Every seventh year, all Israelites—men, women and children (it is important to note that there are children here too)—were required to come to the temple in Jerusalem on the Feast of Tabernacles, where sacrifices would be made, the law would be read, and they would then renew the Mosiac covenant. There are examples of these covenant renewal assemblies in Joshua 24 and in other places in the Old Testament, such as the book of Nehemiah.
These background details help give readers some clues as to what was most likely happening here. Because Benjamin had been on the throne so long, this is likely the first time that many of these people had witnessed the coronation of a king. However, it would not have been the first time that the people would have renewed their covenants (Figure 3).
Figure 3 Welch, John W., and Greg Welch. "King Benjamin’s Coronation of Mosiah." In Charting the Book of Mormon: Visual Aids for Personal Study and Teaching, chart 85.