Mosiah 1 - Take 2
Ok, I’m feeling a little bit better today, I don’t know what was going on last night, I didn’t really feel very well and we’ve been so busy at work for the last several weeks, I was just burned out. But I had a good day today, got some of my stuff done, I’m still really tired, but doing better. So, let’s see, what am I grateful for today? I’m grateful for the seasons. I lived in a lot of different places and one of the things that I love experiencing is each place’s different versions of the seasons. I loved the seasons in Utah, there was a mild snow in the winter, tulips in the spring, swimming in the summer and changing leaves in the fall. I absolutely loved it. Sometimes I really miss it, especially in the summer because we used to have weekly barbeques in the canyon, every time I smell a cook out, all I can think about is the time spent up in the mountains and my super-duper camp grill that I never got to use because I moved. I loved looking up into the mountains and seeing the different color of trees as the weather changes. I love being by family and having impromptu movie nights and birthday parties where everyone is there, family dinner on Sunday nights, hikes, Christmas and Thanksgiving with the whole extended family. I love fall, where I live now, the fall is nice, cool enough to get a break from summer, but not freezing. Like I said, it’s hard for me to be alone in the fall this time, but it is what it is, and I’m grateful for what I have, and I’m so very grateful for second chances at life and happiness.
1:3-5 – King Benjamin teaches his sons that without the scriptures “we must have suffered in ignorance, even at this present time, not knowing the mysteries of God.” The IM discusses what the “mysteries of God” entail, saying “the term ‘mysteries of God’ as used in the Book of Mormon includes the saving principles of the gospel of Jesus. They are termed mysteries not because they are mysterious or difficult to understand, but because they are revealed from God based upon our faith and obedience. They are intended to lead God’s children to eternal life. ‘A mystery is a truth that cannot be known except through divine revelation – a sacred secret.’” Now this is a new concept that I have never before considered. Whenever I heard the term “mysteries of God,” I had always thought of it as something like how the dinosaurs died, why is the sky blue and stuff like that, but I guess in the context of the scriptures, it would make sense that “mysteries” would be attainable by people, in verse 3, King Benjamin says that without the scriptures they wouldn’t have known the mysteries of God, which would indicate to me that they did in fact know some of the mysteries, so using that as a guide, referring to the “mysteries of God” in that manner works with this definition. The concept of having pure scriptures that the leaders are able to understand is thoroughly discussed in these few verses. In cross reference, there is a general women’s conference meeting talk called “Remember Him” by Joanne B. Doxey in which she says “we can remember the Lord through the scriptures. The scriptures have been written and preserved at great cost so that we can ‘treasure up’ the truths of the gospel. We have a responsibility to know what these scriptures contain.” When we look at what she means by the “cost” of preserving the scriptures, we can see that many who loved Jesus and valued his teachings lost life in horrific ways because they refused to give up the words of the Lord which they had. There was torture; entire families killed, saints fed to lions, manuscripts stuffed into clothing, knowing that if they were caught, death was going to follow, but people treasured the scriptures so deeply, that they risked their lives to preserve the word of God. Really, in comparison to our apathetic view of the scriptures is really disgraceful. Maybe we could start studying the scriptures with the question, what is it about what I’m reading today that is so valuable that people would die to preserve it? Sister Doxey goes on to quote President Spencer W. Kimball as saying “I stress again the deep need each woman has to study the scriptures… As you become more and more familiar with the truths of the scriptures, you will be more and more effective… After all, who has any greater need to ‘treasure up’ the truths of the gospel (on which they may call in their moments of need) than do women and mothers who do so much nurturing and teaching?” I wonder what he means by “more effective?” But I do love when he says that when we “treasure up” the truths of the gospel, we may call on them in our moment of need. There have been many times when I have needed something and a scripture came to my mind and answered it for me. The one that happens most commonly is when I’m freaking out about something and what comes to me is “be still, and know that I am God.” How many times have we been immersed in conversation and have needed to have the wisdom to share what the Lord wants the other person to hear, it’s at those moments when we can call upon our learning from the scriptures. As women, other women and children confide in us, their fears, their doubts, their problems, and look for support and encouraging thoughts, this is where we can call upon the stories and lessons that the scriptures teach us to convey the love and concern that the Lord has for them and for us. Sister Doxey continues teaching “if we immerse ourselves daily in the scriptures, particularly the Book of Mormon, we will have increased discernment. We will have power to do good and to resist evil, and our ability to solve problems will be expanded. Messages to help us in our day were foreseen by the Lord and were divinely placed on the pages of the scriptures to assist us and our families.” I think that those are pretty significant promises, and I’m sure that King Benjamin knew that these gifts were possible with engaging scripture study, and he knew that his sons would need these skills to be Christ-like leaders. Verse 4 says explicitly that the brass plates were written in Egyptian and Lehi could read them only because “he having been taught in the language of the Egyptians.” So that clarifies a little bit more about our language question yesterday. In verse 5 King Benjamin gives an interesting perspective on the Lamanites, up until this point, the Lamanites were always described as being blood thirsty, lazy and hateful people, but King Benjamin took it to the level of “but for the grace of God, there go I,” saying that without the scriptures, the Nephites would be just like the Lamanites. Now that was probably humbling for the Nephites to hear. We see that without the scriptures the Mulekites became like the Lamanites, not believing in God, not living according to the commandments, and so it would make sense that without the scriptures, the Nephites would have had the same fate.
1:6-18 – First I want to point out that King Benjamin’s speech patterns and words usage is new to the Book of Mormon thus far. This is one of the times where Mormon is quoting the original writer, and King Benjamin says “O my sons,” and “that ye may profit thereby,” these are not phrases that we’ve seen much in the previous writings, just another way to show that there are numerous writers of the Book of Mormon and that Joseph Smith was not the author. These verses are used extensively in gospel teaching manuals and general conference talks as demonstrating the absolute critical nature of scripture study. King Benjamin teaches his sons that they will profit by sincere scriptures study and he also reiterates “the promises which the Lord made unto our fathers,” and that is that if “ye should keep the commandments of God, that ye may prosper in the land.” Now King Benjamin is old and sees that it is time to pass on his kingdom, and what does he do? He tells his son to get all the people together so that he can transfer the kingdom to Mosiah, his son, and also to give the people a new name “because they have been a diligent people in keeping the commandments of the Lord.” First the IM discusses how the transfer of the kingdom from King Benjamin to Mosiah “reveals numerous traditions and customs that have their origins in ancient Israel. There is a striking similarity between Mosiah’s ascendancy to the Nephite throne in the first chapters of Mosiah and how kings were crowned in the Old Testament.” Now this is an interesting point to bring out. To the casual observer, it probably isn’t significant if the coronation rituals were the same in ancient Israel and the Nephite nation, but similar cultural aspects, especially when it comes to ritual is an indication that there is probably a similar point of origin and connects the two back throughout time. The IM notes the “similarities between Book of Mormon and Old Testament coronation ceremonies include: 1. A belief that kings were chosen by heaven; 2. The sanctuary as the place of coronation; 3. Bestowal of sacred relics, artifacts, and other objects at the time of coronation; 4. Anointing. In addition, the ideal was that the new king takes office before the death of the old one, and this transfer of power was connected with the ceremony where the people make or renew their covenants with God.” Number 1 is a little bit hard for me to make reference to in the reading, but looking at verse 10, King Benjamin says that Mosiah is “a king and a ruler over this people, whom the Lord our God hath given us.” Now when I read this I was assuming that he was talking about God giving the people to Mosiah and King Benjamin, but looking at it in the light of Mosiah being chosen by God, we could read that as Mosiah being given to the people as their king. I think that #1 also goes with #2 in that using the sanctuary, or in this case the temple, as the place of coronation, it’s kind of like implying to the people that God condones and is giving his “blessing” if you will, to the new king. #3 is fulfilled when in verse 16 King Benjamin gives Mosiah “charge concerning the records which were engraven on the plates of brass; and also the plates of Nephi; and also, the sword of Laban, and the ball or director (Liahona.)” King Benjamin goes on to give the people a new name, and the IM sheds much light on this, and I had never considered it in that aspect before but this is very similar to what we do each week at sacrament meeting. The IM teaches “the major purpose for King Benjamin to gather his people together was to give them a name. He wanted to lift them spiritually. He and many other holy prophets had spent years preaching to the people and preparing them to be spiritually ready to take upon them the name of Christ. Throughout his address, King Benjamin spoke of how to worthily accept the name he desired to give them. Then in Mosiah 5:8-11, he clearly identified the name as being that of Jesus Christ.” How interesting. King Benjamin says that he wants to give the people a new name because they have been diligent in keeping the commandments of God, and so maybe he thinks they are ready to take on a new covenant with God, the covenant of taking upon them the name of Christ, and I wonder how similar this is to us partaking of the sacrament each week. King Benjamin goes on to teach that the name “never shall be blotted out, except it be through transgression… that if this highly favored people of the lord should fall into transgression… that the Lord will deliver them up.” As long as they keep their covenants, they will remain within the Lord’s protection, but if they are wicked, they will lose the protection of the Lord and they will not be preserved miraculously like they and their fathers have been because of the strength of the Lord. I know that the last time that I “fell astray” I felt very exposed, very unprotected, very vulnerable, and it was terrifying, more terrifying than anything that I thought that I lost when I came back. I would rather feel of the Lord’s protection through obedience, than any fake relationship that I could have otherwise.
1:3-5 – King Benjamin teaches his sons that without the scriptures “we must have suffered in ignorance, even at this present time, not knowing the mysteries of God.” The IM discusses what the “mysteries of God” entail, saying “the term ‘mysteries of God’ as used in the Book of Mormon includes the saving principles of the gospel of Jesus. They are termed mysteries not because they are mysterious or difficult to understand, but because they are revealed from God based upon our faith and obedience. They are intended to lead God’s children to eternal life. ‘A mystery is a truth that cannot be known except through divine revelation – a sacred secret.’” Now this is a new concept that I have never before considered. Whenever I heard the term “mysteries of God,” I had always thought of it as something like how the dinosaurs died, why is the sky blue and stuff like that, but I guess in the context of the scriptures, it would make sense that “mysteries” would be attainable by people, in verse 3, King Benjamin says that without the scriptures they wouldn’t have known the mysteries of God, which would indicate to me that they did in fact know some of the mysteries, so using that as a guide, referring to the “mysteries of God” in that manner works with this definition. The concept of having pure scriptures that the leaders are able to understand is thoroughly discussed in these few verses. In cross reference, there is a general women’s conference meeting talk called “Remember Him” by Joanne B. Doxey in which she says “we can remember the Lord through the scriptures. The scriptures have been written and preserved at great cost so that we can ‘treasure up’ the truths of the gospel. We have a responsibility to know what these scriptures contain.” When we look at what she means by the “cost” of preserving the scriptures, we can see that many who loved Jesus and valued his teachings lost life in horrific ways because they refused to give up the words of the Lord which they had. There was torture; entire families killed, saints fed to lions, manuscripts stuffed into clothing, knowing that if they were caught, death was going to follow, but people treasured the scriptures so deeply, that they risked their lives to preserve the word of God. Really, in comparison to our apathetic view of the scriptures is really disgraceful. Maybe we could start studying the scriptures with the question, what is it about what I’m reading today that is so valuable that people would die to preserve it? Sister Doxey goes on to quote President Spencer W. Kimball as saying “I stress again the deep need each woman has to study the scriptures… As you become more and more familiar with the truths of the scriptures, you will be more and more effective… After all, who has any greater need to ‘treasure up’ the truths of the gospel (on which they may call in their moments of need) than do women and mothers who do so much nurturing and teaching?” I wonder what he means by “more effective?” But I do love when he says that when we “treasure up” the truths of the gospel, we may call on them in our moment of need. There have been many times when I have needed something and a scripture came to my mind and answered it for me. The one that happens most commonly is when I’m freaking out about something and what comes to me is “be still, and know that I am God.” How many times have we been immersed in conversation and have needed to have the wisdom to share what the Lord wants the other person to hear, it’s at those moments when we can call upon our learning from the scriptures. As women, other women and children confide in us, their fears, their doubts, their problems, and look for support and encouraging thoughts, this is where we can call upon the stories and lessons that the scriptures teach us to convey the love and concern that the Lord has for them and for us. Sister Doxey continues teaching “if we immerse ourselves daily in the scriptures, particularly the Book of Mormon, we will have increased discernment. We will have power to do good and to resist evil, and our ability to solve problems will be expanded. Messages to help us in our day were foreseen by the Lord and were divinely placed on the pages of the scriptures to assist us and our families.” I think that those are pretty significant promises, and I’m sure that King Benjamin knew that these gifts were possible with engaging scripture study, and he knew that his sons would need these skills to be Christ-like leaders. Verse 4 says explicitly that the brass plates were written in Egyptian and Lehi could read them only because “he having been taught in the language of the Egyptians.” So that clarifies a little bit more about our language question yesterday. In verse 5 King Benjamin gives an interesting perspective on the Lamanites, up until this point, the Lamanites were always described as being blood thirsty, lazy and hateful people, but King Benjamin took it to the level of “but for the grace of God, there go I,” saying that without the scriptures, the Nephites would be just like the Lamanites. Now that was probably humbling for the Nephites to hear. We see that without the scriptures the Mulekites became like the Lamanites, not believing in God, not living according to the commandments, and so it would make sense that without the scriptures, the Nephites would have had the same fate.
1:6-18 – First I want to point out that King Benjamin’s speech patterns and words usage is new to the Book of Mormon thus far. This is one of the times where Mormon is quoting the original writer, and King Benjamin says “O my sons,” and “that ye may profit thereby,” these are not phrases that we’ve seen much in the previous writings, just another way to show that there are numerous writers of the Book of Mormon and that Joseph Smith was not the author. These verses are used extensively in gospel teaching manuals and general conference talks as demonstrating the absolute critical nature of scripture study. King Benjamin teaches his sons that they will profit by sincere scriptures study and he also reiterates “the promises which the Lord made unto our fathers,” and that is that if “ye should keep the commandments of God, that ye may prosper in the land.” Now King Benjamin is old and sees that it is time to pass on his kingdom, and what does he do? He tells his son to get all the people together so that he can transfer the kingdom to Mosiah, his son, and also to give the people a new name “because they have been a diligent people in keeping the commandments of the Lord.” First the IM discusses how the transfer of the kingdom from King Benjamin to Mosiah “reveals numerous traditions and customs that have their origins in ancient Israel. There is a striking similarity between Mosiah’s ascendancy to the Nephite throne in the first chapters of Mosiah and how kings were crowned in the Old Testament.” Now this is an interesting point to bring out. To the casual observer, it probably isn’t significant if the coronation rituals were the same in ancient Israel and the Nephite nation, but similar cultural aspects, especially when it comes to ritual is an indication that there is probably a similar point of origin and connects the two back throughout time. The IM notes the “similarities between Book of Mormon and Old Testament coronation ceremonies include: 1. A belief that kings were chosen by heaven; 2. The sanctuary as the place of coronation; 3. Bestowal of sacred relics, artifacts, and other objects at the time of coronation; 4. Anointing. In addition, the ideal was that the new king takes office before the death of the old one, and this transfer of power was connected with the ceremony where the people make or renew their covenants with God.” Number 1 is a little bit hard for me to make reference to in the reading, but looking at verse 10, King Benjamin says that Mosiah is “a king and a ruler over this people, whom the Lord our God hath given us.” Now when I read this I was assuming that he was talking about God giving the people to Mosiah and King Benjamin, but looking at it in the light of Mosiah being chosen by God, we could read that as Mosiah being given to the people as their king. I think that #1 also goes with #2 in that using the sanctuary, or in this case the temple, as the place of coronation, it’s kind of like implying to the people that God condones and is giving his “blessing” if you will, to the new king. #3 is fulfilled when in verse 16 King Benjamin gives Mosiah “charge concerning the records which were engraven on the plates of brass; and also the plates of Nephi; and also, the sword of Laban, and the ball or director (Liahona.)” King Benjamin goes on to give the people a new name, and the IM sheds much light on this, and I had never considered it in that aspect before but this is very similar to what we do each week at sacrament meeting. The IM teaches “the major purpose for King Benjamin to gather his people together was to give them a name. He wanted to lift them spiritually. He and many other holy prophets had spent years preaching to the people and preparing them to be spiritually ready to take upon them the name of Christ. Throughout his address, King Benjamin spoke of how to worthily accept the name he desired to give them. Then in Mosiah 5:8-11, he clearly identified the name as being that of Jesus Christ.” How interesting. King Benjamin says that he wants to give the people a new name because they have been diligent in keeping the commandments of God, and so maybe he thinks they are ready to take on a new covenant with God, the covenant of taking upon them the name of Christ, and I wonder how similar this is to us partaking of the sacrament each week. King Benjamin goes on to teach that the name “never shall be blotted out, except it be through transgression… that if this highly favored people of the lord should fall into transgression… that the Lord will deliver them up.” As long as they keep their covenants, they will remain within the Lord’s protection, but if they are wicked, they will lose the protection of the Lord and they will not be preserved miraculously like they and their fathers have been because of the strength of the Lord. I know that the last time that I “fell astray” I felt very exposed, very unprotected, very vulnerable, and it was terrifying, more terrifying than anything that I thought that I lost when I came back. I would rather feel of the Lord’s protection through obedience, than any fake relationship that I could have otherwise.
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