Mosiah 1:1-5
First, the gratitude of the day. Today I'm grateful for the Holy Ghost. We talked about it today during our Family Home Daytime, and it went really well. My kids actually knew a lot more than I thought that they did, and it was shocking and amazing to hear their answers when I asked questions. My 6 year old son knows the story of the First Vision! But the Holy Ghost is amazing, he teaches me lessons, and is constantly behind me, giving me his full attention. I honestly am never alone because he's my constant companion, he even knows exactly what to say to me to make me understand the lesson. There have been many times in my life where I have not had him with me because of my bad choices, and now that he's back, I love him and I'm so grateful.
1:1 - There are a couple of interesting points here that we should discuss before getting too far in. The first point is something that I noticed and that I think helps clear up a little bit of my confusion about who's plates go where. There are a couple of diagrams that I want to make, but I might have to come back and work on them later. The IM talks about the shift from the "first person" narration to the "third person" narration. This is something that I've always found interesting and always been a little bit confused about. The IM says "there is a shift from the first person accounts of the early books in the Book of Mormon to the third person account in the book of Mosiah. The books of 1 Nephi through Omni were translated from the small plates of Nephi and are the works of the original writers; consequently, they were written in the first person. Theo books of Mosiah through 4 Nephi, however, all come from Mormon's abridgment of the large plates of Nephi. These books are Mormon's abridgment of the original author's records." Ok, so from what I can deduce, Mormon abridged the large plates of Nephi and came up with his own all inclusive record, then by inspiration included the small plates of Nephi without abridgment, as is, just before his own record of Mosiah. So when the 116 pages were lost, all that time was still covered by the small plates. I wonder how Mormon felt when he was first inspired to put the small plates within his own record? He apparently didn't have them when he made the all inclusive record, and for good reason, had he had them he probably would have included the writings there and they too would have been lost with the 116 pages. Interesting to me that the first, I don't know, probably 30% of the Book of Mormon was written in the first person by the original writers and then the next 50% was written in the first and third person as Mormon tells the story but also quotes the original writers as they speak. Then the rest of the book is finished out in the first person, as both Mormon and Moroni give their stories, except Ether which is also the third person. There is no way that Joseph Smith could have created this story line in his mind, and created it onto paper. This is way too complicated, way too detailed and potentially confusing. Verse 1 says that King Benjamin had "continual peace all the remainder of his days," and I thought that it was odd since the Lamanites had come to battle against the Nephites many times, why would there be peace for that long? But looking back at their last battle, it says that because they fought in the strength of the Lord they slew thousands of Lamanites and won the battle despite overwhelming odds in the favor of the Lamanites. So that might have not only diminished the Lamanites population of men of fighting age, but also scared them enough to leave them alone for a while.
1:2-5 - King Benjamin had 3 sons, one being named Mosiah, surely after King Benjamin's father, but what's interesting here is that he made sure that his sons were "taught in all the language of his fathers." Now I've never really understood why it is so important to retain a language, I mean look at English. We speak much differently than those in actual England, but I don't think that that is a detriment to us. I think that we are able to communicate with each other just fine. So I'm not sure why preserving a language is so important in that aspect, but when it says that they were taught in the language of his fathers "that they might know concerning the prophecies which had been spoken by the mouths of their fathers," then I can see why the language might be important. I guess because we have the scriptures in so many languages and they are so easily accessible that it didn't occur to me that not only was there limited access to the scriptures, maybe only one set, and those writings were in a language that was probably a little bit different than the ones that they spoke because of the way that language changes over time. But in verse 4 we are taught that Lehi "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 fulfilling the commandments of god, even down to this present time." So we can see that basically the only copy of the scriptures were written in Egyptian, so yes I could totally understand how the intense study of the language the only scriptures were written in would be very important, especially for the son of the king, and therefore perhaps future kings themselves and at a minimum future civic leaders. It would be their responsibility to learn from and teach the scriptures, so the responsibility to teach his sons this language would have been enormous. But it also says "that thereby they might become men of understanding." Does this mean men who have a deep understanding and love of the scriptures? Does this imply his desire for them to learn wisdom through the scriptures? I'm not exactly sure what "men of understanding" means in this context.
I know that I haven't covered very much today, but I'm really tired and having trouble focusing. I'm surprised this is the first time this has happened to me in the whole 5 months. I'm going to try to pay more attention tomorrow and do better, but I'm just done for the night.
1:1 - There are a couple of interesting points here that we should discuss before getting too far in. The first point is something that I noticed and that I think helps clear up a little bit of my confusion about who's plates go where. There are a couple of diagrams that I want to make, but I might have to come back and work on them later. The IM talks about the shift from the "first person" narration to the "third person" narration. This is something that I've always found interesting and always been a little bit confused about. The IM says "there is a shift from the first person accounts of the early books in the Book of Mormon to the third person account in the book of Mosiah. The books of 1 Nephi through Omni were translated from the small plates of Nephi and are the works of the original writers; consequently, they were written in the first person. Theo books of Mosiah through 4 Nephi, however, all come from Mormon's abridgment of the large plates of Nephi. These books are Mormon's abridgment of the original author's records." Ok, so from what I can deduce, Mormon abridged the large plates of Nephi and came up with his own all inclusive record, then by inspiration included the small plates of Nephi without abridgment, as is, just before his own record of Mosiah. So when the 116 pages were lost, all that time was still covered by the small plates. I wonder how Mormon felt when he was first inspired to put the small plates within his own record? He apparently didn't have them when he made the all inclusive record, and for good reason, had he had them he probably would have included the writings there and they too would have been lost with the 116 pages. Interesting to me that the first, I don't know, probably 30% of the Book of Mormon was written in the first person by the original writers and then the next 50% was written in the first and third person as Mormon tells the story but also quotes the original writers as they speak. Then the rest of the book is finished out in the first person, as both Mormon and Moroni give their stories, except Ether which is also the third person. There is no way that Joseph Smith could have created this story line in his mind, and created it onto paper. This is way too complicated, way too detailed and potentially confusing. Verse 1 says that King Benjamin had "continual peace all the remainder of his days," and I thought that it was odd since the Lamanites had come to battle against the Nephites many times, why would there be peace for that long? But looking back at their last battle, it says that because they fought in the strength of the Lord they slew thousands of Lamanites and won the battle despite overwhelming odds in the favor of the Lamanites. So that might have not only diminished the Lamanites population of men of fighting age, but also scared them enough to leave them alone for a while.
1:2-5 - King Benjamin had 3 sons, one being named Mosiah, surely after King Benjamin's father, but what's interesting here is that he made sure that his sons were "taught in all the language of his fathers." Now I've never really understood why it is so important to retain a language, I mean look at English. We speak much differently than those in actual England, but I don't think that that is a detriment to us. I think that we are able to communicate with each other just fine. So I'm not sure why preserving a language is so important in that aspect, but when it says that they were taught in the language of his fathers "that they might know concerning the prophecies which had been spoken by the mouths of their fathers," then I can see why the language might be important. I guess because we have the scriptures in so many languages and they are so easily accessible that it didn't occur to me that not only was there limited access to the scriptures, maybe only one set, and those writings were in a language that was probably a little bit different than the ones that they spoke because of the way that language changes over time. But in verse 4 we are taught that Lehi "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 fulfilling the commandments of god, even down to this present time." So we can see that basically the only copy of the scriptures were written in Egyptian, so yes I could totally understand how the intense study of the language the only scriptures were written in would be very important, especially for the son of the king, and therefore perhaps future kings themselves and at a minimum future civic leaders. It would be their responsibility to learn from and teach the scriptures, so the responsibility to teach his sons this language would have been enormous. But it also says "that thereby they might become men of understanding." Does this mean men who have a deep understanding and love of the scriptures? Does this imply his desire for them to learn wisdom through the scriptures? I'm not exactly sure what "men of understanding" means in this context.
I know that I haven't covered very much today, but I'm really tired and having trouble focusing. I'm surprised this is the first time this has happened to me in the whole 5 months. I'm going to try to pay more attention tomorrow and do better, but I'm just done for the night.
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