My initial post on Mosiah 4 to 6 was written in 2016. If you
would like to read this post, follow this link: https://gospeldoctrine2016.blogspot.com/2016/05/book-of-mormon-16-ye-shall-be-called.html
In Mosiah
4:1
 |
| King Benjamin |
King Benjamin looked around at the multitude and he saw that they “they
had fallen to the earth, for the fear of the Lord had come upon them.” In many
ancient cultures, prostration was a manifestation of reverence, respect, or awe.
The Hebrew word ‘yarrah’ was translated as ‘fear’ but also indicated reverence
or respect (McConkie & Millet, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of
Mormon, 1987). It appears that King Benjamin’s people were so overwhelmed
by the Spirit that they fell to the earth. I can imagine this feeling. I recall
attending a Young Adults testimony meeting 46 years ago, listening to the
powerful testimony of a young Jewish convert, and the tears just streaming down
my cheeks. The Stake President spoke to me and told me something I have never
forgotten. He suggested that our spirits are liquid and when they are a little
too full, they overflow! I think the same feeling with greater intensity would
cause the knees to buckle and the ground to be a welcome support! 😊
 |
| Sister Barbara Thompson |
In Mosiah
4 we read repeatedly that the people felt “less than the dust of the earth”
(verse
2);understood their “nothingness” (verses
5 and 11).
It was in this state of humility that the people were able to seek forgiveness
through the atoning blood of Christ. King Benjamin told his people that the atoning
blood of Christ would cleanse them and change them. It can have this same
effect on each one of us. Sister Barbara Thompson (General Conference, October
2011) stated, "In the Book of Mormon we read King Benjamin's sermon. He
taught the people about Jesus Christ, that He would come to the earth and
suffer all manner of afflictions. He taught the people that Christ would atone
for the sins of all mankind and that His name was the only name by which man
could obtain salvation. After listening to these beautiful teachings, the
people were humbled and desired with their whole hearts to be free of sin and
to be purified. They repented and professed their faith in Jesus Christ. They
made covenants with God that they would keep His commandments."
King Benjamin states that the remission of sins brings great
joy (Mosiah
4:11-12). He then cautions his people and us that we need to remember the greatness
of God, call on His name, be humble and steadfast. If we do these things, we
are promised joy, to be filled with God’s love, to retain a remission of our
sins, and to grow in spiritual knowledge. The idea that we need to retain the
remission of our sins is important. Repentance is not something we do once or
twice. We need to be faithful, obedient, and focus on repentance daily (see the
quote from President Nelson below).
King Benjamin lists things we should and should not do to
continue in the path to salvation. He advocates peaceful communication (verse
13); raising children in righteousness, avoiding contention (verses
14 and 15);
and having charity and a non-judgemental attitude (verses
16 and 17).
The question, “are we not all beggars?” appears in Mosiah
4:19.
King Benjamin has already pointed out that we are all
beggars when it comes to salvation and we cannot earn our own salvation. We rely
on the Lord for everything spiritual and temporal. We are so blessed that we need
to ask ourselves how we can help others. President Gordon B. Hinckley
reiterated the words of King Benjamin in the beautiful and inspirational quote
below.
The last verse in Mosiah
4 stood out in my mind. “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
4:30). We need to work out our salvation piece-by-piece, step-by-step, and
day-by-day. We need to be obedient and watch our thoughts, words, and deeds. All
our actions count, and these are often determined by our thoughts. I will
insert another great quote from President Nelson below.
In Mosiah
5:2 we read, “…the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a
mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil,
but to do good continually.” This is an amazing scripture, worthy of
discussion. The Prophet Joseph Smith described what happens as a man approaches
perfection and loses the desire to sin but adds that it is a state “no man ever
arrived in a moment” (see below).
It seemed as if the people of King Benjamin arrived at this
state in a moment. Brother John Bytheway, in his regular Gospel Doctrine
podcast, suggested that King Benjamin’s people were ‘in the moment’. You can
lose this feeling and you must keep going back to places where you know you
will find the Spirit. It is like leaving the temple and feeling that glow that
you never want to end. Then the next day, you are back to the grind of making a
living. You need that next temple trip to take you back to that glorious
feeling where you never want to sin, where you want to live righteously, and
follow the example of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Stories of dramatic conversion do not occur for everyone.
For most of us, conversion is a process (see the diagram from Elder Bruce R.
McConkie below). How does this apply to me? It means that I can overcome one
sin today and tackle another one tomorrow. I can be perfect in small things and
where I am not, I can challenge myself to improve on one thing each day. If I
do not succeed that does not mean I fail. I can repent and try harder tomorrow.
In my first post on these scriptures (https://gospeldoctrine2016.blogspot.com/2016/05/book-of-mormon-16-ye-shall-be-called.html)
I wrote about chiasmus in Mosiah. Chiasmus is a literary form illustrated by Mosiah
5:10-12. In my original post I explained chiasmus and attempted my own
chiasmus, based on the doctrine in Kong Benjamin’s words. During my sessions on
these scriptures, I gained a greater insight into chiasmus. Chiasmus provides
evidence of the ancient roots of the Book of Mormon as well as showing that the
book of Mormon was translated accurately. There are two video links below. The
first is The Discovery of Chiasmus in the Book of Mormon and the second is
King Benjamin – Poetic Parallels. I will link to the YouTube versions,
but you can also find them on Knowhy, Book of Mormon Central.
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