Mosiah 2:9-16
I'm so so so very short on time today and I really feel it in my heart that I haven't written in 3 days, definitely a void there. Guess that should teach me that the weekend isn't a vacation from scripture study.
2:9-11 - Verse 9 has several references from the citation index, and most of them are the teacher imploring the people to not "trifle with the words" that words that should be spoken, and really that's the lesson that I have been learning over the last several months. A friend taught me the importance of not "trifling" with the word at church and that I should actively seek to be spiritually fed. This was a new concept for me and I'm so grateful that he was bold enough to call me on it because it's been life changing. Not "trifling" with the word is not a passive pursuit, it's an engaging activity that requires effort to pay attention, maybe take notes, listen, not be distracted, because really all we want to do as human beings is have fun and do whatever we want to do. Taking the word of God seriously and with the intent to learn and grow spiritually is part of the process of putting off the "natural man" and becoming more Christ-like, and it can be difficult, and the blessings for our efforts can be overlooked if we are impatient or not paying attention. King Benjamin called his people up because he wanted to have a serious conversation with them. President Thomas S. Monson quotes King Benjamin in his April 2012 general conference address "As We Close This Conference," the sound of his voice is so soothing, so convicted but so gentle, and when reading verses 10 and 11, I can hear the words in his voice and it takes on another meaning. Maybe I should read the whole King Benjamin sermon in the voice of President Monson, maybe that will bring it closer to home and the experience would be similar to that which the Nephites at the time experienced, their prophet teaching them these words, it's the same as our prophet teaching us these words. Maybe I could imagine it like it's own general conference, maybe every half chapter or so another speak could take over. That would make it very similar to the general conference that we just heard a few weeks ago.
2:12-16 - Here King Benjamin really puts into words what a leader should do and what kind of actions and laws both help and devastate societies. I wonder if this was the standard of leadership throughout the world, what our world would truly be like. Here's a short list of what King Benjamin teaches is not good for a leader to do:
1. Seek for riches - I would assume that this means having a lifestyle on par with his people, I wouldn't expect for the king to sleep on a dirt floor if that wasn't the lifestyle all the rest of his people are living.
2. Confined to dungeons - now does this mean that they didn't have jails, I don't think so, because there are always going to be people who break the law and jails are there to protect society from them. So what I think he might be alluding to here is that he didn't lock up the general population because they opposed him or they wanted the kingdom for themselves, no political prisoners. This is the hallmark of many unjust leaders, putting people into prison because they are opposing them or to silence them. To me, King Benjamin is saying that no one went to jail for unjust reasons.
3. Slavery - This is an interesting concept to me when it comes to this context. I'm trying to imagine how people make slaves of each other in a society. I mean there's the literal enslavement, physically forcing someone to live with you and do what you say, then there's the abstract sense of slavery in debtors, oppression, disenfranchisement, etc. So I'm not sure which way he's talking about this here, but I guess both ways are unacceptable to the Lord. Either way, we are not loving our neighbor as ourselves when they are oppressed in anyway.
Dang it, I'm out of time. This is really interesting to me so I'll be back tomorrow to continue.
2:9-11 - Verse 9 has several references from the citation index, and most of them are the teacher imploring the people to not "trifle with the words" that words that should be spoken, and really that's the lesson that I have been learning over the last several months. A friend taught me the importance of not "trifling" with the word at church and that I should actively seek to be spiritually fed. This was a new concept for me and I'm so grateful that he was bold enough to call me on it because it's been life changing. Not "trifling" with the word is not a passive pursuit, it's an engaging activity that requires effort to pay attention, maybe take notes, listen, not be distracted, because really all we want to do as human beings is have fun and do whatever we want to do. Taking the word of God seriously and with the intent to learn and grow spiritually is part of the process of putting off the "natural man" and becoming more Christ-like, and it can be difficult, and the blessings for our efforts can be overlooked if we are impatient or not paying attention. King Benjamin called his people up because he wanted to have a serious conversation with them. President Thomas S. Monson quotes King Benjamin in his April 2012 general conference address "As We Close This Conference," the sound of his voice is so soothing, so convicted but so gentle, and when reading verses 10 and 11, I can hear the words in his voice and it takes on another meaning. Maybe I should read the whole King Benjamin sermon in the voice of President Monson, maybe that will bring it closer to home and the experience would be similar to that which the Nephites at the time experienced, their prophet teaching them these words, it's the same as our prophet teaching us these words. Maybe I could imagine it like it's own general conference, maybe every half chapter or so another speak could take over. That would make it very similar to the general conference that we just heard a few weeks ago.
2:12-16 - Here King Benjamin really puts into words what a leader should do and what kind of actions and laws both help and devastate societies. I wonder if this was the standard of leadership throughout the world, what our world would truly be like. Here's a short list of what King Benjamin teaches is not good for a leader to do:
1. Seek for riches - I would assume that this means having a lifestyle on par with his people, I wouldn't expect for the king to sleep on a dirt floor if that wasn't the lifestyle all the rest of his people are living.
2. Confined to dungeons - now does this mean that they didn't have jails, I don't think so, because there are always going to be people who break the law and jails are there to protect society from them. So what I think he might be alluding to here is that he didn't lock up the general population because they opposed him or they wanted the kingdom for themselves, no political prisoners. This is the hallmark of many unjust leaders, putting people into prison because they are opposing them or to silence them. To me, King Benjamin is saying that no one went to jail for unjust reasons.
3. Slavery - This is an interesting concept to me when it comes to this context. I'm trying to imagine how people make slaves of each other in a society. I mean there's the literal enslavement, physically forcing someone to live with you and do what you say, then there's the abstract sense of slavery in debtors, oppression, disenfranchisement, etc. So I'm not sure which way he's talking about this here, but I guess both ways are unacceptable to the Lord. Either way, we are not loving our neighbor as ourselves when they are oppressed in anyway.
Dang it, I'm out of time. This is really interesting to me so I'll be back tomorrow to continue.
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