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Book of Mormon/Textual changes/"Benjamin" changed to "Mosiah"
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Criticism
In the text currently found in Mosiah 21:28 and Ether 4:1 of the Book of Mormon, the 1830 edition reads "Benjamin", while all subsequent editions read "Mosiah." Critics claim that "either God made a mistake when He inspired the record or Joseph made a mistake when he translated it."
Source(s) of the criticism
- John Ankerberg and John Weldon, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Mormonism (Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House, 1992), p. 310.
- Walter Martin, The Kingdom of the Cults (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Bethany House, 1985), p. 186.
- Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Mormonism-Shadow or Reality? (Salt Lake City: Modern Microfilm, 1972), p. 90.
- James White, Letters to a Mormon Elder (Southbridge, Massachusetts: Crowne, 1990), pp. 184-185.
Response
Background
The people of King Limhi were living under domination of the Lamanites, and had been separated for a number of years from the main body of the Nephites located in Zarahemla. Limhi's group sent out a "a small number of men" to search for the city of Zarahemla. These men became lost, but they did locate "a land which was covered with dry bones; yea, a land which had been peopled, and which had been destroyed." Amongst the ruins they located a record "engraven on plates of ore." Assuming this land to be the land of Zarahemla, the search party returned to report to Limhi, bringing the plates with them. Limhi did not have the ability to translate this record and was therefore unable to determine what was contained upon these plates.
Ammon, while on his mission to convert the Lamanites, encountered the people of Limhi "not many days" after the plates were obtained. The 1830 Book of Mormon reports that "Limhi was again filled with joy, on learning from the mouth of Ammon that King Benjamin had a gift from God, whereby he could interpret such engravings; yea, and Ammon did also rejoice."[1] However, a number of chapters prior to the description of this event, King Benjamin is reported to have died after turning over the kingship to his son Mosiah.
What does the Book of Mormon say about the event being discussed?
L. Ara Norwood notes that the Book of Mormon itself gives two parallel descriptions of the event.[2] One of these descriptions is found in Mosiah 8:13-14, which states:
- 13 Now Ammon said unto him: I can assuredly tell thee, O king, of a man that can translate the records; for he has wherewith that he can look, and translate all records that are of ancient date; and it is a gift from God. And the things are called interpreters, and no man can look in them except he be commanded, lest he should look for that he ought not and he should perish. And whosoever is commanded to look in them, the same is called seer.
- 14 And behold, the king of the people who are in the land of Zarahemla is the man that is commanded to do these things, and who has this high gift from God. Mosiah 8꞉13-14(emphasis added)
This appears to be a first-person account of what Ammon actually said to King Limni. Note that Ammon refers to "the king of the people who are in the land of Zarahamla," without mentioning the name of that king. The other description is that found in Mosiah 21:25-28:
- 25 Now king Limhi had sent, previous to the coming of Ammon, a small number of men to bsearch for the land of Zarahemla; but they could not find it, and they were lost in the wilderness.
- 26 Nevertheless, they did find a land which had been peopled; yea, a land which was covered with dry bones; yea, a land which had been peopled and which had been destroyed; and they, having supposed it to be the land of Zarahemla, returned to the land of Nephi, having arrived in the borders of the land not many days before the coming of Ammon.
- 27 And they brought a record with them, even a record of the people whose bones they had found; and it was engraven on plates of ore.
- 28 And now Limhi was again filled with joy on learning from the mouth of Ammon that king Mosiah [changed from "Benjamin" as printed in the 1830 edition] had a gift from God, whereby he could interpret such engravings; yea, and Ammon also did rejoice. Mosiah 21꞉25-28 (emphasis added)
Note that this passage is written in the third person by Mormon, and does not quote the words of Ammon directly. This indicates the possibility that Mormon may have written the name "Benjamin" during his abridgment of the record.
Ether 4:1, which was an abridgment of the record of the Jaredites by Moroni, was changed in a similar manner:
1 And the Lord commanded the brother of Jared to go down out of the mount from the presence of the Lord, and write the things which he had seen; and they were forbidden to come unto the children of men until after that he should be lifted up upon the cross; and for this cause did king Mosiah keep them, that they should not come unto the world until after Christ should show himself unto his people. Ether 4꞉1
In the 1830 edition, this reads "and for this cause did king Benjamin keep them, that they should not come unto the world until after Christ should shew himself unto his people." [3]
When and why was the change from "Benjamin" to "Mosiah" made?
Conclusion
Endnotes
- [note] Book of Mormon, 1830 edition, p. 200.
- [note] L. Ara Norwood, Benjamin or Mosiah? Resolving an Anomaly in Mosiah 21:28
Further reading
FAIR wiki articles
FAIR web site
- L. Ara Norwood, Benjamin or Mosiah? Resolving an Anomaly in Mosiah 21:28