One of the great purposes of this whole assembly is for King Benjamin to give his people a new name "by which they may be distinguished above all the people which the Lord God hath brought out of the land of Jerusalem" (Mosiah 1:11). The name is "Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning" (3:8). This elaborate name of Jesus contains ten nouns. It describes not only Jesus personally, but His role as creator of all things from the beginning. In the ancient world, when a king was crowned, he would receive a set of coronation names or titles that accompanied his given name. For instance, Roman Emperors bore honorific and religious titles of glory, victory, and so on. Here, in this coronation setting, King Benjamin is recognizing the Savior as their heavenly king. Before the seventh section in Benamin’s speech, all of his people will enter into a covenant whereby they took upon themselves the revealed name of Christ (5:8), that never should be blotted out (5:11). Thereby they become spiritually reborn as his sons and daughters (5:7).
This expanded covenant name would be remembered and used again in the Book of Mormon. In Helaman 14, Samuel the Lamanite stood on the walls of this same city of Zarahemla and prophesied again of the coming of Christ. In Helaman 14:11–12, he says, "for this intent have I come up upon the walls of this city, that ye might hear and know of the judgments of God which do await you because of your iniquities, and also that ye might know the conditions of repentance; and also that ye might know of the coming of [1] Jesus [2] Christ, the [3] Son of [4] God, the [5] Father of [6] heaven and of ]7] earth, the [8] Creator of [9] all things from the [10] beginning; and that ye might know of the signs of his coming, to the intent that ye might believe on his name." Samuel’s precise recitation and invocation of this holy name, reminding the people of Zarahemla to repent, may especially have pushed his recalcitrant audience over the edge. No wonder they tried to kill him when they could have just ignored him.
Figure 5 Welch, John W., and Greg Welch. "Samuel’s Quotation of Benjamin." In Charting the Book of Mormon: Visual Aids for Personal Study and Teaching, chart 105.
Book of Mormon Central, "Why Did Benjamin Give Multiple Names for Jesus at the Coronation of his Son Mosiah? (Mosiah 3:8)," KnoWhy 536 (October 17, 2019).
Book of Mormon Central, "Why Did King Benjamin Say That His People Would be Sons and Daughters at God’s Right Hand? (Mosiah 5:7)," KnoWhy 307 (May 1, 2017).