King Benjamin, warrior and peacemaker

Benjamin, son of Mosiah I, had an unforgettable impact on the Nephite nation. He was a military man, a leader of armies. Amaleki wrote of a time when "the Nephites did obtain much advantage over [the Lamanites]; yea, insomuch that King Benjamin did drive them out of the land of Zarahemla." (Omni 1:24.) More than once, "King Benjamin gathered together his armies, and he did stand against [the Lamanites]; and he did fight with the strength of his own arm, with the sword of Laban. And in the strength of the Lord they did contend against their enemies, until . . . they had driven them out of all the lands of their inheritance." (Words of Mormon 1:13-14.)

Benjamin was a record keeper. Amaleki delivered the sacred Nephite records to Benjamin, and the latter "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." (Words of Mormon 1:10.) Prior to Benjamin, two separate records had been kept: a secular history that chronicled journeys, reigns of the kings, warfare, and selected revelation and prophecy (large plates), kept mostly by the kings; and a spiritual history, known as the small plates, that recorded "preaching which was sacred, or revelation which was great or prophesying" (Jacob 1:4), kept by the prophets. After Benjamin assumed the responsibility of king and prophet, the record contained both sacred and secular elements.Benjamin was a prophet, a holy man, one who taught truth, exposed false teachings and confounded false teachers. (Words of Mormon 1:15-16.) "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 - 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 1:17-18.)

The message

Some three years before his death (Mosiah 6:5), Benjamin summoned his people to a conference at the temple in Zarahemla. He explained to them that he had brought them together this final time in order to announce that he was stepping down as king and would be succeeded by his son, Mosiah II. His son would assume, in addition, the responsibility for the Nephite records. (Mosiah 1:16.) Further, Benjamin stated his intention to "give this people a name, that thereby they may be distinguished above all the people which the Lord God hath brought out of the land of Jerusalem." (Mosiah 1:11.) We would assume that the people of Benjamin were members of the Church, had previously taken upon them the name of the Savior in the waters of baptism, and had made sacred covenants to follow Him and keep His commandments. This gathering, therefore, was an occasion for renewal of covenants, a time for rededication, a day when Benjamin invited these faithful people to become fully consecrated and valiant in the testimony of Jesus.

Save only the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7) or the Sermon of the Risen Lord at Bountiful (3 Ne. 12-14), there is perhaps no greater sermon in scripture than Benjamin's final address to his people, a group described by him as "a diligent people in keeping the commandments of the Lord." (Mosiah 1:11.) Within this one discourse - and, in some cases, as a result of its impact on the listeners - we find some of the most significant doctrinal explanations and clarifications in the Book of Mormon, including:

Divine indebtedness. After Benjamin had given a brief accounting for his reign and ministry and had answered with "a clear conscience before God" regarding his efforts to alleviate suffering and ease burdens, he taught the timeless truth that "when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." (Mosiah 2:15-17.) This is, of course, a similar message to the one delivered by the Master Himself in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats when He declared, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." (Matt. 25:40.) Benjamin then set forth a crucial doctrinal principle, one that lies at the heart of the Christian life - that all that we have been, are, or ever hope to be, we owe to our Lord and God.

We can never repay Him. We can never place Him in our debt. (See Luke 17:7-10.) For even when we keep His commandments - our best effort at balancing the record - "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?" (Mosiah 2:24.)

Sin as rebellion against God. Benjamin uses words in an unusual but most instructive manner when it comes to sin, especially sinning against light and knowledge. The sinner, particularly the unrepentant one, is a rebel, an enemy to God and an enemy to righteousness. Benjamin warned against obeying the evil spirit: "For if he listeth to obey him, and remaineth and dieth in his sins, the same drinketh damnation to his own soul; for he receiveth for his wages an everlasting punishment, having transgressed the law of God contrary to his own knowledge." (Mosiah 2:33.)

After one has known the truth and sinned against it, "ye do withdraw yourselves from the Spirit of the Lord, that it may have no place in you to guide you in wisdom's paths, that ye may be blessed, prospered, and preserved - I say unto you, that the man that doeth this, the same cometh out in open rebellion against God; therefore he listeth to obey the evil spirit, and becometh an enemy to all righteousness; therefore the Lord has no place in him, for he dwelleth not in unholy temples." (Mosiah 2:36-37.)

The condescension of God. An angel appeared to Benjamin, awoke him from sleep, and delivered to the righteous prophet-king a remarkable messianic prophecy, one like unto that given in Isaiah 53, and in some cases providing even more specific detail concerning the Mortal Messiah. Benjamin quoted extensively the words of the angel in what we have now as Mosiah 3:2-27. "The time cometh," the angel attested, "and is not far distant, that with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases. And he shall cast out devils, or the evil spirits which dwell in the hearts of the children of men." (Mosiah 3:5-6.) Even after all he had done by way of miracles and signs and wonders, the unbelieving of the earth would spurn Him, "consider him a man," meaning merely a mortal man, and then "scourge him, and . . . crucify him" (3:9).

The Atoning Sacrifice. The angel went on to say that Christ would "suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man" - meaning, of course, mortal man - "can suffer, except it be unto death." (Mosiah 3:7.) No man - not the mightiest apostle or the greatest prophet, not the purest of Adam's posterity - could do what Jesus did. His sinlessness, coupled with His divine inheritance, enabled Him to perform the infinite, eternal, and, for us, incomprehensible atoning sacrifice. Alma would later explain that our Lord's personal exposure to pains and afflictions and sufferings and infirmities would perfect His empathy and compassion toward the children of men. (Alma 7:11-12.) And so Jesus of Nazareth was more than man, more than human (see Alma 34:10); He was the divine Son of the divine Father. He had within Him not only the seeds of mortality and the capacity to suffer the throes of the second estate, but also the powers of immortality, the powers of godliness, power over death, power to live forever. (See John 10:18; 2 Ne. 2:8; Hel. 5:11; 3 Ne. 27:15.)

"For behold," the angel continued, "blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people." (Mosiah 3:7.) This is one of three places in the standard works where the unspeakable suffering in Gethsemane is mentioned (see Luke 22:44; D&C 19:18), a suffering of both body and spirit, an awful anguish that came as our Father in Heaven withdrew His Spirit from the sinless Son of Man. (See D&C 19:20; Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 3:205-206.)

The angel mentions several specific aspects of the atoning sacrifice:

Christ will rise from the dead and thereby initiate the resurrection of all men and women. (Mosiah 3:10.)

The resurrection is linked and associated with the judgment of all; that is, people rise from the grave and then stand before the Holy One to be judged. (Mosiah 3:10; see also 2 Ne. 9:15; Hel. 14:15-17.)

Christ's blood atones for all of those who sinned in ignorance of the gospel of Jesus Christ. (Mosiah 3:11; see also 2 Ne. 9:25-26; Mosiah 15:24; Moroni 8:22.)

All things from the beginning - "signs, and wonders, and types, and shadows" - bear witness of Christ. (See Moses 6:63.) For example, the Law of Moses was not an end in itself. Rather, it was a grand prophecy of Christ's atonement; that is, "the Law of Moses availeth nothing except it were through the atonement of his blood." (Mosiah 3:15; see also 2 Ne. 11:4; Jacob 4-5; Jarom 1:11; Mosiah 13:30 and Alma 25:16-17.)

If there were no atonement, even little children could not be saved, "for behold, as in Adam, or by nature, they

little childrenT fall, even so the blood of Christ atoneth for their sins." (Mosiah 3:16; see also Moroni 8:8, 12, 22; D&C 29:46; 74:7.)

Putting off the natural man. Benjamin continues to quote the teachings of the angel. "The natural man is an enemy to God," we learn, "and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord." (Mosiah 3:19.)

The natural man is thus not only an enemy to God - working at cross purposes to the Father's plan for the sanctification and glorification of the earth - but an enemy to himself, one who works at cross purposes to his own best interests.

We put off the natural man by putting on Christ, by becoming a saint, one who has been cleansed and purified by the blood of Christ through the power of the Holy Ghost. That is, we put off unrighteousness and die as to the things of the world; we thus are born again and thereby become a child in Christ, one who is "submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon [us], even as a child doth submit to his father." (Mosiah 3:19; see also Alma 7:23-24.)

Obtaining and retaining a remission of sins. After Benjamin had quoted the words of the angel, the multitude fell "to the earth, for the fear of the Lord had come upon them." They sensed their nothingness without the Lord, their own unworthiness before Him, and the need to be cleansed. They called upon God in prayer and pleaded that the atoning blood of Christ might be applied in their behalf. Their sins were remitted. And how did they know they had been so cleansed? First, "the Spirit of the Lord came upon them." When we sin, we lose the influence of that Spirit, when we fully repent, it returns. If in fact the Holy Spirit cannot dwell in an unclean tabernacle, then surely when the Spirit begins to dwell with us again, it is the Lord's sign to us that we have been forgiven. In addition, the people of Benjamin were "filled with joy, having received a remission of sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come." (Mosiah 4:1-4.)

Being cleansed is one thing; remaining in that justified condition is another. Benjamin thus spoke of two ways in which the Saints of the Most High may retain a remission of sins from day to day. First, they must "remember, and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness, and his goodness and long-suffering towards you, unworthy creatures, and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith." By so doing, by placing our total confidence, trust, and reliance upon the Lord and leaning on His mighty arm, we "grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created

usT, or in the knowledge of that which is just and true."

Second, the prophet-king explained that we retain a remission of sins from day to day by giving ourselves in selfless service to others. Just as the prophets have instructed us to acknowledge our own spiritual bankruptcy and our utter uselessness and limitations without God's help, so Benjamin reminds us that we are all beggars, all in need of assistance beyond ourselves. Thus we help the beggar when and where we can (Mosiah 4:24-25), refuse to judge or condemn those who are less blessed with this world's goods, share of our own wealth, and do so "in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength."

Becoming sons and daughters of Jesus Christ. The multitude were deeply touched and moved by the sermon. In fact, they were transformed spiritually by the power of the word. They believed Benjamin's words, acknowledged that a "mighty change" had been wrought in their hearts, such that they had "no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually." They renewed their baptismal covenant and vowed to keep the commandments of God for the remainder of their days. (Mosiah 5:2-5.)

King Benjamin then set forth a great truth: through righteous covenant and by means of the transforming power of the Spirit, men and women become new creatures in Christ, born again, born from above into a new family relationship. "And now, because of the covenant which ye have made," Benjamin said, "ye shall be called the Children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters." (Mosiah 5:7.) Through the gospel men and women become the "seed of Christ" (Isa. 53:10; Mosiah 15:10-12) and the Master becomes the Father of our rebirth, our resurrection, our salvation.

Conclusion

When read in their doctrinal context, Benjamin's teachings do much to point us everlastingly to the central event in human history - the life and atoning ministry of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Certainly we can draw upon the early chapters of the Book of Mosiah to discuss at random such matters as our debt to God, serving the Lord through serving others, the natural man, forgiveness of sins, and the care of the poor. Repeated readings of these remarkable chapters, however, point us toward a predetermined doctrinal order, a realization that love and service and care of the less fortunate are labors that are more powerfully motivated and more lasting when grounded in the power of Christ to transform our souls. That is to say, our doctrine always underlies our ethical behavior.

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