Internal Reference: 1 Nephi 12:10–11 records Nephi’s vision of garments being made white in Christ’s blood. This redemptive theme clearly links the Savior’s blood to his function as Atoner—a different meaning than the other common theme of ridding one’s own garments of the blood of others (meaning the discharge of one’s spiritual duty). Benjamin then adds the additional detail that Jesus will bleed from every pore, an item that Nephi had not mentioned earlier. (See commentary accompanying verse 11.)
Mosiah 3:8
8 And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be called Mary.
Internal Reference: The name of Jesus’s mother is another of Benjamin’s contributions. Nephi saw her but did not name her (1 Ne. 11:18). According to Coutts et al.: “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.’”
Earlier prophets (e.g., 2 Ne. 25:19) have explicitly associated the Messiah and Jesus. As with the earlier passage in Nephi, the use of “Jesus Christ” as a name is problematic, because “Christ” is a title. (See commentary accompanying 2 Ne. 25:19.)
Vocabulary: Benjamin gives the Messiah a title that is unique to the Book of Mormon. The Messiah is “the Father of heaven and earth.” 2 Nephi 25:12 is the first use of this title: “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.… ” The same title also appears in Alma 11:39 (“And Amulek said unto him: Yea, he is the very Eternal Father of heaven and earth.… ”) and in Helaman 14:12 (“… Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and of earth… ”).
Although unique to the Book of Mormon, this title resembles some also used in the Bible: “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” (Gen. 24:3). This verse uses “Lord” instead of “Father” but is the same in emphasizing the creative role, which is assigned to the Lord rather than being an explicit function of the Messiah. However, the Genesis term is not nearly as formulaic as the Book of Mormon title.
Matthew 11:25 comes closest to the Book of Mormon title: “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.” In this verse, the Old Testament form of “Lord of heaven and earth” is a speech of Jesus directed explicitly to God the father. The Book of Mormon, in contrast, consistently refers to Yahweh-Messiah rather than his Father (the Most High God). In both 2 Nephi 25:12 and Mosiah 3:8, “Father of heaven and of earth” follows “only begotten son” or “son of God.” Thus, the Book of Mormon presents the very interesting problem that terminology of the Father and the Son refer to the same individual. I am not suggesting that God the Father and Jesus are the same nor that this is what the Book of Mormon intends, but only that the epithets appropriate to Yahweh-Messiah included both. The titles refer to the conceptual realm referenced by our position in relation to the Messiah. When Yahweh-Messiah is in the heavens, he is the Father. When he is in the role of Messiah on earth, he is the Son. (See “Excursus: The Nephite Understanding of God,” following 1 Nephi 11.)
The Book of Mormon statements about the Messiah emphasize two aspects—his mission and his divinity. He is proclaimed as divine and termed the creator. Thus, for Nephites, the Messiah is proclaimed as Yahweh. This is a conceptual difference from the way post-exilic Israel viewed the Messiah. The Old World expected a king to reign. In the Davidic tradition, that king was conceptually differentiated from the Lord. For example, in Psalms 2:7, the Lord anoints/ establishes the king. In the Book of Mormon, the Messiah is himself the heavenly king. From Nephi on, therefore, Messianic expectations in the Book of Mormon are different from those of the Old World Israelites. Nephi’s vision established the person of Jesus as the mortal incarnation of Yahweh and, with that connection, shifted the Messianic expectations from ruler to deity. The Book of Mormon is replete with Messianic expectations, but they are salvific, not regnal. The Book of Mormon expects an Atoning Messiah, not a military conqueror.
Culture: The Maya are the only culture of the New World that has left us writing that can now be deciphered. One of the set descriptions of a god was ch’ul chaan ch’ul kab, or heavenly god, earthly god. While this is not precisely the father/child image of the Book of Mormon text, it is nevertheless interesting that a divine descriptor would expressly include the two elements of heaven and earth, just as we see in the Book of Mormon phrase. This does not suggest that there is a genetic relationship between the Maya phrase and that of the Book of Mormon. It is simply interesting that this conceptual reference to a deity for both realms would also exist among the Maya whose gods are most typically associated with a single realm of operation.
Variant: The 1830 typesetter inadvertently left off the word of in the title for Christ. The title here should read “father of heaven and of earth,” which conforms to other instances of the same title (2 Ne. 25:12; Hel. 14:12, 16:18).
The glyphs read ch’ul chaan, ch’ul kab’ or “divine/sacred [one] of heaven, divine/ sacred [one] of earth” (my translation).