Barge Building and Communing with the Lord
Book of Mormon Notes - Wednesday, May 1, 2024, Ether 2, Part 4
Last night the obvious answer to my question regarding the second hole in the Jaredite barges came to me just before I went to sleep. It’s also obvious why the purpose of the second hole isn’t mentioned, and it doesn’t take a genius engineer to figure it out. The top hole in the barges allowed the Jaredites to receive air. The bottom hole allowed them to dispose of waste. It would still be a great feat of engineering to create the air and water tight plugs, and I’m not sure how the bottom of the barges floated upon the water and the bottom plug could be removed without flooding the barge with water. But whatever they did, it worked.
There’s a lot more to these barges though. They were light, and they floated. But they were also submergible. Perhaps the holes in the top and the bottom of the barges enabled the barges to work like a kind of fishing bobber - the barges floated during part of the journey, and they were submerged at other times. We’ll learn more about them as we move along.
As for the allegory or symbolic meaning of the barges, I once had an interesting conversation with a friend on this topic. She pointed out the similarities between the barges and the human body. It is interesting to consider the creation of man in connection with the brother of Jared’s creation of the barges… just food for thought.
Let’s recall the Lord’s questions to the brother of Jared:
What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?
Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea?
The Lord’s questions to the brother of Jared inspired him to find a solution. The Lord could have easily provided the solution for the brother of Jared, as He had done by instructing him to bore two holes in the barges. Why did the Lord resolve the air and excrement problems for the barges, but leave the more challenging problem for the brother of Jared to resolve? Something to ponder.
The brother of Jared and his people prepared eight barges. I wonder if they each sailed separately, or if they were all tied together to make sure that they all ended up in the same place. Why eight small barges instead of one giant ship? Noah had his ark, and Nephi had his ship. Noah’s ark carried eight people. Nephi’s ship may have carried up to forty or fifty people to the Promised Land. How many people were in the brother of Jared’s crew? We don’t know. We know that Jared came forth with his brother, their families, and others and their families. Perhaps there were eight families, one family in each barge. We also know that the brother of Jared was not a small person. I imagine that many of his family members were also large people.
We know that the Jaredites journeyed by land and by water before reaching the sea shore, and that they carried with them all kinds of animals and supplies, including bees, fish, fowls, seeds, etc. We know that the Lord led them, with the brother of Jared at their head. We know that the brother of Jared and his people built barges to travel along the way to the sea shore, crossing many waters (perhaps seas, lakes, rivers, etc.). We know that the Lord commanded the brother of Jared and his people to build barges in the manner that they had hitherto built them, and the barges that they had already built were built according to the instructions of the Lord. Therefore, by the time that they reached the sea shore, the Jaredites were already skilled barge builders. The Jaredite barges were miraculously well built, like Noah’s ark and Nephi’s ship:
And the Lord said: Go to work and build, after the manner of abarges which ye have hitherto built. And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did go to work, and also his brethren, and built barges after the manner which they had built, according to the binstructions of the Lord. And they were small, and they were light upon the water, even like unto the lightness of a fowl upon the water.
And they were built after a manner that they were exceedingly atight, even that they would hold water like unto a dish; and the bottom thereof was tight like unto a dish; and the sides thereof were tight like unto a dish; and the ends thereof were peaked; and the top thereof was tight like unto a dish; and the length thereof was the length of a tree; and the door thereof, when it was shut, was tight like unto a dish. (Ether 2:16-17)
The Lord taught the brother of Jared how to build these barges. As much as I am fascinated by the barges and the construction thereof, I am more interested in how the Lord instructed the brother of Jared and his people to build them, and what I can learn from this pattern in scripture. The Lord instructed Noah. The Lord instructed Nephi. The Lord instructed the brother of Jared. Can the Lord instruct us? If we will hear Him, yes. I am reminded of President Nelson’s invitation:
I urge you to stretch beyond your current spiritual ability to receive personal revelation, for the Lord has promised that “if thou shalt [seek], thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal.”12
Oh, there is so much more that your Father in Heaven wants you to know. As Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught, “To those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, it is clear that the Father and the Son are giving away the secrets of the universe!”13
Nothing opens the heavens quite like the combination of increased purity, exact obedience, earnest seeking, daily feasting on the words of Christ in the Book of Mormon,14 and regular time committed to temple and family history work.
This is how Nephi was also able to build a miraculous ship:
And it came to pass that they did aworship the Lord, and did go forth with me; and we did work timbers of curious bworkmanship. And the Lord did show me from time to time after what manner I should work the timbers of the cship.
Now I, Nephi, did not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by men, neither did I build the ship after the manner of men; but I did build it after the manner which the Lord had shown unto me; wherefore, it was not after the manner of men.
And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft, and I did apray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord bshowed unto me cgreat things.
And it came to pass that after I had finished the ship, according to the word of the Lord, my brethren beheld that it was good, and that the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine; wherefore, they did ahumble themselves again before the Lord. (1 Nephi 18:1-4)
The brother of Jared received similar instructions from the Lord to build and prepare the barges, and he also communed with the Lord in the mountain. Nephi faced more opposition while building his ship. His brothers murmured and mocked him. They called him a fool. They complained. They refused to help him. They did not believe that the Lord instructed him. Nephi felt very sorrowful because of his brothers and the hardness of their hearts. When his brothers saw that he was sorrowful, they were glad and mocked him even more. They accused him and complained against him for being like their father. Finally, Nephi had enough, and he rebuked them by the power and the word of God. (see 1 Nephi 17:23-55).
Like Nephi, the brother of Jared communed with the Lord while he constructed the barges, and especially as he put the finishing touches on the barges. They were barges that could be steered, suggesting rudders or sails (or both) of some kind. The brother of Jared’s first concern was the lack of light. As far as I understand, the brother of Jared was concerned about the lack of light because they would not be able to steer the barges. This suggests to me that he and his people planned to be sealed inside the barges during the entire trip, and that there wasn’t really an open-air deck. The other components of the barges, and even the word “barge” suggest the same thing. The brother of Jared would not be concerned about air either, if he and his people traveled in the open air. These barges were like whales. The Lord resolved the air problem:
And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: Behold, thou shalt make a hole in the top, and also in the bottom; and when thou shalt suffer for air thou shalt unstop the hole and receive air. And if it be so that the water come in upon thee, behold, ye shall stop the hole, that ye may not perish in the flood. (Ether 2:20)
How would the water come in upon them when they unstopped the top holes unless the barges were sometimes completely submerged in the water? Rain or waves could crash in, but it seems to me that at least for part of the journey, the Jaredites plowed through the ocean like submarines. If the Jaredites were not completely sealed inside the barges and submerged, why would the brother of Jared worry about a light source? These vessels were air tight, water tight, submergible, light, and pitch dark inside. The brother of Jared inquired: “Behold, O Lord, wilt thou suffer that we shall cross this great water in darkness?”
It would already be difficult to travel for almost a year sealed inside a small vessel with at least a family of people, and supplies of water and food. Come to think of it, how did they fit inside with a year supply of water and food? Or how did they manage to obtain water and food along the journey?
The Lord didn’t want the brother of Jared and his people to travel in darkness. His question helped the brother of Jared to rise another level higher in his ascension, and to commune with Him, to know Him more intimately:
What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels? For behold, ye cannot have awindows, for they will be dashed in pieces; neither shall ye take fire with you, for ye shall not go by the light of fire.
For behold, ye shall be as a awhale in the midst of the sea; for the mountain waves shall dash upon you. Nevertheless, I will bring you up again out of the depths of the sea; for the bwinds have gone forth cout of my mouth, and also the drains and the floods have I sent forth.
And behold, I prepare you against these things; for ye cannot cross this great deep save I prepare you against the waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone forth, and the floods which shall come. Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea? (Ether 2:23-25)
We’ll learn more about these miraculous barges and their manner of travel as we continue. In the meantime, we go with the brother of Jared unto the Mount Shelem.