Moroni 7-10

MORONI 7—MORMON’S SERMON

It may be that Moroni’s offering of Mormon’s address on faith, hope, and charity—what we now call chapter 7— constitutes Moroni’s finest gift to his readers. In his characteristically modest willingness to cede space to Mormon, Moroni brings forth one of the records most important moments of theological reflection.

David F. Holland, Moroni, a Brief Theological Introduction, pg. 60

SOURCE OF GOOD AND EVIL

The nature of the source defines the essence of the output regardless of appearances. This is a challenging notion, but Mormon’s language seems unrelenting on the matter.

David F. Holland, Moroni, a Brief Theological Introduction, pg . 63

If a bitter fountain can never bring forth good water, how can that fountain ever change its ways? If an act by a corrupt heart counts for nothing—including even the act of prayer—what can that heart ever do to alter its own character? If an entity cannot produce anything other than what it already is, it is eternally stuck. What, then, can a sinner do to pursue salvation?

David F. Holland, Moroni, a Brief Theological Introduction, pg.64

THE GIFT

If we do not fully confront the necessarily unbreakable bars of the prison cell that is our own character, we cannot fully recognize the abundant gift of the Brother whose blood has set us free. Mormon wants us to understand that gift and the freedom it facilitates.

To put this another way, Jesus gives us both the power to choose and the ability to choose well, the capacity to see at all and the light by which to see it all.

David F. Holland, Moroni, a Brief Theological Introduction, pg. 67

MIRACLES

Why would a sermon that begins with the immovable problem of impure hearts and ends with the irresistible promise of pure love be preoccupied in the middle with miracles?

The divine act that has enabled us to choose and change is actually a more inexplicable wonder than the moving of the mountains or the parting of seas. When we appreciate the existential miracle involved in the former we will see both the necessity and the possibility of believing in miracles like the latter. When we understand that we carry within us a witness of Christ’s power to overcome the fetters of logical constraint, we may come to understand more thoroughly that God is ready and willing to work any other necessary marvel in our lives. And to lose faith in one is to undermine the other.

David F. Holland, Moroni, a Brief Theological Introduction, pg. 70

AGENCY

In seeing agency as a gift, I can better recognize its divine diversity of forms; I will be both more appreciative of what other human beings can do and more patient with what they cannot do. (Maybe that is why Mormon said that the telltale characteristic of those who understand the doctrine of Christ is their peaceable walk with the rest of humanity.) Through this theological lens, each soul’s endowment of agency—its lengths and its limits—begins to look very personalized, just as one would expect from gifts of a thoughtful giver.

David F. Holland, Moroni, a Brief Theological Introduction, pg.72

FAITH

I sometimes regret the fact that we use the word "faith" in religious discussions.

Why? Because I think it's become a technical term that obscures for many what should be and is a very simple concept. This has created serious controversies and unnecessary misunderstandings. The Greek word "pistis," which English Bibles typically render as "faith," also means "confidence" or "trust," and these ordinary, everyday terms convey very neatly what scriptural faith entails.

The first readers of the New Testament didn't have to ask what "pistis" meant. Paul hadn't invented the word. They knew it already; it had been common in Greek for centuries. And in the standard English lexicon of classical Greek, the first definition of "pistis" is "trust in others."

While theological factions might argue-and, in fact, have argued-for decades over the definition of "faith," we all have a reasonably clear idea of what it means to have "trust" in someone.

When the Greek New Testament was translated into Latin, "pistis" was rendered as "fides," which again meant "trust" or "confidence." Our English word "faith" comes from the Latin "fides," but today we tend to think of "faith" as "belief in something without proof," and, often, more as agreement with a set of propositions than as trust in a person.

But God is a person, and saving faith - although it surely entails agreeing with certain propositions - is trust in him, as a person, to love us and to keep his promises to us.

Daniel Peterson

HEALERS

We can be of little use to those who have been dragged into the darkness until we have resolutely faced the actual evil of which our species is capable.

We cannot be healers if we shield our eyes from the wounds.

David F. Holland, Moroni, a Brief Theological Introduction, pg. 93

MORONI EXHORTS READERS...

1. remember God’s mercies (vs. 3)

2. ask God for a witness (vs. 4)

3. not deny God’s power (vs. 7)

4. not deny God’s gifts (vs. 8)

5. remember the source of every good gift (vs. 18)

6. remember that God is unchanging (vs. 19)

7. remember his words (vs. 27)

8. come unto Christ [and lay hold of every good gift] (vs. 30)

Grant Hardy, Annotated Book of Mormon

  

Moroni 1 - 6

 . . . . the process of creating order and meaning out of a text--especially when we recognize that we are doing it, and doing it thoughtfully--is one of the ways that the Spirit can teach us as we meet together in the words of scripture. Engaging with scripture is an active, creative process, and collaborative thinking with a text is itself a sacred work. 

Rosalynde Welch - "Sharing the Sacrament with Moroni at the End of Time." Maxwell Institute Blog. https://mi.byu.edu/news-blog-section/moroni-1-6-sharing-the-sacrament-with-moroni-at-the-end-of-time

Despite its disparate elements, Moroni’s book has a unifying theme: how to find peace in the midst of social disintegration. This was a challenge Moroni himself had faced as he saw his civilization collapse, and he believes the lessons he learned from history, his father, and his own revelations will someday be useful to the descendants of the Lamanites. His first answer is to become part of a well-regulated religious community that conducts its affairs according to Christ’s teachings and the power of the Holy Ghost (chs. 2–6). Grant Hardy, The Annotated Book of Mormon. 

The first two theological declarations of the book of Moroni intertwine in its opening verses: Jesus is the Christ, and uncertainty is an unavoidable part of our existence in this mortal world. The uncertainty affects even the most devoted disciples at even their most urgent moments of need. The sustaining gifts of faith in Christ are the necessary complement to that uncertainty, and those gifts come not only despite our inadequacies but also sometimes through them. A prophet on the lam—troubled by the specter of his mistakes, inclined to worry and self-doubt in a world falling apart around him, and determined to hold on to his faith—shows these things to be true as he composes the final chapters of an epic book.

David F. Holland, Moroni.

. . . even as these opening passages on ordination and authorization point to the official structures of a Christian community, Moroni’s history of Christ’s visit simultaneously reminds us that the authority of office is not the same thing as divine power. Indeed, these chapters seem to insist on driving home a distinction between the two. The act of ordaining may convey a role of particular responsibility within the church, but the power of God is something other than that. It is bigger in its capacity and more universal in its distribution than a narrow fixation on ordination could possibly accommodate.

Note that, in chapter 2, even though Christ gave his twelve disciples the assignment and the authority to confer the gift of the Holy Ghost, the apostles would not have the “power” to accomplish this thing until “after” they had sought the Lord in “mighty prayer” (Moro. 2:2). In other words, the power came not through ordination but through prayer; it was then to be used in a specific way to meet the ordained responsibilities of a particular office.    

David F. Holland, Moroni.

To put this concept in the language of current Church usage, priesthood office carries the authority of specific community roles, but priesthood power is within the reach of every Saint.

David F. Holland, Moroni.

Moroni 3:4 I should not lose confidence in it because it was brought to me by a fellow fallen creature. In other words, when I am the giver, I should strive to meet the highest standards of spiritual power; when I am the receiver, I should not devalue the offering by the imperfect vehicle that bears it. 

David F. Holland, Moroni.

To go through the motions of the sacrament, without consciously tuning its repetitive actions toward the formation of a new self, is to miss its purpose. Put simply, sacramental habit can be powerfully transformative, but only if it does not descend into thoughtlessness. I have to be intentional about my quest for holiness when I place that bread on my tongue and bring the water to my lips over and over again. Otherwise, I squander the gift. I have “lost power.”

David F. Holland, Moroni.

The prayers are a reminder of the point made repeatedly in scripture—from the spit and dirt with which Jesus heals blindness in John 9, to the stones that become instruments of light in Ether 3, to the imperfect disciples who are made special witnesses throughout the standard works—that God can take the most mundane of materials and turn them into miraculous instruments of redemption. He is the Sanctifier of previously unhallowed elements. He changes things.

David F. Holland, Moroni.

Dr. Saba Mahmoud observing Muslim women in their devotion to the Islamic practice of daily prayer rituals:

Dr. Saba Mahmood notes that the rituals are usually seen by their practitioners as a substantive way to connect with the divine while they are usually seen by academic observers as symbolic expressions of identity and an affirmation of group cohesion. In close observation of her subjects, however, Mahmood noticed a third implication of their ritual lives. She recognized that the women approached their prayer rituals as repeatable acts of spiritual training, disciplines whose repetition over time would facilitate a gradual internal transformation. They did them less as professions of faith and more as avenues toward faith.

They did not observe their prayer practices because they self-identified as part of a righteous people; they observed them in the hope of developing into righteous people. Their rituals were about the diligent, repetitive work of forming a new self. They were not static symbols so much as active exercises. Mahmood’s women did these things in order to become.

The ordinances are therefore not the culmination of my righteousness; rather, they are a foundational exercise that allows me to develop righteousness.

David F. Holland, Moroni.

A moment of reverence can often open new doors, provide new pathways which might have otherwise been left unexplored. 

Alan Bradley, The Golden Tresses of the Dead.

. . . Moroni did have a choice. There were societies he could join—secret combinations and warring tribes—if he were willing to betray both his better nature and his testimony of the Christ. As agonizing as prolonged solitude is to souls wired for connection, Moroni concluded that there is in fact something worse: a community in which inclusion comes at the price of core convictions. And so he walks on, alone with his faith in Jesus, maintaining his mentally projected sense of place among a community of righteous writers and reflecting on what a well-ordered, Christ-centered people once looked like. For him, that reflection begins with the ordinances.

David F. Holland, Moroni.

Ether 6-15

Quote: In these chapters, we learn the history of the Jaredites. They contain just one doctrinal discourse, but they do teach solemn admonitions about the evils of wickedness, immorality, idolatry, political strife, power struggles, secret oaths, violence, failing to heed prophetic warnings, and refusing to repent, and thus these chapters are relevant today, even though they come from a very different time and place. (Inspirations and Insights from the Book of Mormon. John W. Welch pg. 295)

Quote: The narratives of the Jaredites and Lehi’s family crossing the ocean in their vessels share similar conditions and outcomes, yet the tales themselves serve two separate purposes. The Jaredite record states that the Lord God caused furious winds, and that the people were “tossed upon the waves of the sea” as their vessels were pushed forward to the Promised Land. By contrast, we know that disobedience caused the great storm on the voyage of Lehi’s family to the Promised Land. In other words, it was not an easy voyage – they had their trials, but they ultimately made it to their desired destination. In both narratives, the people were traveling to their promised land for the same general purpose. In one scenario, the Lord provided the tempest that pushed the Jaredites toward the Promised Land. Those people were allowed to learn and grow through trials and tribulations – not of their making – along the journey. In the other scenario, the disobedient choices of a few caused unnecessary delay and difficulty for everyone aboard the ship.

We can metaphorically apply this situation to ourselves. When we face trials, tribulation, or trauma, it may be for a greater purpose. We may undergo difficult experiences to reach our desired destination. We can also slow our own progress through haughtiness and disobedience. (Inspirations and Insights from the Book of Mormon. John W. Welch pg. 296)

Quote: Among the Jaredites, the people were brought unto repentance when the king protected the prophets. In contrast, when a later king did not protect the prophets, the people hardened their hearts and did reject all the words of the prophets, with the result that the Spirit of the Lord ceased striving with them, and Satan had full power over the hearts of the people. They then reached the fulness of iniquity, which brought down upon the fulness of the wrath of God. (Merrill, “They Wrote to us As If We Were Present,” 15).

Quote: Why did the Jaredite people reject the prophets? The Jaredites followed a pattern of prophetic rejection evident in all ages. The Jaredites would say with the corrupt Ahab, “I hate the prophet Micaiah; for he never prophesied good unto me, but always prophesied evil.” That kind of hate for a prophet’s honesty cost Abinadi his life. As he said to King Noah: “Because I have told you the truth ye are angry with me…Because I have spoken the word of God ye have judged me that I am mad or, we might add, provincial, patriarchal, bigoted, unkind, narrow, outmoded, and elderly. (Holland, “Cost and Blessings of Discipleship”, 7)

Quote: The experiences of Emer are some of the most promising moments in these chapters of rampant wickedness among the Jaredites. As a very righteous leader of his people, Emer was privileged to have the veil parted and see the Lord Himself….Moroni may have desired to show us through Emer that not only righteousness but perfect faith is possible in a world sandwiched in on all sides by wickedness. (Judd, “Jaredite Zion Societies,” 150).

Quote: Shortly after my call as a new General Authority, I had the privilege to accompany President James E. Faust for a stake reorganization. As I drove the car to our assignment in beautiful Southern Utah, President Faust was kind enough to use the time to instruct and teach me. One lesson I will never forget. Said he, “The members of the Church are gracious to the General Authorities. They will treat you kindly and say nice things about you.” Then he briefly paused and said, “Dieter, always be thankful for this, but don’t you ever inhale it.” This important lesson about Church service applies to every priesthood holder in every quorum of the Church. It applies to all of us in this Church. 

To be effective Church leaders, we must learn this critical lesson: Leadership in the Church is not so much about directing others as it is about our willingness to be directed by God. 

There is nothing wrong with wanting to serve the Lord, but when we seek to gain influence in the Church for our own sake—in order to receive the praise and admiration of men—we have our reward. When we “inhale” the praise of others, that praise will be our compensation. (The Greatest Among You, Uchtdorf. Ensign April 2017)

Quote: Moroni may have been inspired (or sobered) by the failure of Ether to stem the tide of destruction and mutual annihilation of the warring Jaredite factions. Ether had cried repentance from morning until night, but without success. He had prophesied many things, which people did not believe. This caused Moroni to ponder, why would they not believe? Why had his own people failed to believe? In response to his musings, Moroni was inspired to write about faith. He wants to show the whole world that “faith is things which are hoped for and not seen,” and that people “receive no witness until the trial of their faith. (Inspirations and Insights from the Book of Mormon. John W. Welch pg. 302)

Quote: The scriptures link three words powerfully together: faith, hope, and charity. The gift of hope is a priceless endowment from God. The word hope is used for many things we want to have happen. For example, “I hope it won’t rain,” or “I hope our team wins. My intent is to speak of our sacred and eternal hopes centered in Jesus Christ and the restored gospel and our confident expectations of the promised blessings of righteousness.

As we strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ, we see beyond our struggles to the blessings and promises of eternity. Like a light whose brilliance grows, hope brightens the darkened world, and we see our glorious future.

Just as the Holy Ghost brought hope to Adam, the power of the Lord’s Spirit enlightens the faithful today, illuminating the reality of eternal life.

The Savior sends us a Comforter, the Holy Ghost, a companion bringing faith, hope, and peace “not as the world giveth.”

We feel the Lord’s approval for our meek willingness, and we await the promised peace the Lord will send in His chosen timing.

The Apostle Paul taught, “The God of hope [will] fill you with … joy and peace … , that ye may abound in hope,” “rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation;” “through the power of the Holy Ghost.” .

My brothers and sisters, hope is a living gift, a gift that grows as we increase our faith in Jesus Christ. 

To fortify our hope in a time of increasing wickedness, the Lord has directed His prophet to dot the earth with His temples.

As we enter the Lord’s house, we feel the Spirit of God, verifying our hope.

There is no pain, no sickness, no injustice, no suffering, nothing that can darken our hope as we believe and hold tightly to our covenants with God in the house of the Lord. It is a house of light, a house of hope. 

Brothers and sisters, the peace you seek may not come as quickly as you desire, but I promise you that as you trust in the Lord, His peace will come. I testify that our hope is our Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the God of hope—the triumph of hope. . (The Triumph of Hope. Anderson. Liahona November 2024.)

The “Why?” of Ether

Quote: As Moroni wrote, “it is wisdom in God that these things should be shown unto you … that evil may be done away, and that the time may come that Satan may have no power upon the hearts of the children of men” (Ether 8:23, 26). 

Ether 1-5

THE TOWER OF BABEL

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

Genesis 11:1-9 NIV Study Bible: Updated Edition (Kindle Locations 3038-3061)

 THE BOOK OF ETHER

The first thing to note is how atypical the Jaredite history is, in a book that otherwise focuses on an isolated branch of Israel and the mission of the house of Israel in general. Because the Jaredites are descended from a group of people who left the Old World before the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they are not Israelites and thus know nothing of the Abrahamic Covenant or the Mosaic Law (hence their keeping of swine at 9.18). In addition, there is little indication that the Jaredites were Christian, which is unexpected in the Book of Mormon given its current subtitle, “Another Testament of Jesus Christ.” It is true that the brother of Jared saw the pre-mortal Christ in a vision, but he was instructed to seal up his account of that experience and not share it until Jesus came to earth and was “lifted up on the cross” (3.21, 27–28; 4.1). That seems to have been what happened, for while there are Jaredite prophets who warn their people to repent or be destroyed, they are never portrayed as speaking specifically of Christ, as opposed to the general term for deity, Lord (though one king, Emer, and one prophet, Ether, are reported to have seen private visions of the future Jesus.)

In these passages Moroni underscores the aspects of Jaredite history that he believes are especially relevant to Gentiles, Jews, and Lamanites in the latter days: God’s insistence that the inhabitants of the Americas should serve him or suffer divine retribution, the power of strong faith and perfect knowledge, the dire perils of secret combinations, the transformative power of humility and charity, and the urgency of historical precedents.

Hardy, Grant. The Annotated Book of Mormon (p. 679). Oxford University Press.

CHASTENING IN THE WILDERNESS

Perhaps they were building the barges but had not yet used them. For whatever reason, the time had come for them to depart, and the Lord had to chastise the brother of Jared because they had not yet done so.

The brother of Jared was chastised “for the space of three hours.” We don’t know how they would have measured time, but it was surely a significant amount. Had the brother of Jared not prayed at all? That is a possible reading, but another reading would be that he had not asked the essential question about when they should begin the journey that God had already told them to take.”

Brant Gardner, Book of Mormon Minute , Volume 4

MIRACLE OF THE SIXTEEN STONES

He does involve us in the process (the miracle) and that is so gracious of Him.

Dallas Jenkins, BYU Forum, October 2024

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/dallas-jenkins/five-loaves-and-two-fishes/

THE VISION OF THE BROTHER OF JARED

As a rule, prophets are invited into the presence of the Lord, are bidden to enter His presence by Him and only with His sanction. The brother of Jared, on the other hand, stands alone then (and we assume now) in having thrust himself through the veil, not as an unwelcome guest but perhaps technically an uninvited one. ... Obviously the Lord Himself is linking unprecedented faith with this unprecedented vision. If the vision is not unique, then it has to be the faith—and how the vision is obtained —that is so remarkable. The only way this faith could be so remarkable would be in its ability to take this prophet, uninvited, where others had only been able to go by invitation.

Jeffrey R. Holland, “Rending the Veil of Unbelief,” 61.

Where other prophets were insulated from the shock of God’s full glory though the preparatory mediation of vision, angels, and texts, the brother of Jared is not. Empowered by some potent combination of deep faith, frank innocence, and compelling humility, the brother of Jared reaches straight through the veil and immediately grasps the live wire of divinity with both bare hands.

What others see in vision, hear from angels, or glean from prophecies, the brother of Jared sees with his own eyes.

Adam Miller, Seven Gospels

Unlike the Nephites, the brother of Jared does not try to escape his initial misinterpretation; he does not flee the punishment he believes is coming. Instead, he steadies himself, looks and listens a bit longer, and rises to stand when Christ calls him. He trusts God. And because he leans into his trust rather than his fear, he enters into Christ’s full presence. He’s taught to read the true meaning of Christ’s body: not an instrument of punishment, but the manifestation of God’s love and the fulfillment of his promise to be with us. Condescension. Immanuel.

When we banish God from our world and look for him with a telescope, expecting that he is far way, he appears threatening and angry. When we instead look for him close by, when we use a magnifying glass instead of a telescope, we see that his hand is extended in blessing, not in violence. 

Rosalynde F. Welch, Seven Gospels

FAITH

I sometimes regret the fact that we use the word "faith" in religious discussions.

Why? Because I think it's become a technical term that obscures for many what should be and is a very simple concept. This has created serious controversies and unnecessary misunderstandings. The Greek word "pistis," which English Bibles typically render as "faith," also means "confidence" or "trust," and these ordinary, everyday terms convey very neatly what scriptural faith entails.

The first readers of the New Testament didn't have to ask what "pistis" meant. Paul hadn't invented the word. They knew it already; it had been common in Greek for centuries. And in the standard English lexicon of classical Greek, the first definition of "pistis" is "trust in others."

While theological factions might argue -- and, in fact, have argued -- for decades over the definition of "faith," we all have a reasonably clear idea of what it means to have "trust" in someone.

When the Greek New Testament was translated into Latin, "pistis" was rendered as "fides," which again meant "trust" or "confidence." Our English word "faith" comes from the Latin "fides," but today we tend to think of "faith" as "belief in something without proof," and, often, more as agreement with a set of propositions than as trust in a person.

But God is a person, and saving faith -- although it surely entails agreeing with certain propositions -- is trust in him, as a person, to love us and to keep his promises to us.

Daniel Peterson

REDEMPTION

The brother of Jared follows a different path from the standard Nephi progression of faith, repentance, and baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, death, resurrection, judgement, and eternal life with God. Instead, the Jaredite prophet is reunited with God in this life, through sure faith and certainly knowledge.

In some instance, apparently, extraordinary faith can substitute for priesthood ordinance, particularly when they are unavailable.

Hardy, Grant. The Annotated Book of Mormon (p. 677). Oxford University Press.

A PERFECT KNOWLEDGE OF GOD

Moroni’s use of this same description in Ether 3 strongly implies that the brother of Jared saw, in advance, this same crucified-but-resurrected body. And, too, I think this description strongly implies that the brother of Jared’s “manner” of witnessing this body involved feeling for himself this same wounds in Christ’s hands, feet, and side.

Christ’s body isn’t present to the brother of Jared in the image of an unarmed and invulnerable sprit. Rather, just the opposite: Christ’s spirit body already bears the image of his crucified-but-resurrected flesh. Somehow, even before the world’s creation, Christ was already “the Lamb slain from he foundation of the world.” And somehow, even before he was born, Christ already inscribed his love for us on the palms of his hands.

Adam Miller, Seven Gospels

DISCIPLESHIP

The brother of Jared’s story is distinguished by the fact that he meets Christ. But the man himself is defined by his relationships and the space he makes for them. The bother of Jared’s life isn’t about himself, it’s about the people he is with. Perhaps, then, it is no surprise that he can give place to God, that he can make so much room for God to show so much of himself.

To be a disciple of Christ is to lean into this same work of being “there” for God’s arrival. To be a disciple is to devote yourself to the work of making space for God to not only show himself to you but in you and through you.

Adam Miller, Seven Gospels 

Mormon 7 - 9

Moroni Alone. Maddie Baker.

Chapter 7 - “Somewhat remarkably, Mormon makes an urgent, generous appeal to the posterity of the enemies who have just annihilated his people.” Grant Hardy, The Annotated Book of Mormon, chapter seven footnote.

Chapter 8 - Moroni wrote his first farewell in the 400th year (see Mormon 8:6), approximately 15 years after the final battle at Cumorah (see Mormon 6:5), with no date for his second farewell (Ether 12) and his final farewell was delivered after the 420th year (see Moroni 10:1), 20 years after his first farewell. 

Three Farewells 

1. The Voice of Justice - Moroni 8

2. Moved by Sympathy - Ether 12

3. Turned the matter over to the grace and will of God - Moroni 10

"Readers may wonder why Moroni would deliver a farewell address and then later go on to include an abridgment of the book of Ether, ten more chapters of a book bearing his own name, and two more farewell endings, one in Ether 12:38–41 and the other in Moroni 10:34. One consideration is that, as time progressed, his circumstances and perspectives may have changed and the agony of defeat may have dimmed and healed. In any event, Moroni may have welcomed the opportunity to convey different concluding messages that he felt the Book of Mormon deserved.

As Elder M. Russell Ballard has pointed out, “The Restoration is not an event, but it continues to unfold.” So too, with Moroni, his endings for the Book of Mormon also unfolded, as he was able to revisit and add point upon point to his concluding messages."

https://scripturecentral.org/knowhy/why-did-moroni-write-so-many-farewells

Kimberly Matheson - Mormon 7-9: Hope in Christ

"Moroni reminds us that even despair is an acceptable posture before Christ. Righteousness does not always result in happy, shiny people. Here a prophet of God, tasked with one of the most crucial steps in the transmission of the Book of Mormon, feels desolate in the face of certain trials. Surely, then, modern Latter-day Saints can also struggle under depression and loneliness and still be welcome in the pews, in prayer, in their callings. It is at times like these, in fact, that pews and prayers and callings arguably matter most.

But I am struck by something else in this early introduction to Moroni. Somewhere around verse 11, his tone begins to change. The change is slight—barely perceptible, even. But ever so faintly, Moroni begins to dwell less on his present and more on the future; he speaks less in terms of what he does not know, and more in terms of what might be possible (Mormon 8:12). And there are clues about the reason for this slightly renewed hope: he reports being “ministered” to by Jesus’ Nephite disciples (Mormon 8:11) and hints at some kind of revelation of “all things” (Mormon 8:12) that includes, at the very least, a vision of his latter-day readers (Mormon 8:35). Though we can’t be sure of what, exactly, Moroni has seen, it’s clearly something that begins to outstrip his individual despair. As he witnesses the larger scope of Jesus’s redemptive work, his individual misery begins, just barely, to matter less." 

https://mi.byu.edu/news-blog-section/mormon-7-9-hope-in-christ

Chapter 9

Chapter 9:19 Unchangeable God

Kimberly Matheson - "Mormon 1-6: The Day of Grace"

"In the sorrow of true repentance, we change by turning toward God, whose love is constant. In the sorrow of unrepentant sin, God appears to change by turning our sin against us, while we remain constant in our resentment.

Having a soft and repentant heart turns out to be just one side of our relationship with God. Someone in this relationship will be changeable and someone will not; either the Lord or we ourselves will turn out to be fixed in our attributes. But when we refuse to be the changeable party, we find ourselves among the stagnant bitterness of the damned. It is only when we are humble enough to repent that God’s constancy can come into view.

If we refuse to grant any change on our side of the ledger, God can only appear to us as erratic and unreliable. But where we are willing to change, to break our hearts and come with contrition before Him, we will find on the other side God’s goodness unchanging." 

https://mi.byu.edu/news-blog-section/mormon-1-6

Jack Welch - 9:27-29 Moroni gives us 22 commandments to know how to live and to be successful - 

BYU Hawaii speech - September 2021 - Jack Welch 

https://speeches.byuh.edu/devotionals/celebrating-moroni-day

1. Despise not.

2. Wonder not.

3. Hearken unto the words of the Lord.

4. Ask the Father in the name of Jesus Christ for whatever ye shall stand in need.

5. Doubt not.

6. Be believing.

7. Begin as in times of old.

8. Come unto the Lord with all your heart.

9. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling before God.

10. Be wise in the days of your probation.

11. Strip yourselves of all uncleanness.

12. Ask not to consume uncleanness on your lusts.

13. Ask with a firmness unshaken that ye will yield to no temptation.

14. Serve the true and living God.

15. See that ye are not baptized unworthily.

16. See that ye partake not of the sacrament of Christ unworthily.

17. See that ye do all things in worthiness.

18. Do all things in the name of Jesus Christ, the son of the living God.

19. Endure to the end.

20. Condemn me [or others] not because of mine [or their] imperfections.

21. Condemn not my father [Mormon] or those who have written before him.

22. Give thanks that God has made manifest our imperfections, that ye may be wiser than we have been.

Mark D. Thomas - “Moroni: The Final Voice.” 2003

This holy wanderer on the border of life and death, on the boundary of meaning and meaninglessness, passes a note to us regarding the collapse of our own house on the top of our own final Cumorah. We think we are reading of the fall of Moroni’s world when we are only reading of what can happen in our own world if we disregard his salvific call to “come unto Christ” (Moroni 10:32) 

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1314&context=jbms

Kimberly Matheson - Mormon 7-9: Hope in Christ

He presses forward in fidelity to a covenant work that outstrips his individual griefs, acute and unimaginable though they may be. He is a saint who lived and experienced life in its entirety, who expressed hope in Christ not by being happy and smiley all the time, but by showing up in faith precisely when he was not feeling happy and smiley.

https://mi.byu.edu/news-blog-section/mormon-7-9-hope-in-christ