Rhetoric: Benjamin is clearly moving toward the new covenant he wishes to establish among his people: to follow the Atoning Messiah. Now, however, he must help his people understand how the new covenant is related to the covenant they have already made to obey the law of Moses. Thus, this verse is a transition to achieve two tasks. First, he establishes that the covenant with Yahweh-Messiah is available to all people. This point is critical because the covenant must include the blood-line Gentiles in the group, not only the Zarahemlaites who have intermarried with the surrounding people for the past 500 years, but the lineal Gentiles who constituted a significant fraction of the population of the city of Nephi. (See 2 Nephi, Part 1: Context, Chapter 1, “The Historical Setting of 2 Nephi.”) Considering the exclusivity of the law of Moses in the Old World, the uncharacteristic religious inclusiveness is itself another indicator of the presence of Gentiles among the Nephites. Universal inclusivity was important in the religious/ political life of the New World long before Peter’s vision of the gospel net began missionary efforts among Gentiles in the Old World. Benjamin stresses to his listeners that the prophets’ mission was “[to] all the children of men, to declare these things to every kindred, nation, and tongue.”
Second, Benjamin highlights the Messiah’s importance, even before his mortal mission. When an act that will take place a hundred years in the future is declared as the only means of salvation, what is one to do today? Benjamin’s response is that his people (the believers) “might receive remission of their sins, and rejoice with exceedingly great joy, even as though he had already come among them.” Although future, the atonement has current validity. The sacred promise of the atonement from the beginning of the world allows those who live prior to the physical event to experience its full benefit.
Although we have relatively few specifics about the nature of the religious contentions Benjamin has countered, Sherem had used the far distant Messiah as one of his arguments against Jacob (Jacob 7:2). It is not an unreasonable argument, after all. How can next year’s rain benefit this year’s corn? How could a distant Messiah benefit people in the here and now? It seems entirely possible that this argument continued to be used against Benjamin’s religion.