Day 21 - Mosiah 2-4

Spiritual Thought:

“No member of this Church can stand approved in the presence of God who has not seriously and carefully read the Book of Mormon.”   (Joseph Fielding Smith)

Daily Focus Scriptures to mark and ponder:

Mosiah 2:6 - "And they pitched their tents round about the temple, every man having his tent with the door there of towards the temple..."

Mosiah 2:8 - "And it came to pass that he (King Benjamin) began to speak to his people from the tower; and they could not all hear his words...therefore he caused that the words which he spake should be written and sent forth..."

Mosiah 2:17 - "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."

Daily Questions:  Where are we Pitching our Tents?

Where did Lot pitch his tent in Genesis 13:12? (Towards Sodom) What danger does such a decision pose for people in our own day? What is the modern equivalent of pitching our tents toward Sodom? If a non-member neighbor visiting your home were asked to make a judgment about where you have pitched your tent on the basis of what is on your walls, on your video shelf, or on your TV, what conclusion would he or she reach? Where is my tent facing?  What am I willing to sacrifice to hear the words of the Prophet?  Do I take the opportunity to read the Prophet's printed  message in the Ensign each month?

For Kids:

Click here to listen and watch song of "Follow the Prophet"

Click here to watch video of King Benjamin

Food for Thought: 

King Benjamin’s Address is only second in importance next to the Sermon on the Mount.  His Speech might have been an Early Jewish Festival.

The Nephites lived the Law of Moses and the observance of festivals was a part of the law.  Scholars believe that the ancient Israelites celebrated a single New Year Festival around the month of September.  In later Judaism, they developed this single festival into 3 separate ones.

1.     Rosh Hashana (New Year)

2.     Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)

3.     Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles)

The earlier Israelite festival is precisely what we find in the Book of Mormon – not three separate festivals, but one.  Benjamin’s Speech weaves together the characteristic strands of these three Jewish festivals.

1.     The Jewish New Year – was a day of judgment, of falling down before God, and of remembering and celebrating the kingship of God - all prominent aspects of Benjamin’s Speech.

2.     The Day of Atonement – one finds concerns about atonement, particularly for sins of inadvertence and of rebelliousness, and admonitions about confession and giving to the poor – again, distinctive teachings of Benjamin.

3.   The Feast of Tabernacles, (As at Benjamin’s) one finds people dwelling in TENTS, each man with his family, to listen to the king deliver the “paragraph of the King” and given an accounting of his stewardship as king – but sill mere-mortal.  This was also to be a “Coronation of King Mosiah II”

BOMING Picture:  Even my 88 year old Mom - is not too old to take the Book of Mormon Challenge!