Book of Mormon Commentary CofC - Odessa, Missouri Community ...

Book of Mormon Commentary
Mosiah Chapter 1
1:29 The people came prepared to worship by offering the "firstlings of their flocks" to sacrifice as
a burnt offering (30) and "give thanks to the Lord their God" (31).
Each family pitched its tent around the temple (33). The door of the tent was "toward the temple"
(34) so that each family could sit in the shade of the tent and listen to the king's message. But there
were too many people to get into the court of the temple and hear. King Benjamin caused a "tower
to be erected” (35) that they might see him and hear his message. But even this did not enable all
to hear; he had the words written and sent forth to those who "were not under the sound of his
voice" (36, 37).
Mos 1:33 And it came to pass that when they came up to the temple, they pitched their tents round
about, every man according to his family, consisting of his wife, and his sons, and his daughters, and
their sons, and their daughters, from the eldest down to the youngest, every family being separate, one
from another;
1:33 In this verse we are given some important organizational information about Benjamin's
people. The first important piece of information is that when the people come, they come as kin
groups. That the family comes indicates both the importance of the event and the fact that the
basic organizational mode of society is still kinship based.
The next type of information we can derive from the presented information is a little bit of the
organization and ranking of the family. Nephite society at this time is patriarchal, as evidence by
the emphasis on the man as head of the family. It is his family, his wife, his sons, his daughters. Of
course this is no surprise as Hebrew society is also patriarchal, but this text confirms the
continuation of the practice in the New World.
Mos 1:38 And these are the words which he spake and caused to be written, saying: My brethren, all ye
that have assembled yourselves together, you that can hear my words which I shall speak unto you this
day:
1:38 Mormon gives a very direct introduction to the text he is copying. It is very clearly a copy
from the plates, and very clearly the text that Benjamin "spake and caused to be written." Since the
speech was written officially, we may suppose that we have the official copy, with no editing from
Mormon, and subject only to Joseph Smith as a translator (however he may or may not have
affected the translation). We may also presume that because this is an official written text that care
would have been taken in its construction, and that we might find evidence of such care not
normally seen in spontaneous oral discourse. Indeed: A stunning array of literary structures
appears in Benjamin’s speech, purposefully and skillfully organized. Benjamin’s use of chiasmus
(A rhetorical inversion of the second of two parallel structures), all types of parallelisms (The use
of identical or equivalent syntactic constructions in corresponding clauses), and many other forms
of repeating patterns adds focus and emphasis to the main messages and the persuasive qualities of
this text. (Welch, John W. "Parallelism and Chiasmus in Benjamin’s Speech." In: King
Benjamin’s Speech. FARMS 1998, p. 315)
Mos 1:43 I say unto you, that as I have been suffered to spend my days in your service, even up to this
time, and have not sought gold nor silver, nor any manner of riches of you;