Ether 13-15

Ether 13

13 … but great and marvelous were the prophecies of Ether; but they esteemed him as naught, and cast him out; and he hid himself in the cavity of a rock by day, and by night he went forth viewing the things which should come upon the people.14 And as he dwelt in the cavity of a rock he made the remainder of this record, viewing the destructions which came upon the people, by night.

As hard as Ether tried to help the people, and as great as his prophecies were, Moroni tells us that the people rejected him. No one listened, no one changed – including the king, Coriantumr. In this chapter you’ll read how the evil “secret combinations” in the land are fighting against Coriantumr and conspiring men are trying to take the throne from him. Coriantumr isn’t so innocent himself, but Ether delivers a message that God is willing to help him if he will repent.

20 And in the second year the word of the Lord came to Ether, that he should go and prophesy unto Coriantumr that, if he would repent, and all his household, the Lord would give unto him his kingdom and spare the people— 21 Otherwise they should be destroyed, and all his household save it were himself. And he should only live to see the fulfilling of the prophecies which had been spoken concerning another people receiving the land for their inheritance; and Coriantumr should receive a burial by them; and every soul should be destroyed save it were Coriantumr.

Coriantumr doesn’t repent. And battles and wars continue.

Ether 14

Battles continue and the throne passes hands as secret combinations keep murdering the leader, or they die in battle against Coriantumr. Things are getting ugly—really ugly. I have to highlight one particularly bad guy, Shiz. What a name!

17 Now the name of the brother of Lib was called Shiz. And it came to pass that Shiz pursued after Coriantumr, and he did overthrow many cities, and he did slay both women and children, and he did burn the cities. 18 And there went a fear of Shiz throughout all the land; yea, a cry went forth throughout the land—Who can stand before the army of Shiz? Behold, he sweepeth the earth before him!

At this point, all the people in the land begin to gather to one army or another, either the army of Shiz or the army of Corintumr. The war has been so long and so awful that “the whole face of the land was covered with the bodies of the dead (v. 21).” And it isn’t over yet.

Ether 15

Too little too late, Coriantumr begins to think about repenting:

1 And it came to pass when Coriantumr had recovered of his wounds, he began to remember the words which Ether had spoken unto him.2 He saw that there had been slain by the sword already nearly two millions of his people, and he began to sorrow in his heart; yea, there had been slain two millions of mighty men, and also their wives and their children.4 And it came to pass that he wrote an epistle unto Shiz, desiring him that he would spare the people, and he would give up the kingdom for the sake of the lives of the people.

Shiz says he will spare the people only if Coriantumr will give himself up to be slain by Shiz. Coriantumr isn’t that noble, so the war continues.

I look at this situation and shake my head in disbelief. How could anyone be so blind, or stubborn, or foolish?

And yet, how often do people get themselves into miserable, destructive messes despite the warnings and pleadings of God or people who love them? God won’t and can’t force us to be smart or to listen. And Moroni gives us an interesting insight:

19 But behold, the Spirit of the Lord had ceased striving with them, and Satan had full power over the hearts of the people; for they were given up unto the hardness of their hearts, and the blindness of their minds that they might be destroyed; wherefore they went again to battle.22 And when the night came they were drunken with anger, even as a man who is drunken with wine; and they slept again upon their swords.

We can literally become drunken with our anger, or our stubbornness, or our revenge. And I guess this is a warning to us to soften our hearts and back down before we get so “drunk” on those emotions that we no longer have control or common sense.

And to skip through the awful ending, every last person kills each other off… except Corintumr who is the only man left standing (actually, not standing – he faints with the loss of blood), just as Ether prophesied. And he lives to see a new people come and inherit his land.

Oh, and Ether is still alive too because he has been hiding:

33 And the Lord spake unto Ether, and said unto him: Go forth. And he went forth, and beheld that the words of the Lord had all been fulfilled; and he finished his record; (and the hundredth part I have not written) and he hid them in a manner that the people of Limhi did find them.

I'm sorry about the miserable ending. Personally, I wish it was different. But God wanted us to know about these people and their tragic demise for a reason. What are the important lessons you have gleaned from this history in the Book of Ether?

Ether 12

Ether 12

27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

This is one of my favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon! It gives me hope that I can change and improve - that my weaknesses are conquerable.  The requirements are humility and faith in Christ. 

Chapter 12 of Ether is known for its insights on Faith. Moroni is writing in this chapter, btw (not Ether). What do you learn about faith from any of these verses, and what themes do you see?:

6 And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith. 

12 For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith. 

18 And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore they first believed in the Son of God.

The main lesson I see is that faith has to come first! It comes before answers, before miracles, and before happy endings. Basically, God wants to see your faith before He can deliver on your request, whatever it may be.

So I ask myself, what have I been asking of God? And have I been demonstrating faith first before expecting an answer or a miracle?

Moroni gives a lot of examples of miracles in the Book of Mormon that were brought about by people’s faith. If this has been your first or second time reading the Book of Mormon, you probably don't recall all of these names and stories. This is a great time to use the footnotes, which will lead you back to where the original stories are found (p.s. if you’re reading the online version of the Book of Mormon and you don’t see any footnotes in the text, there is a setting toward the top right of the page that says “show footnotes” or “hide footnotes” that you might need to click):

13 Behold, it was the faith of Alma and Amulek that caused the ^aprison to tumble to the earth. (the footnote to “prison” takes you to Alma 14:26-29) 

14 Behold, it was the faith of Nephi and Lehi that wrought the ^achange upon the Lamanites, that they were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost. (The footnote to “change” takes you to Helaman 5:50-52…etc.) 

15 Behold, it was the faith of ^aAmmon and his brethren which wrought so great a miracle among the Lamanites.  

17 And it was by faith that the three disciples obtained a promise that they should ^anot taste of death… 

19 And there were many whose faith was so exceedingly strong, even before Christ came, who could not be kept from within the veil, but truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith, and they were glad. 

20 And behold, we have seen in this record that one of these was the brother of Jared; for so great was his faith in God, that when God put forth his ^afinger he could not hide it from the sight of the brother of Jared.

And then Moroni bids farewell (not realizing he’s going to have time to write a whole other book –the Book of Moroni – to add after Ether). These are powerful words:

38 And now I, Moroni, bid farewell unto the Gentiles, yea, and also unto my brethren whom I love, until we shall meet before the judgment-seat of Christ, where all men shall know that my garments are not spotted with your blood. 39 And then shall ye know that I have seen Jesus, and that he hath talked with me face to face, and that he told me in plain humility, even as a man telleth another in mine own language, concerning these things; 41 And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever. Amen.

Ether 9-11

Ether 9

The epic drama of betrayal, rebellion, and power-seeking continues. Jared and Akish take over the kingdom of Omer through their “secret combinations” – BUT the Lord is merciful to Omer and warns him to escape before he can be murdered.

You can continue to read the story for yourself, but here are a few “morales” of the story I can see:

• If you do a deal with the devil, expect him to turn around a do a deal with someone else against you (vs. 4-5)

• Eventually people who choose evil will get a taste of their own medicine (vs. 5-7, thinking of the daughter of Jared, who was the one who suggested the secret combinations in the first place to her father so he could gain power. Now her father has been murdered by her husband, and her husband has killed her son as well. I doubt she realized the mess she was getting herself into.)

• Wicked nations often destroy themselves (v. 12)

• The Lord preserves the nations that love and follow Him (vs. 13-22, 35)

• It’s easy to judge these people for “flip flopping” back and forth between good and evil so quickly. But really it’s not that quickly, it’s just a very condensed version of the story that makes it feel quick. Every person is at risk of flip-flopping within their own life time. Are you changing for the better or the worse?

Ether 10

It makes my head spin to read this chapter because it covers so many generations of rulers and people and is such a rollercoaster of righteousness and wickedness, prosperity and trouble. I guess one big message is that people can change – for good or for bad. I’m actually impressed at how often in this chapter the king switches from a bad king to a good king, because I feel like in the Book of Mormon it’s a lot more common for the people to be happy and righteous and prosperous and then a bad king comes in and spoils everything.

Another clear lesson in this chapter is that when people are righteous, and when people treat each other well (and rulers treat their people well), they prosper.

28 And never could be a people more blessed than were they, and more prospered by the hand of the Lord. And they were in a land that was choice above all lands, for the Lord had spoken it.

I also noticed, it isn’t always the king’s fault if the people are righteous or wicked. At the end of this chapter, the King is good and does everything he can to stop the spread of the “old plans” of darkness but he “did not prevail against them.” I'm not sure if I find that discouraging or encouraging…?

What other lessons or highlights stand out to you?

Ether 11

Things are headed downhill fast. God sends prophets to give serious warnings to these people, that they need to straighten up or their days are numbered. And every time, the people reject (and even kill) the prophets:

5 And it came to pass that the brother of Shiblom caused that all the prophets who prophesied of the destruction of the people should be put to death;  6 … for they had testified that a great curse should come upon the land, and also upon the people, and that there should be a great destruction among them, such an one as never had been upon the face of the earth, and their bones should become as heaps of earth upon the face of the land except they should repent of their wickedness.

In this chapter, I count three different rounds or generations of prophets that the Lord sends to try to warn the people. To God’s credit, He doesn’t send destructions or punishment without lots and lots of warning and pleading for people to change and choose a better path. 

Spoiler alert… the prophets have been warning the people of destruction so great that “their bones should become as heaps of earth upon the face of the land.” Remember that we are reading a record (the Book of Ether) that was found by Limhi’s people among the bones and ruins of an unknown people. Can you guess if the people repent or not?

Ether 7-8

Ether 7

At the end of chapter 6, Jared and his brother are getting old and they gather all their people together to count them (they’ve really multiplied!) and to ask what else they can do for them before they die. The people want one of their sons to be their king, but kings tend to lead to trouble, and the brother of Jared warns the people that having a king will lead to captivity, but the people still want a king. None of the sons want to be king except for Jared’s youngest son, Orihah, who luckily is a good and humble man. Jared and his brother both die of old age, and the reign of Orihah begins.

Now to chapter 7. Believe it or not, the story in this chapter is even crazier than the election that just happened in America this week! I think this chapter could make a great plot outline for a movie, actually. I’ll let you read it yourself, but I did a very scrappy sketch/diagram of the people involved to help you keep track of who’s who.

I’ve also sketched out Ether 8, but let’s make it clear I only want to make a movie at out of Ether 7… because that story ends happy. Ether 8 starts getting ugly and evil as the people introduce the secret combinations of old, and I hate that (leads to the destruction of an entire people… every time).

Ether 8

A very similar pattern of rebellious sons and redemptive sons continues in this chapter, but then the fate of the people takes a turn for the worst when a conniving woman gets involved. Jared, who is pining for the crown, works with his daughter (whose name we don’t even know) to overthrow the kingdom through secret combinations. Her plan is to dance for a man named Akish so he will want to marry her, and Jared will only agree if Akish will murder the king. You'll see that this woman's wicked plan to help her father gain power backfires on her in many awful ways.

18 And it came to pass that they formed a secret combination, even as they of old; which combination is most abominable and wicked above all, in the sight of God... 

19 For the Lord worketh not in secret combinations, neither doth he will that man should shed blood, but in all things hath forbidden it, from the beginning of man. 

21 And they have caused the destruction of this people of whom I am now speaking, and also the destruction of the people of Nephi.

Ether 5-6

Ether 5

Moroni prophesies there will be “three witnesses” who get to see these plates as they “assist to bring forth this work” in translating them. When Joseph Smith was translating the Book of Mormon in 1829, he was allowed by God to show the plates to 3 witnesses. Actually, an angel showed them to the witnesses. You can read their witness statement at the beginning of the Book of Mormon:

TESTIMONY OF THREE WITNESSES  

All three of these men stayed true to this account, even though some did not stay with the church. I wish there was time/space to tell you more stories about the translation of the Book of Mormon and the Three Witnesses. Church history is very, very cool and full of miracles.

Ether 6

I’ve been thinking about this chapter all week and the improved perspective it has given me on my personal challenges.  

The Jaredites' journey begins as they load up their barges and set sail into the open ocean. God was their only navigator, and he caused that “there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind (vs. 5).”

So the wind is good, because it’s whole purpose is to get them to where they are trying to go. But it isn’t pleasant. “They were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind (vs. 6).” And get this: “the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters (vs. 8).” I don’t know about you, but this sounds like torture to me. They are being blown and rocked and dunked across the entire ocean, non-stop. Makes you sea-sick and claustrophobic just reading about it!

Why was the fierce wind necessary? Well, it says by the time they get to the promised land that they’ve been on the ocean for almost a YEAR! If God didn’t send the fierce winds, they probably would have been stuck and sea sick in these cramped, semi-lit, dish-like boxes for double the time.

I think the Jaredites must have known and remembered that the obnoxious wind was actually a blessing from God because it this was their attitude during the journey:

9 And they did sing praises unto the Lord; yea, the brother of Jared did sing praises unto the Lord, and he did thank and praise the Lord all the day long; and when the night came, they did not cease to praise the Lord.

Wow! What a beautiful, constant attitude of gratitude they had in a really uncomfortable (and frightening!) circumstance. I’m really touched by this, and this week whenever something frustrating or difficult has occurred, I’ve tried to remember the wind. I’m on a journey, trying to become the person God wants me to be and make the life He wants me to make, and the winds are blowing me in the right direction. So rather than resenting the winds, I want to let them move me!