1 AND it came to pass that Jared [ Whose name in Hebrew means “to go down,” was one of those sent forth when the tower fell. Like Adam and many before and many after, Jared embarked on a new beginning. ] and his brother, [ Does the exclusion of his name draws attention to the fact that Jared was not left alone, but had a very special brother who intervened in his and his family’s behalf? All of us have such a brother in Jesus Christ, whose mission is to give us immortality and help us all gain eternal life (Moses 1:39). It should not be surprising that the brother of Jared could be a type of Jesus Christ, as all of God’s prophets typify Jesus Christ (J. McConkie, Gospel Symbolism 146–72). (from other sources we know his name was Mahonri Moriancumer [see footnote in George Reynolds, “The Jaredites,” Juvenile Instructor, 1 May 1892, page 282]).] and their families, and also the friends of Jared and his brother and their families, went down into the valley which was northward, (and the name of the valley was Nimrod, [ The text of the Book of Ether implies that from the Valley of Nimrod the Jaredites were led directly into the wilderness or desert (Ether 2:5). The Tower of Babel is believed to have been within the city walls of ancient Babylon[viii] (50 miles south of today’s Baghdad). The Valley of Nimrod seems to have been adjacent to Babel. That is, the Jaredites left the urban center of Babel and went only a short distance to the north to a rural area where they could gather food supplies in the Valley of Nimrod. The Bible defines the empire of Nimrod the Hunter as Babel itself, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, “in the land of Shinar” (Genesis 10:10). The LDS Bible Dictionary defines Shinar as “the lower part of the Tigris and Euphrates, and is sometimes used as an equivalent to Babylonia. The only desert proximate to ancient Babylonia is Arabia to the south. It is a land which has, since antiquity, been known as both a geographic and political wilderness. ] being called after the mighty hunter) [ The name “Nimrod” evoked strong feelings among the ancients and was usually associated with “rebellion.” It may have carried more meaning than simply a name-title for a valley. Nimrod, who “founded the kingdom of Babel,” had “established false priesthood and false kingship in the earth in imitation of God’s rule and ‘made all men to sin’” (Nibley, Lehi 165). He typified Satan. The name of this valley may have been a stark reminder to the Jaredites that they, like all of God’s children entering mortality, were strangers and sojourners in a dark and dreary world. Their trek through this valley of Nimrod might well have been a time of testing for them. If so, it can stand as a pattern of a similar temptation and trial the Savior experienced after being in the wilderness following his baptism. The record does not give us much detail concerning this part of their journey, except that it was a time of hard work, gathering and preparation. ] with their flocks which they had gathered together, male and female, of every kind.

2 And they did also lay snares and catch fowls of the air; and they did also prepare a vessel, [ Is there anything to be learned from this group and what they took on their vessels with what Lehi and his family took? These took large numbers of animals of the earth and sky as well as fishes which would have needed to be held in some water tight structure, and they would have to have been of rather large size to hold larger fish. The one group hastening away from Jerusalem in secrecy to live a life of hunting and hiding in the desert and almost dying of starvation, and the other accepting volunteers, as it were, from all sides, moving out in a sort of massive front, driving innumerable beasts before them and carrying everything from libraries to hives of bees and tanks of fish! It would be hard to conceive of two more diametrically opposite types of migration, yet each fits perfectly with the customs and usages recorded throughout history for the part of the world to which the Book of Mormon assigns it. [Hugh Nibley, The World of the Jaredites, pp. 187-189] Considering the fact that water weighs approximately eight pounds per gallon, some form of heavy transport would have been required--Nibley speaks of the cultural heritage of large wagons for land transport. According to John Heinerman, fishing activity and a thriving fishing industry were already in place and served as a major source of Sumer's food supply, especially during construction of the Great Tower on the plains of Shinar. However, it is interesting that the world's first glass fish aquarium was built in Sumer by some unidentified individual, who, according to historian Samuel Noah Kramer,67 "for one reason or another was an ardent lover of fish." A single cuneiform clay tablet, appropriately called by archaeologists the "Home of the Fish" document, "begins with a reassuring announcement that the speaker has built a house for the fish, large, spacious, and unapproachable, and provided it with fine food and drink, especially beer and sweet cookies." The speaker then urges his friends and acquaintances to join him in his "house of fish" and watch various live specimens swim around, while enjoying the food, snacks, and free beer and wine provided for that occasion.
The Book of Mormon tells of a similar portable aquarium being constructed by the Jaredites at the time they were told to abandon their residences near "the great tower at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people" (Ether 1:33) and venture forth into the wilderness under the guiding influence of God. "And they did also prepare a vessel, in which they did carry with them the fish of the waters" (Ether 2:2). The ancient "Home of the Fish" tablet mentions sixteen different fish, only a few of which can be described with some reasonable degree of certainty--the carp, the sturgeon, the catfish, and the trout. [John Heinerman, Hidden Treasures of Ancient American Cultures, Springville: Cedar Fort, Incorporated, 2001, pp. 106-107]. ] in which they did carry with them the fish of the waters.

3 And they did also carry with them deseret, [ Dr. Hugh Nibley has written extensively on the background of this word, including the following ideas: By all odds the most interesting and attractive passenger in Jared's company is deseret, the honeybee. We cannot pass the creature by without a glance at its name and possible significance, for our text betrays an interest in deseret that goes far beyond respect for the feat of transporting insects, remarkable though it is. The word deseret we are told (Ether 2:3), "by interpretation is a honeybee," the word plainly coming from the Jaredite language, since Ether (or Moroni) must interpret it. Now it is a remarkable coincidence that the word deseret, or something very close to it, enjoyed a position of ritual prominence among the founders of the classical Egyptian civilization, who associated it very closely with the symbol of the bee. The people, the authors of the so-called Second Civilization, seem to have entered Egypt from the northeast as part of the same great outward expansion of peoples that sent the makers of the classical Babylonian civilization into Mesopotamia. Thus we have the founders of the two main parent civilizations of antiquity entering their new homelands at approximately the same time from some common center--apparently the same center from which the Jaredites also took their departure. The Egyptian pioneers carried with them a fully developed cult and symbolism from their Asiatic home. Chief among their cult objects would seem to be the bee, for the land they first settled in Egypt was forever known as "the land of the bee," and was designated in hieroglyphic by a picture of the bee, while the king of Egypt "in his capacity of 'King of Upper and Lower Egypt'" bore the title, "he who belongs to the sedge and the bee."
From the first, students of hieroglyphic were puzzled as to what sound value should be given to the bee-picture. . . . We know that the bee sign was not always written down, but in its place the picture of the Red Crown, the majesty of Lower Egypt was sometimes "substituted for the superstitious reasons." If we do not know the original name of the bee, we do know the name of this Red Crown -- the name it bore when it was substituted for the bee. The name was dsrt (the vowels are not known, but we can be sure they were all short). The "s" is dsrt had a heavy sound, perhaps best represented by "sh," but designated by a special character -- an "s" with a tiny wedge above it by which the Egyptians designated both their land and crown they served. . . . The bee symbol spread in other directions from its original home, wherever that was. . . . In all of these the bee is the agent through which the dead king or hero is resurrected from the dead, and it is in this connection that the bee also figures in the Egyptian rites. Now the original "deseret" people, the founders of the Second Civilization, "the intellectuals of On," claimed that their king, and he alone, possessed the secret of resurrection. That, in fact, was the cornerstone of their religion; it was nothing less than "the king's secret," the power over death by which he held his authority both among men and in the hereafter. . . . I am personally persuaded that the archaic and ritual designation of the bee was deseret, a "word of power" too sacred to be entrusted to the vulgar, being one of the keys to "the king's secret." [Hugh Nibley, The World of the Jaredites, pp. 191-192] According to Verneil Simmons, the stingless bees (Meliponidae) of the tropical areas of the Old World were also found in the tropical areas of the New World, although they were unknown in Peru. Columbus found honey from these bees in his first landing in Cuba. The Mayas of today still raise them and Maya lore concerning beekeeping was ancient long before the arrival of the Spaniards. Sahagun, the great Spanish priest historian of the early days of the Conquest in Mexico, wrote that the Aztecs kept three kinds of honeybees. In a newly discovered wall painting at the ancient city of Cholula, in Mexico, a bee is depicted hovering over a drinking scene. . . . The stingless bees of the Maya are hived in hollow logs. Left to themselves they will build nests in hollow trees or even in the ground. Their nests are well insulated and the bees are capable of surviving for long periods sealed up in the nests. This type could have survived the long journey of the Jaredites. (See The social Behavior of the Bees, Michener, pp. 23, 329). [Verneil W. Simmons, Peoples, Places and Prophecies, pp. 32, 120, 272] ] which, by interpretation, [ Looking in the scriptures for the interpretation of "honey bee" and "seed" (Zara) (Zayin-Resh-Ayin) the base base as Deseret, which unlocks the Hebrew letters for deseret (Dalet-Zayin-Resh) we find Deseret or (Dalet - Zayin - Resh). So the value of the letters for deseret are Dalet = 4; Zayin = 7; Resh = 200 for a total of 211. The word in Hebrew for honeybee is Deborah. Like the prophetess Deborah (Dalet-Beth-Resh-Hey) the word has a numeric value of 211 or "deseret" which by interpretation is a honeybee (Deborah). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=higrwdV6t1Y&t=5s So the idea here is that when the Nephites and the Jaradites too honey bees and seeds, this is not just literal but symbolic for the fact that they had the secrets and knowledge of the ancient Fathers. So with this understanding the symbol of the honey bee and the hive is more than just a symbolic representation of being industrious, but it also imply's that Mormonism is meant to be a hive or place of preservation and perpetuation of the ancient knowledge and science of the Fathers that leads mankind from their wanderings in the wilderness to ascend to the land of promise and the throne of God. If one thinks for a moment of the importance of honey bees and their important role in the preservation of life as they gather pollen and seed the many different plants that provide both beauty and nourishment, then it is no wonder that God also uses this symbol to demonstrate the beauty and nourishment that the knowledge of the Fathers brings to us and this world in preserving and perpetuating life. The word Deseret as honeybee or Deborah is also meant to connect us to the land of Bethel and the death of Rebekah's nurse. Gen 35. So here we have Debora as Rebekah's wet nurse- i.e. the one who fed and nourished Jacob. Here deseret is equated with the teaching of Deborah as not only the nourishemnt that feeds the house of Israel, but sits at the roots of the oak tree. Symbolic of the Tree of Abraham. In this case the land Beth El - of the House of God. ] , is a honey bee; and thus they did carry with them swarms of bees, and all manner of that which was upon the face of the land, [ What was the difference of what Lehi took and what the Jaradites took? See verse 2 & 3 Of all kinds of animals, fish, fowls, deseret (bee's)swarms of bees, seeds. compared to 1 Ne 18:5-6 ] , seeds of every kind.

4 And it came to pass that when they had come down into the valley of Nimrod the Lord came down and talked with the brother of Jared; [ According to Lee Donaldson, anciently covenants that man made with God were entered into with a specific formula which bound both parties. The biblical scholar George Mendenhall identified six common steps in ancient covenants and treaties (Interpreter's Dictionary 1:714). These elements are as follows: (1) the preamble, (2) historical prologue, (3) stipulations, (4) blessings and curses, (5) witnesses, and (6) deposit and public reading of the covenant. The first element, the preamble, like all ancient preambles, contains the names of both parties to the covenant. This preamble also mentions the physical location where the covenant is established. . . . This is accomplished in Ether 2:4 which says, "And it came to pass that when they had come down into the valley of Nimrod the Lord came down and talked with the brother of Jared; and he was in a cloud, and the brother of Jared saw him not." Anciently, the preamble also contained a token of the superior authority of the one setting the terms of the covenant. The same is true with the Book of Mormon covenant to serve the God of the land, as found in the book of Ether. Moroni noted that the Lord came down in a cloud. The cloud was a divine token of the power and glory of the king of heaven. For instance, this was the same token of authority that the Lord used in creating the preamble to the Sinai covenant with Moses (Exodus 199). The cloud also led the covenant people through the wilderness (Exodus 13:21) and was a heavenly sign of the Lord's authority in the Savior's transfiguration (Matthew 17:5). Additionally, the Doctrine and Covenants equates the clouds of heaven with "the glory of the Lord" (D&C 84:5). [Lee L. Donaldson, "The Plates of Ether and the Covenant of the Book of Mormon," in The Book of Mormon: Fourth Nephi through Moroni, From Zion to Destruction, pp. 70-71] ] and he was in a cloud, [ There's a veil there - in temple context. He is still on the journey, while he does receive revelation he has not parted the veil at this point, it is a principle of revelation. The Lord led Moses and the children of Israel into Arabia (Midian) in a cloud and a pillar of fire (Exodus 3:1.13:21) The Lord guided Lehi and his family through Arabia by giving them the Liahona (1 Nephi 16:10). What all three of these events have in common is that the Lord led them into a wilderness. ] and the brother of Jared saw him not.

5 And it came to pass that the Lord commanded them that they should go forth into the wilderness, [ Like the children of Israel departing Egypt, the Jaredites were led “into the wilderness” by the Lord ( Ex. 13:18). In scriptural accounts, the idea of the people of God escaping into the wilderness is a common pattern. Adam and Eve are driven into a world of thorns and thistles (Moses 4:24). The Israelites wandered forty years in the wilderness. Even the Savior preceded his mission by going out into the wilderness to commune with God. Concerning this pattern, Hugh Nibley has observed: “Now the idea that this life is a pilgrimage through the desert did not originate with the Christians or even the Jews: it has been the religious memory of the human race from the earliest dispensations of the Gospel” (An Approach 146). Another scholar of antiquity has suggested that, in the ancient view, “The desert is the world one passes through. It is nothing in itself, it is barren and inhospitable. It is not meant for people to remain in. One travels through the wilderness as one travels through time. Just like time, so does the desert lead to a new world, to the promised land” (Weinreb 125). ] yea, into that quarter where there never had man been. [ In Temple context - they were required to sacrifice, and see if they would do what the Lord asked of them when things were hard. Since there was no one around there was not one to ask directions of. This is an important but often overlooked point. They needed water every day - without the Lord to guide then to water they would definitely perish. This clue is meaningless to most westerners, but for someone living in the Near East, where the Jaredites started their saga, it is a clear reference to southern Arabia. To an Arab, crossing the quarter where no man has ever been is as descriptive as telling an American that the Utah Pioneers crossed the Rocky Mountains. Arab mythology holds that God created the world, two quarters where people lived, one quarter was the sea and one quarter was the desert of where no man ever lived. To this day, the great sand desert of southern Arabia is called the Ar Rub Khali, or Empty Quarter. Being larger than the state of Utah, the Empty Quarter of Arabia is the largest sand desert in the world, and no one has ever found evidence that man has ever dwelt in this vast area. ] And it came to pass that the Lord did go before them, and did talk with them as he stood in a cloud, and gave directions whither they should travel. [ What is the importance of the Lord giving them directions? It is very easy and yet extremely dangerous to become disoriented in the wasteland deserts of Arabia. At the same time, it can be fatal if one gets lost and misses the watering holes, in this part of the desert the summer temperatures can climb to 145o degrees F. So if they did not follow the command of the Lord they would be lost and perish - no room for error. Symbolic of our lives as well we we stray from the coarse the Lord has set we do so at our own peril. Two more reasons why the Lord would have needed to personally guide the Jaredites through the Empty Quarter. First, donkeys or oxen could not have traversed the soft dunes. The dunes in the Empty Quarter can tower as high as 700 – 800 feet. Even with his guides, Andrew Taylor writes of Bertram Thomas’s difficulties in crossing the Empty Quarter He wrote: “Our camels, wretched beasts, climbed arduously up to knife edge summits, and slithered knee-deep down precipitous slopes. Here and there, we turned back for very fear, and tried a better way…”( Andrew Taylor, Traveling the Sands, Sagas of Explorations in the Arabian Peninsula (Dubai: Emirates, 1995) map “Routes Across the Sand, introduction., p. 97.) There are treks around the soft sands on gravel or hard sand beds that can take the traveler and his animals from one well to the next, but a guide is necessary. Second, the need for fodder for their animals. The Jaredites probably used donkeys or possibly oxen with carts to haul their provisions. They took with them fish tanks, tents, beehives, and seeds. They also took their flocks with them. Without fodder, their animals would have died within days. Bertram Thomas noted of his expedition across the Dakakah trail, “The traveler in the desert soon discovers that the welfare of the camel is the supreme consideration… Fodder is almost more important than water, for a camel can carry a load for a week or more with water, but food is a daily want.” From c.8000 to 4000 BC the Empty Quarter had marshes, springs and shallow lakes (William Facey, The Story of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, (London: Stacey International, 1994) p. 34.). Thereafter, the lakes dried up and the land became a great desert. We do not know the exact climatic conditions the Jaredites would have found if they crossed of the Empty Quarter in their era. There might have been more pasture areas then as compared to modern times, but more likely the climate was similar as it is today, and the Jaredites would have needed a guide to find where spotty winter rains had turned patches of the desert into pasturelands. Andrew Taylor writes of Thomas’s expedition: “Compared with the privations they had suffered, and those that were still ahead, the trek that followed through Dakakah sounds occasionally like a desert paradise. There had been heavy rains, and so there was almost unlimited pasture.”]

6 And it came to pass that they did travel in the wilderness, [ Hugh Nibley explains “what is meant by ‘wilderness’. That word has in the Book of Mormon the same connotation as in the Bible, and usually refers to desert country…in the Bible ‘wilderness’ almost always means desert”. Crossing inland seas or lakes does not conjure up the image of a desert. Of course, wilderness could also mean uninhabited land. Central Asia and China were highly populated circa 2000 B.C. The only desert segment of a Central Asia crossing would be the Gobi Desert between Mongolia and China. The Gobi would only represent a small percentage of the entire trail, and certainly not the only geographic feature. ] and did build barges, in which they did cross many waters, [ We cannot assume that just because a land looks one way today does not suppose that it was always that way. According to Hugh Nibley, it is a fact that in ancient times the plains of Asia were covered with "many waters," which have now disappeared but are recorded as existing well down into historic times; they were of course far more abundant in Jared's time. . . . "The face of the country may have differed considerably from what it is now," says Vernadsky, "the rivers were much deeper and many lakes were still left from the glacial age which later turned into swamps." . . . The steady and continual drying up of the Asiatic "heartland" since the end of the last ice age . . . is a relatively recent discovery. Whoever wrote the book of Ether showed remarkable foresight in mentioning waters rather than deserts along the migrants' way, for most of the deserts are of very recent origin, while nearly all the ancient waters have completely vanished. [Hugh Nibley, The World of the Jaredites, pp. 183-184]
Glenn Scott writes that one of those records which documents these vast areas of water in central Asia was written in the fifth century B.C. by Herodotus,71 who explored the land of the Sythians between the Caspian Sea and Lake Balkhash.72 Even as late as his time, the land presented formidable water barriers to travel. [Glenn A. Scott, Voices from the Dust, p. 29] If one travels south from the ruins of Nineveh into Arabia they will eventually enter the Empty Quarter. There were two possible routes through the Empty Quarter”, 1.) the Dakakah Trail through the heart of the Empty Quarter via the wells at Jabrin, Maqainame, Naifa, Shanna, Khor Daliya Mitan, Shis’r to the Salalah coastal plain in southern Oman[xi]; and 2.) a possibly trail paralleling the Arabian/Persian Gulf coast about 200 miles inland via wells at Jabrin, Liwa, Buraymi and ending at Magan near today’s capital of Oman, Muscat[xii]. I will refer to the second trail as the Magan trail. Both routes were not trails in the traditional sense, i.e. no worn tracks in the sand. The large-scale use of camels as beast of burden, and thus the establishment of the caravans and heavily traveled inland routes do not seem to have appeared in Arabia until the end of the second millennium B.C.[xiii], considerably later than Jaredite passage. Each trail was a series of distant watering holes, which if found, could support a passage with donkeys through the Empty Quarter. The Dakakah trail ended at the Salalah Coast Plain on the Indian Ocean in Oman, the place where LDS scholars believe Nephi built his ship. It is for this reason that I prefer to Dakakah trail over the Magan trail, it ended at the body of water that Nephi called Irreantum meaning Many Waters. It would also be true that if the Jaredites embarked from either the harbor of Khor Rori in Salalah or a harbors in Magan, they would have had to cross many bodies of water to reach the New World (Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, Seven Seas of East Indians and the Pacific Ocean). This would not have been the case if they departed from the shores of the Pacific or Atlantic. ] being directed continually by the hand of the Lord.

7 And the Lord would not suffer that they should stop beyond the sea in the wilderness, but he would that they should come forth even unto the land of promise, which was choice above all other lands, which the Lord God [ Hebrew - Yahweh ( or Jehovah which means "to become" or "to exist") translated as Lord; Elohim translated as God ("the Gods") which together the words mean "He will cause Gods to be". ] had preserved for a righteous people.

8 And he had sworn in his wrath [ What does wrath mean? It is not anger but is the just punishment for an offense or crime. Romans 8:1; Gods wrath in Scripture, is his holy and just indignation against sin. Romans 1:18. How could God ever get angry if he has seen all things and knows all things from the beginning to the end? Anwser is he can't - doesn't. ] unto the brother of Jared, that whoso should possess this land of promise, from that time henceforth and forever, [ How long is this then? ] should serve him, the true and only God, or they should be swept off when the fulness of his wrath should come upon them. [ Herein is the deed restriction to the promised land. ]

9 And now, we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land, that it is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fulness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity. [ Or at that point where they (the nation) have turned away from God and do not serve him. How close are we to that now? vs 10 requires the fulness of iniquity. ]

10 For behold, this is a land which is choice [ A land which has been selected; chosen for a special purpose. ] above all other lands; wherefore he that doth possess it shall serve God or shall be swept off; for it is the everlasting decree of God. [ How long is everlasting? Notice that this decree is connected to the land itself. ] And it is not until the fulness of iniquity among the children of the land, that they are swept off. [ Abounding with; having a large quantity or abundance; Saturated; entire; not partial; Mature; perfect; ]

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 [ The fullness of the Gospel includes repentance. ] until the fulness come, that ye may not bring down the fulness of the wrath of God upon you as the inhabitants of the land have hitherto done. [ The record of the fallen people contained in the Book Of Mormon. And we see it plainly is what happens when people reject Jesus Christ. ]

12 Behold, this is a choice land, [ "choice land" is only mentioned by that specific name in the Book Of Ether.(Ether 2:12; Ether 13:2) This would have been especially important to them as they were familiar with covenant blessings of the Lord and how they were often tied to the Land. Abraham will shortly be given the Abrahamic covenant which will be tied to land as well. So they would have understood the relationship being promised land and covenants. ] 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, [ "IF" they will. Again we have the deed restriction for those who live of this land. So if they will serve God then those who reside here will be free from being overtaken and under the rule of other nations. If they do not serve him they loose their promise for such protection. So the Book Of Mormon is a record of how not to follow down the same path of destruction as others have in the past. ] who is Jesus Christ, [ Now wait a minute here. We are over 2 thousand years before Jesus Christ and yet his name is mentioned here. How can that be? Were do we find that in the Bible? The answer is that we don't the scribes took it all out, but it was there. They knew from the plates that they had, they were taught who he was in the apocrypha, so it was there. They would have known the things that come from the Books of Jasher, The Life Of Adam and Eve, They would have known many of the teachings of the Messiah that was available to Abraham, including the Book Of Enoch. They would have known how through the priesthood to offer sacrifice in the name Of Jesus Christ as this would have been passed down with their priesthood from Adam. Barak Obama declared at least two times after he was elected that we are "no longer a Christian nation". So what should we expect going forward. ] who hath been manifested by the things which we have written.

13 And now I proceed with my record; [ Or the abridgement of the Jaradite records. ] for behold, it came to pass that the Lord did bring Jared and his brethren forth even to that great sea which divideth the lands. And as they came to the sea they pitched their tents; and they called the name of the place Moriancumer; < [ This is the first occurrence of the name in the text. The end of the name is spelled as mr in the manuscripts (13 more times in extant portions of © and every time in P). This spelling suggests the possibility that one other name in the text could be in error — namely, the name Moriancumer may be a mistake for Moriancumr: Ether 2:13 and they called the name of the place [Morian cumer 1| Moriancumer ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRST] O is not extant here. According to P, the earliest extant source, the name Moriancumer ends in er, not r. The critical text will assume that Moriancumer is correct, even though this could be an error for Moriancumr. For discussion of whether this name should be spelled as two names (as suggested by the spelling Morian cumer in P) or as one word (the spelling of all the printed edi-tions), see under Ether 2:13. In Summary: Maintain throughout the text the spelling Coriantumr, the immediately corrected spelling in O for Helaman 1:15; this occurrence of the name was apparently the first time Oliver Cowdery encountered this name as scribe for Joseph Smith's dictation; all other occurrences of this name in both manuscripts and in the 1830 edition are consistently spelled this way. ] and they dwelt in tents, and dwelt in tents upon the seashore for the space of four years.

14 And it came to pass at the end of four years that the Lord came again unto the brother of Jared, [ Note who came - this time it was the Lord who came to Jared when it would appear as if he had forgotten the Lord. Just my opinion here but I think that it maybe had more to do with preparing and altar and doing his temple worship. He was the high priest and even though they are on the beach and are removed from the temples that they would have used the Lord is basically saying, you still need to be doing what you are commanded to do. He gets off track a little has to repent. For 4 years he forgets to call upon the Lord, and this is after many great and marvelous experiences that he had, despite the wonderful promises he has received. I suppose one might say well he was just caught up in the work of beginning the journey, crossing waters and building barges and doing all these things. So we can imagine that he got tired. Or maybe it was the luxury resort that he found himself in, spending 4 great years on the seashore in their tent in a beautiful place, relaxing on the beach and kicking back. But then the Lord comes in and speaks with brother of Jared for several hours, and chastises him. And the Brother Jared repents. We see him accepting the Lord's correction and moving forward, again, interceding on behalf of his brethren. Note also that every group that has come to the Americas has had a preparatory period before they came. It seems that a preparatory period has always been necessary before a people where worthy to enter a covenant land (Ether 2:8), and the traditional place for preparing for a promised land has been Arabia. Before entering their promised land, the children of Israel had to wander in the wilderness of northern Arabia and the Sinai peninsula for forty years. The Lehites spent eight years in Arabia before crossing to the New World. The great explorer Sir Richard Burton wrote of his time in Arabia:"It was a desert peopled only with echoes – a place of death for what little there is to die in it – a wilderness where, to use my companion’s phrase, there is nothing but He, La siwa hu – ie, where there is none but Allah." (Andrew Taylor, Traveling the Sands, Sagas of Explorations in the Arabian Peninsula (Dubai: Emirates, 1995) map “Routes Across the Sand, introduction.) President David O McKay noted the special significance of this desert peninsula: After a few days of fiery disputations in the synagogues, Saul concluded to leave Damascus and go into retirement; so, bidding his new friends good-bye, he went into Arabia in the mountains near the Red Sea. Here he received instruction in the School of solitude. "O sacred solitude! divine retreat! Choice of the prudent! envy of the great! By thy pure stream, or in thy waving shade, We court fair wisdom." Like Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist, and even the Savior Himself, Paul now sought to be alone with God, and to learn how to get his spirit in communion with the Holy Spirit. How long he remained there, we do not know. All he says about this journey is: "I went into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus."(David O. McKay, Ancient Apostles, p.146) An indication that the Jaredites needed a preparatory period is that the Lord spoke of a land of promise before the Jaredites left Babylon (Ether 1:42), yet He did not enter a covenant with them until after they crossed the wilderness. (Ether 2:8-10). ] and stood in a cloud and talked with him. And for the space of three hours did the Lord talk with the brother of Jared, and chastened him because he remembered not to call upon the name of the Lord. [ Did the brother of Jared really stop praying? I find that hard to believe. He has had all of these wonderful experiences and then he just stops praying? Or did he stop asking the Lord what to do once they reached this land by the border of the sea? Was it because he was now the prophet and was not praying to ask what the Lord wanted him to do to lead the people? Or how to proceed to build a barge? Or what the next steps should be? So call upon God and ask not just try to do it all on yourself - maybe! Just my opinion here but I think that it maybe had more to do with preparing and altar and doing his temple worship. He was the high priest and even though they are on the beach and are removed from the temples that they would have used the Lord is basically saying, you still need to be doing what you are commanded to do. next verse says he did call upon the name of the Lord for his brethren. When the Jaredites came to the “great sea which divideth the lands,” they pitched their tents in a place they named Moriancumer. After four years, “the Lord came again in a cloud” and talked with the brother of Jared. The Lord “chastened him because he remembered not to call upon the name of the Lord” (v. 14). Many modern readers are puzzled by this apparently ungrateful behavior. One recent commentary notes that “it seems highly unlikely that a man of the spiritual stature of the brother of Jared—one who had received marvelous manifestations and had previously exercised great faith in the Lord—would suddenly cease praying to his Maker.” The commentary continues: “It may be that what this verse is saying to us is that Mahonri Moriancumer was chastened by the Lord because he had not fully followed and implemented the counsels of the Lord previously received. It may be that in the relative comfort of the seashore he had allowed his prayers to become less fervent, more casual and routine. He may have been calling upon the Lord in word, but not in faith and deed” (J. McConkie, Millet, and Top 4:269). Whatever the reasons for the Lord’s chastening Jared’s brother, it is important to remember that other great prophets were also rebuked by the Lord. Moses was reproved for not explicitly following God’s instructions in the wilderness of Zin (Num. 20:7–11; 27:12–14; Deut. 32:51–52). The Apostle Peter received a sharp rebuke for letting his love of the Lord get in his way of comprehending the need for the Atonement (Matt. 16:21–23). Even the Prophet Joseph Smith was reprimanded for having “feared man more than God” (D&C 3:7). There is nothing demeaning in being corrected by the Lord, that comes from not humbly receiving the correction. The book of Job reads: “Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty” (Job 5:17). The Lord has declared, “as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent” (Rev. 3:19). Jared’s brother, like the rest of God’s prophets, took immediate action to turn away the Lord’s wrath (Ether 2:15). "Whom I love I also chasten that their sins may be forgiven, for with the chastisement I prepare a way for their deliverance in all things out of temptation, and I have loved you” (D&C 95:1). Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles commented on the strength of character it takes to endure chastening: “It is difficult to imagine what a three-hour rebuke from the Lord might be like, but the brother of Jared endured it. With immediate repentance and prayer, this prophet again sought guidance for the journey they had been assigned and those who were to pursue it. God accepted his repentance and lovingly gave further direction for their crucial mission” (Christ and the New Covenant [1997], 15). "How could Moriancumer—a man able to accept his brother’s counsel, a man blessed by the Master’s personal attention for his mighty prayer, a man strong enough to lead people and flocks of every kind across trackless wastes and seas and finally reach the edge of the great ocean—how could he pitch his tent and, four years later, be chastened for forgetting the Lord? Can’t you almost hear the sighs of relief as the burdens are set down, the flocks are let to feed in the coastal plain, the tents are pitched, and the place is named for the great leader who brought them safely through? The scriptures don’t tell us why the people “remembered not to call upon the name of the Lord” (Ether 2:14) during those years, but our own experience may give us a clue. When we face an unknown wilderness or a strange sea, which may for us be a move to a new place or mortal sickness in a loved one, our hearts soften and we beg for blessings and weep when they’re given. But when it’s harder to see the needs or the blessings—when our tents are pitched—it’s easy to forget the Master and think more of the part our own courage and exertions may have contributed. sometimes those around us make that forgetfulness more likely by praising us and attributing the victory to us. Most of us spend a good part of our lives in perils so nearly invisible that self-reliance comes easily, and accepting counsel from brothers, or from God, comes hard. No rebuke could have a happier ending than this one did for Moriancumer; nor can we hope for a much more helpful example. He repented." The Brother of Jared: An Expert at Learning By Elder Henry B. Eyring SEPTEMBER 1996. ]

15 And the brother of Jared repented of the evil which he had done, [ Not asking the Lord how to accomplish the things which he did not know how to do himself? Not performing his temple worship? ] and did call upon the name of the Lord for his brethren who were with him. [ He was their spiritual leader - he was called to be their leader. ] 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; wherefore, if ye will sin until ye are fully ripe ye shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord. And these are my thoughts upon the land which I shall give you for your inheritance; for it shall be a land choice above all other lands.

16 And the Lord said: Go to work and build, after the manner of barges which ye have hitherto built. [ The Lord says build some barges but does not tell him how to build them? Why? Do you suppose that he does not need to as they already know how to do it; he has done that before. We can also see in verse 6 that as they crossed the wilderness the Lord had directed them and showed them how to build barges. I suppose to cross lakes and rivers. So we can conclude that they had learned as they went some worked better than others maybe so when they need to build barges to crosse the sea they have a good idea what will work the best for the task. Again the principle of line upon line. See vs 6. ] 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 instructions 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.

17 And they were built after a manner that they were exceedingly tight, 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; [ So what is being implied by this? I think that he has been talking about the structure of the barges here, how they needed to be tight like a dish. So I wonder by referencing the length of a tree he was suggesting that the barges were no long than the trees that were available to them. Because the movement of a vessel through waves would produce longitudinal flexing that would tend to separate the joints if planks were placed together. Thus the Jaredite ships were not longer than the length of the available trees. Randall Spackman, Worcester has written that “most of the timber” used in East Asia for boatbuilding was pine. This “light, soft and tough” wood was obtained from trees that were cut for sale when they were “over 20 years old and about 50 feet high.” If the same sort of materials were used by the Jaredites, then the phrase “the length of a tree” (Ether 2:17) might simply mean that the barges were about 50 feet long or less. On the other hand, the phrase “the length of a tree” could also be interpreted as a reference to the Jaredites’ use of a particular method for constructing their barges. Unlike modern boatbuilding techniques, which involve the creation of a keel and frame before the planking is applied, Mesopotamian boatbuilders first created a box-like hull of edge-joined planks into which they inserted frames, a central shelf or spine, and deckbeams. For the greatest rigidity and strength, a single beam made from one large tree was required for the central shelf of the vessel. . . . Thus it would seem logical to assume that “the length of a tree” had some direct connection with the extreme tightness of the Jaredite hulls. ] and the door thereof, when it was shut, was tight like unto a dish. [ No water could get in, and no light could get in and no air could even get in. Noah, the first shipbuilder of Biblical record, was commanded to make an ark of “gopher wood” and to coat it inside and out with pitch (Genesis 6:14-16). According to Randall Spackman, pitch is also mentioned as material for coating boat hulls in documents from the 3rd Dynasty of Ur, about 2000 B.C., and it is clear from Mesopotamian records during the 2nd millennium B.C., that it was standard practice in Jared’s Babylonia to coat the outside of the vessel with pitch and the inside of the planks with fish oil. In northern China, however, the ancient waterproofing technique was to coat the hulls with tung oil, sometimes mixed with fish oil or lime, a practice which one early European traveller noted “suffereth no wormes, which is the occasion that one of their shippes doth twice last out one of ours.” Thus, the use of pitch, fish oil or tung oil for waterproofing and protection from worms may have been comprehended in the words “tight like unto a dish”]

18 And it came to pass that the brother of Jared cried unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, I have performed the work which thou hast commanded me, [ We see here the principle accountability, of returning and reporting. ] and I have made the barges according as thou hast directed me.

19 And behold, O Lord, in them there is no light; whither shall we steer? And also we shall perish, for in them we cannot breathe, save it is the air which is in them; therefore we shall perish. [ Brother of Jared petitions the Lord for what to do about light and air? Two different problems. Why does the Lord give a direct answer about how to solve the problem of the air and yet ask Brother of Jared what he wants him to do about the light situtation? First I think that without air they would not survive. Without light it might be uncomfortable but they could likely survive with the light from the hole in the top. My idea is that there was a specific way that the Lord had designed to give them air and so he instructed the Brother Of Jared accordingly - maybe the answer was beyond his scope to solve, so the Lord solved it for him and said, “Do thus and so and you’ll have air.” On the other hand - how to get light well he had the scriptures in front of him - he was able to read how Noah lighted the ark and could do the same thing here - just a thought. see Gen 6:16. ]

20 And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: Behold, thou shalt make a hole in the top, and also in the bottom; [ So think about the hole in the top as just that a hole with a hatch in the top. The bottom of the boat what if the hole was really a port (it had a pipe that extended up into the main chamber and the top of the pipe was above the outside water line.) to the bottom of the boat. So that the top of the hole was above the water level. If that was the case then they could fish out of the hole, put the excrement out the hole as well...Just a thought. A careful reading of this verse in the first edition seems to indicate that the terms “in the top” and “in the bottom” do not refer to the barge itself. Rather, they refer to the top and bottom of something else such as a chamber or cylinder (designated here as “thereof“) which could be used to admit air. Dr. Hugh Nibley has explained the possible significance of the “thereofs” and the possibility of an air chamber as follows: An exacting editor by removing those very significant “thereof’s” has made it appear that when Jared wanted air he was to open the top window of the boat and admit fresh air from the outside. But that is not what the original edition of Book of Mormon says. For one thing, the ships had no windows communicating with the outside–“ye cannot have windows. . .” (Ether 2:23); each ship had an airtight door (Ether 2:17), and that was all. Air was received not by opening and closing doors and windows, but by unplugging air holes (“thou shalt unstop the hole thereof, and receive air. . .”), “when thou shalt suffer for air” i.e., when they were not able to open the hatches, the ships being submerged. (Ether 2:20) This can refer only to a reserve supply of air, and indeed the brother of Jared recognizes that the people cannot possibly survive on the air contained within the ships at normal pressure: “. . .we shall perish, for in them we cannot breathe, save it is the air which is in them; therefore we shall perish.” (Ether 2:19) So the Lord recommended a device for trapping (compressing) air, with a “hole in the top thereof and also in the bottom thereof,” not referring to the ship but to the air chamber itself. Note the peculiar language: “unstop” does not mean to open a door or window but to unplug a vent, here called a “hole” in contrast to the door mentioned in verse 17; it is specifically an air hole–“when though shalt suffer for air, thou shalt unstop the hole thereof and receive air.” (1st Ed.) When the crew find it impossible to remain on the surface–“and if it so be that the water come in upon thee” (Ether 2:20), they are to plug up the air chamber: “ye shall stop up the hole thereof, that ye may not perish in the flood.” This, I believe, refers to replenishing the air supply on the surface, lest the party suffocate when submerged–“that ye may not perish in the flood.” 80 It is entirely feasible that such an air chamber could have been constructed in each boat. Some of the advantages of such an air chamber have been suggested by A. L. Zobell, Sr., as follows: A tube is built from the bottom to the top of the barge, housing in both holes completely. Now we have a funnel right through the boat. Water can come into the tube as high as the water line of the vessel. The model of the barge we have built has a stop hole both in front and in back of the tube, . . . These stop holes can easily be opened or closed as needed. The purpose of the bottom hole is at least two-fold: First, it acted as a stabilizer to keep the barge at an even keel; second, it could be used to get rid of refuse.(("Jaredite Barges," A.L. Zobell, Sr., Improvement Era, April 1941, pp. 211, 252. Daniel H. Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon, pp. 313-315) ] 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, [ According to Richard Gudmundsen, in reading the remarkable account of the eight barges designed by the Lord for transporting the Jaredites to the new world, it seems at first somewhat ludicrous that one should make a hole in the bottom of the boat and one in the top of the boat as described by the writer and translator. However, when one realized that the abridger Moroni was probably not an expert in hydraulics and pneumatics, then his explanation of the truth seems more reasonable. The account requires a design which will remain upright in heavy seas which on occasion break completely over the vessels. The stones touched by the finger of the Lord provide the light necessary. The air conditioning system as envisioned by Gudmundsen consists of a wave-driven water-piston which when falling, allows air from the top to be admitted by a flapper valve normally held upwards by a stretchable cord made of animal skin. When the water in the “pump” made of a hollowed out tree, rises due to wave motion, the water piston drives the trapped air into the vessel’s interior. Fresh air is pumped into the vessel on one side, and foul air is exhausted at the other end of the boat through a flap valve also made of animal hide. In this design, the air is admitted through the pump’s entrance valve placed such that any water which washes over the top falls back into the sea in rough seas. In really terrible storms, it would be necessary to clamp the exit valve closed if too much water flowed into the pump volume. By making the pump’s exit port face into the human quarters, a natural draft would be set up to insure that only the stale air from the animal quarters will be pumped out of the vessel’s exit flap port. According to Paul Hedengren, it should not be assumed that just because the Lord authorized the cutting of two holes in each vessel, one “in the top, and also in the bottom” (Ether 2:20), He was also acknowledging that the vessel could be used either right side up or up side down. Since the ends of the barge were peaked, it would not move so easily upon the water upside down as right side up. Furthermore, tumbling about with other people and unsecured cargo is likely to produce serious injuries. It is difficult to imagine a nearly year long voyage in which this was a normal occurrence. One might ask, If the plug in the hole in the bottom of the barge were removed, would not the barge sink? Not necessarily. Remember, the barge settles in the water only as far as is necessary to displace water of the same weight. Since the barge is light upon the water, it is not settling far. All that would be necessary to keep the barge from sinking would be to place a watertight extension around the hole and extend it from the bottom of the barge higher than the water line outside the barge. Water would then rise in that extension up to the level of the water line outside the barge and no further (see illustration). If the Jaredite boats had a watertight extension from the hole on the bottom to the hole on the top, with stops near and above the waterline, then in addition to ventilation, the stops could also have served as a source of seawater for washing and as a source for waste removal. Paul Hedengren, The Land of Lehi: Further Evidence for the Book of Mormon, p. 79 According to Randall Spackman, in certain types of Asian vessels, the foremost (and less frequently the aftermost) compartment is made free-flooding. Holes are placed in the planking; however, the vessel does not sink because the watertight compartment bulkhead keeps the remainder of the vessel dry. According to Chinese tradition, a free-flooding compartment reduces the vessel’s resistance to water to a minimum and cushions the shocks of pounding when the vessel pitches in rough water. The vessel acquires and discharges water ballast just at the time when it is most desirable to counteract the buffeting at the bow or stern. Assuming that the Jaredites used extremely tight construction methods, placing holes in the tops of the free-flooding compartments would have been required for the free movement of the water ballast. The illustrations below show the “normal” and “submerged” conditions of such theoretical free-flooding compartments. While there is no way of determining that the Jaredite devices were like those proposed, this interpretation is much more simple than one requiring submarines and compressed air devices and it is based upon East Asian technology. Except for an occasional stoppage due to “mountain waves,” the air supply could have been continuous. [Randall P. Spackman, The Jaredite Journey To America, p. 96-97, unpublished] Boat Example 1 ] that ye may not perish in the flood.

21 And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did so, according as the Lord had commanded. [ So the brother of Jared does as he has been instructed by the Lord - Law of Obedience. Now they have air in the boat. ]

22 And he cried again unto the Lord saying: O Lord, behold I have done even as thou hast commanded me; [ What were the two questions that he asked the Lord? How will we get air and how do we get light? Here he says that he has done as commanded. The command was what? To make an opening for air in the top and bottom with plugs. He had done that and comes back to the Lord and wants the Lord to tell him now how to solve the problem with no light. ] and I have prepared the vessels for my people, and behold there is no light in them. Behold, O Lord, wilt thou suffer that we shall cross this great water in darkness? [ Or in other words - remember Lord I also asked what should we do for light - you forgot to tell me what to do there. Elder Bruce R McConkie Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained that the Lord requires us to use our agency as we seek His help. Regarding the brother of Jared’s experience, Elder McConkie said: “The Lord talked to him about it a little and then he said this: ‘What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?’ (Ether 2:23.) In effect, ‘What are you asking me for? This is something you should have solved.’ And he talked a little more, and he repeated in essence the question: ‘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 2:25.) In other words, ‘Moriancumer, this is your problem. Why are you troubling me? I’ve given you your agency; you are endowed with capacity and ability. Get out and solve the problem’” (“Agency or Inspiration?” New Era, Jan. 1975, 40–41). ]

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? [ In other words, “… I’ve given you your agency; you are endowed with capacity and ability. Get out and solve the problem.” You need to solve this one on your own. See footnote to Gen 6:16 heb: sohar; some rabbis believed it was a precious stone that shone in the ark. Although the Lord willingly provided directions for receiving air, supplying light was a matter wherein he required the brother of Jared to exercise his own “agency, his intelligence, and his faith” (Jackson 250). There is a pattern in these verses worth noting. God preserves his children “from day to day, by lending [them] breath, that [they] may live and move and do according to [their] own will. . . . And behold, all that he requires of [them] is [that they] keep his commandments” (Mosiah 2:21–22). In other words, God freely grants his children breath and life So that they might exercise their own wills righteously, and thereby grow more like him. This principle is also taught in the revelation concerning Oliver Cowdery given in April, 1829: “Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me. But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right” (D&C 9:7–8). President Harold B. Lee commented on these verses in Ether similarly: “It was as though the Lord were saying to [the brother of Jared], ‘Look, I gave you a mind to think with, and I gave you agency to use it. Now you do all you can do to help yourself with this problem; and then, after you’ve done all you can, I’ll step in to help you’” (“How to Receive” 863). Do you think that Brother Of Jared might have had an example for light to look too? Time of Flood around 2,345 BC So let's just say that the Jaradites leave 100 - 150 years after the flood around 2,200 BC? We know that they left around the time they were building the Around the tower Of Babel. What was the purpose of the tower of Babel? To build a tower above the level that the world could flood. Do you think that the traditions of what Noah took with him in the arc would have been available for Jared, like how the arc was lighted? How does the brother of Jared solve this one? He goes to his scriptures. see Gen 6:16 The Brother of Jared logically thought that if it worked for Noah, it could work for his eight dark ships. Hence, sixteen stones presented to the Savior to be set aglow by His touch. ] For behold, ye cannot have windows, for they will be dashed in pieces; neither shall ye take fire with you, for ye shall not go by the light of fire. [ Note how The Brother of Jared try's to put the solution back on the Lord. "Ye cannot" or it will not work if you have us put windows in the boats. The Lord knew uncounted ways to light the ships, but he allowed the Brother of Jared to define the problem, and then offered help only after Moriancumer had designed the solution. ]

24 For behold, ye shall be as a whale 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 winds have gone forth out of my mouth, and also the rains and the floods have I sent forth.

25 And behold, I prepare you [ This is not possible without the help of the Lord. See Hel 5:11] 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? [ The Lords responds; So what exactly do you want me to do? In other words this is your problem, not mine. Use your agency and go figure it out on your own. ]