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King Benjamin

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Lehi (far right, bearded) bestowing a blessing on his family. At least 21 different figures are visible (inclusive of infants and children). There is a mix of men, women, and children. A man in blue appears to be writing, perhaps transcribing what Lehi is saying. One infant is nursing. Several men have beards. All but the children wear hats or scarf-like head coverings. The fashion and style is reminiscent of nineteenth-century Christian art of Old Testament scenes. There is a vibrancy of color, with clothing in blues, greens, whites, and reds. The family gather in something like a circle, on a green, grassy field. There are tents visible in the background. This is cropped from a full version of the scene.
Lehi Blessing His Posterity, C. C. A. Christensen (1890)
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In the Book of Mormon, King Benjamin, son of the first King Mosiah, is the second Nephite king to rule over Zarahemla. He is considered a king and a prophet and acts as both a spiritual and governmental leader. He is most associated with a speech to the people which begins in the second chapter of the Book of Mosiah and idealizes the life of a yeoman farmer.

Synopsis

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Benjamin is the son of Mosiah, a Nephite king who reigned in the land of Zarahemla and whom Benjamin succeeds, going on to lead the Nephites as both a king and a prophet.[1]

Textual history

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In the printer's manuscript and 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon, the text of Mosiah 21:28 and Ether 4:1 narrate, respectively, Ammon telling Limhi that king Benjamin has a gift for the miraculous translation of texts, and Mormon noting that Benjamin kept in his possession Jaredite records, specifically the writings of the Brother of Jared.[2] In the 1837 edition of the Book of Mormon, Mosiah 21:28 is emended (probably by Joseph Smith) so instead of Benjamin, the text states Mosiah.[3] For the 1849 Latter-day Saint edition, apostle Orson Pratt edited Ether 4:1 to similarly replace Benjamin with Mosiah.[4] The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' (later renamed to Community of Christ) 1908 and 1953 editions of the Book of Mormon leave the name Benjamin in Ether 4:1 but include a parenthetical Mosiah? to suggest the text might be supposed to read Mosiah rather than Benjamin.[5]

Interpretations

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Speech

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Donald Parry reports that Benjamin's speech is "one of the most influential sermons" from the Book of Mormon.[6] In his speech, Benjamin urges his audience to accept communal responsibility for collective material wellbeing.[7] G. St. John Stott compares Benjamin's economic ideal to the "by 1830… old-fashioned" agricultural "yeoman dream, in which economic independence and a modest standard of living defined one's ambition".[8] Benjamin lives by his own manual labor and doesn't try to accumulate wealth.[9]

Textual emendations

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The edits to Mosiah 21:28 and Ether 4:1 likely happened because of uncertainty about the timeline of events in the Book of Mormon.[10] When Benjamin passes the throne on to Mosiah, Mormon states that Benjamin lives three more years before dying and then narrates the departure of Ammon's expedition, giving the impression Benjamin is already dead when Ammon leaves, thus prompting the 1837 emendation so Ammon refers to the living Mosiah instead.[11] Additionally, after meeting Ammon, Limhi brings 24 Jaredite plates to Zarahemla to be translated by Benjamin's son Mosiah; if Ether 4:1 refers to these records, a rendering of Benjamin seems like a contradiction, as Benjamin would have to be alive to receive them, and earlier the Book of Mormon had narrated it was Mosiah who received and translated the records, not Benjamin.[12]

Latter-day Saint author Hugh Nibley believed the Ether 4:1 emendation was "[p]robably not" necessary for coherence since a viable reading of the Book of Mormon could allow for the three years of Benjamin's remaining life to not have fully elapsed before Limhi brings his Jaredite plates to Zarahemla, and keeping charge of Jaredite records would be consistent with his character as a "life-long book-lover".[13] This also allows for Benjamin to be alive at the time of Mosiah 21:28.[14]

Alternatively, Ether 4:1 refers not to the Jaredite plates possessed by Limhi but to records that Benjamin had that were entirely different from those that Mosiah received,[a] allowing for Benjamin to be dead when Ammon tells Limhi about him and when Limhi brings the 24 Jaredite plates to Zarahemla.[16]

Notes

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  1. ^ Religious education professors Daniel Sharp and Matthew Bowen argue that the records are explicitly different, as Ether 4:1 describes the writings of the Brother of Jared whereas the records that Limhi brings to Zarahemla are the writings of Ether.[15]

Citations

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  1. ^ Ricks (1992, p. 99).
  2. ^ Skousen (2006, pp. 1418–1419); Skousen (2009, pp. 759, 786); Sharp & Bowen (2017, pp. 84–85, 87n23).
  3. ^ Skousen (2006, p. 1418); Skousen (2009, p. 759).
  4. ^ Skousen (2006, p. 1419); Skousen (2009, p. 786); Sharp & Bowen (2017, p. 84).
  5. ^ Skousen (2006, p. 1419); Skousen (2009, pp. 741, 786).
  6. ^ Parry (2007, p. 42).
  7. ^ Stott (2006, p. 7).
  8. ^ Stott (2006, p. 6).
  9. ^ Parry (2007, p. 44).
  10. ^ Sharp & Bowen (2017, p. 84).
  11. ^ Skousen (2006, p. 1418); Sharp & Bowen (2017, p. 84).
  12. ^ Skousen (2006, pp. 1418–1419); Sharp & Bowen (2017, p. 84).
  13. ^ Nibley (1967, p. 7).
  14. ^ Skousen (2006, pp. 1418).
  15. ^ Sharp & Bowen (2017, pp. 82–83).
  16. ^ Sharp & Bowen (2017, pp. 82–85).

References

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  • Nibley, Hugh (1967). Since Cumorah: The Book of Mormon in the Modern World. Deseret Book. LCCN 67-21349.
  • Parry, Donald W. (2007). "Service and Temple in King Benjamin's Speech". Journal of Book of Mormon Studies. 16 (2): 42–47, 95–97. doi:10.5406/jbookmormstud.16.2.0042. S2CID 254210639.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  • Ricks, Stephen D. (1992), "Benjamin", in Ludlow, Daniel H (ed.), Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Macmillan, pp. 99–100, ISBN 0-02-879602-0, OCLC 24502140.
  • Sharp, Daniel; Bowen, Matthew L. (2017). "'For This Cause Did King Benjamin Keep Them': King Benjamin or King Mosiah?". Scripture Note. Religious Educator. 18 (1): 80–87.
  • Skousen, Royal (2006). Analysis of Textual Variants of the Book of Mormon: Part 3, Mosiah 17–Alma 20. FARMS. ISBN 978-0934893114.
  • Skousen, Royal, ed. (2009). The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-14218-1.
  • Stott, G. St. John (Winter 2006). "King Benjamin and the Yeoman Farmer". Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. 39 (4): 1–26. doi:10.2307/45227212. JSTOR 45227212.
Preceded by King of a tribe of the Nephites
?-124 B.C. 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
various kings of the Nephites;
eventually Nephi
 Nephite record keeper of the large plates
ca. 2nd century B.C. 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Nephite record keeper of the small plates
ca. 2nd century B.C. 		Succeeded by
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