Joy and the Promised Land as a Type of Eternal Life
Book of Mormon Notes - Tuesday, April 23, 2024, Ether 2
I love Moroni’s abridgment of the Jaredite record. The Book of Ether is one of my favorite, if not my favorite, books in the Book of Mormon. It is so fascinating. More importantly, it is true.
Jared, his brother, their families and their friends went down into the valley of Nimrod - a valley named after the mighty hunter - with all their flocks (animals that they gathered together like Noah, male and female of every kind), and with birds and fish. They dragged around a fish tank with them. I really wonder how they did that. I also wonder what they did with the birds that they caught. Did they carry all of these things with them in the small barges to the Promised Land? Maybe. But the bees? Probably not.
Moroni informs us that the brother of Jared and his crew also brought swarms of honey bees with them, as well as seeds and other things. Moroni even teaches us the Jaredite word for honey bee: deseret. This is one of the many fascinating linguistic features of the Book of Mormon. Moroni, inscribing in reformed Egyptian, came across the Jaredite word “deseret” in the Jaredite record, and decided to include the Jaredite word along with the reformed Egyptian translation, which Joseph Smith later translated into English. To me, this suggests that Moroni used the interpreters - Urim and Thummim - to translate and abridge directly from Ether’s record rather than relying wholly upon King Mosiah’s translation of the twenty-four gold plates.
I wonder if King Mosiah was the Gazelem of whom the Lord spoke in Alma 37:23. King Mosiah translated the twenty-four gold plates of the Jaredites by the gift and power of God and with the interpreters, or Urim and Thummim. But the Lord said that He would prepare unto His servant Gazelem a stone (in the singular) and the Urim and Thummim are plural. I don’t know.
What we do know is that with the help of the interpreters, King Mosiah translated the Jaredite record, and he also caused it to be written. We also know, however, that the full record of the Jaredites was not distributed widely for the same reason that Alma counseled his son Helaman not to reveal the secret plans of the oaths and covenants of wickedness to their people. (See Alma 37:29). These may be more reasons why Moroni translated and abridged directly from the original source, the original gold plates of the Jaredites, perhaps using King Mosiah’s translation and summary as a secondary resource.
Of all the words from the Jaredite vocabulary, why did Moroni include the word “deseret”? Why didn’t Moroni simply write “they did also carry with them honey bees”? Again, this suggests to me that Moroni wanted his latter-day audience to know something about the Jaredite language from which he was translating directly, probably with the help of the interpreters - urim and thummim. Perhaps Moroni’s later commentary on his weakness in writing and the power of the language of the brother of Jared, together with this passage about deseret, reveal Moroni’s own awe and fascination with his study and abridgment of an ancient record written in an ancient language.
Did the Nephites understand the Jaredite language? Earlier in Nephite history, Mosiah understood the Jaredite language with the help of the interpreters. There was also a large stone with Jaredite engravings, and the last surviving Jaredite that we know of, Coriantumr, dwelt among the Mulekites, and then with the people of Zarahemla for a while:
And it came to pass that the people of Zarahemla, and of Mosiah, did aunite together; and bMosiah was appointed to be their king.
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 1:19-22)
Thus Moroni had access to King Mosiah’s interpretation of Coriantumr’s record that was engraved upon a large stone. Was this the “stone” that the Lord promised to give to His servant Gazelem?
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. (Alma 37:23)
Probably not, because the stone that the Lord prepared shone forth in darkness unto light and probably revealed more about the secret works of darkness than Coriantumr’s stone revealed. Joseph Smith had a seer stone that shone forth in darkness unto light, and thus Joseph Smith may be Gazelem. The point is that Moroni had all these records, along with the translations of the records, and the interpreters.
I wonder what happened to Coriantumr’s large stone. That would be a great archeological find. Another point is that because Coriantumr dwelt among the people of Zarahemla for a time, he could have taught his language to some Nephites. It seems likely to me that there was even more overlap between last Jaredites and the Lehite civilization, among the other peoples who were probably scattered about the Promised Land. Whatever the case, Moroni chose to include the Jaredite word “deseret” - the word for “a honey bee” - in his abridgment of the twenty-four gold plates of the Jaredites or the Book of Ether.
There are a few other places in the Book of Mormon where the authors shared original words along with the interpretation, for example:
And we did come to the land which we called Bountiful, because of its much fruit and also wild honey; and all these things were prepared of the Lord that we might not perish. And we beheld the sea, which we called Irreantum, which, being interpreted, is many waters. (1 Nephi 17:5)
and
Now the place was called by them Rameumptom, which, being interpreted, is the holy stand. (Alma 31:21)
As I suspected, Book of Mormon scholars have already written articles on this topic:
The Book of Mormon was written in a language that was grounded in Hebrew and Egyptian; the people of the Book of Mormon most likely spoke this same language. It is interesting, then, that the Book of Mormon authors periodically included definitions for certain terms that they used in their writing, as if their audience did not understand them. This technique, known as a gloss, suggests that those terms may not have been a part of that ancient language. In an attempt to uncover the true origin of such words, this article dissects the Book of Mormon term Irreantum and delves into its linguistic characteristics to determine whether the term could have originated from Hebrew, Egyptian, ancient South Semitic, or another language.
Check out this footnote in the same article about such fascinating terms:
The complete list of six are Irreantum, “many waters” (1 Nephi 17:5); Rabbanah, “powerful or great king” (Alma 18:13); Rameumptom, “holy stand” (Alma 31:21); Liahona, “compass” (Alma 37:38); deseret, “honey bee” (Ether 2:3); and Ripliancum, “large, to exceed all” (Ether 15:8). In addition, several proper nouns are rendered into English without the transliteration of the ancient name, such as Bountiful and Desolation.
There are also strange animals called cureloms and cumoms, a strange Nephite metal called ziff, and strange Nephite food items such as neas and sheum. But as far as I can tell thus far, “deseret” and “Ripliancum” are the only two Jaredite words that are included in the Book of Mormon. Perhaps we’ll notice more things like this along the way. It’s already astounding that the Jaredites carried so many animals, fowls, and fishes with them, let alone swarms of bees. How did they do that?
After the brother of Jared directed a great work of gathering according to the Lord’s commandment - gathering his people, seeds, and supplies together - just as He promised, the Lord came down to meet the brother of Jared when they reached the valley. The Lord established and kept his rendezvous with the brother of Jared:
And when thou hast done this thou shalt ago at the head of them down into the valley which is northward. And there will I meet thee, and I will go bbefore thee into a land which is cchoice above all the lands of the earth. (Ether 1:42)
and
And it came to pass that when they had come down into the valley of Nimrod the Lord came down and talked with the brother of Jared; and he was in a acloud, and the brother of Jared saw him not. (Ether 2:4)
Why did the Lord speak with the brother of Jared from inside a cloud? The Lord did the same thing with Moses. (see e.g. Numbers 11:25) Perhaps one reason for the cloud was to shield Moses and the brother of Jared (and others) from the glory and presence of the Lord which is too great for mortals to bear without transfiguration. I’m sure that we can think of other reasons for the cloud. What strikes me, however, is that the Lord established a covenant with the brother of Jared, and the brother of Jared grew in his covenant relationship with the Lord.
The Lord’s covenant relationship with the brother of Jared began before the story that Moroni recounts. We begin in medias res with a description of the ways in which the Lord fulfilled his covenants with the brother of Jared in small things (small things for the Lord) such as refraining from confounding the brother of Jared and his language, and refraining from confounding the brother of Jared’s friends and their language. As the brother of Jared drew closer to the Lord, the Lord drew closer to him. The covenant bond between the Lord and the brother of Jared grew stronger, and the promised blessings increased and became greater.
The Lord was happy to bless the brother of Jared with small blessings, but He had greater blessings in store for the brother of Jared and His people. The Lord didn’t merely intend to separate the brother of Jared and his people from the wicked culture of Babel, nor did He intend to leave the brother of Jared and his people stranded in a valley or on the sea shore. The Lord had much greater plans for the brother of Jared and his people than they had for themselves.
Jared’s vision was lofty. He thought that perhaps the Lord would drive them out of the land and carry them to a land that was choice above all others, a land of inheritance. But the Lord’s vision was even loftier. The Lord didn’t just intend to carry the brother of Jared and his people into a land that is choice above all the lands of the earth. The Lord’s promises were even greater than that:
And there will I bless thee and thy seed, and raise up unto me of thy seed, and of the seed of thy brother, and they who shall go with thee, a great nation. And athere shall be none bgreater than the nation which I will raise up unto me of thy seed, upon all the face of the earth. And thus I will do unto thee because this long time ye have cried unto me. (Ether 1:43)
This covenant promise of the Lord to the brother of Jared and his people gave them great purpose, direction, and courage in their journey. They weren’t just trying to escape the confusion of Babel or live off the grid like ancient preppers. They were impelled forward by a vision of greatness and great blessings. These things are symbolic of an even higher vision, namely, a vision of eternal life (and eternal lives) and a Heavenly City. (See Hebrews 11 and Ether 12:4) They had a vision of the higher joy of which Elder Uchtdorf recently spoke, and of a higher love, even higher than that higher love of which Steve Winwood and Whitney Houston sang.
If the high vision of a promised land of inheritance that is choice above all other lands, and blessings of the Lord regarding posterity and raising up the greatest nation on earth moved people like the brother of Jared and Lehi to build ships and cross oceans, and if it moved people like Abraham and Moses to traverse the wilderness, how much more so will a vision of our true identity, purpose, and potential, a vision of eternal life and the joy of the saints move us and impel us forward and give us purpose, direction, and courage in our journey?
Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name.
Yea, thus we see that the agate of heaven is open unto ball, even to those who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God.
Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the aword of God, which is bquick and powerful, which shall cdivide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and dnarrow course across that everlasting egulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked—
And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the aright hand of God in the kingdom of heaven, to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and with Jacob, and with all our holy fathers, to go no more out. (Helaman 3:27-30)
Even our Savior Himself was able to accomplish His great mission because of His higher vision:
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the asin which doth so easily bbeset us, and let us run with cpatience the race that is set before us,
Looking unto Jesus the aauthor and bfinisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him cendured the cross, despising the dshame, and is set down at the right hand of the ethrone of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2)
Consider President Russell M. Nelson’s recent commentary on this topic:
Joy is powerful, and focusing on joy brings God’s power into our lives. As in all things, Jesus Christ is our ultimate exemplar, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.”17 Think of that! In order for Him to endure the most excruciating experience ever endured on earth, our Savior focused on joy!
And what was the joy that was set before Him? Surely it included the joy of cleansing, healing, and strengthening us; the joy of paying for the sins of all who would repent; the joy of making it possible for you and me to return home—clean and worthy—to live with our Heavenly Parents and families.
The brother of Jared grew to better understand the character and mercy of the Lord. He learned that which the Prophet Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon learned in a vision:
For thus saith the Lord—I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me, and delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end. (D&C 76:5)
Through the repeated reception of covenant blessings, the brother of Jared grew in faith and trust in the Lord, enough to follow Him into the wilderness:
And it came to pass that the Lord commanded them that they should ago forth into the wilderness, yea, into that quarter where there never had man been. And it came to pass that the Lord did go before them, and did talk with them as he stood in a bcloud, and gave cdirections whither they should travel. (Ether 2:5)
What enabled the brother of Jared to increasingly trust the Lord who lead him toward increasingly greater blessings? One thing that I noticed is that the earliest prayers of the brother of Jared of which we currently have record were motivated by the fear of his brother and their friends. They merely wanted to avoid the punishments of the Lord that were poured out upon the rest of the people of Babel. Their motivations improved a bit when they prayed that others, their friends, would also escape the judgments of the Lord. This seems to be the common motivation of many of us today when we see the world in commotion and chaos, and we merely hope that the calamities won’t fall upon us or our friends.
Jared’s next plea to his brother showed improvement, however, because instead of merely hoping to avoid punishment, he had hope for survival, and perhaps a better place to live. But as the brother of Jared and his people drew closer to the Lord, their motivations improved because they better understood the character and attributes of the Lord. They focused on joy. They learned that the Lord isn’t merely a Being of wrath who destroys the wicked and punishes the disobedient. As they drew closer to the Lord, the brother of Jared and his people knew with greater surety that the Lord is a merciful and gracious Being who delights to honor those who serve Him in righteousness and in truth unto the end. The Lord delights to bless His people with the greatest of all blessings. (see D&C 41:1)
The Lord directed the brother of Jared and his people as they traveled through the wilderness, built barges, crossed many waters, unto a place beyond the sea in the wilderness. The practice of barge building helped prepare the brother of Jared and his people for an even greater expedition:
And the Lord would not suffer that they should stop beyond the sea in the wilderness, but he would that they should come forth even unto the aland of promise, which was choice above all other lands, which the Lord God had bpreserved for a righteous people. (Ether 2:7)
Again, there is a parallel between the way in which the Lord led the brother of Jared and his people - across the wilderness, many waters, and eventually across the great oceans, into the Promised Land, and blessed them and their posterity in the Promised Land, making them the greatest nation on earth - there is a parallel between this and the way in which the Lord leads his covenant people through the journey of life into Eternal Life. The former is a type of the latter, and the former precedes and prepares for the latter, but the two are inseparably connected.
The Lord set the conditions of the covenant and for the blessings:
And he had sworn in his wrath unto the brother of Jared, that whoso should possess this land of promise, from that time henceforth and forever, should aserve him, the true and only God, or they should be bswept off when the fulness of his wrath should come upon them. (Ether 2:8)
The Lord has special plans for His Land of Promise. It is a covenant land. Moroni made these things available to us so that we would understand the Lord’s decrees for this covenant land and receive the covenant blessings that the brother of Jared received instead of being swept off the land like both the Jaredites and the Lamanites. Moroni continues:
And now, we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God, or they shall be aswept off when the fulness of his bwrath shall come upon them. And the fulness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are cripened in iniquity.
For behold, this is a land which is choice above all other lands; wherefore he that doth possess it shall serve God or shall be aswept off; for it is the everlasting decree of God. And it is not until the bfulness of iniquity among the children of the land, that they are cswept off. (Ether 2:9-10)
What is the promised land of which the brother of Jared and Moroni wrote? and why is it so special?
That will be the subject of my next post.