Labor to Serve One Another

In King Benjamin’s famous speech to his people, he described his service this way: “I am like as yourselves, subject to all manner of infirmities in body and mind; yet I have been chosen by this people, and consecrated by my father, and was suffered by the hand of the Lord that I should be a ruler and a king over this people; and have been kept and preserved by his matchless power, to serve you with all the might, mind and strength which the Lord hath granted unto me. I say unto you that as I have been suffered to spend my days in your service, even up to this time, and have not sought gold nor silver nor any manner of riches of you.” He described the service that he rendered this way: “And even I, myself, have labored with mine own hands that I might serve you, and that ye should not be laden with taxes, and that there should nothing come upon you which was grievous to be borne—and of all these things which I have spoken, ye yourselves are witnesses this day” (Mosiah 2:11-12, 14). This was a preamble to his invitation to them to likewise serve one another. He did not explain what kind of service he did for the people, but Mormon did give us this additional detail: “But behold, king Benjamin gathered together his armies, and he did stand against them; and he did fight with the strength of his own arm, with the sword of Laban” (Words of Mormon 1:13). When they fought the Lamanites, King Benjamin was there among them seeking to preserve their lives, wielding the sword of Laban to defend them while putting his own life at risk. He showed incredible humility as their king by being willing to labor and fight amongst them for their benefit.

            We have one more detail about the service that King Benjamin rendered his people from this description by Mormon of Benjamin’s son Mosiah: “And king Mosiah did cause his people that they should till the earth. And he also, himself, did till the earth, that thereby he might not become burdensome to his people, that he might do according to that which his father had done in all things” (Mosiah 6:7). Mosiah did not just encourage his people to till the earth to provide food for their society, he also went out and worked among them. And one of the main reasons that he did this was to be like his father, suggesting that King Benjamin had likewise labored with his own hands to plant and harvest food for himself and his people. What an incredible thing for a king to show that kind of humility and love for his people. They found, as so many leaders have failed to find, that the greatest joy of leadership is in service and not in power. These two kings had true power from their service and not from constraining the people. These words of the Lord in our dispensation certainly could be applied to them: “And thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever” (Doctrine and Covenants 121:46).   

This account reminds me of the character Konstantin Levin in Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina who was a wealthy land owner in Russia. In one scene he had many hired hands who were harvesting his fields for him, and he chose to join them and work alongside them. The story relates, “In the very heat of the day the mowing did not seem such hard work to him. The perspiration with which he was drenched cooled him, while the sun, that burned his back, his head, and his arms, bare to the elbow, gave a vigor and dogged energy to his labor; and more and more often now came those moments of unconsciousness, when it was possible not to think what one was doing. The scythe cut of itself. These were happy moments. Still more delightful were the moments when they reached the stream where the rows ended, and the old man rubbed his scythe with the wet, thick grass, rinsed its blade in the fresh water of the stream, ladled out a little in a tin dipper, and offered Levin a drink.” He found joy in simply working with others, not as their master but in service as their fellow laborer. The story continues, “And truly Levin had never drunk any liquor so good as this warm water with green bits floating in it, and a taste of rust from the tin dipper. And immediately after this came the delicious, slow saunter, with his hand on the scythe, during which he could wipe away the streaming sweat, take deep breaths of air, and look about at the long string of mowers and at what was happening around in the forest and the country. The longer Levin mowed, the oftener he felt the moments of unconsciousness in which it seemed not his hands that swung the scythe, but the scythe mowing of itself, a body full of life and consciousness of its own, and as though by magic, without thinking of it, the work turned out regular and well-finished of itself. These were the most blissful moments.” True service in behalf of others brings the happiest moments. Levin was a true leader in that he was willing to work hard alongside those whom he paid for this labor, and this fictional character perhaps gives us a glimpse of what it might have been for King Benjamin and King Mosiah to till the earth alongside the Nephites. King Benjamin’s words and example invite us still to this same kind of service: “Behold, ye have called me your king; and if I, whom ye call your king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye to labor to serve one another?” (Mosiah 2:18)