Appendix: Complete Text of Benjamin's Speech with Notes and Comments PROLOGUE (MOSIAH 1:1–2:8) Benjamin’s Instructions to His Sons (Mosiah 1:1–8) 1And now there was no more *contention in *all the land of Zarahemla, among all the people who *belonged to king Benjamin, so that king Benjamin had *continual peace all the remainder of his days. 2And it came to pass that he had three sons; and he called their names *Mosiah, and *Helorum, and Helaman. And he caused that they should be taught in *all the language of his fathers, that thereby they might become *men of understanding; and that they might know concerning the *prophecies which had been spoken by the mouths of their fathers, which were *delivered them by the hand of the Lord. 3*And he also taught them concerning the records which were engraven on the *plates of brass, saying: My sons, *I would that ye should remember that were it not for *these plates, which contain these records and these commandments, we must have *suffered in ignorance, even at this present time, not knowing the *mysteries of God. 4For it were not possible that our father, Lehi, could have remembered all these things, to have taught them to his children, except it were for the help of these plates; for *he having been taught in the language of the Egyptians therefore he could read these engravings, and teach them to his children, that thereby they could teach them to their children, and so fullling the *commandments of God, even down to this present time. 5I say unto you, my sons, were it not for these things, which have been kept and preserved by the hand of God, that we might read and *understand of his mysteries, and have his commandments always *before our eyes, that even our fathers would have *dwindled in unbelief, and we should have been like unto our *brethren, the Lamanites, who know nothing concerning these things, or even do not believe them when they are taught them, because of the *traditions of their fathers, which are not correct. 6O my sons, I would that ye should remember that *these sayings are true, and also that these* records are true. And behold, also the plates of Nephi, which contain the records and the sayings of our fathers from the time they left Jerusalem until now, and they are true; and we can *know of their surety because we have them before our eyes. 7And now, my sons, I would that ye should remember to *search them diligently, *that ye may prot thereby; and I would that ye should keep the commandments of God, that ye may prosper in the land *according to the promises which the Lord made unto our fathers. 8And many more things did king Benjamin teach his sons, *which are not written in this book. 1:1 contention. Behind this word may stand the Hebrew word rib, which can refer to either physical battle or legal disputations. Compare W of M 1:16. all the land of Zarahemla, all the people, all the remainder of his days. Note the inclusiveness: all space, all people, all time—a powerful introduction. belonged to king Benjamin. The concept of people belonging to their king is found in 1 Sam. 21:7, “chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul”; and in 1 Kgs. 1:8, “mighty men which belonged to David.” In 1:10 Benjamin refers to the people in Zarahemla as “my people,” and in 4:4, he expands this to read: “my friends and my brethren, my kindred and my people.” In creating this sense of belonging to the king, Benjamin sets the stage for a realization of his people’s dependence on their heavenly king: “King Benjamin’s sermon about how God supports us from moment to moment as well as immediately blesses us (when we keep His commandments) was not designed to be a popular sermon in self-sufcient times like ours. For us to be called ‘unprotable servants’ and to be reminded that even our bodies are made of the dust of the earth that also ‘belongeth to him’—these are hard sayings that bruise our pride. Unless, through humility and obedience, we can transform feeling owned into a grand sense of belonging, and being purchased into gratitude for being rescued, and dependency into appreciation for being tutored by an omniscient God, which He does in order that we might become more dependable and have more independence and scope for service in the future.” (Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, 1980, 24). See the notes on Mosiah 4:4, brethren. continual peace. This refers to the quality and depth of the peace, not necessarily the duration. It refers variously to just a year as in Alma 3:32, or for twenty-two years as in Mosiah 10:5; this expression is not found in the standard works outside of the Book of Mormon; see Mosiah 7:1; 19:29; 29:43; Alma 4:5; 16:12; 30:2, 5; 49:30; Hel. 3:23, 32; 3 Ne. 6:9. all the remainder of his days. The phrase remainder of . days is unique to the Book of Mormon, occurring nine times: Mosiah 1:1; 5:5; 29:11; Alma 62:43; Hel. 5:4 (twice); Ether 10:30; 11:3, 18. A comparable phrase in the KJV is in Isa. 38:10 “residue of my years,” and other phrases in biblical Hebrew express a parallel meaning. For example, after “land rests [root *SQT] from war” a specic number of years is often mentioned; land rests is often found at the end of an era (Josh. 11:23; 14:15; Judg. 3:11, 30; 5:31; 8:28). The compiler of Chronicles frequently uses this phrase at the end of the reign of a king (2 Chron. 14:1, 6; 20:30). The elements of these OT verses compare well with those of Mosiah 1:1, which mentions a cessation of war or contention in the land and looks forward to the end of a reign of a king. 1:2 Mosiah Possibly related to the Hebrew mosia, “deliverer, savior,” a divine and human epithet in Ps. 7:10 (MT 7:11); 17:7; 18:41 (MT 18:42); 106:21; 2 Sam. 22:42; Isa. 49:26; 60:16; Jer. 14:8; TB Berakhot 49a (God); Judg. 3:9 (Othniel), “deliverer”; Neh. 9:27. In biblical times, this name or title appears to have applied to a person or ofcer who was a victorious hero appointed by God; a liberator, one who delivered his people by nonviolent means, and who established justice. Benjamin’s decision to name his son Mosiah after his own father Mosiah1 signals a wish for the son to be a similar kind of king who “hearken[ed] unto the voice of the Lord” and was a savior for the righteous Nephites. “Indeed, the themes of God’s salvation and the deliverance of his people are strong in the book of Mosiah,” thus meaningfully reecting the connotations of the word mosia; “in several respects, the Book of Mormon usage of this term is quite remarkable, meaningful, and wholly consistent with Hebrew usage” (Welch, Reexploring, 105–7). See the notes on Mosiah 5:8, no other name, and take upon you the name of Christ. Helorum, and Helaman. Robert Smith suggests that the name could derive from the Hebrew hlmm, “hammer,” while Joanne Hackett notes that the Bible name Helem has the meaning “yoke,” and adds the possibilities of *HLM “to dream”; helem “strength.” John Tvedtnes comments that although it is unlikely, we should consider the possibility that he- is the denite article (the expected form would be with ha-), which would allow a comparison of Helorum with the name Luram (Moro. 9:2). It should be noted that Alma2, who was a friend and fellow missionary of the sons of Mosiah, apparently named his son after their uncle, Helaman. For more comments on these names, see this volume p. 38. all the language of his fathers. The phrase language of his fathers does not occur in the Bible. In the Book of Mormon, language generally refers to speech or words (1 Ne. 1:15; 3:21; 5:3, 6, 8; 10:15; 17:22; Alma 5:61; 7:1; 26:24; 46:26; Hel. 13:37) and also in a more technical sense, to a system of written communication (1 Ne. 1:2; 3:19; 2 Ne. 31:3; Jacob 7:4; Enos 1:1; Omni 1:17–18, 22, 25; Mosiah 1:2, 4; 8:6, 11–12; 9:1; 24:4; 28:14, 17; 3 Ne. 5:18; Morm. 9:24; Ether 1:33, 35–36; 3:22, 24; 12:39; Moro. 10:16). Speculation as to what Benjamin meant by the language of his fathers has varied. Apparently Benjamin taught his sons Egyptian (see 1:4), just as the ancient “Jews adopted Greek, an international language, in preference to Hebrew, even as a vehicle of holy writ, for the purpose of commanding the widest possible hearing”; and so too did Nephi “choose to record his message . in a world language rather than in his own tribal Hebrew” (Nibley, Lehi in the Desert/The World of the Jaredites/There Were Jaredites, 1994, 17). He may also have taught them Hebrew or other languages: Sperry speculates on the limited persistence of Egyptian among the descendants of Nephi: “When the Nephites left Jerusalem they may have had an active speaking knowledge of Egyptian,” but “within a few generations, .