and inspired his people in righteousness.”[2]

The Lord was with the Nephites and they prevailed in the battle.  Jarom described battle with the Lamanites.  “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).

“As a result of this war, Benjamin was able to ‘[drive the Lamanites] out of all the lands of [Nephite] inheritance’ (Words of Mormon 1:14), thereby protecting and affirming his territory as a land subject to his jurisdiction and governed by the prevailing Nephite laws. Benjamin thus administered a defined area, referred to as ‘the land of Zarahemla’ (Omni 1:12; Mosiah 2:4), although the size of this territory is unknown.”[3]


[1] Benjamin, the Man: His Place in Nephite History, John W. Welch, Maxwell Institute,
[2] Kingship. Coronation, and Covenant in Mosiah 1–6, Stephen D. Ricks, Maxwell Institute,
[3] Benjamin, the Man: His Place in Nephite History, John W. Welch, Maxwell Institute,

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