Ether 1-2

Ether 1

Moroni decides to slip in another book/record before he finishes off the Book of Mormon – the Book of Ether. Now, rewind about four hundred years to the time when King Limhi and his people were in bondage to the Lamanites, and trying to escape to return to live with the main group of Nephites in the city of Zarahemla (see Mosiah 21). King Limhi sent a small group to secretly find Zarahemla to ask for help. The group got lost and stumbled across a land covered in dry bones, and they thought it was Zarahemla and the Nephites had been destroyed. They also found a record on 24 plates of gold, which they brought home with them, that told of the plight of the people whose dry bones were left behind.

This is that record. It starts with two brothers who lived at the time of the tower

of Babel (in the Old Testament, Genesis 11– long before the Nephites), when the people were wicked and trying to build a tower to get to Heaven, so God mixed up everyone’s languages so they couldn’t communicate with each other anymore.

The brothers are called Jared and the Brother of Jared (why, I don’t know). Both are faithful to God, and they pray to the Lord to not mix up their language, or any of their family or friends, so they can still communicate, and God grants their request. They also ask God what He wants them to do next, and God says He will lead them to a new land:

43 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 there shall be none greater 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.

God looks out for those who remember Him and pray to Him.

Ether 2

The Lord tells the Brother of Jared and his family that He will lead them to a land that is “choice above all other lands (v. 10).” This is an amazing blessing that comes with a heavy responsibility – they must “serve God or be swept off.” In other words, if the people are faithful and good, they will thrive above all other people. But if the people become rebellious and wicked, they will be destroyed from the face of the chosen land.

Spoiler alert: this warning to the Brother of Jared isn’t for nothing. If you recall, the record of Jared’s people was found by Limhi’s people in a land full of bones… after these people have been wiped off the face of the land (which you will read about in the end of the book of Ether).

Think of the relevance this has to the Nephites and Lamanites in the same land, as the same fate comes to them (remember, Moroni has just witnessed his entire people being wiped out).

But the relevance doesn’t stop there. Moroni steps out from the record for a minute and talks to us, the Gentiles who now inhabit that same promised land:

11 And this cometh unto you, O ye Gentiles, that ye may know the decrees of God—that ye may repent, and not continue in your iniquities… that ye may not bring down the fulness of the wrath of God upon you as the inhabitants of the land have hitherto done.
12 Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things which we have written.

Back to the story of the Brother of Jared. His people have been journeying through the wilderness, led by God in a cloud. They arrive at the ocean’s edge and camp for four years (why so long? I don’t know!). At the end of four years, the Lord comes to the Brother of Jared in a cloud and chastises him for three hours because he hasn’t been praying during those four years.

This story has always impressed me about how important prayer is. The Brother of Jared was chastised for 3 hours for neglecting it! I think verse 15 gives some insight as to why it is so damaging when we stop praying – because then the spirit of the Lord can’t stay with us:

15 And the brother of Jared repented of the evil which he had done, and did call upon the name of the Lord for his brethren who were with him. And the Lord said unto him: I will forgive thee and thy brethren of their sins; but thou shalt not sin any more, for ye shall remember that my Spirit will not always strive with man

The Brother of Jared and his people begin to build barges to cross the ocean! The barges are described in verses 16-17 as “tight like unto a dish,” almost like a bowl with a lid, or 2 bowls placed lip-to-lip that can flip in the water onto one side of the bowl or the other. Here are a couple artists’ depictions:

When the barges are mostly finished, the Brother of Jared goes to the Lord with a dilemma – these barges don’t have any way to let in light or air! Minor details.

The Lord gives the Brother of Jared the answer for the air – make a hole in the top and bottom that can be plugged/unplugged as needed (vs. 20-21, see the artist sketches). But when the Bro of Jared goes back to the Lord to ask about the light, the Lord puts it in his court.

23 And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?... 25 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?

Sometimes the Lord gives us direct instructions or answers. Sometimes He wants and allows us to figure it out for ourselves.