Benjamin begins to describe a series of attributes of one who continues in humility and faith. While all of these actions are taken by individuals, they all occur in social arenas. The communal nature of the experience underscores the communal nature of the covenant they will make. Benjamin’s main purpose is still to heal and restore the community. While he talks about these traits as individual duties, the similar collective actions of individuals creates a type of community and a type of communal interaction.
In this context, the first communal benefit, significantly, is that “ye will not have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably.” The fruit of accepting Yahweh-Messiah as a community is that they will no longer desire “to injure one another.” Both by their removing the source of contentions and by infusing a new spirit, the old antagonisms disappear. They will “live peaceably” among themselves.
They will also “render to every man according to that which is his due.” Under what circumstances had men not received their due? This point will become clearer as we examine the rest of the communal actions on Benjamin’s list, but we may suspect that some men are not receiving their due because wealth is concentrated in a limited number of hands. Such economic inequality was the downfall of the city of Nephi. Those who fled from it had seen the destructiveness of class divisions—and indeed, were likely fleeing from them. Thus, they would be highly sensitive to issues of the redistribution of wealth. Just as social egalitarianism was an underpinning of Nephite religio-political culture in the land of Nephi, it becomes foundational for the combined Nephite-Zarahemlaite nation.