An Introduction to the Book of Ether
Book of Mormon Notes - Saturday, April 20, 2024, An Introduction to the Book of Ether
Ether was the last Jaredite prophet and record keeper.
Many of the connections and similarities between Moroni, the last Nephite prophet and record keeper and Ether, the last Jaredite prophet and record keeper are obvious. Moroni must have known that the connections and similarities would be obvious to his latter-day audience.
As I read Moroni’s words at the end of his father’s book, it seems to me that at first Moroni intended to finish his father’s record and then hide the plates again. What caused Moroni to add his abridgment of the record of the Jaredites?
When I think of Moroni as he abridged and added the Book of Ether to Mormon’s abridgment of the Book of Mormon and the small plates of Nephi, there are so many layers of meaning in his work. For example, Moroni must have known that those of us in his latter-day audience who would study the Book of Mormon seriously and with real intent to know and follow the truth would stand in relation to him and the annihilated Nephite civilization as he, Moroni, stood in relation to Ether and the annihilated Jaredite civilization. Thus, as we ponder Moroni in his awful circumstances, he shows us his own work as he contemplated the awful circumstances of Ether.
In other words, Moroni knows something about what his latter-day audience would feel to learn about the rise and fall of a great civilization that preceded his own and the efforts of a final prophet to transmit the Gospel of Jesus Christ and a record of his people to future generations. We moderns are the beneficiaries of the work of both Ether and Moroni, and we have the witness of two nations that preceded our own.
Consider what Moroni may have wished to teach his latter-day audience. As we moderns read and study the Book of Mormon - learning about the ancient Nephites and Lamanites, and their rise and fall - and as we reflect upon the life the last Nephite prophet, we may feel pity and sympathy for Moroni in his sad, solitary circumstances. But Moroni was hard at work, writing and abridging - learning about the ancient Jaredites, and their rise and fall - the Jaredite record. As his own civilization crumbled around him, Moroni must have found solace in and a great sympathy for the great and last Jaredite prophet Ether. Who better than Moroni could understand what it was like to be the last survivor of a fallen nation?
If we try to put ourselves in Moroni’s shoes as he abridges the record of the Jaredites, perhaps we will understand what Moroni understood about his future readers. Think of it this way: Ether wrote his record of the rise and fall of the Jaredites, and he witnessed their downfall and complete destruction, then Moroni, while abridging Ether’s account, considered how the rise and fall of the Jaredites was a type of the rise and fall of his own people, the Nephites, even as he, Moroni, witnessed the downfall and complete destruction of the Nephites. Then, one layer deeper, Moroni saw the rise and fall of a third and future civilization, our own, and he knew that the faithful among his latter-day audience would also lament the rise and fall of the Nephites. However, Moroni, like his father Mormon, also gives us an example of how to study the rise and fall of an ancient civilization and what lessons to draw from it. Thus, when we study Moroni’s abridgment of the Book of Ether, we can also learn how better to study the Book of Mormon.
If we ask: What did Moroni emphasize in his abridgment of the Book of Ether? and What did Moroni, in the midst of the destruction of his own people, want his latter-day audience to understand? then perhaps we can learn, in the midst of the prophesied latter-day destruction, from the example of Moroni what to look for not only in the Book of Ether, but also in the Book of Mormon, his father’s abridgment. In essence, Moroni’s diligent study of the remote past - the Jaredite civilization that preceded the Nephite civilization, helped him to better understand the rise and fall of his own civilization, the Nephite nation, as well as the rise and fall of a future civilization, specifically that of the United States of America.
Moroni had the rise and fall of at least three civilizations present before his mind as he wrote: the rise and fall of the Jaredites, the rise and fall of the Nephites, and the rise and fall of the United States of America. The destruction of the first two were complete, but Moroni knew that his latter-day audience would receive his record before the destruction of our own civilization was complete. Thus, there was hope for us who receive the Book of Mormon (and the Book of Ether) in the last days and learn, as Moroni wrote, to be wiser than they were.
One reason for the hope that Moroni may have had for his latter-day audience, despite his many rebukes because of our wickedness, degeneracy, and apostasy, is that knowledge of the Book of Mormon and of Jesus Christ would spread throughout the entire world as a warning and a possible prevention against destruction. Whereas the Jaredites lost track of and failed to learn from their own history, and whereas the Nephites lost track of and failed to learn from both their own history and that of the Jaredites, perhaps there was hope for a latter-day audience that would have the testimony of two nations (as well as the testimony of the Jews in the Old and New Testaments) to learn from. Perhaps Moroni foresaw that at least some among his latter-day audience would embrace the lessons that two previous civilizations upon the American continent had to offer.
But it also seems as though Moroni, Mormon, and an elite few among the Nephites truly understood and embraced the lessons that the fallen Jaredites offered them, along with the lessons of prior prophets and generations of Nephites as recorded in the large and small plates of Nephi. To put all of this more simply, some Nephites read and studied the scriptures, but many did not.
We may wonder how it was possible for the Nephites after the time of King Mosiah - who had access to the translation of the Book of Ether - to fall into the very same errors in which the Jaredites fell. But here we are, we modern Americans (and others), with access to many records, the records of the Nephites and the Jaredites and many others, and as far as I can tell, we are falling into the very same errors that both the Jaredites and the Nephites fell.
I imagine that if a record of the rise and fall of the United States were preserved - along with the Book of Mormon, the Book of Ether, and many other records - for a future civilization upon the American continent, the pattern would be very much the same. Human nature does not change, no matter how many previous civilizations - and their rising and falling - there are to learn from.
What do we know about Ether from the Book of Mormon? Among other things we know that:
He was a prophet in the days of Coriantumr2: Ether 12:1–2
He prophesied great and marvelous things: Ether 12:5
He was rejected: Ether 13:2
He spoke of Jesus Christ and the New Jerusalem: Ether 13:4
He made a record on twenty-four gold plates called the Book of Ether: Ether 1:2, 6
He hid in caves and witnessed the entire destruction of the Jaredites: Ether 13:13–14, 18
He watched, but did not join his people Ether 15:12–13
He called Coriantumr2 to repentance: Ether 13:20–22
His prophesied were fulfilled: Ether 13:21, 24
He recorded his last words: Ether 15:34
He finished and hid his record: Ether 15:33
Coriantumr2 remembered his words: Ether 15:1
What is the Book of Ether? The LDS Guide to the Scriptures contains a helpful summary:
THE BOOK OF ETHER
A book in the Book of Mormon that contains portions of the record of the Jaredites. The Jaredites were a group of people who lived in the western hemisphere many centuries before the people of Lehi. The book of Ether was taken from twenty-four plates found by the people of Limhi (Mosiah 8:8–9).
Chapters 1–2 tell how the Jaredites left their home at the time of the Tower of Babel and began their journey to what is now known as the American continent. Chapters 3–6 explain that the brother of Jared saw the premortal Savior and that the Jaredites traveled in eight barges. Chapters 7–11 continue the history of wickedness that dominated much of Jaredite history. Moroni, who edited Ether’s record, wrote in chapters 12–13 of wonders done by faith and of Christ and a New Jerusalem to come. Chapters 14–15 tell how the Jaredites became a mighty nation but were destroyed by civil war due to wickedness.
Certainly Moroni wrote the heading to his abridgment of the Book of Ether:
THE BOOK OF ETHER
The record of the Jaredites, taken from the twenty-four plates found by the people of Limhi in the days of King Mosiah.
Remember that King Limhi sent some of his men on an expedition to find the land of Zarahemla. These men did not find Zarahemla, but instead they discovered the ruins and the records left behind by the Jaredites who had been destroyed:
And the king said unto him: Being grieved for the afflictions of my people, I caused that aforty and three of my people should take a journey into the wilderness, that thereby they might find the land of Zarahemla, that we might appeal unto our brethren to deliver us out of bondage.
And they were lost in the wilderness for the space of amany days, yet they were diligent, and found not the land of Zarahemla but returned to this land, having traveled in a land among many waters, having discovered a land which was covered with bbones of men, and of beasts, and was also covered with ruins of buildings of every kind, having discovered a land which had been peopled with a people who were as numerous as the hosts of Israel.
And for a testimony that the things that they had said are true they have brought atwenty-four plates which are filled with engravings, and they are of pure gold.
And behold, also, they have brought abreastplates, which are large, and they are of bbrass and of copper, and are perfectly sound.
And again, they have brought swords, the hilts thereof have perished, and the blades thereof were cankered with rust; and there is no one in the land that is able to interpret the language or the engravings that are on the plates. Therefore I said unto thee: Canst thou translate? (Mosiah 8:7-11)
and
Nevertheless, they did find a land which had been peopled; yea, a land which was covered with dry abones; yea, a land which had been peopled and which had been destroyed; and they, having supposed it to be the land of Zarahemla, returned to the land of Nephi, having arrived in the borders of the land not many days before the bcoming of Ammon.
And they brought a arecord with them, even a record of the people whose bones they had found; and it was engraven on plates of ore. (Mosiah 21:26-27)
Ammon could not translate the twenty-four plates of gold or ore, but he knew that King Mosiah in Zarahemla could translate them:
Now Ammon said unto him: I can assuredly tell thee, O king, of a man that can atranslate the records; for he has wherewith that he can look, and translate all records that are of ancient date; and it is a gift from God. And the things are called binterpreters, and no man can look in them except he be commanded, lest he should look for that he ought not and he should perish. And whosoever is commanded to look in them, the same is called cseer.
And behold, the king of the people who are in the land of Zarahemla is the man that is commanded to do these things, and who has this high gift from God.
And the king said that a aseer is greater than a prophet.
And Ammon said that a seer is a revelator and a prophet also; and a gift which is greater can no man have, except he should possess the power of God, which no man can; yet a man may have great power given him from God.
But a seer can know of things which are past, and also of things which are to come, and by them shall all things be revealed, or, rather, shall secret things be made manifest, and hidden things shall come to light, and things which are not known shall be made known by them, and also things shall be made known by them which otherwise could not be known.
Thus God has provided a means that man, through faith, might work mighty miracles; therefore he becometh a great benefit to his fellow beings.
And now, when Ammon had made an end of speaking these words the king rejoiced exceedingly, and gave thanks to God, saying: Doubtless a agreat mystery is contained within these plates, and these interpreters were doubtless prepared for the purpose of unfolding all such mysteries to the children of men. (Mosiah 8:13-19)
Therefore, King Limhi brought the twenty-four gold plates to King Mosiah, and King Mosiah translated them by the gift and power of God:
Therefore he took the records which were engraven on the plates of abrass, and also the plates of bNephi, and all the things which he had kept and preserved according to the commandments of God, after having translated and caused to be written the records which were on the cplates of gold which had been found by the people of Limhi, which were delivered to him by the hand of Limhi;
And this he did because of the great anxiety of his people; for they were desirous beyond measure to know concerning those people awho had been destroyed.
And now he translated them by the means of those two astones which were fastened into the two rims of a bow.
Now these things were prepared from the beginning, and were handed down from generation to generation, for the purpose of interpreting languages;
And they have been kept and preserved by the hand of the Lord, that he should discover to every creature who should possess the land the iniquities and abominations of his people;
And whosoever has these things is called aseer, after the manner of old times.
Now after Mosiah had finished atranslating these brecords, behold, it gave an account of the people who were cdestroyed, from the time that they were destroyed back to the building of the dgreat tower, at the time the Lord econfounded the language of the people and they were scattered abroad upon the face of all the earth, yea, and even from that time back until the creation of Adam. (Mosiah 28:11-17)
Notice that King Mosiah translated and caused to be written the translation of the Book of Ether. Thus, the Nephites from the time of King Mosiah onward had access to the record of the Jaredites and knew of the rise and fall of the Jaredites civilization. Moroni may have used King Mosiah’s translation of the Jaredite record, or he may have used the interpreters to study the record directly. Whatever the case, the Nephites, and Moroni, knew more about the Jaredites than we do. They also learned about the Jaredites from the last survivor of the Jaredite nation, a man named Coriantumr. The descendants of Mulek at Zarahemla discovered Coriantumr, the last of the Jaredites:
And it came to pass in the days of Mosiah, there was a large astone brought unto him with engravings on it; and he did binterpret the engravings by the gift and power of God.
And they gave an account of one aCoriantumr, and the slain of his people. And Coriantumr was discovered by the people of Zarahemla; and he dwelt with them for the space of nine moons.
It also spake a few words concerning his fathers. And his first parents came out from the atower, at the time the Lord bconfounded the language of the people; and the severity of the Lord fell upon them according to his judgments, which are just; and their cbones lay scattered in the land northward. (Omni 1:20-22)
Thus the Nephites had the testimonies of Ether and Coriantumr regarding the fallen Jaredite nation. We can trace a line of seers from the Brother of Jared to Ether to Mosiah to Alma to Helaman to Moroni and to the Prophet Joseph Smith. The Lord bestowed upon these seers Urim and Thummim or interpreters which enabled them reveal hidden things and translate ancient languages. We can imagine being present as Alma taught his son Helaman about these things:
And now, I will speak unto you concerning those atwenty-four plates, that ye keep them, that the bmysteries and the works of darkness, and their secret works, or the secret works of those people who have been destroyed, may be made cmanifest unto this people; yea, all their murders, and robbings, and their plunderings, and all their wickedness and abominations, may be made manifest unto this people; yea, and that ye preserve these dinterpreters.
For behold, the Lord saw that his people began to work in darkness, yea, work secret murders and abominations; therefore the Lord said, if they did not repent they should be destroyed from off the face of the earth.
And the Lord said: I will prepare unto my servant Gazelem, a astone, which shall shine forth in darkness unto light, that I may bdiscover unto my people who serve me, that I may discover unto them the works of their brethren, yea, their secret works, their works of darkness, and their wickedness and abominations.
And now, my son, these ainterpreters were prepared that the word of God might be fulfilled, which he spake, saying:
I will abring forth out of darkness unto light all their secret works and their abominations; and except they repent I will bdestroy them from off the face of the earth; and I will bring to light all their secrets and abominations, unto every nation that shall hereafter possess the land.
And now, my son, we see that they did not repent; therefore they have been destroyed, and thus far the word of God has been fulfilled; yea, their asecret abominations have been brought out of darkness and made known unto us. (Alma 37:21-26)
Notice that the Lord promised to bring to light the secrets and abominations of the Jaredites unto every nation that would thereafter possess the land, including the Nephites and our own nation. Thus, as we study the Book of Ether, we can thank Ether, Coriantumr, Ammon, Limhi, Mosiah, Alma, Helaman, Moroni, and the Prophet Joseph Smith for preparing this record for us.