Always Before Our Eyes
When King Benjamin taught his sons, he tried to help them see the immense value of the scriptures. He said, “My sons, I would that ye should remember that were it not for these plates, which contain these records and these commandments, we must have suffered in ignorance, even at this present time, not knowing the mysteries of God…. I say unto you, my sons, were it not for these things, which have been kept and preserved by the hand of God, that we might read and understand of his mysteries, and have his commandments always before our eyes, that even our fathers would have dwindled in unbelief, and we should have been like unto our brethren, the Lamanites, who know nothing concerning these things, or even do not believe them when they are taught them, because of the traditions of their fathers, which are not correct.” Without the scriptures, they would not have been able to keep their faith in God. Benjamin continued, “O my sons, I would that ye should remember that these sayings are true, and also that these records are true. And behold, also the plates of Nephi, which contain the records and the sayings of our fathers from the time they left Jerusalem until now, and they are true; and we can know of their surety because we have them before our eyes. And now, my sons, I would that ye should remember to search them diligently, that ye may profit thereby; and I would that ye should keep the commandments of God, that ye may prosper in the land according to the promises which the Lord made unto our fathers” (Mosiah 1:3-7). I love the idea that we should have the words of the scriptures “always before our eyes.” Benjamin knew that we need the scriptures with us continually if we are to keep the faith and make the decisions the Lord wants us to make.
I wonder
if Benjamin was thinking about these words of the Lord from the plates of brass
that we have now in the book of Deuteronomy as he spoke about having our eyes
on the scriptures: “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command
thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently
unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and
when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest
up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as
frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy
house, and on thy gates” (Deuteronomy 6:5-9). Here the Lord literally commanded
them to put the scriptures on their heads between their eyes so they would
always remember them. That is a practice that some Jews still observe today. They
put small black boxes called phylacteries (or tefillin) on their heads containing
scrolls of parchment with the words of scripture written on them. We don’t
literally do that today, but I love the symbolism of always having the
scriptures in our vision and on our mind. More important than physically having
them close by is reading, understanding, and searching them in order to draw
close to the Savior. That is the sign that we can give to the Lord that we
treasure His word: we search diligently each day in the scriptures. As we
strive to keep the scriptures always before our eyes, He will prosper us in the
land as Benjamin promised.
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