Internal consistency -- Nephi's prophecy

In my last post, I quoted 2 Nephi 26:3, where Nephi prophesies of the coming of Christ.

And after the Messiah shall come there shall be signs given unto my people of his birth, and also of his death and resurrection; and great and terrible shall that day be unto the wicked, for they shall perish; and they perish because they cast out the prophets, and the saints, and stone them, and slay them; wherefore the cry of the blood of the saints shall ascend up to God from the ground against them.

I had not noticed all these details before, but this is another example of internal consistency, where different parts of the Book of Mormon correspond to an astounding level of detail. Compare with the following scriptures from the prophecies of Samuel 5 years before the coming of Christ and the fulfillment of Nephi's prophecies as described in 3 Nephi 8 and 9.

Behold, I give unto you a sign; for five years more cometh, and behold, then cometh the Son of God (Helaman 14:2)

And behold, again, another sign I give unto you, yea, a sign of his death. (Helaman 14:14)

23 And it came to pass that it did last for the space of three days that there was no light seen; and there was great mourning and howling and weeping among all the people continually; yea, great were the groanings of the people, because of the darkness and the great destruction which had come upon them.
24 And in one place they were heard to cry, saying: O that we had repented before this great and terrible day, and then would our brethren have been spared, and they would not have been burned in that great city Zarahemla.
25 And in another place they were heard to cry and mourn, saying: O that we had repented before this great and terrible day, and had not killed and stoned the prophets, and cast them out; then would our mothers and our fair daughters, and our children have been spared, and not have been buried up in that great city Moronihah. And thus were the howlings of the people great and terrible. (3 Nephi 8)

hide their wickedness and abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints shall not come up any more unto me against them. (3 Nephi 9:5, 7, 8, 9, 11)

 

 

Subtle example of internal consistency

Each time I read through the Book of Mormon I find more and more examples of internal consistency. Here is one I hadn't noticed before:

While explaining the purpose of his small plates, Nephi implies he is putting Lehi's lineage in his other plates:

1 And now I, Nephi, do not give the genealogy of my fathers in this part of my record; neither at any time shall I give it after upon these plates which I am writing; for it is given in the record which has been kept by my father; wherefore, I do not write it in this work.
2 For it sufficeth me to say that we are descendants of Joseph. (1 Nephi 6)

This is subtly confirmed as Mormon abridges the large plates of Nephi and knows more detail about the lineage of Lehi:

3 And Aminadi was a descendant of Nephi, who was the son of Lehi, who came out of the land of Jerusalem, who was a descendant of Manasseh, who was the son of Joseph who was sold into Egypt by the hands of his brethren. (Alma 10)

 

Internally consistent detail about Nephi's reign

There is a curious detail in 1 Nephi 10:1

And now I, Nephi, proceed to give an account upon these plates of my proceedings, and my reign and ministry

What reign? At this point, Nephi is likely a teenager who has just left Jerusalem with his family. The first time reader does not yet know that it is a much older Nephi that is reflecting on his life and writing about his experiences. And if they have guessed that much, they don't know much about this older Nephi and what kind of reign this is referring to.

For the rest of 1 Nephi, he keeps narrating his experiences, temporal and spiritual, from earlier in his life. Not until 2 Nephi 5, we learn about the background for his writing and the reference to reigning. In this chapter, Nephi is in the promised land and establishes a society of those who hearken to the commandments of the Lord, after which we read:

18 And it came to pass that they would that I should be their king. But I, Nephi, was desirous that they should have no king; nevertheless, I did for them according to that which was in my power.

Even though he doesn't want the title of king, he is a leader of this group, and his people regard him more or less as king. In Jacob 1:10-11, we read

10 The people having loved Nephi exceedingly, he having been a great protector for them, having wielded the sword of Laban in their defence, and having labored in all his days for their welfare—
11 Wherefore, the people were desirous to retain in remembrance his name. And whoso should reign in his stead were called by the people, second Nephi, third Nephi, and so forth...

Later in 2 Nephi 5, we learn that it is during this reign established in 2 Nephi 5 that Nephi is commanded to make the so-called small plates and engrave the words that we now have in 1 and 2 Nephi.

30 And it came to pass that the Lord God said unto me: Make other plates; and thou shalt engraven many things upon them which are good in my sight, for the profit of thy people.
31 Wherefore, I, Nephi, to be obedient to the commandments of the Lord, went and made these plates upon which I have engraven these things.

In this context, obviously 1 Nephi 10:1 makes sense. But it is not the first time that we get these subtle details that do not make sense until we get the explanation afterwards. In fact, this is quite similar to how we are introduced to Mormon. In the Words of Mormon, we suddenly get a snapshot of the situation several hundred years from where the Book of Omni left off. There is some uncertainty about whether the Words of Mormon came first or last in the dictation sequence. But another one of those details is in Mosiah 18 where we get introduced to the background for Mormon's name, without knowing. Not until 3 Nephi 5, Mormon properly introduces himself and explains that he is named after the place that tells about the converts in Mosiah 18 (see 3 Nephi 5:12).

Some people claim that a poorly educated young farmer just made this all up. He would have to be very clever to complicate the narrative and drop these hints and get back to them later to connect the dots, all to make it seem authentic. This is something he apparently could do seamlessly in essentially one draft with his face in a hat. I don't buy it. Nephi and Mormon were actual people, writing to obey God's commandments for our benefit.

More examples of internal consistency

For those interested, a lot of examples of internal consistency have been collected in a series published at the FairMormon blog. Many of them are based on posts on this blog. An arc graph gives an overview of all the references. Here is a link to the last episode. The final graph looks pretty amazing as a representation of details that Joseph Smith would have to keep in mind if he had authored the book. But the series of 120 examples are by no means complete. I picked up a few more during my recent studies.

The covenant of the freemen

Alma 51 tells about contention among the Nephites, because some people didn't want Pahoran as Chief Judge. In verse 6, we read

And those who were desirous that Pahoran should remain chief judge over the land took upon them the name of freemen; and thus was the division among them, for the freemen had sworn or covenanted to maintain their rights and the privileges of their religion by a free government.

6 years and 5 chapters earlier, Moroni raised the title of liberty. In Alma 46:20 we read

Behold, whosoever will maintain this title upon the land, let them come forth in the strength of the Lord, and enter into a covenant that they will maintain their rights, and their religion, that the Lord God may bless them.

Another aspect of that covenant is described later in Alma 46:35

And it came to pass that whomsoever of the Amalickiahites that would not enter into a covenant to support the cause of freedom, that they might maintain a free government, he caused to be put to death

The covenant that the freemen had sworn, as described in Alma 51, is likely a reference to Alma 46 and means that they had been among the people that "came running together" in Alma 46:21 to support Moroni's cause and entered into this covenant. 6 years later when their freedom came into question again they remembered the covenant they had made and stayed true to it.

The city of Moroni

Another example from Alma 51

Behold, it came to pass that while Moroni was thus breaking down the wars and contentions among his own people, and subjecting them to peace and civilization, and making regulations to prepare for war against the Lamanites, behold, the Lamanites had come into the land of Moroni, which was in the borders by the seashore. (Alma 51:22)

This implies that Moroni is located

1. Close to the borders of Lamanite lands or the wilderness between the Nephite and Lamanite lands
2. By the seashore

This is consistent with Alma 50:13

And it came to pass that the Nephites began the foundation of a city, and they called the name of the city Moroni; and it was by the east sea; and it was on the south by the line of the possessions of the Lamanites

Yes, these verses are only one chapter apart. But with all the other geographical details in these chapters, it is not easy having to remember so many of them to ensure consistent references.

Zarahemla, the person

The city of Zarahemla can be considered the Nephite capital, although the Book of Mormon does not use that term. From the Book of Mosiah until it is burned in 3 Nephi 9, Zarahemla is where the King/Chief Judge lives as well as the High Priest over the church / the keeper of the plates of Nephi. In Mosiah chapter 7, Ammon is described as a descendant of Zarahemla in verses 3 and 13. 86 modern chapters later, in Helaman 1:15, there is another man described as a descendant of Zarahemla. Evidently, there is not just a city of Zarahemla but also a person called Zarahemla. In the dictation sequence by Joseph Smith, starting with the Book of Mosiah, there has been no mention of a person called Zarahemla, even though the Book of Mormon mentions it in passing as if the reader already knows. 

In fact, the reader does already know because the Book of Mormon is written in a different order than it was dictated. The person, Zarahemla, is only mentioned in the Book of Omni, the last or second to last book in the dictation sequence. But in the reading sequence, this mention of Zarahemla comes before the description of people descending from him. Here it is

Zarahemla did rejoice exceedingly, because the Lord had sent the people of Mosiah with the plates of brass which contained the record of the Jews. (Omni 1:14)

When Mosiah-I and his people found the people of Zarahemla, Zarahemla himself was living among them probably as their leader. When they merged and Mosiah became their king, "the people of Zarahemla" is sometimes used when needed in the Book of Mormon to distinguish the part of the people led by Zarahemla before this merge. This sparse information about Zarahemla, the person from the Book of Omni, is all we have (the 116 lost pages probably contained more information). But this example of internal consistency is another demonstration of how the dictation sequence would complicate things if Joseph Smith made this whole thing up. I would like to hear the critic's theories of why Joseph Smith made it more difficult for himself and willingly increased the risk of running into contradictions when he had no apparent reason to.

"Driven back"

True confession: I read this post from Stisa with considerable relish. He carefully demonstrates how a critic gets lost in the subtle details of the Book of Mosiah in the midst of trying to claim it is riddled with inconsistencies.

I privately commended him for not linking the anti-material on this blog, but I also asked for the link so I could review.  It's pretty bad, and many of it's claims could be refuted, but I don't think it would be worth my time, so I'll just refute the first inaccuracy I found.

I didn't get very far (four paragraphs in, to be precise) before I read this:

King Benjamin gave the "ball or director," which guided Lehi's group, to Mosiah II and stated: "Therefore, as they were unfaithful they did not prosper nor progress in their journey, but were driven back, and incurred the displeasure of God upon them; and therefore they were smitten with famine and sore afflictions" (Mosiah 1:17). The text does describe an incident in which Nephi was unable to obtain food, because he had broken his bow, but it does not state that the group was driven back.

In other words, the critic is claiming:

1. As King Benjamin is giving the Liahona to his son Mosiah, he reminds Mosiah that their fathers were at one point "driven back" along their journey.
2. The Book of Mormon never tells us that Nephi's group was driven back.
3. Therefore, the Book of Mormon contains a narrative inconsistency.

This claim is weak to the point of being demonstrably false.  Point #2 above is a highly testable one.  A search of the Book of Mormon text for the words "driven back" reveals three instances in 1 Nephi 18. 

(Notice how when things are going well, the ship is "driven forth" and after things go awry, the words "driven back" are used three times.)

8 And it came to pass after we had all gone down into the ship, and had taken with us our provisions and things which had been commanded us, we did put forth into the sea and were driven forth before the wind towards the promised land.
9 And after we had been driven forth before the wind for the space of many days, behold, my brethren and the sons of Ishmael and also their wives began to make themselves merry, ...
12 And it came to pass that after they had bound me insomuch that I could not move, the compass, which had been prepared of the Lord, did cease to work.
13 Wherefore, they knew not whither they should steer the ship, insomuch that there arose a great storm, yea, a great and terrible tempest, and we were driven back upon the waters for the space of three days; and they began to be frightened exceedingly lest they should be drowned in the sea; nevertheless they did not loose me.
14 And on the fourth day, which we had been driven back, the tempest began to be exceedingly sore.
15 And it came to pass that we were about to be swallowed up in the depths of the sea. And after we had been driven back upon the waters for the space of four days, my brethren began to see that the judgments of God were upon them, and that they must perish save that they should repent of their iniquities; wherefore, they came unto me, and loosed the bands which were upon my wrists, and behold they had swollen exceedingly; and also mine ankles were much swollen, and great was the soreness thereof.

Oversight? Deception? Whatever the case, this claim is wrong.

Internal Consistency in Alma's commandments to Shiblon

In his commandments to his son Shiblon, Alma-2 says:

13 Do not pray as the Zoramites do, for ye have seen that they pray to be heard of men, and to be praised for their wisdom.
14 Do not say: O God, I thank thee that we are better than our brethren; but rather say: O Lord, forgive my unworthiness, and remember my brethren in mercy—yea, acknowledge your unworthiness before God at all times. (Alma 38)

This is consistent with the earlier account of the prayers of the Zoramites:

14 Therefore, whosoever desired to worship must go forth and stand upon the top thereof, and stretch forth his hands towards heaven, and cry with a loud voice, saying...
16 Holy God, we believe that thou hast separated us from our brethren; and we do not believe in the tradition of our brethren, which was handed down to them by the childishness of their fathers; but we believe that thou hast elected us to be thy holy children; and also thou hast made it known unto us that there shall be no Christ. (Alma 31)

We know from Alma 31:7 that Shiblon was among the missionaries Alma-2 took with him, so the statement "ye have seen" in Alma 38:13 is confirmed as accurate from the previous account. Had he said the same thing to Helaman we'd have a problem.

The missionary companions of the Sons of Mosiah

The mission of the Sons of Mosiah among the Lamanites might be my favorite story in the Book of Mormon. We talk about the Sons of Mosiah a lot and tend to forget that they were not alone. In Alma 17:8 we read about the beginning of their mission

And thus they departed into the wilderness with their numbers which they had selected, to go up to the land of Nephi, to preach the word of God unto the Lamanites.

This is another example of an internally consistent reference. Compare with Mosiah 28:1

Now it came to pass that after the sons of Mosiah had done all these things, they took a small number with them and returned to their father, the king, and desired of him that he would grant unto them that they might, with these whom they had selected, go up to the land of Nephi that they might preach the things which they had heard, and that they might impart the word of God to their brethren, the Lamanites

So the Sons of Mosiah did not go on a mission alone. Later, we even learn some of their names. In Alma 21:11, we read about Muloki, Ammah and "his brethren".

Similarly, we tend to think of a group of 5 going around to destroy the church and being stopped by an angel: Alma + the 4 Sons of Mosiah. A careful reading of Mosiah 27:32, 34 suggests otherwise.

And now it came to pass that Alma began from this time forward to teach the people, and those who were with Alma at the time the angel appeared unto them...And four of them were the sons of Mosiah.

It seems that Book of Mormon authors often focus on certain people that are important for the narrative and leave out the rest. It may just be the custom or culture. Another example is Nephi mentioning his sisters once in passing in 2 Nephi 5:6. If he had not done that, many would be inclined to believe that he had no sisters.

This is one reason why I don't find it unlikely that the group who left Jerusalem was larger than we think. For instance that Lehi had a household with servants who came along. Or they encountered people on the way. Or they met and even mixed with other people after they arrived in America. But the Book of Mormon is just very focused on certain people that have a certain role to play in the way the history is related to achieve the real purpose of the book.

Zenos and the restoration of the Lamanites

Following up a concluding thought from this post, I'd like to try to flesh out what Samuel the Lamanite meant when he said:

11 Yea, even if they should dwindle in unbelief the Lord shall prolong their days, until the time shall come which hath been spoken of by our fathers, and also by the prophet Zenos, and many other prophets, concerning the restoration of our brethren, the Lamanites, again to the knowledge of the truth. (Helaman 15)

In this single verse, we find a subtle example of internal consistency regarding an ancient prophetic allegory given by Zenos, which was recorded on the brass plates and preserved for the Nephite prophets/record-keepers to study and comment on over the centuries.

Jacob 5 is a remarkable and complex chapter. I'm using this helpful diagram from the Come, Follow Me manual to help sort through the various visits and the various branches. The Lehites branch is discussed in verse 25 -- the "last" branch placed on "good ground" (promised land) which brings forth both "tame" (Nephites) and "wild" (Lamanites) fruit.

In this presentation about Jacob 5, Matthew Bowen makes the case that references to "nourish" in this chapter are a reference to temple covenants. I strongly agree, especially in light of all of the tree symbolism we've discussed on this blog recently.

To see how the restoration of the Lamanites is mentioned in this chapter, we need to turn our attention to verse 40:

40 And the wild fruit of the last had overcome that part of the tree which brought forth good fruit, even that the branch had withered away and died.

This is a reference to the Lamanites' destruction of the Nephites.

At this point in the allegory, The Lord of the vineyard is ready to mete out justice for all the wild branches:

49 And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard said unto the servant: Let us go to and hew down the trees of the vineyard and cast them into the fire, that they shall not cumber the ground of my vineyard, for I have done all. What could I have done more for my vineyard?

The servant convinces the Lord to "[s]pare [the vineyard] a little longer."

What follows is the last gathering of all the branches back to the "mother tree," including the "last branch" that represent the remnant of the Lamanites. This final time, all of the trees would be nourished by the labor of the servants. Notice the obvious symbolic references to the work of ministering and covenants (in bold):

61 Wherefore, go to, and call servants, that we may labor diligently with our might in the vineyard, that we may prepare the way, that I may bring forth again the natural fruit, which natural fruit is good and the most precious above all other fruit.
62 Wherefore, let us go to and labor with our might this last time, for behold the end draweth nigh, and this is for the last time that I shall prune my vineyard.
63 Graft in the branches; begin at the last that they may be first, and that the first may be last, and dig about the trees, both old and young, the first and the last; and the last and the first, that all may be nourished once again for the last time.

So there it is, a pretty subtle allegorical prophecy of the restoration of the Lamanites to a knowledge of the truth. Keep in mind that Helaman 15 precedes Jacob 5 in the dictation sequence by about 100 chapters.

"other prophets"

Just as Samuel said in Helaman 15:11, "other prophets" testified of these things. Lehi, Nephi, others prophesied of the restoration of the Lamanites. I'll cover this in a future post.

Redemption through ascension

I just liked the sound of that title, but I'm going to preface this by saying my ideas are highly speculative. I just found Mosiah 18:1-2 interesting

1 And now, it came to pass that Alma, who had fled from the servants of king Noah, repented of his sins and iniquities, and went about privately among the people, and began to teach the words of Abinadi—

2 Yea, concerning that which was to come, and also concerning the resurrection of the dead, and the redemption of the people, which was to be brought to pass through the power, and sufferings, and death of Christ, and his resurrection and ascension into heaven.

Even though it's not what I had in mind with this post, this is another example of internal consistency. Alma sums up the teachings of Abinadi. Verse 2 is a repetition of Abinadi's main themes. One could argue that these are pretty common all throughout the Book of Mormon. But "redemption of the people" is an Abinadi trademark. Another interesting one is "ascension into heaven". This is a more peculiar point to bring up but it is indeed a reference to Abinadi's teachings.

8 And thus God breaketh the bands of death, having gained the victory over death; giving the Son power to make intercession for the children of men—

9 Having ascended into heaven, having the bowels of mercy; being filled with compassion towards the children of men; standing betwixt them and justice; having broken the bands of death, taken upon himself their iniquity and their transgressions, having redeemed them, and satisfied the demands of justice. (Mosiah 15)

When I read the first quote in Mosiah 18:1-2 recently, I read it as follows: "began to teach the words of Abinadi- yea, concerning:

• that which was to come
• the resurrection of the dead
• the redemption of the people, which was to be brought to pass through:
• the power
• sufferings and
• death of Christ,
• his resurrection and
• ascension into heaven"

Does it really say that redemption comes through his ascension into heaven? At least, that is one way of reading it. Is there any redemptive power in the ascension? It's not standard Church teaching, so I'm a bit hesitant to make the claim, even though it does appear to be there in Mosiah 18:2 and perhaps also in the verse it is referring to, Mosiah 15:9.

The alternative reading is "began to teach the words of Abinadi-, yea, concerning:

• that which was to come
• the resurrection of the dead
• the redemption of the people, which was to be brought to pass through the power, and sufferings, and death of Christ
• his resurrection and ascension into heaven"

Then we avoid the weird notion of Christ redeeming us through his ascension. But to be honest, I think the first reading makes more sense linguistically. In any case, I find the possibility intriguing. Even if we read it the other way, why did Alma teach the people of Christ's ascension? My speculative thoughts are related to the observation that the atonement of Christ is frequently described as preparing the way. Christ broke the bands of death by resurrecting. This "way" was unavailable to man, but has become available because Christ walked it and thereby prepared it for us. Similarly, perhaps ascending to the Celestial Kingdom after the resurrection is also a "way" that had to be prepared and was prepared by Christ through His ascension? Or perhaps it was a necessary completory step of the mission of He who had "descended below all things"(D&C 88:6)? 

Internal consistency and the "Hill north of Shilom."

In Mosiah 11, we are given a detail about the "Hill north of Shilom":

13 And it came to pass that he caused many buildings to be built in the land Shilom; and he caused a great tower to be built on the hill north of the land Shilom, which had been a resort for the children of Nephi at the time they fled out of the land;

This detail is internally consistent with another mention of that same area:

4 And now, they knew not the course they should travel in the wilderness to go up to the land of Lehi-Nephi; therefore they wandered many days in the wilderness, even forty days did they wander.
5 And when they had wandered forty days they came to a hill, which is north of the land of Shilom, and there they pitched their tents. (Mosiah 7)

The area north of the hill that the people following Mosiah came to as they fled to Zarahemla is the same place the wandering Nephites ended up when they came in search of Zeniff's group.

Something about the natural geography of that area brought both groups to the same spot.

"Redeem his people" as another example of internal consistency and "doctrinal mentors" in the Book of Mormon

Stisa's recent post about the concepts of "redeemer" and "kinsman" mentions that Abinadi is responsible for 5 of the 12 uses of the phrase "redeem his people" in the Book of Mormon.

When I read that, I remembered a post I made way back about the concept of Abinadi playing the role of doctrinal mentor to Alma-1, and Alma-1 playing the role of doctrinal mentor to Alma-2.  That was after I noticed that these three men were the only ones in the entire Book of Mormon to specifically teach about the "first resurrection."

So when I read Stisa's post, I decided to look up where the other 7 uses of "redeem his people" occur in the Book of Mormon.  The results surprised me, even though they confirm my hypothesis. Below you'll find an index of every occurrence of "redeem/redeemed his people, followed by the name of the person who is speaking:

Twelve Examples by Speaker

1. Mosiah 13:33, Abinadi 
2. Mosiah 15:1, Abinadi
3. Mosiah 15:11, Abinadi
4. Mosiah 15:18, Abinadi
5. Mosiah 16:4, Abinadi
6. Mosiah 18:20, Alma-1
7. Alma 5:21, Alma-2
8. Alma 5:27, Alma-2
9. Alma 6:8, Mormon (about Alma-2...see below)
10. Alma 11:40, Amulek
11. Alma 33:22, Alma-2
12. Helaman 5:10, Helaman-2 (quoting Amulek's words to Zeezrom...see below)

More about the Example from Alma 6

Mormon wrote these words, clearly documenting what Alma-2 was teaching:

8 And Alma went and began to declare the word of God unto the church which was established in the valley of Gideon, according to the revelation of the truth of the word which had been spoken by his fathers, and according to the spirit of prophecy which was in him, according to the testimony of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who should come to redeem his people from their sins, and the holy order by which he was called. And thus it is written. Amen. (Alma 6)

More about the Example from Helaman 5

It is true that Helaman wrote these words, but he is very specifically referencing Amulek in Alma 11:

10 And remember also the words which Amulek spake unto Zeezrom, in the city of Ammonihah; for he said unto him that the Lord surely should come to redeem his people, but that he should not come to redeem them in their sins, but to redeem them from their sins. (Helaman 5)

Conclusions

Once again, we see a high degree of internal consistency.  If you had asked me prior to reading Stisa's post referenced above how many times the words "redeem/redeemed his people" showed up in the Book of Mormon, I would have guessed a few dozen or maybe more.  I would have guessed that many authors used this phrase.  Not so.  It seems that there is a chain of possession, so to speak, of the use of this phrase.

What to make about the "outlier" in Alma 11, when Amulek uses the phrase?  I don't consider it an outlier at all. Rather, it seems natural from the narrative of the Book of Alma that Amulek would have considered Alma-2 his doctrinal mentor.

In a similar vein, it seems that Helaman-2 was a careful student of the words of many figures on the large and small plates of Nephi, including Amulek. This makes sense, since he was a keeper of those records. See Helaman 5 for additional examples.

Sometimes I find a pattern in the Book of Mormon and the underlying deeper meaning is immediately apparent to me. (See this series of posts, for example.) Other times, including this example, I notice a pattern but I don't really understand what the deeper meaning is.  I clearly have much more to learn.  One thing I can definitely say is that the text of the Book of Mormon has been carefully prepared by someone with a lot of time and a lot of notes, and it deserves our careful attention.

"blotted out"

I haven't noticed this detail before. In Alma 5, Alma-2 is preaching to the people in Zarahemla. Verse 57 reads:

And now I say unto you, all you that are desirous to follow the voice of the good shepherd, come ye out from the wicked, and be ye separate, and touch not their unclean things; and behold, their names shall be blotted out, that the names of the wicked shall not be numbered among the names of the righteous, that the word of God may be fulfilled, which saith: The names of the wicked shall not be mingled with the names of my people; For the names of the righteous shall be written in the book of life, and unto them will I grant an inheritance at my right hand.

I think this is refering to something that happened a couple of decades earlier that is described in Mosiah 26. Alma-2's father, Alma-1, was the high priest of the church back then and there were some issues about members who had fallen into transgression that Alma-1 inquired the Lord about. The quoted verses below are part of the Lord's response.

24 For behold, in my name are they called; and if they know me they shall come forth, and shall have a place eternally at my right hand...

32 Now I say unto you, Go; and whosoever will not repent of his sins the same shall not be numbered among my people; and this shall be observed from this time forward...

36 And those that would not confess their sins and repent of their iniquity, the same were not numbered among the people of the church, and their names were blotted out.

Another example of internal consistency.

The expression, "blotted out", is also used by King Benjamin as part of a chiasmus in Mosiah 5

A that whosoever shall not take upon him the name of Christ 
   B must be called by some other name; 
      C therefore, he findeth himself on the left hand of God.
         D And I would that ye should remember also, that this is the name 
            E that I said I should give unto you that never should be blotted out, 
               F except it be through transgression; therefore, 
               F' take heed that ye do not transgress, 
            E' that the name be not blotted out of your hearts. 
         D' I say unto you, I would that ye should remember to retain the name 
      C' written always in your hearts, that ye are not found on the left hand of God, 
   B' but that ye hear and know the voice by which ye shall be called, 
A' and also, the name by which he shall call you.

It is interesting to compare the use of this expression here with Alma 7:13

the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance

King Benjamin says that the name of Christ will be blotted out of our hearts if we transgress. But Alma says that Christ has the power to blot out our transgressions. The difference is obviously repentance. If we don't repent, our transgressions will blot out Christ, but if we repent, Christ will blot out our transgressions!

The people's response to King Benjamin

Twice in the course of King Benjamin's sermon, the people respond "with one voice" (see Mosiah 4:2 and Mosiah 5:2). I used to wonder how they could spontaneously just cry out in unison like that when they were so many. I have later learned that it probably was not that spontaneously. We don't get all the details, but we get an interesting idea from Hugh Nibley

Hugh Nibley asks the question, "How could they cry out this long thing with one voice? The answer, as brother Nibley takes many pages to illustrate, is that these actions were part of a ceremony, the great assembly, the national assembly, the coronation of kings. In this ceremony there is a director, or a praecentor. In Greek and Roman times, he was called the stasiarch. Someone would hand him a piece of paper, the emperor would tell him, or someone else would tell him what he wanted the people to chant. He would say, "Now all together" and he would read a line and wave the flag, and they would all chant together. These were formal chants and this was the way it was done. [Hugh W. Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 1, p. 470] (Source)

What I noticed now that I haven't noticed before is how the people both times echo the words of King Benjamin in their response. Consider this:

2 And they had viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth. And they all cried aloud with one voice, saying: O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who created heaven and earth, and all things; who shall come down among the children of men. (Mosiah 4)

They are using the same expressions that King Benjamin used

Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of the earth (Mosiah 2:25)

the atoning blood of Christ (Mosiah 3:18)

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things (Mosiah 3:8) 

shall come down from heaven among the children of men (Mosiah 3:5)

The same thing is happening when they "cried out with one voice" again in Mosiah 5:2-5

2 And they all cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.

3 And we, ourselves, also, through the infinite goodness of God, and the manifestations of his Spirit, have great views of that which is to come; and were it expedient, we could prophesy of all things.

4 And it is the faith which we have had on the things which our king has spoken unto us that has brought us to this great knowledge, whereby we do rejoice with such exceedingly great joy.

5 And we are willing to enter into a covenant with our God to do his will, and to be obedient to his commandments in all things that he shall command us, all the remainder of our days, that we may not bring upon ourselves a never-ending torment, as has been spoken by the angel, that we may not drink out of the cup of the wrath of God.

Compare with

Lord Omnipotent (Mosiah 3:5, 17, 18)

goodness of God (Mosiah 4:5, 6)

exceedingly great joy (Mosiah 4:11, 20)

And the things which I shall tell you are made known unto me by an angel from God... endless torment, from whence they can no more return; therefore they have drunk damnation to their own souls. Therefore, they have drunk out of the cup of the wrath of God (Mosiah 3:2, 25-26)

"Goodness of God" and "exceedingly great joy" are not unique expressions in the Book of Mormon, but since they are repeated several times in these chapters, I think the reference is intentional. "Lord Omnipotent" is not found anywhere in the Book of Mormon except for King Benjamin's speech.

So what does this mean? Does this mean the people have been paying so close attention that they can remember several of the exact expressions King Benjamin used after hearing it only once? Probably not. Rather, it means that it had already been written down

therefore he caused that the words which he spake should be written and sent forth among those that were not under the sound of his voice, that they might also receive his words. (Mosiah 2:8)

So they already had the written word from King Benjamin and could base their response on that. If Hugh Nibley is right, this response was written down too for a director who could lead the chant. The textual connections support this idea of a pre-written chant as a formal ceremony, which in turn explains how they could all "cry out with one voice". They do not support the idea that Joseph Smith, with his face in a hat and without access to notes or manuscript, made this all up.