According to Jennifer Lane, in the Old Testament Yahweh is described as the Redeemer of Israel. A redeemer in Israelite society was a close family member who was responsible to help his enslaved kinsmen by buying them out of bondage. A comparable family relationship is created between the Lord and individuals by the making of covenants and the giving of a new name. The adoptive covenant becomes the basis for the Lord's acts of redemption. This pattern of adoptive redemption can be seen in both the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon identifies Yahweh, the God and Redeemer of the Old Testament, with Jesus Christ. It further explains that redemption from spiritual bondage comes through the ransom price of his blood and is available to those who enter into adoptive covenants, which create a familial relationship and allow the Lord to act as their redeemer.
In both King Benjamin's address and in the response of the people we can see how the covenant renewal practices associated with the Feast of Tabernacles become a reenactment of the adoptive redemption pattern observed at Sinai, but with an additional, overly spiritual and Christian dimension. The people enter into a covenant with God (Mosiah 5:5), receive a new name which reflects this adoptive relationship (Mosiah 5:7-8), are made free (Mosiah 5:8), and, as a result of retaining the name in one's heart and keeping the covenant, receive the promise of complete redemption, being able to enter the presence of God (Mosiah 5:9-15). This pattern follows the connection between covenant, renaming, and redemption in the experiences of Abraham, Jacob, and the house of Israel in the Old Testament, but here the text makes it clear that the redemption is through Christ. King Benjamin tells the people that "because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters" (Mosiah 5:7). This description is one of the clearest examples that covenant creates an adoptive relationship. The element of renaming is equally clear. The people are told "that ye should take upon you the name of Christ, all you that have entered into the covenant with God" (Mosiah 5:8). Likewise, King Benjamin explicitly explains that it is because of this relationship that the people are able to be redeemed, saying that "under this head [Christ] ye are made free, and there is no other head whereby ye can be made free" (Mosiah 5:8). Finally, they are told that those who "take upon [them] the name of Christ," having covenanted to "be obedient unto the end of [their] lives . . . shall be found at the right hand of God, for [they] shall know the name by which [they are] called; for [they] shall be called by the name of Christ" (Mosiah 5:8-9). This promise of being "found at the right hand of God" is a promise of complete redemption, to be able to enter the presence of God, as the Lord said to the brother of Jared "Because thou knowest these things ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence; therefore I show myself unto you" (Ether 3:13). When we recognize that a person's name and nature were intimately connected in ancient cultures, we can see that those people who "know the name by which [they are] called; for [they] shall be called by the name of Christ" (Mosiah 5:9) know the nature of Christ, like the brother of Jared, because they have that same nature themselves. These are the people who are fully redeemed from the bondage of this world and of the natural man "through the atonement of Christ the Lord" (Mosiah 3:19).
This covenant-making procedure demonstrates that the biblical adoptive redemption pattern is followed in king Benjamin's speech, but with a clearer Christian dimension. [Jennifer Clark Lane, "The Lord Will Redeem His People: Adoptive Covenant and Redemption in the Old Testament and Book of Mormon," in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Vol. 2/2, Fall 1993, pp. 39, 51-52]