The Jaredite Pride Cycle Continues
Book of Mormon Notes - Wednesday, May 22, 2024, Ether 9 (Part 2)
One thing that stands out to me about the strife and contention in the early Jaredite kingdom is the seemingly endless cycle of vengeance and retaliation. Fortunately for a time, peace and order were restored during the righteous reign of Emer, son of Omer. But Emer’s reign was preceded by horrific violence, including the beheading of the usurper king Jared while he was on his throne. All the people were corrupted by Akish’s secret society until finally Akish’s kingdom imploded. The sons of Akish flattered the people and drew away the majority of them with money. The people were greedy or desirous for gain, whereas Akish was desirous for power. Look around you today and consider how motivations for power and gain influence local, state, national, and world politics. There are innumerable iterations of Akish, Akish’s sons, and Akish’s people.
As Akish’s kingdom imploded, thirty people escaped and fled to the house of Omer. Omer’s difficult life was crowned with a brief moment of joy and peace as his righteous son Emer began to reign. Emer’s righteous reign was a happy but temporary turning point in Jaredite history:
And the Lord began again to take the curse from off the land, and the house of Emer did prosper exceedingly under the reign of Emer; and in the space of sixty and two years they had become exceedingly strong, insomuch that they became exceedingly rich- (Ether 9:16)
Having all manner of fruit, and of grain, and of silks, and of fine linen, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious things;
And also all manner of cattle, of oxen, and cows, and of sheep, and of swine, and of goats, and also many other kinds of animals which were useful for the food of man.
And they also had horses, and asses, and there were elephants and cureloms and cumoms; all of which were useful unto man, and more especially the elephants and cureloms and cumoms.
And thus the Lord did pour out his blessings upon this land, which was choice above all other lands; and he commanded that whoso should possess the land should possess it unto the Lord, or they should be destroyed when they were ripened in iniquity; for upon such, saith the Lord: I will pour out the fulness of my wrath. (Ether 9:20)
Moroni follows his father’s pattern of abridgment. Like his father Mormon, Moroni traces the hand of the Lord throughout Jaredite history, demonstrating how repentance and righteousness lead to blessings and prosperity. How long would Jaredite prosperity last under the reign of Emer? After sixty-two years the Jaredites under the reign of Emer prospered so much, became so rich, and became so strong, that they had an abundance of everything. Even their cureloms and cumoms prospered. You know that you live in a prosperous and affluent society when even your cureloms and cumoms prosper.
When I consider Moroni’s list of examples of Jaredite abundance, I wonder how Moroni might describe modern American abundance. Instead of listing fruit, grain, silks, fine linen, gold, silver, precious things, cattle, oxen, cows, sheep, swine, goats, horses, asses, elephants, cureloms and cumoms, Moroni might list grocery stores, restaurants, name brand clothing, banks, watches, computers, cars, trucks, Teslas, and so forth. Modern American materialism puts even the prosperous Jaredites to shame.
But what on earth are cureloms and cumoms?
‘They have plenty of iron, accarum and andanicum,’ says Marco Polo of the people of Kobian….but the fact is no one knows for sure what accarum and andanicum are. Marco knew, of course but since the things didn’t exist in Europe there was no western word for them and so all he could do was to call them by their only names. It is just so with the cureloms and cumoms of Ether 9:19. These animals were unknown to the Nephites, and so Moroni leaves the words untranslated, or else though known to the Nephites, they are out of our experience so that our language has no name to call them by. They were simply breeds of those ‘many other kinds of animals which were useful for the food of man.’
One author reasonably speculates that cureloms and cumoms were large beasts of burden. They may have been mountain sheep or llamas of some kind. Were they bison and buffalo? Perhaps. Were they mammoths and mastadons? Perhaps. Whatever they were, they were very useful to the ancient Jaredites. Moroni acknowledges the hand of the Lord in blessing the Jaredites during the righteous reign of King Emer:
And thus the Lord did pour out his blessings upon this land, which was choice above all other lands; and he commanded that whoso should possess the land should possess it unto the Lord, or they should be destroyed when they were ripened in iniquity; for upon such, saith the Lord: I will pour out the fulness of my wrath. (Ether 9:20)
Emer executed judgment in righteousness all his days, and he begat many sons and daughters, including Coriantum who reigned in his stead. Jaredite kings bestowed the kingdom upon a son before they died. Emer lived for four peaceful years after conferring the kingdom upon his son Coriantum. During these four peaceful years, Emer became an eye witness of the Savior:
And after he had anointed Coriantum to reign in his stead he lived four years, and he saw peace in the land; yea, and he even saw the Son of Righteousness, and did rejoice and glory in his day; and he died in peace.
The Artificial Intelligence overview of the name “Son of Righteousness” is helpful:
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "Son of Righteousness" is one of many names for Jesus Christ. The term appears in Isaiah, 2 Nephi (26:9), 3 Nephi (25:2), and the Book of Ether (9:22). It emphasizes Jesus as the source of all righteousness. The passages encourage people to seek forgiveness through Christ and to seek him through prayer to help them overcome sin with his help. For example, 2 Nephi 26:9 says, "But the Son of Righteousness shall appear unto them; and he shall heal them, and they shall have peace with him, until three generations shall have passed away, and many of the fourth generation shall have passed away in righteousness".
Recall that the English translation of Malachi’s prophecy uses the word “Sun”:
But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. (Malachi 4:2)
The name “Sun of Righteousness” or “Son of Righteousness” carries special meaning. The references to the “Sun” or “Son” of Righteousness in Malachi, 2 Nephi, and 3 Nephi each refer to the coming of the Lord, His first or His second coming. It seems to me that Emer’s vision of the Lord included a vision of Christ’s first coming, because Moroni mentions that Emer rejoiced and gloried in His, that is Jesus Christ’s day. But the Lord Himself also quoted Malachi during His first coming and visit among the Nephites:
But unto you that fear my name, shall the Son of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves in the stall. (3 Nephi 25:2)
Therefore, the name “Son of Righteousness” seems to point especially to the impending Second Coming of our Savior Jesus Christ. Perhaps Emer foresaw the last days and the Second Coming of our Savior Jesus Christ.
Fortunately for the Jaredites, Emer’s son Coriantum was also a great and righteous king. He followed his father’s good example, and he built many mighty cities. He administered that which was good unto his people in all his days. But even into his old age, Coriantum had no children. When he was more than a century old, his wife died, and he remarried. He married a young maid, and by her begot sons and daughters, including a son named Com who became his successor. Coriantum lived to the ripe old age of 142.
Com reigned for forty-nine years and begat Heth and other sons and daughters. Not surprisingly, in only four generations, from Emer to Heth, the Jaredites degenerated into wickedness again. The Jaredites had spread throughout the land, and wickedness also spread. Heth began to embrace the secret plans of old again, and he sought to destroy his father. Heth slew his own father with the sword, dethroned him, and reigned in his stead. Many of the Jaredites had a major problem with parricide and fratricide, not just homicide.
Mercifully, the Lord sent prophets again among the Jaredites:
And there came prophets in the land again, crying repentance unto them—that they must prepare the way of the Lord or there should come a curse upon the face of the land; yea, even there should be a great famine, in which they should be destroyed if they did not repent. (Ether 9:28)
How did the Jaredites during the wicked reign of Heth respond to the Lord’s merciful message of repentance? They did not believe the words of the prophets. By Heth’s command, they cast out the prophets, and they even cast some of them into pits where they left them to perish. Disbelieving the prophets is bad, but casting them out and casting them into pits to perish is worse. The abuse and murder of prophets inevitably brings destruction in its wake. The prophecies of the prophets began to be fulfilled. There began to be a great dearth upon the land. Because of the lack of rain and the resulting dearth, the inhabitants quickly began to be destroyed. Heth caused much destruction among the Jaredites, just as Jared, the daughter of Jared, and Akish had before him.
In addition to the calamitous dearth, drought or famine, poisonous serpents began to infest the land, poisoning many people and causing their flocks to flee towards the land southward, which was called by the Nephites Zarahemla. Again, Moroni helps us to understand the overlap between the Jaredite civilization and the Lehite civilization by describing Jaredite history in terms of Nephite geography.
Thus in the short span of four generations, from the righteous King Emer who saw the Son of Righteousness to the wicked parricide Heth, the Jaredites degenerated from righteousness and great prosperity into wickedness, persecution and murder of the prophets, and finally calamity. The Jaredites churned through the pride cycle much as their successors the Lehites did. Drought, famine, and poisonous serpents were the natural consequences of the evils that Heth and his people committed, and the Lord’s chosen methods for persuading these Jaredites to repent.
Many people were poisoned and many of their flocks were killed by the venomous serpents. Whenever I read about venomous serpents in the scriptures, such as those that sunk their fangs into the flesh of the children of Israel in the wilderness before Moses raised the brass serpent, I think of the poisonous puncture wounds of the recent bioweapon that has euphemistically and deceptively been called a “vaccine”. 💉 These bioweapons that some argued contain snake venom have metaphorically “bitten” so many unfortunate people in our time. Together with current concerns about food shortages and supply chain disintegration, the toxic jabs may be the Lord’s chosen methods for persuading us modern Americans, and others, to repent.
Among Heth’s wicked Jaredites, the Lord caused the venemous serpents to stop and hedge up the way so that people could not pass through that area. Anyone who attempted to cross through that area was killed by the terrible snakes. Heth’s wicked Jaredites were so desperate for food that they devoured the carcasses of the beasts that perished because of the venomous serpents. Only when they saw that they must perish - after they had devoured all the beasts, the last of their food source - only then did Heth’s wicked Jaredites begin to repent of their iniquities and cry unto the Lord. What is Moroni’s lesson for us? Perhaps it is that we don’t need to wait until people are poisoned and perishing before repenting and crying unto the Lord.
The pride cycle ran its full course until Heth’s wicked Jaredites finally humbled themselves sufficiently before the Lord. After they humbled themselves sufficiently before Him, the Lord sent rain again, and the people began to revive. There began to be fruit again in the north countries and in all the countries round about. Because the people repented and humbled themselves sufficiently before the Him, the Lord “did show forth his power unto them in preserving them from famine.”
People in many social media and other online groups predict that we are on the verge of societal collapse, including the collapse of the financial and banking system and the collapse of the food system. Too many people have already experienced the “bites” of the vaccine 💉 . Must we also experience another great depression and famine before we repent and turn to the Lord? I hope not.