Textual: Once again, Mormon has abridged into extreme brevity the discourse of Benjamin, knowing it to be redundant for his readers even though very important, and extremely interesting for Limhi’s people.
“He Also Rehearsed Unto Them the Last Words”
Textual: This is a continuation of Limhi’s discourse, and there is no chapter break in the 1830 edition. Indeed, this should not be seen as a separate chapter from the previous, as both comprise Limhi’s discourse.
Mormon tells us that he is abridging his source here. He has included some of Limhi’s discourse, and left out much. What does he choose to leave in, and why? One of the features of the last editorial choice we have seen for Mormon was the inclusion of Limhite-important material, and simple reference to Ammon‘s description of King Benjamin’s new covenant. Given the importance of the covenant, the best explanation for abridging Ammon’s description of it is that Mormon had just written about it extensively, and therefore does not need that material for his intended audience (although it would have been very important for the Limhites). In the current case, we have Limhi giving some of the sketchy details of the “iniquities” of his people, specifically the death of Abinidi. All of these events will be given in greater detail later when Mormon enters the record of Zeniff. Why does he include these brief details on material that will be covered later?
We may assume that Mormon had a mental construction established when he began writing on the plates. The physical process would be sufficiently demanding, and the difficulty of change sufficiently high, that Mormon must have had his basic decisions already made as to what to include and what to abridge. We may therefore expect that Mormon knew that he would proceed to the story of Zeniff, and that the record of Zeniff would provide greater detail on these sketchily drawn events in Limhi’s discourse. We therefore have Mormon including precisely the type of information he has previously excluded. Again - why?
Mormon’s editorial pattern is to include texts, and to abridge events and background, In the current example, we have included text and we may be reasonably certain that Mormon is faithful to his source. Since the material is in the source, and is an integral part of the discourse, it is included. However, Limhi’s discourse has another purpose. We may also presume of Mormon that he did not include every discourse. He says so explicitly for Ammon, and even for Limhi he does not include the entire speech, and this verse makes clear. We can therefore conclude with confidence that the reason the historical material in Limhi’s discourse is included is that it is an important part of the discourse. However, the history is not the point of the discourse. This discourse is included because of the greater content. Limhi is discussing faith, sin, repentance, and hope. Those are principles that Mormon finds important, and the speech is included because it touches on those subjects, not for its historical content.
From this verse it is not completely clear if the parts of the discourse that are not included are the descriptions/information about their brethren in Zarahemla, or whether that information followed the formal discourse. The text appears to lean to the latter, and the content would appear to require a separation as well. In the discourse we have recorded we have a formal declaration of the king, an expression of communal culpability transformed to communal hope. This would appear to require a more formal setting. The information about Zarahemla would be of tremendous interest to Limhi’s audience, but would be a less formal presentation. It is probable that there was break between the formal discourse and the presentation of the general information about Zarahemla.