Spiritual: Benjamin teaches us an important spiritual lesson. There are so many things to do before we gain our exaltation that we might become discouraged with the effort before us. Benjamin assures us that while the task is not less, the time pressures are. We may achieve our goals within our individual capacities. None of us will be required to “run faster than he has strength.”
Rhetorical: While this is a tremendous teaching, it appears somewhat out of place in the context of Benjamin’s discourse. How does he move from exhorting people to share to the statement that “all these things are done in wisdom and order” and then indicate that this will take time. Why does it take time, wisdom, and order for people to learn to share?
The answer is that Benjamin is not addressing the minutia of the individual, but the larger problem of his people. While an individual might be able to easily decide to share, it isn’t the movement of substance that is Benjamin’s concern, but rather the elimination of social stratification on the basis of substance. Because the ultimate problem is social, and tied to engrained conceptions of rank and power, these things will take time to overcome. Benjamin is proposing a radical social reorganization, and the success of that reorganization will take time, wisdom, and order. Nevertheless, they must “be diligent, that thereby [we] might win the prize.” They must keep their eyes on the ultimate goal as they face the realities of people who must unlearn the old social/economic order.