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