Where did the book of Ether come from? Ether wrote the record of the Jaredites, a people who left Babylon when the Lord confounded the language of the people attempting to build the tower Babel (Ether 1:33-43) and (Genesis 11:1-9). Ether wrote this record on 24 gold plates, which were later found by the people of Limhi (Mosiah 8:7-11). The book of Ether contains Moroni’s abridgment of Ether’s record.
We read in Mosiah 28:19, “this account (the book of Ether) shall be written hereafter; for behold, it is expedient that all people should know the things which are written in this account". Mormon however did not include the record prior to his death. His son, Moroni added the book of Ether to the record, "And now I, Moroni, proceed to give an account of those ancient inhabitants who were destroyed by the hand of the Lord upon the face of this north country. And I take mine account from the twenty and four plates which were found by the people of Limhi, which is called the Book of Ether" (Ether 1:1-2).
Why do you think God preserved the book of Ether for our day? There are warnings to those who occupy the promised land, there is a promise of forthcoming scripture and another powerful witness of the decline and eventual destruction of a nation who turned from God.
Before we start, the book of Ether never refers to the people as the Jaredites. There is only a single reference to that name by Mormon in Moroni 9:23. This is why we call the people of the book of Ether, those who descended from Jared, the Jaredite nation.
Ether 1
Here we are privileged to the genealogy from Ether back to Jared. Interesting to note, the record lists those who are “sons” and those who “descended”, making it complete in some fashion but not all.
Interesting to note, we learn about Jared and the brother of Jared. There is never any mention of the second other than “the brother of Jared”. There is a lot of speculation as to why his name is never written in the record. It is similar to how John omits his name during his writings in the New Testament.
We do know the brother of Jared’s name thanks to the Prophet Joseph Smith. Here is the account related by George Reynolds: "While residing in Kirtland Elder Reynolds Cahoon had a son born to him. One day when President Joseph Smith was passing his door he called the Prophet in and asked him to bless and name the baby. Joseph did so and gave the boy the name of Mahonri Moriancumer. When he had finished the blessing he laid the child on the bed, and turning to Elder Cahoon he said, the name I have given your son is the name of the brother of Jared; the Lord has just shown it to me. Elder William F. Cahoon, who was standing near heard the Prophet make this statement to his father; and this was the first time the name of the brother of Jared was known in the Church in this dispensation." (Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p264)
What else do we know about Mahonri Moriancumer? He was a large and mighty man, highly favored of the Lord (verse 34). His brother, Jared, had great faith in his faith and came to him asking for assistance from the Lord that their language would not be confounded (verse 35). He was a man well versed in prayer and had built a relationship with the Lord though communicating with prayer (verses 35-43).
What do you think the difference is between “crying unto the Lord” and merely saying prayers? What can we do to make our prayers more effective? (See Alma 34:17–28.)
Ether 2
The brother of Jared, Jared, their friends and families (all those who did not have their language confounded) did as the Lord commanded. They went to the valley northward named Nimrod. (verse 1) There they gathered together their flocks, caught birds and fish to carry with them. They gathered seeds of every kind and deseret (honey bees) (verse 3). The Lord spoke with the brother of Jared from a cloud (verse 5). Just as Jehovah appeared to and conversed with Moses and led the children of Israel in the wilderness in a cloud by day and in a pillar of fire at night (Exodus 13:21 Numbers 11:25 Numbers 12:5), so did he lead the Jaredites as they were in the wilderness. The Lord commanded them to continue in the wilderness to that "quarter" where there never had been man. It has been suggested that they traveled through central Asia. Whether this was their path or not, they eventually came to the great sea. Here they rested on their laurels. For four years, they parked themselves at the sea shore.
Before we get to this four year span and the Lord chastening them, Moroni puts in a discourse about the promised land (verses 7-12). The Lord preserved the American continent as a “choice land” to which he could lead a righteous people and they could prosper by following Him (1 Nephi 17:38). This same land was promised to the brother of Jared and the Jaredites. This promise of being prosperous, free from bondage and captivity and possessing the land altogether, is a conditional promise. It is conditioned upon the righteousness of the people the Lord brings here. A wicked people who will not serve and love God will be swept of the land and have the wrath of God (is there any doubt? Look to the Jaredites and the Nephites)
President Joseph Fielding Smith said: “These passages of scripture from the Book of Mormon are true; this nation is not exempt, and the people , if they continue to pursue the course of evil and ungodliness that they are now treading, shall eventually be punished. If they continue to disregard the warning voice of the Lord, deny their Redeemer, turn from His gospel unto fables and false theories, and rebel against all that he has through his servants in this day declared for the salvation of man; and if they increase in the practice of iniquity, I want to say to you, that if they do these things, the judgments of the Lord will come upon this land, and this nation will not be saved; we will not be spared from war, from famine, from pestilence and finally from destruction as a nation. Therefore, I call upon the people, not only Latter-day Saints but to all throughout the whole land, to repent of their sins and to accept the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Redeemer and the God of this land. Turn from your evil ways, repent of your sins and receive the fullness of the gospel through the waters of baptism and obedience, that the judgments which shall be poured out upon the ungodly may pass you by” (Doctrines of Salvation 3:321-322)
President Ezra Taft Benson: “ ‘Righteousness exalteth a nation” (Proverbs 14:34). This is the key to understanding our heritage and this is the key to maintaining it. The foundations of America are spiritual. That must never be forgotten nor doubted….. “there are some in this land, among whom I count myself, whose faith it is that this land is reserved only for a righteous people, and we remain here as tenants only as we remain in the favor of the Lord, for He is the landlord as far as this earth is concerned. If we are to remain under heaven’s benign protection and care, we must return to those principles which have brought us our peace, liberty and prosperity. Our problems today are essentially problems of the Spirit. “The solution is not more wealth, more food, more technology, more government, or instruments of destruction- the solution is personal and national reformation. In short, it is to bring our national character ahead of our technological and material advances. Repentance is the sovereign remedy to our problems” (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, page 569 and 580)
Is there any doubt without changes and the gospel reaching and touching more people’s lives we are headed for a collapse of a nation?
They then prepared to cross the sea. The people of Jared built barges following the instructions of the Lord. The brother of Jared called upon the Lord to report that he had prepared the boats as the Lord had commanded. He went on to say, "...and behold there is no light in them. Behold, O Lord, wilt thou suffer that we shall cross this great water in darkness?" (verse 22). The Lord responds to the brother of Jared. (verses 23-25) President Harold B. Lee: "It was as though the Lord were saying to [the brother of Jared], 'Look, I gave you a mind to think with, and I gave you agency to use it. Now you do all you can to help yourself with this problem; and then, after you've done all you can, I'll step in to help you'." (Stand Ye In Holy Places, p243)
Elder Russell M. Nelson stated that he has often heard President Gordon B. Hinckley say, "I don't know how to get anything done except getting on my knees and pleading for help and then getting on my feet and going to work." (Ensign, Nov 1997, p16)
What did Mahonri Moriancumer do? (Ether 3:1-5) Ask yourself, “What can I learn from this?” and “How has the Lord worked in my life this way?”.
Ether 3
The brother of Jared provided stones and prayed to the Lord,
"And I know, O Lord, that thou hast all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man; therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in darkness; and they shall shine forth unto us in the vessels which we have prepared, that we may have light while we shall cross the sea" (verse 4).He sees the finger of the Lord. How would I feel to have this experience? The brother of Jared fell down before the Lord, for he was struck with fear (verse 6). Nothing was better established in the minds of the ancients than the necessity of holiness- the certain knowledge that unholy man would be unprepared to see God. How often do we read “no unclean thing”? It is the entire purpose for the Atonement. The brother of Jared sees the finger of Christ and cannot be held from within the veil. It is based on his great faith. We read “never has man believed in me as thou hast” (verse 15). It is then made clear the Lord still only has a spirit body, he would not come to earth to receive his physical body for another 2000 years.
Moroni explains he “could not make a full account of these things which are written” in the Jaredite record (verse 17). Interesting is his comments in verse 19,”And because of the knowledge of this man he could not be kept from beholding within the veil; and he saw the finger of Jesus, which, when he saw, he fell with fear; for he knew that it was the finger of the Lord; and he had faith no longer, for he knew, nothing doubting.” From an eternal perspective, knowledge and faith work together. Here we see a culmination of faith, which led to knowledge.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote: “In the eternal sense, because faith is the power of God himself, it embraces within its fold a knowledge of all things. This measure of faith, the faith by which the worlds are and were created and which sustains and upholds all things, is found only among resurrected persons. It is faith of saved beings. But mortals are in process, through faith, of gaining eternal salvation. Their faith is based on knowledge of truth, within the meaning of Alma’s statement “faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things,’ but that men have faith when the ‘hope for things which are not seen, which are true.’ In this sense faith is both preceded and supplanted by knowledge, and when any person gains a perfect knowledge on any given matter, then, as pertaining to that thing, he has faith no longer; or, rather, his faith is dormant; it has been supplanted by pure knowledge… the brother of Jared stands out as a good illustration of how the knowledge of God is gained by faith, and also of how that perfect knowledge, from a mortal perspective, replaces faith.” (A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, pages 209-210, 211)
The brother of Jared then has a vision of all things from before the creation of the world to the end. It is in the sealed portion of the Book of Mormon and promised to those who believe in God and his word. See comments for chapter 4.
Ether 4
In verse 7 we read, "And in that day that they shall exercise faith in me, saith the Lord, even as the brother of Jared did, that they may become sanctified in me, then will I manifest unto them the things which the brother of Jared saw, even to the unfolding unto them all my revelations, saith Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of the heavens and of the earth, and all things that in them are."
In verses 13-15 we learn more about this knowledge: "Come unto me, O ye Gentiles, and I will show unto you the greater things, the knowledge which is hid up because of unbelief. Come unto me, O ye house of Israel, and it shall be made manifest unto you how great things the Father hath laid up for you, from the foundation of the world; and it hath not come unto you, because of unbelief. Behold, when ye shall rend that veil of unbelief which doth cause you to remain in your awful state of wickedness, and hardness of heart, and blindness of mind, then shall the great and marvelous things which have been hid up from the foundation of the world from you--yea, when ye shall call upon the Father in my name, with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, then shall ye know that the Father hath remembered the covenant which he made unto your fathers, O house of Israel."
This knowledge is promised to us with conditions. If we are faithful, believing and prayerful we can know them. There is no room for wavering. This is a tremendous vision and amount of knowledge which has been shared with many faithful servants of the Lord. It is not a secret, but only kept sacred from those not prepared to receive it. In addition, it is a protection from those not spiritually prepared to receive the greater knowledge.
Ether 5
This chapter has direct instruction for the Prophet Joseph Smith and includes the calling of three witnesses of the truthfulness of the ancient record. See and read the testimony of the three witnesses.
Ether 6
After 344 days being driven by the winds and sea, the Jaredites arrive at the Promised Land, on the American continent. They are preserved by the goodness of God and by their preparations of following God’s counsel and directions. There was light and air in the barges, just as the Lord promised there would be. When they arrive, they sing praises to the Lord. They shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them (verse 12).
After their arrival in the Promised Land the sons and daughters of Jared, his brother, and their friends began to multiply in the land, wax strong, and prosper. In time, as many families developed, there arose desires for a King. They asked many until finally, Orihah, a son of Jared, agreed to be king. The brother of Jared knew what would happen when a king rules. In verse 23, he said “Surely this thing leadeth to captivity. When they requested a king, the brother of Jared resisted. He recognized, as Mosiah would, a king’s righteousness determines the righteousness of the people (see Mosiah 29:13-32). This concern of the brother of Jared came true as subsequent Jaredite kings turned from righteousness to wickedness and idolatry and the spiritual decline of another fallen nation in the record of the Book of Mormon.
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