Mosiah Chapters 5-8 is a transition piece that moves the narrative from King Benjamin’s eloquent address to the story of King Zeniff. I think, Mormon wrote about Zeniff because of the dynasty of religious leaders who arose from his people. I’m speaking of Alma and the five generations of prophet-leaders who are his descendants. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
For this entry, several things struck me. One is the Nephites considered life as slaves to Nephites a better arrangement than what they had under the Lamanites. Under the Lamanites they had a 50% tax rate and they couldn’t leave. Tax day is coming. When you pay your taxes this year, keep in mind, the Nephites thought a 50 percent tax rate was worse than slavery.
Another is Ammon, the leader of the expedition to the land of Lehi-Nephi. He was not a descendant of Lehi but a Mulekite. I’m curious why he would be so interested about the Nephites? It begs the question and dovetails into my last observation on this section.
The people don’t weary Mosiah about the Nephites who left so many years ago until after Benjamin dies. I doubt their interest just flipped on at that time. So, why didn’t they do anything before he died? I don’t know, but there’s a lot going on here which we don’t know about.
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