Ether 1-6 Quotes and Notes

These beginning chapters in Ether teach us the importance of prayer, how to receive revelation, and how the Lord communicates with us. In this podcast we discuss the idea of light and air questions, and why the distinction matters. These chapters are also a type of the journey that we go through in mortality as we progress on our way back home to our heavenly parents. Many things in these chapters are also directly connected to the sacred ordinances in the temple, in antiquity as well as today.

Ether 1

Moroni takes his record from the 24 plates discovered by “the people of Limhi” [see Mosiah 8.9 and 21.27… later Limhi gives the record to Mosiah2, and he (Mosiah) translates the record [Mosiah 28.11-13] with the two seer stones (which were fastened in a bow).

Lessons about Receiving Revelation in Ether 1

1. Cry unto the Lord. The importance of calling out to the Lord is evident in this text. See Ether 1.34, 35, 37, 39, Ether 6.7.
2. There is something important about wanting revelation from the Lord. “And thus I will do unto thee because of this long time ye have cried unto me” (Ether 1.43).
3. Don’t stop crying out to God just because of where you have made it to! They make it to the beach, and they quit. Don’t stop! They get to the place called Moriancumr (the actual name of the Brother of Jared) in Ether 2.13 and they wait four years (Ether 2.13). For this reason, for not continuing, for not crying out to God, the brother of Jared is chastened. We need to take steps, to “step into the river,” so to speak, so that we continually receive the Lord’s guidance. As Elder Oaks stated, “Revelation comes when the children of men are on the move.”^[1]Elder Dallin H. Oaks, In His Own Time, In His Own Way, Ensign, August 2013.
4. If the danger is high, the opportunity for revelation is high. If the danger is low, the Lord is okay with us making the decision. Bryce called these “light and air situations” in the podcast. Brigham Young put it this way, ““If I do not know the will of my Father, and what He requires of me in a certain transaction, if I ask Him to give me wisdom concerning any requirement in my life, or in regard to my own course, or that of my friends, my family, my children, or those that I preside over, and get no answer from Him, and then do the very best that my judgment will teach me, He is bound to own and honor that transaction, and He will do so to all intents and purposes.”^[2]Brigham Young, Deseret News, Feb. 27, 1856, 402. See also Ensign, February 2011. See: Do the best my judgment will teach me.
5. These stories illustrate how we will be tossed, buried, and broken. Such is life. Life is hard, and living the gospel makes things better, more manageable, not harder. But sometimes we get things backwards and we think it is following Jesus that is the problem. The problem is navigating the ocean of chaos that is mortality. None of us are going to make it out alive. See Ether 6.5-6 and highlight the words furious wind, buried, tossed, broke. We will all be buried, tossed, and broken by mortality. Notice Ether 6.5 where it says that “God caused the … the furious wind.” See also Ether 2.24 where it says “the winds have gone forth out of my mouth…” The Lord (in one sense) sends the wind. What he wants is for us to have strong vessels. He wants to strengthen us, and the process will require some intense trials. Orson F. Whitney put it this way when he said, “When we want counsel and comfort, we do not go to children, nor to those who know nothing but pleasure and self-gratification. We go to men and women of thought and sympathy, men and women who have suffered themselves and can give us the comfort that we need. Is not this God’s purpose in causing his children to suffer? He wants them to become more like himself. God has suffered far more than man ever did or ever will, and is therefore the great source of sympathy and consolation. . . .There is always a blessing in sorrow and humiliation. They who escape these things are not the fortunate ones. ‘Whom God loveth he chasteneth.’ . . . Flowers shed most of their perfume when they are crushed. Men and women have to suffer just so much in order to bring out the best that is in them.”^[3]Orson F. Whitney, “A Lesson from the Book of Job,” Improvement Era, Nov. 1918, 7. You can also read this quote here.

Could Ether have visited Mosiah?

One author thinks so:

There are at least two reasons to believe that Ether might have visited Mosiah to hand over the plates or disclose where they were. First, the prophet Ether was the last surviving righteous Jaredite and as such possessed all the sacred records of his civilization. Like Moroni, he probably held the keys to bring forth the scriptures that belonged to his dispensation.^[4]Valentin Arts, A Third Record: The Sealed Portion of the Gold Plates,” Journal of Book of Mormon Studies: Vol. 11 : No. 1 , Article 10.

Moroni informs us that he is skipping the creation narrative of the record, rather, he is giving an account that is but a part, an account “from the tower until they were destroyed.” (Ether 1.5). Note that Ether calls it “the tower,” not “The Tower of Babel.” This is significant. This story was probably edited by the Jahwist, who wrote during the monarchy. As the Brother of Jared and family left many hundreds of years prior to this, calling it “the tower” may seem to fit better in my opinion. Hugh Nibley said this about the omission in the writings of Ether of the word phrase “of Babel” from the tower account:

They came from the tower. Notice that it doesn’t say the Tower of Babel. That’s very important. As a matter of fact, we learn from the book of Ether in the Book of Mormon that the name isn’t Babel, but it’s Nimrod, which is exactly what it was. Remember it went north in the valley of Nimrod. Now we know through tradition and everything else that the tower was called “Nimrod’s Tower,” because Babel didn’t come in until later. That was [determined] from the philological events, etc. And so they came out from the tower. It’s careful not to say the “Tower of Babel,” which was later. But Nimrod’s Tower was that one, and it tells us in the first verse of the second chapter of the book of Ether that they went up into the valley northward where there never had men been, and it was the valley of Nimrod. Nimrod was the big name at that time. I’ve written a great deal about Nimrod, but we won’t go into that here.^[5]Hugh Nibley, Lectures on the Book of Mormon, Semester 1, Lecture 27: Omni, Words of Mormon, Mosiah I, The End of the Small Plates, The Coronation of Mosiah, p. 345. Access the lectures here.

As to the idea of Babel being a pun on several ideas, one commentator wrote the following:

The Akkadian word bāb-ili means “gate of the god (Marduk).” “Babylon was one of the most famous cities of antiquity, but it is mocked here as a ruined site of ancient hubris [excessive pride], transgression, and confusion.” A possible allusion to this imagery may be found in Jeremiah 51:53: “Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the Lord.”

Fishbane notes that “the very bricks (li-be-na) out of which the tower of human pretension is constructed are themselves symbolically deconstructed and reversed when God babbles (nu-bi-la) the language of ‘all the earth’131 and scatters the builders ‘over all the earth.’” In an effort to capture the sound play of the Hebrew passage in English, Alter gives the following translation: “Come, let us go down and baffle their language .… Therefore it is called Babel, for there the Lord made the language of all the earth babble.” “The Hebrew bālal, to ‘mix’ or ‘confuse,’ represented in this translation by ‘baffle’ and ‘babble,’ is a polemic pun on the Akkadian ‘Babel’ … As for the phonetic kinship of babble and bālal, Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language (1966) notes that a word like ‘babble’ occurs in a wide spectrum of languages from Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit to Norwegian, and prudently concludes, ‘of echoic origin; probably not of continuous derivation but recoined from common experience.’”^[6]Jeffrey M. Bradshaw and Jeffrey J. Larsen, In God’s Image and Likeness 2: Enoch, Noah and the Tower of Babel, The Interpreter Foundation, 2014.

The Story of Jared and his Family as a Type of the Plan of Salvation

A Counterfeit Temple: The Tower

In addition to its universal lesson for humanity, the story of Babel/Babylon also specifically “serves to mock the pretensions of the contemporary imperial power of Mesopotamia.”^[7]Ronald Hendel in H. W. Attridge et al., HarperCollins Study Bible, p. 19 n. 11:1-9. As Everett Fox explains:

“Shinar” refers to Mesopotamia, and the “tower,” undoubtedly, to the ubiquitous ziqqurratu (now unearthed by archeologists) which served as man-made sacred mountains (i.e., temples). By portraying an unfinished tower, by dispersing the builders, and by in essence making fun of the mighty name of Babylon, the text functions effectively to repudiate the culture from which the people of Israel sprang (Abram’s “Ur” of 11:28 was probably the great Mesopotamian metropolis).^[8]Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy (The Schocken Bible, Volume 1), p. 46, emphasis added.

Josephus, an ancient Jewish historian, provided additional insight. He noted that Nimrod had tried to gain power over the people. Nimrod probably felt this counterfeit temple would add to his control.^[9]Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, book 1, chapter 4, paragraph 2.

How it Functioned

John Walton gives the following description of what we know about the structure and function of ziggurats:

1. Though they may resemble pyramids in appearance, they are nothing like them in function. Ziggurats have no “inside.” The structure was framed in mudbrick, and then the core was packed with fill dirt. The façade was then completed with kiln-fired brick.

• Ziggurats were dedicated to particular deities. Any given deity could have several ziggurats dedicated to him or her in different cities. Furthermore, a given city could have several ziggurats, though the main one was associated with the patron deity of the city.

• Archaeologists have discovered nearly thirty ziggurats in the general region, and texts mention several others. The main architectural feature is the stairway or ramp that leads to the top. There was a small room at the top where a bed was made and a table set for the deity. Ziggurats ranged in size from sixty feet per side to almost two hundred feet per side.

Most important is the function of the ziggurat. The ziggurat did not play a role in any of the rituals known to us from Mesopotamia. If known literature were our only guide, we would conclude that common people did not use the ziggurat for anything. It was sacred space and was strictly off-limits to profane use. Though the structure at the top was designed to accommodate the god, it was not a temple where people would go to worship. In fact, the ziggurat was typically accompanied by an adjoining temple near its base, where the worship did take place.

The best indication of the function of the ziggurats comes from the names that are given to them. For instance, the name of the ziggurat at Babylon, E-temen-anki, means “temple of the foundation of heaven and earth.” One at Larsa means “temple that links heaven and earth.” Most significant is the name of the ziggurat at Sippar, “temple of the stairway to pure heaven.” The word translated “stairway” in this last example is used in the mythology as the means by which the messenger of the gods moved between heaven, earth, and the netherworld. As a result of these data, we can conclude that the ziggurat was a structure built to support the stairway. This stairway was a visual representation of that which was believed to be used by the gods to travel from one realm to another. It was solely for the convenience of the gods and was maintained in order to provide the deity with amenities and to make possible his descent into his temple.

At the top of the ziggurat was the gate of the gods, the entrance into their heavenly abode. At the bottom was the temple, where hopefully the god would descend to receive the gifts and worship of his people …

In summary, the project the Bible describes is a temple complex featuring a ziggurat, which was designed to make it convenient for the god to come down to his temple, receive worship, and bless his people. The key … is to realize that the tower was not built so that people could ascend to heaven, but so that deity could descend to earth.^[10]Bradshaw, In God’s Image 2, p. 384. Bradshaw quotes John Walton in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Zondervan, 2009, p. 60-61, emphasis added.

Several LDS scholars explain:

In “Babylonian or Akkadian the meaning [of Babel] was ‘gate of God.’”^[11]Donaldson, Lee, V. Dan. Rogers, and David R. Seely. “I Have a Question: Building the Tower of Babel.” Ensign (Feb. 1994) 24:60. Traditionally thought to be inspired by Nimrod, whose “name is for the Jews at all times the very symbol of rebellion against God and of usurped authority”^[12]Hugh Nibley, Lehi in the Desert, p. 165., the focus of these beguiled followers was to “reach unto heaven . . . [and] make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth” (Gen. 11:4). But what kind of a name might an apostate covet, hoping to avoid being scattered abroad? The biblical meaning of making a name is to give a reputation, fame, or monument (see Gen. 12:2). In contrast, the name of Him who would perform the Atonement, which is the reuniting and making whole again of all that was effected by the fall of Adam, is Christ. Centuries later, a prophet-king, speaking from a true temple, declared “that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent” (Mosiah 3:17). Elder Dallin H. Oaks, in a general conference address, noted the connection between holy temples and receiving “the name of Jesus Christ.” Citing several scriptural examples of the “temple as a house for ‘the name’ of the Lord God of Israel,” Elder Oaks referred to “the inspired dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple, [when] the Prophet Joseph Smith asked the Lord for a blessing upon ‘thy people upon whom thy name shall be put in this house’ (D&C 109:26).” He concluded the following:

All of these references to ancient and modern temples as houses for “the name” of the Lord obviously involve something far more significant than a mere inscription of his sacred name on the structure. The scriptures speak of the Lord’s putting his name in a temple because he gives authority for his name to be used in the sacred ordinances of that house. That is the meaning of the Prophet’s reference to the Lord’s putting his name upon his people in that holy house.^[13]Oaks, Dallin H. “Taking Upon Us the Name of Jesus Christ.” Ensign (May 1985): 15:80–83; also in Conference Report (April 1985) 101–5, emphasis added.

The rebellion at the tower of Babel was abruptly interrupted when the Lord intervened, driving them out of the land and scattering them abroad (Ether 1:38; Gen. 11:9). People were scattered and separated from each other as well as from God (Ether 1:33; Gen. 9:19; 49:7; Matt. 9:36). Symbolically this is comparable to Lehi’s situation in the beginning of his dream of the tree of life. Jared and his brother found themselves in what Lehi described as “a dark and dreary waste,” from which the only escape was through an arduous and prayerful journey (see 1 Nephi 8:7–8). The setting for the story of Jared and his brother is “the familiar one of the righteous man who leads his people out of a doomed and wicked world. There is nothing original in that: it is also the story of Noah, Enoch, Abraham, Moses, ‘The Church in the Wilderness,’ and, for that matter, the restored Church.”^[14]Hugh Nibley, Lehi in the Desert 156. Finding ourselves “in a dark and dreary waste,” we too must find our way to the light by following Jesus Christ.

The Brother of Jared as a Type of Jesus Christ

The Brother of Jared Large and mighty man, highly favored of the Lord (Ether 1:34).	Jesus Christ “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52).
Intermediary for his people (Ether 1:34–39).	One mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5).
Commanded to gather his people, flocks, and seeds (Ether 1:40–43).	How often would I have gathered thy children together (Luke 13:34).
Commanded to lead his people in their trek (Ether 2:1–13).	All are commanded to follow Jesus Christ (e.g., Matt. 4:19; 10:38).
Visited by the Lord in a cloud (Ether 2:4–5; 14).	Jesus visited by Father in cloud (Matt. 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:34).
Procured small transparent stones for the Lord to touch for light in the barges (Ether 3:1–4).	Jesus Christ is the light to lead us through darkness (John 8:12; 9:5; 12:46); He is also the stone or rock of Israel (Acts 4:11; 1 Cor. 10:4; Hel. 5:12).
Had a great vision of Lord on top of an exceedingly high mountain (Ether 3).	Jesus received divine messengers and was transfigured on a high mountain (Matt. 17:1–2).
Forbidden to write many of the things which he had seen (Ether 4:1).	Jesus charged his disciples after descending the mount to “tell the vision to no man” (Matt. 17:9).13

The Great Tower (33), once again is not referred to as “The Tower of Babel.”

Jared was “a mighty man…” (34)

Jared has him cry unto the Lord and the Lord had compassion upon their friends and families (36-37)

The Lord goes before them (43)

They are promised that they will be a great nation (43)

Ether 2

The Jaredites gather themselves (1-3)

The Lord appears to them in the cloud, The Shekinah, The Divine Presence

We didn’t have time to talk about the Divine Presence in the podcast (we try to keep them around an hour), but I wanted to share some of these thoughts here anyway.

Shechinah. The Presence. The word comes from H7931 שָׁכַן shakan, meaning “to dwell, remain, or inhabit.” A word used by the later Jews (and borrowed from them by the Christians) to denote the cloud of brightness and glory that marked the presence of the Lord, as spoken of in Ex. 3: 1-6; 24: 16; 1 Kgs. 8: 10; Isa. 6: 1-3; Matt. 17: 5; Acts 7: 55. The Prophet Joseph Smith described this phenomenon in connection with his first vision, as a “light..above the brightness of the sun,” and said that he saw two Personages whose “brightness and glory defy all description,” standing “in the light” (JS-H 1.1-18).

Examples of the Shechinah:

1. Joseph Smith’s First Vision

2. Moroni’s Visit.

3. Shechinah experiences throught the Book of Mormon.

4. References throughout the D&C.

Joseph Smith’s Vision (A Sod experience)

Sod experiences include:

1. The Shechinah – “I saw a pillar of light”… JSH 1.16

2. Earth life and the plan of salvation explained.

3. A vote taken or covenant made by those who proposed the plan.

4. Specific assignments are given in the council.

5. In conjunction with those assignments, ordinances and ordinations are performed. (as in Alma 13.1-2, where the Father himself performed the ordinations).

Think of Joseph’s experience:

1. The Lord touches his eyes.

2. Joseph ascends into heaven.

3. In the wake of this vision, Joseph receives a seer stone.

4. Joseph acquired “wisdom.”

5. The First Vision was a manifestation of the Gospel – God literally came down to bring Joseph “up” to his level. This is literally what the Gospel is and what it means.

Moroni’s Visits

His countenance was like lightning (JSH 1.30-32)

David Whitmer describes the light:

We not only saw the plates of the Book of Mormon but also the brass plates, the plates of the Book of Ether, the plates containing the records of the wickedness and secret combinations of the people of the world down to the time of their being engraved, and many other plates. The fact is, it was just as though Joseph, Oliver and I were sitting just here on a log, when we were overshadowed by a light. It was not like the light of the sun, nor like that of a fire, but more glorious and beautiful.^[15]Cannon in Nibley, LDS Stories, 96; Jensen, Biog. Enc. 1.266, 270.

Shechinah Experiences in the Book of Mormon

1 Nephi 1.5-8 – A pillar of fire that dwelt upon a rock… numberless concourses of angels…

2 Nephi 14 (Isaiah 4) – a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night…

2 Nephi 16 (Isaiah 6) – the House filled with smoke…

Mosiah 27.11 (Alma’s rebuke by the angel) – he descended as it were in a cloud…

Helaman 5.23 – Nephi and Lehi were encircled about as if by fire… and were not burned…

3 Nephi 18.28 – there came a cloud and overshadowed the multitude…

Ether 2.4, 14- and he (Yahweh) was in a cloud…

Ether 3.6 – the veil was taken from off the eyes of the brother of Jared…

References from the Doctrine and Covenants and Latter-day Revelation

JSH 1.68-69 (see also D&C 13) – John descended in a cloud of light.

D&C 84.5 – [build the temple] … and a cloud shall rest upon it…

D&C 29.12 – … at my right hand at the day of my coming in a pillar of fire…

D&C 34.7 – I shall come in a cloud with power and great glory…

D&C 45.45 – and the saints that have slept shall come forth to meet me in the cloud.

D&C 76.102 – [church of the Firstborn] … received into the cloud…

D&C 78.21 – [church of the Firstborn] … he will take you up in a cloud…

D&C 109.75 – we shall be caught up in the cloud to meet thee…

The Name of the Brother of Jared

The name of the Book of Mormon personality, the brother of Jared, was Mahonri Moriancumer. This name was revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith when he was asked to bless a son of Elder Reynolds Cahoon, and is recorded as follows:

“While residing in 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 Jared. 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.”^[16]Juvenile Instructor vol. 27, p. 282. See also The Improvement Era, vol. 8, pp. 704-705.

Possible Meaning of the Name of Moriancumer

East Aramaic mrʾn, “our land” (RFS). Akkadian *mu-iru, “leader” (RFS). Akkadian kumru, “priest, eunuch-priest” = biblical HEBREW kōmer (RFS). Common Semitic rām, “exalted.”

Even less likely is Reynolds, Commentary on the Book of Mormon, VI, p. 69, Aramaic, mara, “lord” or “master,” or HEBREW mōreh, “teacher.” cume, “to stand up,” and r, “being, making,” ignoring of the n, r is not Semitic and thus would not be used within a Semitic sentence name. In addition, cume is an unrecognizable form; the root is qūm, and does mean *“to stand up.” but an infinitive does not fit. The perfect qām, the imperfect *yaqōm, and the participle qōm and the imperative *qūm do not provide the solution unless the –er can be explained.^[17]Book of Mormon Onomasticon, Moriancumer.

Early Depictions of God Were Anthropomorphic

Mark Smith explains how early depictions of God were anthropomorphic, but through time these depictions went away from this trend. He writes, “Over the course of its history, Israelite religion reduced anthropomorphic depictions of Yahweh. This trend is perceptible in both specific, linguistic usages and general, thematic features.”^[18]Mark Smith, The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel, Eerdmans, 2002, p.140-141.

Though the tendency away from depicting God in anthropomorphic terms was strong, especially after the exile, there were remnants of these ideas in some Jewish religious texts. Smith writes:

The avoidance of anthropomorphic imagery was by no means a general feature of Israelite religion after the Exile. While the tendency away from anthropomorphism marks priestly and Deuteronomistic traditions belonging to the eighth through the fifth centuries, later works belonging to the priestly traditions continued to transmit anthropomorphic imagery. Postexilic priestly texts, such as Zechariah 3, attest to the divine council. Zechariah 3:7 includes the high priest in the ranks of the celestial courts (cf. Zech. 12:8). Postexilic apocalyptic circles also continued anthropomorphic renderings of Yahweh and the divine council (Daniel 7; cf. Zech. 14:4; 1 Enoch 14). These and other biblical passages (such as Isa. 27:1 ) reflect the continuation of old mythic material in postexilic Israelite tradition. Furthermore, nonbiblical Jewish literature from the fourth to the second centuries, including 1 Enoch and the Book of Jubilees, represents an additional source of speculation. The anthropomorphic language of Yahweh, other divine beings, and their heavenly realms never disappeared from Israel. The relative absence of this imagery from biblical texts during the second half of the monarchy reflects a religious reaction against Israel’s old Canaanite heritage. Mythic imagery surfaced again in postexilic priestly traditions, though without the religious problems that it involved in the preexilic period. In the postexilic period, the old motifs associated with El, Baal, and Asherah in Canaanite tradition ceased to refer to the cults of deities other than Yahweh. With the death of the cults of the old Canaanite/Israelite deities, the imagery associated with them continued. Furthermore, the development of the apocalyptic genre provided fertile ground for mythic material.^[19]Ibid, p. 145-146, emphasis added. I would contend that the “mythic material” remained, meaning that the ideas associated with the anthropomorphic nature of God, his battle with chaos, his spouse, … Continue reading

Ether 3

Ether 3.1 Mount Shelem

Regarding the name of this important mountain, David Butler writes, “First, I’m not aware of any language in which ‘Shelem’ could have literally meant ‘exceedingly high.’ There may be such a language, appropriate to the place and time of the Jaredites, and if you know what it is, please tell me. Akkadian is the oldest known Semitic language, Semitic being the family of languages that includes Hebrew, and is attested as early as the 29th century B.C. in Sumerian writings. In Akkadian the consonants SH-L-M appear as shalmu, having the familiar meanings ‘complete,’ ‘whole, healthy,’ ‘peaceable.’ I think the name the Jaredites gave the mountain meant something like Mount Peace, The Peaceable Mount, the Hill of Perfection, or the Mound of the Shalems. Or, really, I think ‘mount Shelem’ was a name that meant all of those things to the people who named it.^[20]David Butler, The Goodness and the Mysteries: on the path of the Book of Mormon’s Visionary Men, p. 98, emphasis added.

Ether 3.15 Never before have I shown myself unto man

The following comes from Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, volume 4:

Never have I showed myself unto man. This is a difficult statement. It is hard to fathom. It is particularly difficult to reconcile with what we know regarding God’s dealings with the ancient prophets. We know that all revelation since the fall of Adam has been by and through Jehovah, who is Jesus Christ, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the fathers. Whenever Elohim our Heavenly Father did manifest himself it was to introduce and bear record of the Son^[21]see Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation 1:27; Man: His Origin and Destiny, pp. 304, 312; Answers to Gospel Questions 3:58. Thus it is that the Lord Jehovah-often speaking in the name of and on behalf of the Eternal Father (see Commentary 2:227-29)-appeared to and conversed with Adam, Seth, Enoch, Noah, and surely others of whom we have no specific record. Why, then, would Jehovah say: “Never have I showed myself unto man”? We are unaware of a final and conclusive answer anywhere in our literature, but we offer the following possibilities, principles which are not necessarily mutually exclusive and, for all we know, may all serve as correct answers to the question at hand.

First, perhaps the Lord was speaking of the total and complete manner in which he revealed himself to the brother of Jared. President Joseph Fielding Smith explained: “I have always considered Ether 3:15 to mean that the Savior stood before the brother of Jared plainly, distinctly, and showed him his whole body and explained to him that he was a spirit. In his appearance to Adam and Enoch, he had not made himself manifest in such a familiar way. His appearance to earlier prophets had not been with that same fulness. . . . For the brother of Jared he removed the veil completely.”^[22]Doctrines of Salvation 1:37; see also Bruce R. McConkie, Promised Messiah, p. 47, 599-600.

Second, Sidney B. Sperry suggested that the Lord’s statement may have to do with the principle that he does not reveal himself to men, (meaning “sons of men,” unbelieving men); he only reveals himself to believers, to those who trust in and rely on him, who, like Moriancumer, become redeemed from the Fall.^[23]Sidney, B. Sperry, Answers to Book of Mormon Questions, p. 49.

Third, Daniel H. Ludlow has written: “Another possible interpretation is that Jesus Christ … is essentially saying in Ether 3:15 that he has never had to show himself unto man before. This interpretation gains additional weight when considered in connection with the following verses: Ether 3:9, 19-20, 26. In these verses the Lord makes it very clear that the brother of Jared came before him with greater faith than any other man (Ether 3:9), that the brother of Jared’ could not be kept from within the veil’ (Ether 3:20), and that the Lord ‘could not withhold anything from him, for he knew that the Lord could show him all things’ (Ether 3:26).^[24]Daniel Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon, p. 318.

Fourth, President Harold B. Lee suggested that the uniqueness of Moriancumer’s experience lay in the fact that he saw the Lord Jesus as he would be, that is, he saw a vision of Christ as his body would be during his mortal ministry in some two thousand years. “He saw the finger of the Lord,” President Lee observed, “as he touched each of those sixteen stones, and they were luminous. And then he was amazed because he said he saw not only the finger of a spiritual being, but his faith was so great that he saw the kind of a body that he would have when he came down to the earth. It was of flesh and blood-flesh, blood, and bones. And the Master said, ‘No man has had this kind of faith.’ ” (“To Be on Speaking Terms with God,” pp. 8-9.) Support for this interpretation may come from the Savior: “Because of thy faith thou hast seen that I shall take upon me flesh and blood” (verse 9). Also consider the following words of Moroni:: “Jesus showed himself unto this man in the spirit, even after the manner and in the likeness of the same body even as he showed himself unto the Nephites. And he ministered unto him even as he ministered unto the Nephites.” (Verses 17-18.)

Fifth, we might ponder upon another possibility. It may be that this is the first occasion in history-it seems to be the first, according to our present scriptural records-when Jehovah manifested himself as Jesus Christ, the Son. Before this time he had made himself known by speaking to such persons as Adam (Moses 6). Enoch (Moses 6-7), and Noah (Moses 8) in the language and person of the Father, by divine investiture of authority. In other words, this may be the first occasion wherein Jehovah introduced himself as Jesus the Son of God rather than speaking about himself in the third person, as he had done many times before.

Finally, perhaps the matter is simpler than we had supposed. Could it be that the pronouncement is a relative statement, that it pertains only to the Jaredites? That is, it may be that Jehovah was explaining, in essence, “Never before have I showed myself to anyone in your dispensation, the Jaredite dispensation.”^[25]Joseph Fielding McConkie, Robert L. Millet, Brent L. Top, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, volume 4, Bookcraft, 1992, pages 276-278.

Ether 4: The Sealed Portion of the Book of Mormon

1. The Brother of Jared sees it all. “The Lord could not withhold anything from him, for he knew that the Lord could show him all things” (Ether 3.25-27).
2. Did the Nephites have this material? The text would indicate that perhaps they did since the Lord commanded that after he rose from the dead that “they (the vision of the Brother of Jared textualized and referred to in Ether 3.25-26) should be manifest” (Ether 4.2).
3. When he is with the Nephites that were righteous, we read that Jesus did “expound all things, even from the beginning until the time he should come in his glory…” (3 Nephi 26.3). We are told that Mormon wrote “the lesser part” (3 Nephi 26.8), but that if we “believe these things then shall the greater things be made manifest” (3 Nephi 26.9). The message is simple: believe in these words and the vision of the Brother of Jared (and John! See Ether 4.7, 16) will be made manifest.
4. Just like Jesus, the Book of Mormon is a type. Like Jesus, it comes into the world with a promise of a fulness that will come in a later day. The key for us is to use what the Lord has given to us. If we do not, we will lose even that which he has given us, for as the record states, “If it so be that they will not believe these things, then shall the greater things be withheld from them, unto their condemnation” (3 Nephi 26.10).

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