It's funny too that Ben kind of got conned and lied to by Locke. Ben killed his own father, pretty dramatically, yet Locke HAD his father killed by sawyer, which I think was the proper person to kill cooper anyway.
I have this feeling that the Othes had conversations with Jacob previously, but through their own apparitions, and when Ben came along and seemed to communicate clearly with Jacob, the others sort of just followed Ben, like a saviour. Yet now I think the Others are seeing that Ben may be making changes to Jacob's original plans, and they do really want a change.. I'm just not sure. Good post, there is defiantely a dynamic between Richard and Ben that w do not understand, since Richard seems to have been the previous leader.