Book of Mormon Lesson # 15—mosiah 1–3
“Eternally
Indebted to your Father”
Ponderize
Scripture: Mosiah 3:19. “For the natural man is an enemy
to God, 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, and
becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing
to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a
child doth submit to his father.”
Introduction
When one looks at masterful discourses in the Book of Mormon, one thinks
of Abinadi in the court of King Noah, Samuel the Lamanite atop the wall,
calling the Nephites to repentance, or Alma powerfully preaching the Gospel to
the people of Ammonihah. But undoubtedly one of the most succinct and moving
discourses is that of King Benjamin. When I started working at what is now the
Neal A. Maxwell Institute at BYU, Jack Welch was proposing the King Benjamin’s
Speech project. It took us three years to put the volume together, and it
remains the most comprehensive treatment of these pivotal six chapters of the
Book of Mormon. In addition, three scripture mastery scriptures come from the
first six chapters of Mosiah, one of which is our “ponderize” scripture.
What we may not realize is that nearly 300 years have passed between the
end of the book of Jacob and King Benjamin’s Speech. The eight pages we covered
last week span nearly three decades. And during that time, Jacob’s teaching of
Christ seems to have been lost. So as Benjamin is nearing the end of his life
and needs to pass on the kingship to one of his sons, he is visited by an angel
and instructed anew about the life and mission of Christ.
And it is one of
those tender mercies of the Lord that we have his text. If you look at the Book
of Mormon in eras, you have the Lehite era that takes you to the Promised Land,
the Nephite era that takes you to the end of the small plates, and now the era
of King Benjamin which leads to the time of the judges up until Christ’s
coming. As it was intended to be the guiding gospel to the Nephites from then
really until the coming of Christ, so it is a guiding light to us in our day.
In his chapter in King Benjamin’s Speech,
Elder Maxwell wrote, “We have no biography of King Benjamin; nevertheless, we
have his words, which are what we most need for our discipleship. The combined
efforts of the angel who inspired King Benjamin and King Benjamin himself,
together with the selectivity of Mormon as editor have given us high relevancy
amid the paucity of the Benjamin pages. Of course, while a special portion of
King Benjamin’s sermon was directed by an angel, angels, in turn, ‘speak by the
power of the Holy Ghost’ in what is a seamless process (2 Nephi 32:3). Since
the Book of Mormon itself ‘shall go from generation to generation as long as
the earth shall stand’ (2 Nephi 25:22), this means, much as we appreciate them
today, that the words of King Benjamin will have their widest and greatest
influence—personal and global—in the decades ahead.”[1]
Mosiah 1: King Benjamin teaches his sons and has Mosiah call the people
together.
Benjamin has made sure that his children can
read the brass plates and the small and large plates of Nephi has he had them
up to that point. As we know they were written in “reformed Egyptian”—not a
spoken language among the Nephites one presumes. It is interesting (and
something Joseph could not have known) that the succession from Benjamin to
Mosiah follows ancient Israelite traditions.[2]
We have talked before about what constitutes the “mysteries” of God, but
here is an explanation, “A mystery is a truth that cannot be known except
through divine revelation—a sacred secret. … In our day such great truths as
those pertaining to the restoration of the Priesthood, the work for the dead,
and the re-establishment of the Church are ‘mysteries,’ because they could not
have been discovered except by revelation” (Hyrum M. Smith and
Janne M. Sjodahl, Doctrine and
Covenants Commentary, rev. ed. [1972], 141).
There is a phrase in “The Spirit of God”: “we’ll call in our solemn assemblies” and
this always reminds me of Benjamin having Mosiah summon the people so that he
can give them his abdication address as it were and pass on what he would want
his people to remember. We talked two weeks ago about Jacob’s last discourse
which culminated in the allegory of the Olive Tree. Now, by divine commandment,
Benjamin has instructed his sons and now talks to all his people sharing not
only his own testimony but an angelic message of Christ and the Atonement.
Elder Parry said, “Keeping the doctrine pure was foremost in King
Benjamin’s mind, so he wanted all of his people to receive his witness and his
word. He instructed that Mosiah, his son and successor, be brought before him,
and to him he gave specific instructions concerning the gathering of his people
for this, his final conference.”[3]
Mosiah 2. King Benjamin teaches the people of their eternal indebtedness
to God.
Benjamin was a king who served his people. Like the Savior, he led by
example. And thankfully, he recorded his words and sent them out among his
people. Just a few days after the end of General Conference, the talks are
available online and in the Gospel Library. A few weeks after they arrive in
printed form and as Benjamin’s words informed several generations, those talks
are our instructions for the next six months. So maybe not to be listened to
just once and then not reviewed, but perhaps read from daily.
From the youngest primary child to those of us who sit in the “old
people’s row” when we think of service we think of Mosiah 2:17. “And behold, I
tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye
are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your
God.” There have been 48 references to this scripture in General Conference,
the first one recorded in 1942. Howard W. Hunter said : “Continue to seek
opportunities for service. Don’t be overly concerned with status. … It is
important to be appreciated. But our focus should be on righteousness, not
recognition; on service, not status. The faithful visiting teacher [or home
teacher], who quietly goes about her [or his] work month after month, is just
as important to the work of the Lord as those who occupy what some see as more
prominent positions in the Church. Visibility does not equate to value” (“To
the Women of the Church,” Ensign,
Nov. 1992, 96–97).
Elder Scott said, “We best serve our Father in Heaven by righteously
influencing others and serving them.”[4]
President Uchtdorf summarized this chapter as follows, “Disciples of Jesus
Christ understand that compared to eternity, our existence in this mortal
sphere is only ‘a small moment’ in space and time. They know that a person’s
true value has little to do with what the world holds in high esteem. They know
you could pile up the accumulated currency of the entire world and it could not
buy a loaf of bread in the economy of heaven. Those who will ‘inherit the kingdom
of God’ are those who become ‘as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient,
full of love.’ ‘For every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he
that humbleth himself shall be exalted.’ Such disciples understand also ‘that
when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of
your God.’”[5]
Mosiah 3. King Benjamin repeats an angel’s prophecies about Jesus Christ
and His Atonement.,
In chapter 3 we have the beginning of the revelations through the angel
who appeared to and taught Benjamin. Here’s Elder Maxwell on the “awful
arithmetic of the Atonement”: “Imagine, Jehovah, the Creator of this and other worlds,
‘astonished’! Jesus knew cognitively what He must do, but not experientially.
He had never personally known the exquisite and exacting process of an
atonement before. Thus, when the agony came in its fulness, it was so much,
much worse than even He with his unique intellect had ever imagined! No wonder
an angel appeared to strengthen him! (See Luke 22:43.)
The cumulative weight of all mortal sins—past, present, and future—pressed upon
that perfect, sinless, and sensitive Soul! All our infirmities and sicknesses
were somehow, too, a part of the awful arithmetic of the Atonement. (See Alma
7:11–12; Isaiah 53:3–5; Matthew 8:17.) The anguished Jesus not only pled with
the Father that the hour and cup might pass from Him, but with this relevant
citation. ‘And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take
away this cup from me’ (Mark 14:35–36). Had not Jesus, as Jehovah, said to
Abraham, ‘Is any thing too hard for the Lord?’ (Genesis 18:14). Had not His
angel told a perplexed Mary, ‘For with God nothing shall be impossible’? (Luke 1:37;
see also Matthew 19:28; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27). Jesus’ request was not
theater! In this extremity, did He, perchance, hope for a rescuing ram in the
thicket? I do not know. His suffering—as it were, enormity multiplied by
infinity—evoked His later soul-cry on the cross, and it was a cry of
forsakenness. (See Matthew 27:46.) Even so, Jesus maintained this sublime
submissiveness, as He had in Gethsemane: ‘Nevertheless not as I will, but as
thou wilt’ (Matthew 26:39)” (Ensign,
May 1985, 72–73).
Regarding the name to which
Benjamin referred in Mosiah 1:11–12, in The Living Christ, it says: “We bear
testimony, as His duly ordained Apostles—that Jesus is the Living Christ, the
immortal Son of God. He is the great King Immanuel, who stands today on the
right hand of His Father. He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world.
His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in
the world to come” (“The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles,” Ensign, Apr. 2000, 3).
Elder Maxwell had this to say about the natural man, “Paul wrote
helpfully, ‘[See] that ye have put off the old man with his deeds’ (Colossians
3:9). However, King Benjamin parallels and exceeds what is preserved from Paul.
Brigham Young, such a careful student of the Book of Mormon, was quick to see
and use numerous times in his teachings counsel concerning the natural man, for
instance: ‘How difficult it is to teach the natural man, who comprehends
nothing more than that which he sees with the natural eye! . . . Talk
to him about angels, heavens, God, immortality, and eternal lives, and it is
like sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal to his ears; it has no music to him;
there is nothing in it that charms his senses, soothes his feelings, attracts
his attention, or engages his affections, in the least’ (Discourses of
Brigham Young [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1954], 260.) Brigham
understood the natural man, as did King Benjamin and the apostle Paul. Paul
concurred, of course, noting that to the natural man the things of the Spirit
‘are foolishness’ (1 Corinthians 2:14).”
So how do we put off the natural man? Mosiah 3:19 tells us.
In conclusion, here is a typically obscure but pithy quote from Hugh
Nibley, also in King Benjamin’s Speech:
“During his life span on this earth, in which all are in the same situation, ‘the
natural man is an enemy to God—carnal, sensual, and devilish, or as we would
say, oversexed, greedy, and mean, or perhaps lecherous, pampered, and vicious.
Obviously things are out of order; but if we are really nothing, how can we
save ourselves? Someone has to intervene, and here, with a sigh of relief, we
learn that Benjamin has been tutored for this talk by an angel. This shocks us
into realizing that we have not seen it all after all. There may be more to
life than going to the office every day—this is not ‘all there is!’ Where
did we get all those gifts and endowments with which we enter the world and
then leave without ever using them? This question of Plato’s was repeated by
Lamarck—to Darwin’s immense annoyance; he called it an abominable mystery. If
natural selection chooses only those defenses of which the creature has
absolute need for survival, why has our brain capacity so outrageously exceeded
our needs? Where did we develop it? Where did we need it, if not in a far more
sophisticated environment than we have here, where the stupidest species have
survived the longest? We are equipped for much greater things than we ever
achieve, and we yearn for something better than we can ever expect here and yet
envisage most positively. That is what Plato calls anamnesis, dim
memories of a better world that give us intimations of immortality at the sight
of the kaloskagathos, something good, true, and beautiful. We are living
in a dismal swamp between two glorious uplands. Why this unhappy interruption?
For life is an interruption which consists almost entirely of an unbroken
succession of interruptions. All this is to try man and to tempt him. For in
getting ready for the long pull ahead, we must learn to cope with the worst.”[6]
[1]
Neal A. Maxwell, ““King Benjamin’s
Speech: A Manual for Discipleship,” http://publications.mi.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1087&index=1.
[2]Stephen
D. Ricks, “Kingship. Coronation, and
Covenant in Mosiah 1–6,” http://publications.mi.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1087&index=10.
[4]
Richard G. Scott, “I Have Given You an Example,” Ensign, May 2014, 32.
[6]
Hugh W. Nibley, “Assembly and Atonement,”
http://publications.mi.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1087&index=7.
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