Chapter 2

King Benjamin begins his final words to his people by declaring that his son, Mosiah will be taking his place.  He has a wonderful surprise for them because he has been visited by an angel and he plans to tell them what the angel said.  But just before that he says, “I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God.  For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness.”

The Book of Mosiah Chapter 1

King Benjamin tells his oldest son Mosiah that he will become the next king.  During their discussion, King Benjamin makes it plain that without the scriptures and the teachings of the prophets that his people would have been raised in ignorance and would have fallen to the Lamanites because of disbelief in God.  I can bear witness that without the Book of Mormon I too would have fallen into disbelief and most likely would have gone after the things of this world forgetting my God.  I owe every happiness I have in this life to my testimony of the Gospel of Christ.  My belief in the commandments and doctrine of Christ has saved me thus far.  But I must continue in Christ and strictly abide by his teaching.  I must endure in faith to the end of my life.

Words of Mormon

Mormon explains that he abridged the Large Plates of Nephi including Lehi’s writings. Then he tells us he attached the Small Plates of Nephi to his plates without any abridgement.  He did this “for a wise purpose.”  We know that the translation of the abridgment (116 pages) of the Book of Lehi was lost by Martin Harris.  But with the inclusion by Mormon of the Small Plates, we get the record of Lehi and his family as they flee Jerusalem and settle in the New World (1^st and 2^nd Books of Nephi, Jacob, Enos, Jarom, Omni).  As we begin The Book of Mosiah, we are starting the abridgment by Mormon of the Large Plates—minus the Book of Lehi which was lost by Martin Harris. 

Omni

This is the last book written on the Small Plates of Nephi.  There are several authors covering a period of about 140 years.  One of the authors, Amaleki, connects the historical records between the small and large plates by telling us that the Nephites were forced to flee out of the Land of Nephi down to the land of Zarahemla.  Here they discovered the people of Mulek who left Jerusalem about the same time as Lehi but took a different route to the Promised Land.  The Nephites and the Mulekites unite themselves. Mosiah is the leader of the Nephites and Zarahemla leads the Mulekites.  Because the Mulekites did not bring the scriptures with them from Jerusalem like Lehi’s family, their language and religion had become corrupted.  So as these two groups of people united there must have been a great deal of teaching going on.  When Mosiah died, his son, King Benjamin reigned in his stead.  Amaleki concludes his record with this classic exhortation:  “…come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption.  Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved.”

Jarom

Jarom, the son of Enos, continues the Small Plates of Nephi.  It is apparent from Jarom’s words that there is precious small space remaining on the plates.  It sufficeth him to say that his fathers were clear on the Doctrine of Christ.  During his day, it became more and more difficult to keep his people on the right path.  However, he was successful in doing that by “…prick[ing] their hearts with the word, continually stirring them up unto repentance.”

Enos

Enos was Jacob’s son and grandson of Lehi.  He had a desire to repent.  He went into the mountains to hunt and in the process prayed all day and all night, periodically kneeing and pleading, walking and crying to the Lord, and kneeling again in solemn humility, until in the morning came the voice of the Lord forgiving him of his sin, sweeping his guilt away. He described this process as a “wrestle.”  Enos rejoiced and wondered out loud how it was done.  They Lord told him it was because of his faith in the Atonement of Christ.  Enos then prayed for his family, the Nephites, and for his family, the Lamanites who had apostatized.  Once we obtain blessings (in this case forgiveness of sins) for ourselves we naturally and appropriately ask for those same blessings for others.

Chapter 7

Jacob describes his experience with one of the church members in his town.  His name was Sherem.  “And he was learned, that he had a perfect knowledge of the language of the people; wherefore, he could use much flattery, and much power of speech, according to the power of the devil.”  While Sherem was an anti-Christ, we have wonderful church leaders, most importantly, apostles and prophets who also have a perfect knowledge of the language and use their knowledge to persuade us to do what is right.  I love the Apostles of Jesus Christ and I am studying their inspired words every day.