Why was it important that King Benjamin’s speech be recorded?

Thomas R. Valletta

“Benjamin’s monumental speech … became a type of constitutional document in Nephite culture. … The fact that each family was given a copy of this speech … facilitated its far-reaching impact. … Shortly after Benjamin’s death … Mosiah sent Ammon and fifteen other emissaries to the Land of Nephi. When they found Limhi and his people, Ammon ‘rehearsed unto them the last words which King Benjamin had taught’ (Mosiah 8:3), and the people of Limhi followed Benjamin’s pattern and ‘entered into a covenant with God … ’ (Mosiah 21:31). Almost a century later, Helaman spoke to his sons … admonishing them ‘to remember … the words which King Benjamin spake unto his people’” (Welch, “King Benjamin’s Speech,” 61).

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