Give Freely So That You Can Be Freely Forgiven

John W. Welch

As a central requirement of his covenant text, Benjamin next turned to the need to give to the poor: "Ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; … ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish" (4:16).

Again, Benjamin has the covenant text of Deuteronomy in mind. Deuteronomy 15:7–11 says, "If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth" (15:7–8).

Likewise, Benjamin says that we are to supply those in need "according to their wants" (4:26). What does the word wants mean in this context? Nowadays, to want often means to desire, but in Old English it meant to lack something. That was what the King James translators were communicating with the word wanteth in Deuteronomy 15:8. Notice also that Deuteronomy speaks here of loaning, or lending, and that Benjamin does this also (Mosiah 4:28).

Deuteronomy 15:9 then cautions, "Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying ‘Lo, the seventh year, the year of release, is at hand.’" What the book of Deuteronomy is worried about is that people would remember that once every seven years all debts would be forgiven, so in the sixth year, they may be reluctant to loan anything, because if it were not yet payed back, the debt would be cancelled and the borrower would then be excused. The law said that they could not use that as an excuse. Benjamin also addresses the problem of people judging the poor and rationalizing or making excuses so that they do not feel obligated to give to the poor (Mosiah 4:17, 22), but rather "turn him out to perish" (4:16). But anyone who makes such excuses "perisheth forever, and hath no interest in the kingdom of God" (4:18).

Moreover, Deuteronomy 15 goes on to say, "Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore, I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land" (15:10–11). As one member of the class commented: "Unfortunately, sometimes, our giving comes with measurement. Good is to give. Better is to give without measuring." All this is a part of the covenant, and just as teaching our vulnerable children is a part of the covenant, Benjamin spoke equally about ministering to the poor who are always at great risk.

Underlying all of Benjamin’s covenant stipulation of generosity is the logic of talionic justice (Deuteronomy 19:19). It is right and fair to get back what we have given out, eye for eye, "for that which ye do send out shall return unto you again, and be restored," good for good, mercy for mercy, and evil for evil (Alma 41:13–15).

This all makes logical sense as well as theological certitude: For "if God … doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another" (Mosiah 4:21). Since Benjamin’s people had just asked God to be forgiven, blessed, and purified (4:2), it would be unbecoming of them as beggars unto God not to remember equally the poor and to give to those who put up their petition to them for relief (4:20).

John W. Welch Notes

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