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.