Mormon helps us in the transition from the small plates of Nephi to his own abridgment of the large plates of Nephi. Imagine Mormon who, during years of warfare and terrible suffering among his people, immersed himself in the Nephite records. He poured over the many Nephite records and became intimately familiar with every aspect of Nephite history.
But there's more to it. Mormon was a Nephite prophet, a military leader, and a record keeper who lived around A.D. 311–385. He had been the chief military leader of the Nephites from about the age of 15. Even before that, however, Mormon had received instructions from Ammoron to prepare him to retrieve the Nephite records and to keep his own record. Mormon recorded his own life history before he set to work abridging the large plates of Nephi on the plates of Mormon.
In some ways it might make sense to study Mormon's book first, to catch a glimpse of his own experience and perspective and how these things influenced his abridgment and commentary on the large plates of Nephi. Mormon not only read about and new everything about Nephite history, he had also received the ministering of the Lord's disciples who never tasted death and who are hid from the world. Mormon saw them, and they ministered to him.
Furthermore, like Nephi and other prophets, Mormon received revelation and expansive visions of what was to come in the last days. Therefore, like Nephi and other prophets, Mormon looked forward to the latter days and to the Second Coming of Christ, and he had a clear vision and purpose for what to include in his abridgment. Mormon wasn't simply recounting Nephite history. There was an organizing principle to his abridgment and commentary.
Mormon's son Moroni also looked forward and wrote to a future audience. Both of them knew that their civilization was on the brink of destruction and that the Book of Mormon was destined for a latter-day audience. They were writing for us. Moroni put it this way:
"Behold, the Lord hath shown unto me great and marvelous things concerning that which must shortly come, at that day when these things shall come forth among you.
Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing." (Mormon 8:34-35)
I believe that we can read Mormon's abridgment of the large plates of Nephi with this thought in mind: Mormon also speaks to us as if we were present. Jesus Christ showed us unto him, and he knows our doing. For these reasons I like to say that the Book of Mormon is a book that reads us better than we can ever read it.
Thus, as we study Mormon's abridgment of the large plates of Nephi and ponder his commentary, we can ask ourselves: Why did Mormon include this particular story in his record, and what was he trying to teach us? We can be present with this great prophet-historian and let him speak to us as if we were present.
Obviously Mormon could not include everything in his record. There were many other plates, many other records, and Mormon had limited time to write as well as limited space upon the plates. He had to choose carefully what to write.
A couple of the best books that I have read on the Book of Mormon can help us to catch a glimpse of just how amazing and internally consistent the Book of Mormon is. Grant Hardy's "Understanding the Book of Mormon," and Joseph Spencer's "An Other Testament" show that however deeply we think we have read the Book of Mormon, there's a lot more to discover. While I don't agree with all of their premises or conclusions, I appreciate their studies of the Book of Mormon because the Book of Mormon is a book that deserves our best efforts to study and to understand.
https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Book-Mormon-Readers-Guide/dp/0199731705
https://www.amazon.com/Other-Testament-Typology-Joseph-Spencer/dp/0983963622
Mormon cried repentance to his own people, but they were past feeling and ripe in iniquity. Mormon wrote about the final battles between the Nephites and the Lamanites, and he also invited the Lamanites of the latter days to believe in Christ, accept his Gospel, and be saved. If Mormon made his abridgment of the large plates of Nephi after completing the record of his own life, and if Mormon foresaw the rise and fall of yet another future civilization on the American continent, then how might those experiences have influenced his abridgment and commentary? I suppose that Mormon worked on the abridgment and commentary on the large plates of Nephi while he was writing his own record, but I can check on that later in our study of the Book of Mormon.
In the meantime, we can remember that Mormon speaks to us as if we were present, and his words in his own record to the latter-day Lamanites and House of Israel apply to us:
"Know ye that ye are of the house of Israel.
Know ye that ye must come unto repentance, or ye cannot be saved.
Know ye that ye must lay down your weapons of war, and delight no more in the shedding of blood, and take them not again, save it be that God shall command you.
Know ye that ye must come to the knowledge of your fathers, and repent of all your sins and iniquities, and believe in Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God, and that he was slain by the Jews, and by the power of the Father he hath risen again, whereby he hath gained the victory over the grave; and also in him is the sting of death swallowed up.
And he bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead, whereby man must be raised to stand before his judgment-seat.
And he hath brought to pass the redemption of the world, whereby he that is found guiltless before him at the judgment day hath it given unto him to dwell in the presence of God in his kingdom, to sing ceaseless praises with the choirs above, unto the Father, and unto the Son, and unto the Holy Ghost, which are one God, in a state of happiness which hath no end.
Therefore repent, and be baptized in the name of Jesus, and lay hold upon the gospel of Christ, which shall be set before you, not only in this record but also in the record which shall come unto the Gentiles from the Jews, which record shall come from the Gentiles unto you.
For behold, this is written for the intent that ye may believe that; and if ye believe that ye will believe this also; and if ye believe this ye will know concerning your fathers, and also the marvelous works which were wrought by the power of God among them.
And ye will also know that ye are a remnant of the seed of Jacob; therefore ye are numbered among the people of the first covenant; and if it so be that ye believe in Christ, and are baptized, first with water, then with fire and with the Holy Ghost, following the example of our Savior, according to that which he hath commanded us, it shall be well with you in the day of judgment. Amen." (Mormon 7:2-10)
This is great background for understanding what we now read in the first Book of Mosiah. In everything that Mormon records, he invites us to repent, to come unto Christ, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. He invites us to lay hold on the Gospel of Jesus Christ that is set forth in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. He invites us to believe in Christ and to be baptized by water and by fire and the Holy Ghost. This is how we follow the example of Jesus Christ and prepare for the day of judgment.
If this is the invitation, then why include a lengthy abridgment of the large plates of Nephi, the history of the Nephites? Why not just invite the latter-day Lamanites, Jews, House of Israel, and everyone else to repent and leave it at that? What did Mormon want us to learn from the Nephites?
One thing that immediately occurs to me is that Mormon wants us to learn from the experiences of the Nephites so that we can be wiser than they were and make better decisions than they did. He wants us to see the hand of the Lord in Nephite history so that we can understand how the Lord worked among them. As I've mentioned previously, I also believe that Mormon, who prophesied of the latter days, or the time in which we now live, shaped his record in such a way as to reveal parallels between Nephite history and the history of the great latter-day civilization that we now know as the United States of America. In other words, the events in Nephite history that led up to Christ's first coming among them at the Temple in Bountiful have something to teach us about the events in our own history that will lead up to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. But most of all, Mormon invites us to listen to and follow the example of Jesus Christ because he knows that is the way to peace and happiness in this life, and eternal life in the life to come.
Mormon writes glowingly of King Benjamin because he, like Melchizedek, labored diligently to eliminate contention and to establish peace in the land. Such diligent efforts to eliminate contention and establish peace may remind us of Christ's own ministry among the Nephites, but also of the most recent general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One of the most prominent themes in this most recent conference was certainly the same: to eliminate contention and establish peace. The prophet and president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Russell M. Nelson made it clear that in these contentious times, peacemakers are sorely needed:
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2023/04/47nelson?lang=eng
President Nelson reiterated his invitation to peacemaking in his recent facebook post as well:
"My dear friends, we need more peacemakers. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to be just that in a world filled with conflict and turmoil. Vulgarity, faultfinding, and evil speaking of others are all too common. Too many pundits, politicians, entertainers, and other influencers throw insults constantly.
Anger never persuades. Hostility builds no one. Contention never leads to solutions. We need people willing to put aside their differences, listen with understanding, and love one another as brothers and sisters, as Jesus did.
Let us follow the example of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. He taught, 'Blessed are the peacemakers' (Matthew 5:9). He challenged us to 'love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you' (Matthew 5:44).
I invite you to become a peacemaker by examining how you treat others. I bless you to make any adjustments that may be needed so that your behavior is ennobling, respectful, and representative of a true follower of Jesus Christ."
https://www.facebook.com/russell.m.nelson
Mormon writes of King Benjamin's three sons, Mosiah, Helorum, and Helaman, and he teaches us of their upbringing, education, and use of the records. Like Nephi, these three sons were instructed in matters regarding both faith and reason. They were taught in the language of their fathers (including Hebrew and reformed Egyptian). King Benjamin's sons profited from this education because it helped them to become men of understanding and to understand the prophecies of their fathers, the prophets before them. These former prophecies came directly from the Lord.
King Benjamin also taught his sons about the records contained on the plates of brass. At this point in the narrative, Mormon shifts from his own voice to what looks like a direct quotation of King Benjamin that Mormon extracted from the large plates of Nephi. Why did Mormon choose to quote directly from the teachings of King Benjamin to his sons on this particular topic?
King Benjamin changed the course of Nephite history, not just because of his labors among his people to establish peace, but especially because he instilled in his children the crucial role of the scriptures in their own personal conversion to Jesus Christ as well as for the preservation of their religion and their civilization.
I find it interesting however that Mormon first outlines King Benjamin's secular instruction to his children, or in other words, their education in the language of the Nephites. I see the same pattern for many others among the Nephites, and the pattern is the father's instruction of his children in both secular and sacred matters. The preservation of the brass plates was crucial for the education of future generations, just as the preservation and translation of the Book of Mormon is crucial for us and for future generations.
Just as Lehi could not have remembered and taught his children without the help of the brass plates, and just as King Benjamin could not have done the same, so too is it for us that the records that we now have that we call the Standard Works, namely the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. But what strikes me is that it's not just the records themselves that are important - although they are important - but it is the enlargement of the memory of the Lord and His commandments that matters. We can see this more clearly in contrast to the condition in which Mosiah (the father of King Benjamin) and his people originally found the people of Zarahemla. Because they had no records, they suffered in ignorance and even denied the being of their Creator.
What does this have to do with the time in which we now live? Everything. Even though we now have access to the Standard Works and records of all kinds that serve to remind us of the Lord and His commandments, if those records go unread and unappreciated, then we will be no better off than the ancient people of Zarahemla. No wonder there are so many people who consider themselves to be atheists and agnostics, and no wonder there is such rampant and corrosive ignorance in our time. Without serious attention to records, especially the sacred records that teach us of the Lord and His ways, human beings will wander in error. A later Book of Mormon prophet, Alma the Younger, put it this way:
"And now, it has hitherto been wisdom in God that these things should be preserved; for behold, they have enlarged the memory of this people, yea, and convinced many of the error of their ways, and brought them to the knowledge of their God unto the salvation of their souls." (Alma 37:8)
Lehi taught his children to read the language of the Egyptians, the reformed Egyptian, so that they could read the engravings upon the brass plates. Nephi was a diligent student of the brass plates, and King Benjamin also understood the great worth of the brass plates. Without the brass plates, King Benjamin observes, the Nephites would have dwindled in unbelief and become just like the Lamanites.
King Benjamin testifies that the brass plates are true, and that the plates of Nephi are true, and that they could be sure that they were true because they could hold them in their hands and see them before their very eyes. After testifying of the truth of the records, King Benjamin invited his sons to search them diligently and to keep the commandments of God so that they might be blessed and prospered by the Lord.
This is a good model for how a father ought to teach his children from the scriptures, testifying that they are true and inviting them to study on their own. Mormon notes that King Benjamin taught his sons many other things, but these were the specific things that Mormon wanted his latter-day audience to know.
King Benjamin grew old and conferred the kingdom upon his eldest son Mosiah. Before his death, he commanded Mosiah to gather the people to the Temple so that he, King Benjamin, could make a proclamation to his people. King Benjamin also prepared to give his people a new name in order to distinguish them above all the people which the Lord God hath brought out of the land of Jerusalem.
In addition to bestowing the kingship upon his eldest son Mosiah, King Benjamin also conferred the records, the brass plates, and the sacred items, including the sword of Laban and the Liahona, upon him. Then Mosiah went and did as his father commanded him, summoning the people to gather at the Temple in order to hear his father's last speech.
Whenever I read this, I can't help but think of the parallels in our own time between this gathering and our gatherings during general conference. I also draw a parallel between King Benjamin's proclamation, or King Mosiah's proclamation, and the Proclamation to the World on the Family. This was a big turning point in Nephite history, and Mormon knew that King Benjamin had established something special, something much closer to a Zion community.
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