King Benjamin

Textual history

In the printer's manuscript and 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon, the text of Mosiah 21:28 and Ether 4:1 narrate, respectively, Ammon telling Limhi that king Benjamin has a gift for the miraculous translation of texts, and Mormon noting that Benjamin kept in his possession Jaredite records, specifically the writings of the Brother of Jared. In the 1837 edition of the Book of Mormon, Mosiah 21:28 is emended (probably by Joseph Smith) so instead of Benjamin, the text states Mosiah. For the 1849 Latter-day Saint edition, apostle Orson Pratt edited Ether 4:1 to similarly replace Benjamin with Mosiah. The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' (later renamed to Community of Christ) 1908 and 1953 editions of the Book of Mormon leave the name Benjamin in Ether 4:1 but include a parenthetical Mosiah? to suggest the text might be supposed to read Mosiah rather than Benjamin.

Interpretations

Speech

Donald Parry reports that Benjamin's speech is "one of the most influential sermons" from the Book of Mormon. In his speech, Benjamin urges his audience to accept communal responsibility for collective material wellbeing. G. St. John Stott compares Benjamin's economic ideal to the "by 1830… old-fashioned" agricultural "yeoman dream, in which economic independence and a modest standard of living defined one's ambition". Benjamin lives by his own manual labor and doesn't try to accumulate wealth.

Textual emendations

The edits to Mosiah 21:28 and Ether 4:1 likely happened because of uncertainty about the timeline of events in the Book of Mormon. When Benjamin passes the throne on to Mosiah, Mormon states that Benjamin lives three more years before dying and then narrates the departure of Ammon's expedition, giving the impression Benjamin is already dead when Ammon leaves, thus prompting the 1837 emendation so Ammon refers to the living Mosiah instead. Additionally, after meeting Ammon, Limhi brings 24 Jaredite plates to Zarahemla to be translated by Benjamin's son Mosiah; if Ether 4:1 refers to these records, a rendering of Benjamin seems like a contradiction, as Benjamin would have to be alive to receive them, and earlier the Book of Mormon had narrated it was Mosiah who received and translated the records, not Benjamin.

Latter-day Saint author Hugh Nibley believed the Ether 4:1 emendation was "[p]robably not" necessary for coherence since a viable reading of the Book of Mormon could allow for the three years of Benjamin's remaining life to not have fully elapsed before Limhi brings his Jaredite plates to Zarahemla, and keeping charge of Jaredite records would be consistent with his character as a "life-long book-lover". This also allows for Benjamin to be alive at the time of Mosiah 21:28.

Alternatively, Ether 4:1 refers not to the Jaredite plates possessed by Limhi but to records that Benjamin had that were entirely different from those that Mosiah received, allowing for Benjamin to be dead when Ammon tells Limhi about him and when Limhi brings the 24 Jaredite plates to Zarahemla.