The Brother of Jared
*
•
•
•
•
Translated and abridged by Moroni
Taken from the 24 gold plates found by the people of Limhi
Moroni excluded the record from Adam to the Tower of Babel
It is a record of the Jaredites
• They spoke the Adamic Language
• The entire civilization was destroyed about the time that Lehi arrived
• The book covers a period of 1,600 years (2,200 bc to 600 bc)
• They left the Old World after the Tower of Babel experience
Gold plates in a stone box
inscribed during the reign of
Darius I of Persia (515-518 bc)
In 1600, a native Aztec historian named
Alva Cortés Ixtlilxóchitl wrote a history of
the indigenous peoples of the New World
called Relación Histórica de la Nación
Tulteca. He described a group of people
who came from “the great tower” to
Mesoamerica.
“This false temple was an attempt by an ambitious
and wicked people to imitate true temple worship.
Nimrod is a name is for the Jews the very symbol of
rebellion against God and of usurped authority.” (Nibley,
Lehi in the Desert/The World of the Jaredites, 154).
*
Clues about what his name could be…
Alma 8:7
Now it was the custom of the people of Nephi to call their lands, and their
cities, and their villages, yea, even all their small villages, after
the name of him who first possessed them.
Ether 2:13
And as they came to the sea they pitched their tents; and they called the
name of the place Moriancumer; and they dwelt in tents, and dwelt in
tents upon the seashore for the space of four years.
Reynolds Cahoon
Mahonri Moriancumer
Cahoon
“While residing at Kirtland, Elder Reynolds
Cahoon had a son born to him. One day when
President Joseph Smith was passing his door he
called the Prophet in and asked him to bless and
name the baby. Joseph did so and gave the boy
the name of Mahonri Moriancumer. When he had
finished the blessing, he laid the child on the
bed, and turning to Elder Cahoon he said, the
name I have given your son is the name of the
Brother of Jacred; the Lord has just shown or
revealed it to me. Elder William F. Cahoon, who
was standing near heard the Prophet make this
statement to his father; and this was the first
time the name of the brother of Jared was
known in the Church in this dispensation.”
"The Jaredites," The Juvenile Instructor, [1 May 1892], p. 282 n.
*Why wasn’t his name revealed in
the Book of Mormon? There must
be some symbolism…
Idea: The exclusion of the 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.
What’s the worst trouble you were
ever in with your parents?
What’s the longest “lecture” you ever
got?
Do you think you could get in that
kind of trouble with God?
Ether 2:1-2, 13-14
“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.”
“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, Top).
“Even the very righteous brother
of Jared, a truly remarkable man, once
was chastised during a visitation from
the Lord because he ‘remembered not
to call upon the name of the Lord’
[Ether 2:14]. How vital prayer is,
therefore, for all of us! How vital it is
that even our ‘busyness’ in doing His
work not crowd out our prayers to our
Father” (Elder Neal A Maxwell, Even As I Am [1982],
67).
“When you pray, do you just
speak, or do you also listen? Your
Savior said, ‘Behold, I stand at the
door, and knock: if any man hear my
voice, and open the door, I will come in
to him, and will sup with him, and he
with me,’ (Revelation 3:20)
•How do you feel about the frequency
of your personal prayers?
•How do you feel about the sincerity of
your personal prayers?
•If you could make one change that
would improve your personal prayers,
what might it be?
Elder Richard G. Scott: “Let your
Father in Heaven know of your feelings,
your needs, your concerns, your hopes
and aspirations. Speak to Him with
total confidence, knowing that He will
hear and respond. Then patiently go
forth in your life doing those things you
know are correct, walking with
confidence born of faith and
righteousness, patiently waiting for the
response that will come in the manner
and at the time the Lord considers
most appropriate” (“The Power of a Strong
Testimony,” Ensign, Nov. 2001, 88).
Describe the barges
1. They were small
2. Light upon the water
3. They were tight
4. The ends were peaked
5. The length of a tree
6. A door that was tight-like unto a dish
*
“All the Water in the World”
All the water in the world,
However hard it tried,
Could never sink the smallest ship
Unless it got inside.
And all the evil in the world,
The blackest kind of sin,
Can never hurt you the least bit
Unless you let it in.
*
“A tube is built from the bottom to the top of the barge…
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 the front and in the back of the tube… These stop holes
can easily be opened or closed as needed…
“The purpose of the bottom hole is a 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” (A. L. Zobell,
Improvement Era, April 1941, 211, 252, cited in Daniel H. Ludlow Companion, 315).
Problems and Solutions
Ether 2
Ether 2:18–19 Identify three problems he encountered and
presented to the Lord
1. No light
2. No steering
3. No air
Problems and Solutions
Read Ether 2:20–25 looking for the Lord’s solutions
to the Brother of Jared’s problems.
Ether 2
Problem
Solution
1. No air
The Lord instructs him to make holes with
removable plugs in the top and bottom of
the barges (see v. 20).
The Lord says He will guide the barges
(see v. 24).
The Lord asks the brother of Jared what he
would like Him to do (see v. 25)
2. No steering
3. No light
Problems and Solutions
1. Why do you think the Lord revealed solutions for two of
the problems but left it to the brother of Jared to solve
the problem of not having light?
2. What are some other scriptural examples where the Lord
required an individual’s own effort in solving a problem?
3. How can it help us when the Lord requires us to find
solutions to our own problems with His guidance?
Read Ether 3:1,4–6 and answer the following:
4. How did the brother of Jared decide to solve the problem
of not having light?
5. What impresses you most about the Lord’s response?
Problems and Solutions
Ether 2
“Clearly the brother of Jared was
being tested. God had done his part.
Unique, resolutely seaworthy ships
for crossing the ocean had been
provided. The brilliant engineering
had been done. The hard part of the
construction project was over. Now
the Lord wanted to know what the
brother of Jared would do about
incidentals” (Jeffrey R. Holland, Christ and the
New Covenant, 16)
“This is the principle in action. If you
want the blessing, don’t just kneel
down and pray about it. Prepare
yourselves in every conceivable way
you can in order to make yourselves
worthy to receive the blessing you
seek” (“How to receive a Blessings from God,” Harold
B. Lee, Improvement Era, Oct. 1966, 862-63, 896).
“It is contrary to the law of God for the
heavens to be opened and messengers
to come to do anything for man that
man can do for himself” (Joseph Fielding
Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:196).
Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of
the Twelve Apostles said that he has often
heard President Gordon B. Hinckley say, “I
don’t know how to get anything done except
getting on my knees and pleading for help and
then getting on my feet and going to work”
(C.R., Oct. 1997, 18).
*
Ether 3:4/Genesis 6:16: "A
window shalt thou make to the
ark, and a cubit shalt thou finish
it above. "
LDS footnote, 16a: "HEB tsohar;
some rabbis believed it was a
precious stone that shone in the
ark. "
Problems and Solutions
Ether 2
“Surely God, as well as the reader,
feels something very striking in the
childlike innocence and fervor of
this man’s faith. ‘Behold, O Lord,
thou canst do this’ [Ether 3:5].
Perhaps there is no more powerful,
single line of faith spoken by man
in scripture. … However uncertain
the prophet is about his own
ability, he has no uncertainty about
God’s power” (“Rending the Veil of Unbelief,”
in Nurturing Faith through the Book of Mormon: The
24th Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium[1995], 12).
Ether 3:7-21
“Never have I showed myself unto
man whom I have created.”
D&C 107:54 (Adam), Moses 7:2-4, 28-29
(Enoch)
“The Savior appeared to prophets
before the flood, but did not reveal
himself in fullness as he did to the
Brother of Jared. We may truly believe
that very few of the ancient prophets
at any time actually beheld the full
person of the Lord” (Joseph Fielding Smith,
A.T.G.Q. 2:124-25).
“This verse refers to the fact that
the Lord had never yet revealed
himself to man in such a total and
complete manner.” (Elder Bruce R. McConkie,
Doctrines of Salvation 1:37).
Ether 3:22-24, 28
The Epic Instruments
Ether 5:1-4
Three Epic Witnesses
Ether 4:1-2, 16-18
The Epic Instructions
Ether 6:4-12
The Epic Journey
*Epic Journey…
Ether 6:4-12
The Jaredites: A Type of the Plan (Ether 6:4-12)
Exodus of the Jaredites
The Tower of Babel
Jared (to go down)
The Brother of Jared
Seeking and receiving
Directed by God
Brother of Jared Chastened
Building the Barges
Questions of Air and Light
The shining Stones
Experience on Mt. Shelem
The Crossing (Ether 6:4-10)
The Promised Land
Plan of Redemption
The Jaredites: A Type of the Plan (Ether 6:4-12)
Exodus of the Jaredites
Plan of Redemption
The Tower of Babel
A fallen world, and a scattering
Jared (to go down)
To go down into the world
The Brother of Jared
A deliverer is prepared
Seeking and receiving
A New and Everlasting Covenant
Directed by God
Brother of Jared Chastened
Building the Barges
Questions of Air and Light
The shining Stones
Experience on Mt. Shelem
The Crossing (Ether 6:4-10)
The Promised Land
Gift of the Holy Ghost
The Lord chastens those He loves
Building a House of God
Revelation, Agency, and Action
The Word and the Light of Christ
Experience in the Temple
Trails of Life
Eternal Promised Land
The Brother of Jared