This is a masterful argument. Benjamin has just stated that one of the effects of truly living the gospel will be generosity to the needy. He has also reminded his people of their excuses for withholding that substance. We need to remember that:
• Benjamin has previously invoked the master/servant concept to describe the people’s relationship to God (Mosiah 3:14–25).
• Benjamin has used that relationship as a model for current social interactions (Mosiah 2:18).
• The “substance” that the needy lack is food and raiment.
• The wealthy, whom Benjamin sees as perpetuating economic disparities among the people have a different kind of “substance”: gold, silver, and “all the riches.”
• “Beggar” is a word with powerful connotations, including both economic and social subservience to a higher class/power.
Thus, Benjamin adroitly blends multiple concepts to make an important point. First, he has described a wealthier class who is reluctant to share with the lower class and who justifies their withholding by blaming the needy for causing their own problems—hence, being unworthy of assistance. In other words, two problems overlap: class and need. The “beggars” are those of the lower class who “beg” food and raiment from the higher class who has “all the riches.”
To combat this socio-economic division among his people, Benjamin invokes another hierarchy of higher and lower status, with Yahweh possessing the higher status. Benjamin places Yahweh, the source of the wealth, above the wealthy, who thereby become beggars before Yahweh: “Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind?” The wealthy therefore also occupy a dependent position; they also need charity, and those needs have been met by a merciful God. Thus, a group so blessed should show the same charity to a lower class that Yahweh has shown them.