Benjamin Gives Up Earthly Power - Book of Mosiah, Chapter Six (Mosiah 6)

You can read the entire chapter at the following link: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/6?lang=eng

This is a fairly brief chapter. Yet, there are still important points to note.

The first point has to do with recording the names of those who entered into the covenant with the Lord in the previous chapter. As in Mosiah 1 when King Benjamin explains the importance of the various records on the brass and gold plates that keep sacred matters firmly in their minds, and in other places throughout the Book of Mormon, we see that the Lord works according to order. Keeping complete and accurate records of revelations and of individual covenants and ordinances is crucial to ensuring that those things are also recorded in heaven (verse 1). We learn the remarkable fact that every person of age among the Nephites within earshot of King Benjamin had entered into the covenant and taken upon themselves the name of Christ (verse 2). The power of the moment and the strength found in the people’s unity cannot be overstated.

Benjamin does two things before dismissing the gathering of his people (verse 3). The first is that he consecrates his son Mosiah to be king, and gives him immediate temporal charge over the kingdom. Appointing his successor before his death endows the appointment with legitimacy, and it also gives Mosiah the ability to use his father as a resource as he learns to become a king.

The second thing Benjamin does is appoint priests to teach the people, and in particular to follow up with them regarding the importance of remembering and keeping the covenant they made in chapter 5 to keep all of the Lord’s commandments. At its essence, aside from actually administering the ordinances with their accompanying covenants, this is what the priesthood and Church in our day are intended to do. Provide the structure that we need to remember our covenants. The recurring ordinance of the sacrament is at the center of this process in our day. At this time (124 B.C.), the law of Moses remained in effect, so it is likely that recurring sacrifices continued under priesthood authority to remind people of and point them toward the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

I find it interesting that even after giving over the kingdom to Mosiah, Benjamin retains ecclesiastical and spiritual authority to appoint priests. This foreshadows the choice made later in the Book of Mormon by Alma to give up his role as temporal leader and to focus on spiritual leadership. Evidently, Benjamin also believes in the primacy of things spiritual. It is a reminder to us that the priesthood is eternal, and does not end when our responsibilities over worldly things are transferred elsewhere.

Unsurprisingly, Mormon (our narrator) informs us that Mosiah walks in the way of the Lord as his father had taught, and as an example to the people who had all just taken the name of Christ upon them. He also labors for his own sustenance among his people, rather than succumb to a prideful expectation that he is entitled to the fruits of their labors. This heightens the contrast between Mosiah and some who follow him—most notably the wicked King Noah (in Mosiah 11-19).