Evidence #375 | October 17, 2022
Parallelisms in Benjamin’s Speech
Post contributed by
Scripture Central
Abstract
The diversity and concentration of parallel structures in King Benjamin’s speech supports the Book of Mormon as ancient literature while also revealing its literary complexity and sophistication.One interesting aspect of the Book of Mormon’s numerous parallel structures is that they tend to be especially concentrated in key doctrinal discourses.1 One example of this can be seen in King Benjamin’s final words to his people. According to John W. Welch, “A stunning array of literary structures appears in Benjamin’s speech, purposefully and skillfully organized.”2 As might be expected, chiasmus is featured regularly throughout.3 Yet Benjamin also utilized a diversity of other poetic forms characteristic of ancient Hebrew literature. These include at least the following:4
- Alternate (Simple, Repeated, and Extended)
- Antithetical
- Climax
- Detailing
- Gradation
- Like Sentence Beginnings and Endings
- Staircase (Down and Up)
- Synonymous (Simple and Extended)
- Synthetic (Simple and Extended)
Here are a several examples taken from different parts of the speech, each one labeled in parentheses:5
Mosiah 2:17–19 (Gradation):
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. Behold,
ye have called me your king; and if I, whom
ye call your king, do
labor to serve you, then ought not ye to
labor to serve one another? 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!
Mosiah 2:31 (Extended Alternate):
A | As ye have kept my commandments, | |||
| B | and also the commandments of my father, | ||
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| C | and have prospered, | |
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| D | and have been kept from falling into the hands of your enemies, |
A | even so if ye shall keep the commandments of my son, | |||
| B | or the commandments of God which shall be delivered unto you by him, | ||
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| C | ye shall prosper in the land, | |
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| D | and your enemies shall have no power over you. |
Mosiah 3:18–19 (Chiasmus):
A | but men drink damnation to their own souls except they humble themselves | |||||
| B | and become as little children, | ||||
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| C | and believe that salvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent. | |||
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| D | For the natural man | ||
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| E | is an enemy to God, | |
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| F | and has been from the fall of Adam, |
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| F | and will be, forever and ever, |
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| E | unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, | |
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| D | and putteth off the natural man | ||
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| C | and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, | |||
| B | and becometh as a child, | ||||
A | submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. |
Mosiah 4:9–10 (Like Sentence Beginnings and Endings):
Believe in God;
believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth;
believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth;
believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend. And again,
believe that ye must repent of your sins and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God; and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you; and now,
if you believe all these things see that ye do them.
Mosiah 4:11–12 (Chiasmus/Simple Alternate):
A | a | if ye have known of his goodness and have tasted of his love, | |||
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| b | and have received a remission of your sins, | ||
| B | which causeth such exceedingly great joy in your souls, even so I would that ye should remember, | |||
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| C | a | and always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, | |
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| b | and your own nothingness, |
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| a | and his goodness and long-suffering | |
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| b | towards you, unworthy creatures, |
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| C | and humble yourselves even in the depths of humility, calling on the name of the Lord daily, and standing steadfastly in the faith of that which is to come, which was spoken by the mouth of the angel. | ||
| B | And behold, I say unto you that if ye do this ye shall always rejoice, | |||
A | a | and be filled with the love of God, | |||
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| b | and always retain a remission of your sins |
Mosiah 4:30 (Progression):
But this much I can tell you,
that if ye do not watch yourselves,
and your thoughts,
and your words,
and your deeds,
and observe the commandments of God,
and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord,
even unto the end of your lives,
ye must perish.
Many more structures could be cited.6
Overall Chiastic Structure
In addition to these various individual parallelisms, Welch has proposed that King Benjamin organized his entire speech into a large chiasm with seven sections:
| Section 1 (2:9–28) | |||
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| Section 2 (2:31–41) | ||
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| Section 3 (3:2–3:10) | |
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| Section 4 (3:11–27) |
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| Section 5 (4:4–12) | |
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| Section 6 (4:13–30) | ||
| Section 7 (5:6–15) |
Each of these sections, in turn, appears to have their own internal chiastic structures:
| Section 1 (2:9–28) | |||||||
| A | Purpose of the assembly | ||||||
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| B | What is man? | |||||
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| C | The laws in Benjamin’s kingdom | ||||
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| D | Man cannot boast of service to fellowmen | |||
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| E | Imperatives to serve one another and thank God | ||
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| D | Man cannot boast of service to God | |||
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| C | The laws in God’s kingdom | ||||
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| B | What is man? | |||||
| A | Purpose of the assembly | ||||||
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| Section 2 (2:31–41) | ||||||
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| A | Temporal blessings of obedience | |||||
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| B | Willful rebellion against God condemned | ||||
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| C | The accountability of the people | |||
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| B | Willful rebellion against God condemned | ||||
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| A | Eternal blessings of obedience | |||||
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| Section 3 (3:2–3:10) | |||||
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| A | The Lord has judged thy righteousness | ||||
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| B | The Lord will descend | |||
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| C | The Lord’s works among men | ||
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| D | Christ’s power over evil spirits | |
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| E | Christ will be divine and bring salvation |
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| D | Christ will be accused of having an evil spirit | |
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| C | Men’s treatment of Jesus | ||
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| B | The Lord will ascend | |||
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| A | The Lord will judge the world righteously | ||||
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| Section 4 (3:11–27) | ||||
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| A | The atonement covers the sins of the innocent | |||
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| B | Repentance is necessary for the rebellious | ||
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| C | We may rejoice now as though Christ had already come | |
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| B | The atonement is necessary for the law of Moses | ||
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| A | The atonement covers the sins of the innocent | |||
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| Section 5 (4:4–12) | |||||
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| A | Man’s knowledge of the goodness of God | ||||
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| B | Articles of belief | |||
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| A | Man’s knowledge of the goodness of God | ||||
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| Section 6 (4:13–30) | ||||||
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| A | Distribution of property | |||||
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| B | Teach your children the laws of God | ||||
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| C | Ministering to the poor | |||
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| D | The rich man’s excuse | ||
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| E | Curse for not repenting | |
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| F | Imperative to impart substance to one another |
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| E | Curse for not repenting | |
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| D | The poor man’s excuse | ||
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| C | Ministering to the poor | |||
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| B | Adult approach to following the laws of God | ||||
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| A | Distribution of property | |||||
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| Section 7 (5:6–15) | |||||||
| A | Born of Christ | ||||||
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| B | Obedience to the name of Christ | |||||
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| C | Excommunication for transgression | ||||
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| B | Serving the master is the key to knowing his name | |||||
| A | Sealed by God |
In a lengthy analysis, Welch explains the chiastic pairings in each section, as well as the parallel features of the larger chiasm.7
Conclusion
As assessed by Welch,
[Benjamin’s] speech, given at the coronation of his son and as part of a high and holy convocation of his people, does not appear to have been delivered extemporaneously. It was well thought out and, before it was distributed by Benjamin in written form, his text appears to have been beautifully polished. In Mosiah 2–5, one finds some superb examples of high literary achievement.8
In several ways, these findings are at odds with the supposition that Joseph Smith fabricated the Book of Mormon. When he translated the text in 1829, he was only 23 years old and had limited education and literary background. One also has to consider the constraints of the translation itself, which featured a rapid dictation without the reliance on any notes or outlines.9 Thus, while the diverse array of poetic forms in Benjamin’s speech fits its claimed ancient context, it is difficult to ascribe their composition to Joseph Smith, who consistently claimed that he dictated the text by the gift and power of God.
Book of Mormon Central, “Why Did King Benjamin Use Poetic Parallels So Extensively? (Mosiah 5:11),” KnoWhy 83 (April 21, 2016).
Donald W. Parry, Poetic Parallelisms in the Book of Mormon: The Complete Text Reformatted (Provo, UT: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2007), 157–173.
John W. Welch, “Parallelism and Chiasmus in Benjamin’s Speech,” in King Benjamin's Speech: “That Ye May Learn Wisdom,” ed. John W. Welch and Stephen D. Ricks (Provo, UT: FARMS 1998), 315–415.
Mosiah 2–5Mosiah 2–5
- 1 This can be readily seen in Donald W. Parry, Poetic Parallelisms in the Book of Mormon: The Complete Text Reformatted (Provo, UT: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2007), 157–173. In addition to King Benjamin’s speech, examples include texts such as 2 Nephi 9, Alma 5, Helaman 14, and Moroni 7. See also, Carl Cranney, “The Deliberate Use of Hebrew Parallelisms in the Book of Mormon,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 23 (2014): 140–165.
- 2 John W. Welch, “Parallelism and Chiasmus in Benjamin’s Speech,” in King Benjamin's Speech: “That Ye May Learn Wisdom,” ed. John W. Welch and Stephen D. Ricks (Provo, UT: FARMS 1998), 315.
- 3 See Welch, “Parallelism and Chiasmus in Benjamin’s Speech,” 319–324, 373–376. For an overview of chiasmus in the Book of Mormon, see Evidence Central, “Book of Mormon Evidence: Chiasmus (Overview),” Evidence #0006, September 19, 2020, online at evidencecentral.org.
- 4 These and other categories of parallelism or repetition can be found in Welch, “Parallelism and Chiasmus in Benjamin’s Speech,” 378–390; Parry, Poetic Parallelisms in the Book of Mormon, 157–173.
- 5 For the most part, these examples follow the structures identified in Parry, Poetic Parallelisms in the Book of Mormon, 157–173. In some cases, slight modifications or adaptations have been made.
- 6 See Welch, “Parallelism and Chiasmus in Benjamin’s Speech,” 378–392; Parry, Poetic Parallelisms in the Book of Mormon, 157–173.
- 7 See Welch, “Parallelism and Chiasmus in Benjamin’s Speech,” 325–376. Note that the elements (A, B, C, etc.) in the above arrangements differ from those used by Welch, who labeled them from A–Z, without starting over at A in each section.
- 8 Welch, “Parallelism and Chiasmus in Benjamin’s Speech,” 315.
- 9 For summaries of these and other aspects of the translation, see Evidence Central, “Translation (Main Category),” online at evidencecentral.org.
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