Words from the Dust

Crying from the Dust: Rhetorical Analysis of King Benjamin's Final Address

For many readers of the Book of Mormon, the final address given by a respected religious leader and king stands out as one of the richest passages of the entire book. King Benjamin, as this speech's author and deliverer, was not only a great leader, but also a skilled rhetorician who knew how to involve his audience. In his attempt not only to inform but persuade his people of the truth of certain abstract ideas, King Benjamin draws largely upon his ethos as a respected magistrate and prophet as well as emotions associated with man's relationship to God, while anticipating and addressing objections his listeners might have to his expressed advice.

Throughout his remarks, Benjamin relates his own experience as an example, then compares himself to his audience to further involve them in his message. “I am like unto yourselves,” he says, after emphasizing his frail mortal nature. Knowing that much of the message he was about to deliver came from things he had learned for himself, Benjamin implied that what was true for Benjamin as a king and ruler applied to them in equal measure. Only by recognizing their similarities to Benjamin would his listeners internalize the principles he sought to ingrain within them. Had the people thought that Benjamin was simply trying for one last stab at positive publicity, it would have been easy for them to brush off his exhortations. But King Benjamin left no room for doubt: “I do not desire to boast,” said he, after unfolding to them the service he had provided during his reign. This statement leads into a powerful rhetorical question that both utilizes his connection with his audience and causes them to interact mentally, due to its presentation as a question: “if I, whom ye call your king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye to labor to serve one another?”

Not only does this question further the relationship between Benjamin and his people, but it is also an enthymeme. Two observations are stated: first, that he is their king; second, that he labors to serve them. His conclusion that they ought to serve one another is only true to his audience if they accept the implied notion that they ought to be more like Benjamin in their conduct one to another. Going back to his previous statements, this draws upon the connection he has established from the first – that he and they are essentially in the same boat and ought to live by the same principles. Taking all these into account, we see that Benjamin has masterfully combined the power of enthymeme, ethos, and even rhetorical question into a single, seemingly simple statement. Significantly, he uses the phase, “whom ye call your king,” rather than “who am your king.” Possibly, he is reminding them of the respect they have already given him as signified by their willingness for him to be their king, further magnifying the power of his ethos. In fact, he goes on to repeat this phrase, “whom ye call your king,” multiple times later on to similar effect.

In delivering his main message, Benjamin proceeds to elicit a wide variety of emotional responses from his audience in order to induce a specific change in behavior or understanding. This first occurs through a sort of collective self-deprecation in which he describes the supreme majesty and goodness of God, which he then juxtaposes with the pitifully low value of man's services to God, no matter how sincerely given. Again, he describes this both in terms of his audience and in terms of himself to unify himself with his audience. The overall effect is an expression of humility and deep gratitude, which are largely products of diction that reflects these emotions in himself. For example, King Benjamin builds tension as he approaches a climatic conclusion regarding the unprofitability of man by making several lengthy “if” statements so that his audience is on the verge of their seats but are nevertheless taken aback at the brevity and simplicity of his final deduction: “yet ye would be unprofitable servants.” Already trusting their leader with whom they now share a strong bond of identity, this sequence would cause their hearts yearn to be better servants and would lead them to marvel on the mercies of their Lord.

Benjamin also makes a direct appeal to emotions of fear and dismay to convince his audience of the awfulness of the condition of the sinner. He progresses through several degrees of intensity to make this argument, from simple implicit advice to final explicit warning. After enumerating the benefits of righteousness, he first moves in the other direction by suggesting that “there is a wo pronounced upon him who listeth to obey [the evil spirit]” (150). Shortly thereafter comes a reference to “everlasting punishment” as well as two metaphors to illustrate the concept of the punishment in contexts that his audience could easily comprehend – drinking and earning wages. Though he has now begun to articulate the nature of the punishment, he has mostly just tapped the logical or perceptual resources available as a rhetorician rather than reach emotional climaxes. He does so in a direct way – by referring to a set of emotions which he associates with the man who dies in his sins. “The demands of divine justice do awaken his immortal soul to a lively sense of his own guilt...and doth fill his soul with guilt, and pain, and anguish...” He then goes even further in relating this message to his audience by addressing them specifically as “old men,” “young men,” and “little children,” and exhorting them to experience a “remembrance of the awful situation of those that have fallen into transgression.” In other words, he actually tells his audience to ponder on the horrible feelings he had just described, to experience it for themselves in some small way, to persuade them of the undesirability of the path which ends in sin.

King Benjamin makes another particularly persuasive point near the end of his speech, regarding charitable treatment of beggars. After urging them to help beggars, he considers an objection one might pose to such a proposition – that the beggar brought it upon himself, and the his punishments are just. Even as Benjamin had earlier implied that his audience should try to be more like himself in serving each other, he now takes this same concept to a higher level, asking “are we not all beggars?” His point is that God is the provider of all our possessions, and that God does not turn us away when we plea to him for help. This is, in effect, another enthymeme. God gives liberally to us, therefore we should give to beggars also. The hidden assumption to complete this argument is that his audience wants to emulate God, which most of them (hopefully) do. Following the pattern he had established earlier in his speech, King Benjamin asks rhetorical questions, employs enthymemes to appeal to reasoning and logic, and even appeals to the ethos of God and our desire to emulate him to establish the intended effect – which is to implant in his people a greater desire to impart of their substance to the needy.

King Benjamin's address is one of the most-quoted portions of the Book of Mormon – with good reason. His speaking style and persuasive devices are unique among ancient records of similar date and have withstood the test of time. Speakers today who wish to improve upon their audience interaction skills, emotional appeals, and even logical progression of ideas will be hard-pressed to find a better example than the one contained therein.

Works Cited

The Book of Mormon. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1989.

Print.

Note: I haven't put in all the page numbers for the scripture references since I've been doing this on a computer away from my hard copy of the scriptures.