The Law of Kings

The Book of Mosiah marks the spot where Mormon swaps the record and the reader is transferred from the priestly record to the kingly record. There are a few shifts in the Book of Mormon and the style and manner in which the story flows to the reader. For example, the Book of Ether, outside of Moroni's commentary, has a very different feel than the mainly first-person narratives of Nephi and Jacob from the priestly record. Nor does the Book of Ether sound much like the historical record edited by Mormon. Although there are most likely more wars and power struggles going on, the record is much more abbreviated and repetitive compared with Mormon's editing of the war chapters with battle strategies elaborately detailed, interspersed with doctrinal commentary.

I will get stuck on chapters in the Book of Mosiah writing about them. Every single chapter in Mosiah deals with addiction and recovery, and my name is Brad, and I'm still an alcoholic and addict. You may not find the word addiction in the Book of Mormon, but you certainly will see the word bondage many times, followed often by God's deliverance. We get to see a codependent, overzealous father, an addict, a codependent son, and two groups suffering severe bondage. We encounter powerful addiction language in a couple of chapters and get to see what AA groups call a "group conscience." The last chapter provides a powerful, guaranteed recovery promise. You may have noticed we left out King Benjamin. He gives a sermon on the Twelve Steps, as a guide to the rest of the book.

But before we get into his wonderful speech, it's time to anoint a new king. In ancient Israel the coronation for kings took place between the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) and Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). At the Feast of Tabernacles the kings in ancient Israel would read publicly the paragraph of the king from Deuteronomy chapter 17, and would report on their stewardship as king.

We connect the crown with the concept of royalty, but the last article of kingly attire to go on the new king before coronation would be what John describes in Revelation as a "golden girdle" which was worn over the chest. The Savior is described as, "One like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle" (Revelation 1: 13).The symbolism may have been similar to the ephod worn by the high priest. But perhaps more significantly it was to represent the purity and truthfulness of the king's speech, as the words coming forth from the king's mouth were an overflow from his heart. Jesus said, "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh" (Matthew 12: 34). 

This concept is enhanced by the idea that kings in ancient Israel were deified. You will see this often in the Psalms. One example is, "For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth" (Psalms 74: 12). So the king would be like a mouthpiece for God, or at least that's what a king was supposed to be. King Benjamin said, "For on the morrow I shall proclaim unto this my people out of mine own mouth that thou art a king and a ruler over this people, whom the Lord our God hath given us" (Mosiah 1: 10).

These people are subject to the king, as emphasized in the above verse. The chapter begins with Mormon's commentary: "And now there was no more contention in all the land of Zarahemla, among all the people who belonged to king Benjamin" (Mosiah 1: 1). The Lord similarly said, "And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels" (Malachi 3: 17).

The requirement for kings is found in Deuteronomy where it says, "And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites: And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them" (Deuteronomy 17: 18-19).

Anciently, only kings and priests (or queens and priestesses) had access to the "book of the law," Israel's set of scriptures. I suppose you could argue that today only kings, queens, priests, and priestesses have full access to the word of the Lord. But kings were supposed to study the scriptures on a daily basis. King Benjamin calls his sons together, since only a son could inherit the kingdom. He speaks of the importance of his sons as potential kings being "men of understanding" (Mosiah 1: 2) and how it was important that the plates of brass were "always before our eyes" (Mosiah 1: 5).

It was written in the paragraph of the king:

"But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.

"Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold

"That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel" (Deuteronomy 17: 16,17,20).

I have to ask, who does this sound like? Doesn't this sound like King Benjamin? Egypt was Israel's house of bondage, and the king was supposed to protect his people from bondage. King Benjamin said, "Neither have I suffered that ye should be confined in dungeons, nor that ye should make slaves one of another" (Mosiah 2: 13).

Kings were not supposed to multiply to themselves "silver and gold." King Benjamin reports his stewardship and reverses the order of this phrase according to Seidel's Law when one prophet quotes an earlier prophet and reverses the order of the elements. King Benjamin said, "I say unto you that as I have been suffered to spend my days in your service, even up to this time, and have not sought gold nor silver nor any manner of riches of you" (Mosiah 2: 12). Notice this time instead of "silver and gold," it's "gold nor silver." This is just one more internal witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.

Kings were not supposed to become prideful and have their hearts lifted up above their brothers and sisters. King Benjamin said, "But I am like as yourselves, subject to all manner of infirmities in body and mind" (Mosiah 2: 11).

It becomes apparent that King Benjamin is a type of Christ, the King of kings (Revelation 19: 16), and it appears he is responding to the requirements of kingship in ancient Israel. Throughout Mosiah chapter 2, King Benjamin makes several comparisons between himself, the common people, and God. One of these is quite famous: "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God" (v. 17). He also makes this comparison: "And behold also, if I, whom ye call your king, who has spent his days in your service, and yet has been in the service of God, do merit any thanks from you, O how you ought to thank your heavenly King!" (v. 19).

If we understand that kings in ancient Israel were considered almost like God and were deified, then King Benjamin's comparisons imply that we can also become kings (and queens) and can become like God.