In Mosiah 2:1–8, Mormon narrated the setting for Benjamin’s speech. At this temporary break in the discourse, Mormon narrates again. While he quoted the speech itself, whatever information was on the plates that gave the information about the circumstances surrounding the speech was not copied, but rather told in Mormon’s own words.
The nature of the discourse was designed to generate a response from the gathered people. They had come with animals for sacrifice, indicating that they had come with the expectation of a religious event. They certainly received that, and more.
Once again, it is important to remember the social context of this speech. There had been a contention that appears to have become a civil war. The people were gathered after that difficult time, and the speech preached salvation through the Messiah who was to come. In the light of what we will see later in the Book of Mormon’s history of Zarahemla, the understanding of the coming Messiah must have been a point of contention, as it will become a dividing point for that same society in the years that will follow Benjamin’s speech. Therefore, Benjamin is preaching the Messiah to them not simply for the religious understanding, but for the unification of the people under the umbrella of the divine revelation of the coming Messiah.
Benjamin pauses in his discourse because he needs to assess how well the speech has motivated the people. It has succeeded. The people see themselves as needing atonement. This would not be surprising in the aftermath of a civil war. They seek atonement, now understanding that it will come not from the symbolic blood sacrifice of an animal, but through the atoning blood of Christ. Forgiveness of their sins allows them to renew themselves within Jehovah’s covenant with the people. They accept that forgiveness and appear to pledge themselves to the unifying belief in the coming atoning Messiah.