Missionary Scriptures

Nephi and his brothers went to Jerusalem, to the house of Laban, and obtained the brass plates, the scriptures, the account of God's dealings with His peoples since the world began; he brought back to his father Lehi a scriptural account that is somewhat analogous to our modern day Old Testament, only Nephi's version was a much earlier, much purer rendition of the Scriptures. The scriptures were had among the people of king Mosiah and on into the reign of the judges. I wonder how many people had a personal copy of the Scriptures though. Based on the following scriptures, it seems like Aaron, one of the sons of Mosiah, had a personal set:

12 And it came to pass that when Aaron saw that the king would believe his words, he began from the creation of Adam, reading the scriptures unto the king—how God created man after his own image, and that God gave him commandments, and that because of transgression, man had fallen.
13 And Aaron did expound unto him the scriptures from the creation of Adam, laying the fall of man before him, and their carnal state and also the plan of redemption, which was prepared from the foundation of the world, through Christ, for all whosoever would believe on his name (Alma 22).

I would assume that a personal copy of the scriptures wasn't the easiest thing to obtain. Each copy had to be transcribed by hand, and that much have been an awful lot of pages to transcribe. Perhaps because Aaron was a son of the king he had more ready access to the Scriptures, as well as the education to read and understand them, and perhaps that is why he was able to get his own set.

 

Another interpretation is that he "read" the scriptures to the king out of his memory. Our own modern day missionaries were in the habit of memorizing the scriptures and discussions they taught word for word. Either way, it is clear that Aaron knew the scriptures well, having studied them diligently and obtained the word from them. And it is also clear that the scriptures are the most critical tool a missionary can have. Surely the mission trip of Aaron and his brothers would have been a failure without the power of the scriptures. Using those scriptures Aaron and his brothers tutored and trained kings in the ways of the Lord.