Mosiah 2:11-15
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Contents
Questions
Verse 11
- "With all the might, mind and strength." How does this consecration-sounding language set up the discussion of economy and indebtedness in verses 21ff and verse 34?
- Qualifications for kingship: Why does Benjamin list a) selection by the people, b) selection by the proceeding ruler, and c) selection by the Lord as his qualifications for kingship? Why would it be necessary to meet all of these qualifications?
- What does it mean to be "suffered by the hand of the Lord"? What is the "hand" of the Lord?
- Service: why does Benjamin emphasize that he has served his people with all his "might, mind, and stregth"? Why is it important to emphasize that he is a servant, rather than a dictatorial ruler?
Verse 15
- "That I might accuse you." Why does King Benjamin explicitly state that he is not saying these things to accuse his people? Why might the people have mistaken King Benjamin's words as an accusation? Given the lexical link between Satan and the word accuse (see, for example, the American Heritage entry on the Semitic root sn here), in what sense can we understand King Benjamin to be preemptively undermining or destabilizing a whole mindset or way of hearing King Benjamin's words? How might this "accusation" way of thinking be related or contrasted to the later discussion of economy and indebtedness in verses 21ff?
Lexical notes
Verse 11
- "Suffered by the hand of the Lord." This curious phrasing seems to mean that the Lord "permitted" (cf. Webster's 1828 definition 3) King Benjamin to be king. However, given that King Benjamin is emphasizing his own mortal infirmities, it seems not wholly unjustified to read "suffered" here with a connotation of imperfectness. Given the later discussion in this book about kings vs. judges (e.g., see Mosiah 29:13ff), this connotation might have a peculiar significance, at least in how it affects King Benjamin's son Mosiah. That is, rather than a simple modest or self-deprecating way of referring to the divine approbation inherent in King Benjamin's call, the "suffering" phraseology here may be indicating a fault in the political order which King Benjamin is himself aware of, if only unconsciously--a fault that later has significant consequence for the political changes that occur among the Nephites, and should be studied quite carefully in light of Samuel's warnings about Israel's adoption of a monarchical form of government in 1 Sam 8:1ff and 1 Sam 10:17ff.
Exegesis
Kingship
While we refer to Benjamin as a king, we need to be careful to make sure that our preconceptions of that term do not color our understanding of what kind of leader Benjamin is, or the level of political organization at Zarahemla. As he outlines here, Benjamin is not a king in the traditional sense as the leader of a city state or larger political body. He does not tax or demand corvee labor to build monuments. He does not seem to have any political influence outside of the immediate land of Zarahemla, and seems to tend his own subsistence garden. In anthropological terms, he may be closer to what we would term a Big Man--a non-hereditary leader of a rank or nearly egalitarian tribal society. Chosen by the people to succeed his father Mosiah, Benjamin may be seeking to establish a hereditary claim to the throne by consecrating his son Mosiah to succeed him. But this line, and form, of rulership will apparently fall apart at the end of the Book of Mosiah when the "rightful" heirs refuse the throne and leadership is reorganized to incorporate the larger groups of people and separate cities (Alma and Gideon's groups) into the growing Nephite polity.
Slavery and the Law of Moses
In verse 13, King Benjamin says, "Neither have I suffered that . . . ye should make slaves one of another." This statement is striking in light of the fact that the Nephite writers insist that they keep the law of Moses. Indeed, the narrative of King Benjamin's sermon itself begins with burnt offerings according to the law of Moses. (See verse 3) Yet the law of Moses, at least as we have it in the current Pentatuach, allowed slavery, including the enslavement of Hebrews. (E.g. [Ex 22:1-6]) One might note that King Benjamin only talks about the method by which one is made a slave, rather than the institution of slavery itself. Later, in the Book of Alma, however, Ammon notes that there are no slaves according to Nephite law, although he attributes this rule to his father, King Mossiah II. At the same time, slavery is clearly a practice in the world of the Book of Mormon. Limhi, for example, offers to make his people slaves to the Nephites. Hence, if we interpret Benjamin's words as a prohibition on slavery, then they would seem to run counter to "the Law of Moses." This raises the question of what exactly the Book of Mormon authors are referring to when they talk about "the Law of Moses" and what it might mean for them to say that they keep the Law of Moses. Is it a kind of ritual law or do the stories of the Book of Mormon suggest that the Law of Moses was the municipal law (i.e. the law enforced by the political and legal authorities) of the Nephite kingdom?
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