Mosiah 5:1-2

Brant Gardner

The specifics of how this event worked are unclear. King Benjamin pauses, and waits. The text says that “he sent among them,” suggesting that people were dispatched into the various parts of the crowd. It is probable that they were already in place, knowing that the question would be asked.

One question that arises is how these separate inquiries might yield people crying with one voice. That might appear to be an exaggeration, but in the ancient world this kind of thing happened. There would be those in the crowd who might coach the specific words. Perhaps like unified clapping, it would begin in disunity, but would become one voice. This is not to suggest that there was no agreement with the words. That agreement is the essential part of this section of Benjamin’s discourse. However, it does help to understand that this is not a fanciful description, but rather one that is entirely plausible in ancient group dynamics.

Benjamin has spoken of the important underpinnings of how they should be as a society. Religion was an important, and, typically, almost a universal aspect of those interactions. The people accept what he has to say. Most importantly, they say that there has been a change in their hearts. It is easy to read this from a modern perspective and see that they gave up sins, but that is simply a different color on the same question. Of what did they repent?

Once again, the previous civil war is the missing clue. There had been severe divisions over both religion and the nature of politics. There had been many who had espoused social inequality and desired to exalt themselves over others. These were the social ills that Benjamin was countering. Hence, this people recognized that message, and vowed to change their hearts so that they did not retain those elements that had recently so divided the people.

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