Internal Reference: The specific naming of Jesus’ mother as Mary is new to the Book of Mormon at this point. Nephi saw her, but did not name her (1 Nephi 11:18). “The name Mary was a common Jewish name. In Hebrew it is spelled Miriam, notably also the name of the sister of Moses (Num. 26:59). The name in Hebrew means ”one who is exalted.“ In other words, the mother of the Savior would be called ”one who is exalted“ (”Complete Text of Benjamin’s Speech with Notes and Comments." In: King Benjamin’s Speech. FARMS 1998, p. 549-50).
The association between the Messiah and Jesus is explicit in earlier prophets (such as 2 Nephi 25:19). As with the earlier passage in Nephi, the use of “Jesus Christ” as a name is problematic as “Christ” is more properly a title. See the comment on 2 Nephi 25:19 for a discussion.
Vocabulary: A specific title is here given to Christ that is unique to the Book of Mormon. Christ is “the Father of heaven and earth.” This title makes its first appearance in Nephi’s writings:
“2 Nephi 25:12 But, behold, they shall have wars, and rumors of wars; and when the day cometh that the Only Begotten of the Father, yea, even the Father of heaven and of earth, shall manifest himself unto them in the flesh, behold, they will reject him, because of their iniquities, and the hardness of their hearts, and the stiffness of their necks.”
After Benjamin’s time, the title is also used by Alma (Alma 11:39) and by Helaman:
“Hel. 14:12 And also that ye might know of the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and of earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and that ye might know of the signs of his coming, to the intent that ye might believe on his name.”
There are some similarities in this title to titles from the Bible:
“Gen. 24:3 And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:”
The Genesis usage has Lord in the place of Father, but conceptually it is the same, emphasizing the creative role. The creative role is not explicitly assigned to the Messiah, but rather to the Lord. However, this term is not nearly as formulaic as that of the Book of Mormon. The closest to the Book of Mormon “formula” is in Matthew:
“Matt. 11:25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.”
This one is interesting because it preserves the Old Testament usage of “Lord of heaven and earth” and places the words in Jesus’ mouth - directed to his father. This particular usage is quite in opposition to the Book of Mormon formula that consistently refers to Jesus rather than his Father.
In both 2 Nephi 25:12 and Mosiah 3:8 the label “Father of heaven and of earth” follows another label “only begotten son” or “son of God.” Thus we have in the Book of Mormon that very interesting problem of the Father and the Son being terms that refer to the same person (note that I am not suggesting that God the Father and Jesus are the same, nor that the Book of Mormon teaches that - but only that the epithets appropriate to Jesus included both).
In the Book of Mormon, the emphasis for the Messiah is on two aspects - of course his mission, but also his divinity. He is proclaimed as divine, and listed as the creator. Thus for Nephi’s people, Jesus is being proclaimed as Jehovah. That probably doesn’t surprise many LDS, but I think it would have been foreign to the Old Testament conception of Messiah where the tradition was most firmly established with a Davidic descendant/replicant.
It appears that the Messianic expectations of the Old World and the New World have a significant difference. The Old World expected a king to reign. That king in the Davidic tradition was conceptually divided from the Lord (as in Psalms, where the anointing/establishment of the King comes through the Lord).
In the Book of Mormon, the Messianic image is altered to become the Lord himself who will come. From Nephi on, the Messianic expectations of the Book of Mormon peoples seem to have a different feel from those of the Old World Israelites. I suggest that Nephi’s vision established the person of Jesus with the pre-mortal person of Jehovah, and with that connection shifted the expectation from ruler to deity for the expected mission of the Savior. The Book of Mormon is replete with Messianic expectations, but they are salvific, not regnal. The Book of Mormon expects a redeeming Messiah, not a military conqueror.