24 And again, I say
unto the poor, ye who have not and yet have sufficient, that ye remain from day
to day; I mean all you who deny the beggar, because ye have not; I would that
ye say in your hearts that: I give not because I have not, but if I had I would
give.
25 And now, if ye say
this in your hearts ye remain guiltless, otherwise ye are condemned; and your
condemnation is just for ye covet that which ye have not received.
26 And now, for the
sake of these things which I have spoken unto you—that is, for the sake of
retaining a remission of your sins from day to day, that ye may walk guiltless
before God—I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every
man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the
naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually
and temporally, according to their wants.
27 And see that all
these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man
should run faster than he has strength.
And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he
might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.
28 And I would that ye
should remember, that whosoever among you borroweth of his neighbor should
return the thing that he borroweth, according as he doth agree, or else thou
shalt commit sin; and perhaps thou shalt cause thy neighbor to commit sin also.
29 And finally, I
cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin; for there are divers
ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them.
30 But this much I can
tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words,
and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith
of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of
your lives, ye must perish. And now, O
man, remember, and perish not.
Mosiah 4:24-30
Those who have the resources have been commanded to share
what they have with the poor. But, what
about the poor? What should they
do?
First, they should do all they are capable of doing. “Every
man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God
which he hath given thee” (Deuteronomy 16:17). The amount is not important; what it represents
is what matters. The story of the widow’s
mite demonstrates what Benjamin was saying.
“For all they did cast in of their
abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her
living” (Mark 12:44). The rich gave
much; the widow gave little. Though she
were poor, she did what she could. This is all Benjamin asks. Do what you can.
In verse 24 we have an example of chiastic contrast (using
an opposing statement or phrase in close proximity to the original idea).
A I give not
B because
I have not,
B but if I had
A I would give.[1]
If you are poor, you should desire to do what you can. “I give
not because I have not, but if I had I would give.” If the poor have this attitude they will
not be condemned by the Lord. If the
poor covet what the rich have, they will stand in condemnation before the Lord.
“Wo unto you poor men, whose hearts are
not broken, whose spirits are not contrite, and whose bellies are not
satisfied, and whose hands are not stayed from laying hold upon other men's
goods, whose eyes are full of greediness, and who will not labor with your own
hands” (D&C 56:17).
One of the many problems with
coveting is that it fundamentally denies that all things belong to God. Just as
the giver must accept God's ultimate ownership in order to share his wealth
properly with the poor, the poor must receive it in the same spirit,
recognizing the same dependence of all people on God.[2]
Benjamin has given them these commandments to obtain a
remission of their sins. “Much emphasis
is given by King Benjamin to retaining a remission of our sins (see Mosiah
4:26). We don't ponder that concept very much in the Church. We ought to think
of it a lot more.”[3] Help the poor, “every man according to that which he hath.” This takes us back to the words of Jacob.
17
Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free
with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you.
18
But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God.
19
And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek
them; and ye will seek them for the intent to ado good—to clothe the
naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer
relief to the sick and the afflicted.
Jacob 2:17-19
As we will see, King Limhi had a problem with the poor. Many of his men had died in battle. “Now
there was a great number of women, more than there was of men; therefore king
Limhi commanded that every man should impart to the support of the widows and
their children, that they might not perish with hunger; and this they did
because of the greatness of their number that had been slain” (Mosiah 21:17). The Lord told Zechariah, “And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor;
and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart” (Zechariah
7:10). At the beginning of the book of
Alma, we read, “And they did impart of
their substance, every man according to that which he had, to the poor, and the
needy, and the sick, and the afflicted; and they did not wear costly apparel,
yet they were neat and comely” (Alma 1:27).
We are to “[feed] the
hungry, [clothe] the naked, [visit] the sick, administering to their relief
both spiritually and temporally.” We
read where, at the beginning of Alma, the people took care of the poor. About three years later, it had changed.
12
Yea, he saw great inequality among the people, some lifting themselves up with
their pride, despising others, turning their backs upon the needy and the naked
and those who were hungry, and those who were athirst, and those who were sick
and afflicted.
13
Now this was a great cause for lamentations among the people, while others were
abasing themselves, succoring those who stood in need of their succor, such as
imparting their substance to the poor and the needy, feeding the hungry, and
suffering all manner of afflictions, for Christ's sake, who should come according
to the spirit of prophecy;
Alma 4:12-13
In giving, the poor may keep what
is sufficient for their needs, and food, clothing, and shelter covers it (Mosiah
4:26), for the rule is summed up simply, that every man "should impart of
[his] substance to the poor, every man according to that which he
hath"—which is also the wording of Deuteronomy, for all have a right to
food, clothing, shelter and medical care, "both according to their
wants"(Mosiah 4:26; 18:29).[4]
Benjamin counsels us to “see
that all these things are done in wisdom … it is no requisite that a man should
run faster than he has strength.” All
too often, people jump in to a project and try to do it all at once. We need to use wisdom when the apply gospel
teachings. You don’t have to be perfect
in a day.
In Ecclesiastes we read, “I
returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the
battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of
understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to
them all” (Ecclesiastes 9:11). The
Lord told Joseph Smith, “Do not run faster
or labor more than you have strength and means provided to enable you to
translate; but be diligent unto the end” (D&C 10:4).
We should never us King Benjamin’s words to justify us if we
aren’t doing our responsibilities. In
our callings, in our families, in our places of employment, we need to fulfill
all responsibilities. This doesn’t
excuse us from fulfilling our duties. We
are to fulfill our duties, using wisdom as we do.
Return what you borrow.
“It is interesting to note in passing that, as if to show that there is
no higher or lower duty for the just in the eyes of God, Benjamin concludes his
description of the just life with an admonition to return whatever we borrow
(see Mosiah 4:28).”[5] If you fail to return what you borrow, you
have committed a sin.
Under Israelite law, failure to
return that which a person has borrowed was the equivalent of theft. See
Jackson, Theft in Early Jewish Law, 1972, 17–18, 91. Jewish
law placed no significance on the fact that the person had received the
possession of property lawfully … It was also important for a person under
ancient law to return exactly what he had borrowed; otherwise a dispute could
ensue over whether the value of the returned object was equal to the value of the
borrowed object.[6]
Benjamin shares some discouraging words with us. “I
cannot tell you all thing things whereby ye may commit sin.” “Instead of telling them what they should
not do, he has told them what they absolutely must do, the minimum if they
would expect God's blessings.”[7] While
there is only one path to return to our Lord, there a many paths that lead us
to sin.
We will be judged by our thoughts, words, and deeds. We must watch what we do. “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy
soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and
lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons,
and thy sons' sons” (Deuteronomy 4:9).
When Alma2 confronted Zeezrom, he told him, “For our words will condemn us, yea, all our
works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our thoughts will
also condemn us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our
God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains
to fall upon us to chide us from his presence” (Alma 12:14).
The Savior taught that even thinking about sin is
sinful. “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not
commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust
after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28). He further taught, “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the
heart; and they defile the man. For out
of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false
witness, blasphemies [GR slanderous statements]: These are the things which defile
a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man” (Matthew 15:18-20).
[A] Church News editorial in 1985
cited Mosiah 4:29–30 and added, "This counsel is so timely in today's
world as we struggle with the proliferation of pornography, obscenity, and
indecency. These growing evils bombard us on every hand. At times it seems
almost impossible to escape them because they appear to be everywhere.
. . . Individually, we must remember the admonition of King Benjamin
and watch ourselves, our thoughts, our words, and our deeds. If we keep the
commandments and continue in the faith we will have power over the evils of
pornography. Otherwise, we may succumb to its enticements and ultimately
perish."[8]
We must keep the commandments and continue in faith. King Benjamin has given us all we need to
defeat sin and return to our Father in Heaven.
[1] Finding
Biblical Hebrew and Other Ancient Literary Forms in the Book of Mormon – Forms
of Parallelism, Maxwell Institute, accessed August 10, 2014
[2] Complete
Text of Benjamin's Speech with Notes and Comments, Maxwell Institute,
accessed August 10, 2014.
[3] King
Benjamin's Sermon: A Manual for Discipleship, Elder Neal A. Maxwell,
Maxwell Institute, accessed August 10, 2014.
[4] Work
We Must, but the Lunch Is Free, Hugh Nibley, Maxwell Institute, accessed August
10, 2014.
[5] Romans
1, Verses 16–17, Maxwell Institute, accessed August 10, 2014.
[6] Complete
Text of Benjamin's Speech with Notes and Comments, Maxwell Institute,
accessed August 10, 2014
[7] Work
We Must, but the Lunch Is Free, Hugh Nibley, Maxwell Institute, accessed August
10, 2014.
[8] The
Use of King Benjamin's Address by Latter-day Saints, Bruce A. Van Orden,
Maxwell Institute, accessed August 10, 2014.
