Warren Jeffs - The Destruction of the Jaredites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Jeffs
Audio Recordings of The FLDS Prophet Warren Jeffs teaching about the Jaredites.

The Jaredites (/ˈdʒærədaɪt/)[1] are one of four peoples (along with the Nephites, Lamanites, and Mulekites) that the Latter-day Saints believe settled in ancient America.

The Book of Mormon (mainly its Book of Ether) describes the Jaredites as the descendants of Jared and his brother, who lived at the time of the Tower of Babel. According to the Book of Mormon, they fled across the ocean on unique barges and established an ancient civilization in America.

Mainstream archaeology has found no evidence of the existence of Jaredites or any of the other three groups.[2]

Book of Ether
According to the Book of Mormon, the Jaredites are the descendants of Jared, his brother, their immediate family, and their friends. (Joseph Smith later identified the brother of Jared as Mahonri Moriancumer.) At the time of the Tower of Babel, when the tongues of all nations were confounded, the Lord acceded to the desires of Jared, and his people's language was not confounded. The people were also granted a land of promise.

The Lord guided the people through the wilderness and were eventually directed to cross the sea in "barges". The vessels were sealed and watertight[3][4] and able to be swamped by waves without sinking.[5] Air was obtained from outside the vessels, as needed.[6][7] They also brought with them animals and food.[8] The recorded length of the miraculous trip was 344 days.[9] Among other things they carried in their voyage were honeybees, which, in the language of the Jaredites were called "deseret". Additionally, they brought seeds. Ether 2:3

Ether is the last in the royal line that began with one of the sons of Jared. From the time of the first king to the destruction of the Jaredites, there were only occasional periods of peace and prosperity. The times of peace were interrupted by intrigue over the throne, civil war, and the accession of wicked kings. The history of the Jaredites confirmed the fears of Jared and his brother that a monarchy would lead to evil.[10]

The Book of Mormon claims that the Jaredites grew to become a civilization that exceeded two million people just before its destruction.[11] They finally destroyed themselves about the time Lehi and the other refugees from Jerusalem arrived in America. A prophecy of[12] Ether was fulfilled: the last Jaredite king, Coriantumr, lived to see both the total destruction of his entire house, the scattering of the remaining Jaredites, and the arrival of another people to inherit the land.[13]

Other references in Book of Mormon
Outside the Book of Ether, the Book of Mormon relates that Coriantumr was found by the Mulekites. The Nephites later encountered the Mulekites and taught them the Nephite language. The Mulekites told them that Coriantumr had died some nine months after he had come to live with them. The Nephite prophet King Mosiah I was able to translate a large stone with engravings that gave an account of Coriantumr.[13] Another record on twenty-four plates, discovered by the people of King Limhi, was translated by the Nephite King Mosiah II.[14] An abridged account of the Jaredite records was later included by Moroni, as the Book of Ether, in the Book of Mormon.

Geography
See also: Limited geography model
The ocean crossed is not specified in the Book of Mormon. Hugh Nibley's There were Jaredites and The World of the Jaredites argue for the Pacific Ocean, but Milton R. Hunter argues for the Atlantic Ocean.

The location of the Jaredite civilization is also not specified in the Book of Mormon except that it was north of a narrow neck of land in what was called the "Land Northward" by the Nephites. The New World location of the Jaredites and Nephites is a subject of disagreement among Mormons. Joseph Smith indicated that the Jaredites arrived in "the lake country of America"[15] and that "the Nephites... lived about the narrow neck of land, which now embraces Central America, with all the cities that can be found."[16]

Proposed relations

Some LDS apologists have argued for the Jaredites as the ancestors of the Olmec civilisation, mostly known now for their giant head sculptures.
Descendants of Ham
Some early Latter Day Saints, including Apostle Parley P. Pratt believed the Jaredites were descendants of Ham, based on the group's origins near the Tower of Babel, and initial migration into the Valley of Nimrod, an area associated with the descendants of Ham.[17]

Olmecs
Some Mormon apologists[18][self-published source?][19][self-published source?][20] have argued for substantial parallels between the Jaredites and the Olmecs. For example, one scholar asserted that writings an ancient Native American historian, Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxochitl, wrote about a group of people who came from the great tower to Mesoamerica. Ixtlilxochitl wrote that the people lived in an area in the northern parts of the land, along the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Other LDS researchers, such as W. Vincent Coon, point to native legends and suggest that the earliest immigrants to Central America migrated by land and boat from "northern America".[21] Phyllis Carol Olive compares Jaredite civilization to ancient cultures of the Great Lakes region.[22]

Adena
Other geographic theories propose that the Jaredites were contemporay with the North American Adena culture.[23]

See also
Latter-day Saints portal
16 Stones, 2014 American film
References
churchofjesuschrist.org: "Book of Mormon Pronunciation Guide" (retrieved 2012-03-29), IPA-ified from «jĕr´a-dīt»
Terryl L. Givens, By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 146-147.
Ether 2:17
Ether 6:7
Ether 2:24
Ether 2:14
Ether 2:20
Ether 6:4
Ether 6:11
Omni 6:22-23
Ether 15:2
Ether 13:20-21
Omni 1:20, 21
Mosiah 28:11-17
Times and Seasons, June 15, 1842, Vol. 3, No. 16, pp. 818-820
Times and Seasons, September 15, 1842, Vol. 3, No. 22, p. 915
Matthew Harris, Newell Bringhurst "The Mormon Church and Blacks: A Documentary History" University of Illinois Press 2015 e-book location 197 of 6260
Douglas K. Christensen. "OF JAREDITES AND OLMECS". Archived from the original on 2013-02-18. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
Douglas K. Christensen. "Jaredites and Olmec - the same?". Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum.
"Relationship of the Maya and the Olmec to the Lamanites and the Jaredites". Latter-day Saints FAIR (Faithful Answers Informed Response) wiki.
Coon, Vincent W. "Chapter 1, Comparing the Book of Mormon with Veytia's History of Ancient Mesoamerica". Choice Above All Other Lands. Salt Lake City, Utah: Brit Publishing LLC.
Olive, Phyllis Carol, The Lost Empires and Vanished Races of Prehistoric America, Ch. 3, The Jaredites – From Babylon to the Promised Land (2000-1800 B.C.)
"About Rod".
Sources
Petersen, Mark E. (1984), The Jaredites, Deseret Book Co, ISBN 0-87747-998-4
Nibley, Hugh (1988), Lehi in the Desert/The World of the Jaredites/There Were Jaredites, Deseret Book Co, ISBN 0-87579-132-8, archived from the original on 2013-12-20, retrieved 2014-01-21
Brinley, Douglas E. (1995). "The Jaredites—A Case Study in Following the Brethren". In Nyman, Monte S.; Tate, Charles D. Jr. (eds.). Fourth Nephi, From Zion to Destruction. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University. pp. 45–59. ISBN 0-88494-974-5. OCLC 32500560. Archived from the original on 2013-10-22. Retrieved 2014-02-04.
Judd, Frank F. (1995). "Jaredite Zion Societies: Hope for a Better World". In Nyman, Monte S.; Tate, Charles D. Jr. (eds.). Fourth Nephi, From Zion to Destruction. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University. pp. 147–52. ISBN 0-88494-974-5. OCLC 32500560. Archived from the original on 2013-10-22. Retrieved 2014-02-04.
External links
Jaredite chronology Archived 2015-08-13 at the Wayback Machine

The Book of Ether (/ˈiːθər/)[1] is one of the books of the Book of Mormon. It describes the Jaredites, descendants of Jared and his companions, who were led by God to the Americas shortly after the confusion of tongues and the destruction of the Tower of Babel.[2] Ether consists of fifteen chapters.[3]

The title refers to Ether, a Jaredite prophet who, according to the Book of Mormon, lived at the end of the time period covered by the book, believed to be circa 2600 or 2100 BC[4] through 600 BC or later, at least 1500[5] but possibly as long as 2500 years.[6]

Narrative

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Jared and his people were among the many scattered peoples from the destruction of the Tower of Babel. The brother of Jared is described as "a large and mighty man ... highly favored of the Lord",[7] and seems to have been the spiritual leader of the group. He was given a vision of the history of the world, and inscribed prophecies, which were "sealed up" until the Lord decides to reveal them. The Lord told the brother of Jared to build unpowered submarines, termed "barges" or "vessels", to cross the ocean to the promised land. The barges could circulate fresh air because of openings in the top and bottom of the vessel.[8] The hole in the top could be "stopped up" when the waves crashed over the vessel to prevent scuttling. The hole in the bottom is assumed to have been constructed as a sort of moon pool with the lip above the waterline so it would not flood the vessel. This would also allow wave action and the buoying of the vessel to pump fresh air in and out of the vessel when the upper opening was uncapped.[9]

Because the vessels could not sustain fire or windows for light, the brother of Jared went to a mountain and prayed for help. God touched several molten stones and made them shine. Because of the brother of Jared's great faith, he saw the finger of God. He then saw and spoke with Jehovah. The people launched the vessels and traveled through great storms. After 344 days, they arrived at the Americas. Jared and his brother led the people to successfully establish a righteous nation.

Parallels
The Book of Ether parallels in many ways the story of the Book of Mormon as a whole. A small group (Jared and his companions; Lehi and his family) separate themselves from a wicked society (the Tower of Babel; Jerusalem just prior to its destruction) and establish a new nation (the Jaredites; the Nephites) in "the promised land." In each case the group is divided following the death of the original leaders and the divisions contend for many generations. The fortunes of the nations are dependent upon their obedience to God—righteousness brings prosperity and wickedness brings destruction (sometimes delayed). Ultimately, the wicked prevail and the nation is destroyed.[citation needed][10]

These parallels are often emphasized in Mormonism as applicable to the present day. The Americas are still considered "the promised land" and the continued prosperity of the present nations are believed to be contingent on the righteousness of their people.[citation needed]

Provenance
See also: Historical authenticity of the Book of Mormon
As the story is told in the Book of Mormon, what later was named the Book of Ether was taken from a set of twenty-four plates written by Ether and discovered by the people of Limhi during the time of King Mosiah (son of King Benjamin).[11][12] Joseph Smith claimed the book was abridged by Moroni onto the golden plates,[13][14] which Joseph Smith claimed to translate into English.

However, according to Daniel H. Ludlow, it is not clarified in the Book of Mormon whether Moroni made his abridgment of the record of Ether from Mosiah's earlier translation[15] or whether Moroni took his account directly from the plates of Ether—in which case Joseph Smith would have needed to translate the record as well as abridge it.[16]

See also
Latter Day Saint movement portal
Archaeology and the Book of Mormon
Anachronisms in the Book of Mormon
Columbian Exchange
Dené–Yeniseian languages
Genetics and the Book of Mormon
Historicity of the Book of Mormon
Linguistics and the Book of Mormon
List of pre-Columbian engineering projects in the Americas
Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact
Notes
churchofjesuschrist.org: "Book of Mormon Pronunciation Guide" (retrieved 2012-02-25), IPA-ified from «ē´ther»
Ether 1:33
"Title Page".
Daniel H. Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon p. 117, quoted in Church Educational System (1996, rev. ed.). Book of Mormon Student Manual (Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), ch. 6.
Church Educational System (1996, rev. ed.). Book of Mormon Student Manual (Salt Lake City, Utah: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), ch. 48.
Randal Chase (2008). Making Precious Things Plain: A Book of Mormon Study Guide (Springville, Utah: Cedar Fort) p. 127.
Ether 1:34
Ether 2:20
Ether 1:20
"Book of Mormon Student Manual". ChurchofJesusChrist.org. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 2009. p. 414. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
Mosiah 8:9
Ether 1:2
Ether 1:2
Moroni 1:1
Mosiah 28:1–20
Daniel H. Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon, p. 178
Further reading
Sorenson, John L. (September 1968), "The Years of the Jaredites", BYU Today: 18–24, archived from the original on 2009-05-28, retrieved 2009-07-19, as reprinted by the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, BYU.
Matthews, Robert J. (1995). "The Mission of Jesus Christ—Ether 3 and 4:2". In Nyman, Monte S.; Tate, Charles D. Jr. (eds.). Fourth Nephi, From Zion to Destruction. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University. pp. 19–29. ISBN 0884949745. OCLC 32500560.
O’Driscoll, Jeff (1995). "Zion, Zion, Zion: Keys to Understanding Ether 13". In Nyman, Monte S.; Tate, Charles D. Jr. (eds.). Fourth Nephi, From Zion to Destruction. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University. ISBN 0884949745. OCLC 32500560.
Rasmus, Carolyn J. (1995). "Weak Things Made Strong". In Nyman, Monte S.; Tate, Charles D. Jr. (eds.). Fourth Nephi, From Zion to Destruction. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University. pp. 251–62. ISBN 0884949745. OCLC 32500560.
External links
Works related to Book of Ether at Wikisource
The Book of Ether from the official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Event Diagram of the Book of Ether at Wikimedia Commons

The Book of Ether: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/ether/1?lang=eng

Original Source: https://rumble.com/v21np38-flds-beliefs-destruction-of-the-jaredites.html