Ether 12-15 Quotes and Notes

Ether 12-15 Show the two paths available to mankind: The Way of Life and the Way of Death

These chapters show the two paths available to mankind: the path of leading unto life (Ether 12-13), and the path leading unto death (Ether 14-15). Both of these blocks of scripture use temple imagery, illustrating that the only path that makes any rational sense is the one leading us to the Savior Jesus Christ. Because the Jaredite society disintegrates into darkness and destruction, the end of Ether’s narrative ends in this manner, yet it is riddled with inverted imagery pointing our hearts and minds to the temple and the Savior.

Ether 12 – Faith, Hope, and Charity

This chapter is very much like Paul’s treatise on faith in Hebrews 11. Remember that the word faith is all about trust. The symbol (at least to the Greeks) of pistis, the word used for faith throughout the New Testament, is the image of hands clasping. According to Brent Schmidt, The human right hand in the form of a handclasp symbolized sacrifice and complete reciprocity in obligations through its close connection with Fides.^[1]Brent Schmidt, Relational Faith: The Transformation and Restoration of Pistis as Knowledge, Trust, Confidence, and Covenantal Faithfulness, BYU Studies, 2023. Later, Schmidt writes, “Apparently, … Continue reading

It is worth mention that with an eye of faith Moroni promises us that we can be like the Brother of Jared and pierce the veil (Ether 12.19, 21).

It is also significant that faith leads to hope (Ether 12.32), which leads to charity (Ether 12.35-37), which leads to “sitting down in the place … prepared in the mansions (of the) Father” (Ether 12.37). This is the throne in the Holy of Holies in a ritual context. Remarkably, Moroni is expressly informing his readers that he has spoken with the Lord face to face (Ether 12.39), and he invites us to do the same (Ether 12.41). From a ritual perspective, Moroni is showing us today how we can approach the Lord. These attributes are also essential to cultivate if we want to have the experience that Moroni is inviting us to have.

C.S. Lewis said this about faith:

I [used to assume] that if the human mind once accepts a thing as true it will automatically go on regarding it as true, until some real reason for reconsidering it turns up. In fact, I was assuming that the human mind is completely ruled by reason. But that is not so. For example, my reason is perfectly convinced by good evidence that anesthetics do not smother me and that properly trained surgeons do not start operating until I am unconscious. But that does not alter the fact that when they have me down on the table and clap their horrible mask over my face, a mere childish panic begins inside me. I start thinking I am going to choke, and I am afraid they will start cutting me up before I am properly under. In other words, I lose my faith in anesthetics. It is not reason that is taking away my faith: on the contrary, my faith is based on reason. It is my imagination and emotions. The battle is between faith and reason on one side and emotion and imagination on the other…Now just the same thing happens about Christianity. I am not asking anyone to accept Christianity if his best reasoning tells him that the weight of the evidence is against it. That is not the point at which Faith comes in. But supposing a man’s reason once decides that the weight of the evidence is for it I can tell that man what is going to happen to him in the next few weeks. There will come a moment when there is bad news, or he is in trouble, or is living among a lot of other people who do not believe it, and all at once his emotions will rise up and carry out a sort of blitz on his belief. Or else there will come a moment when he wants a woman, or wants to tell a lie, or feels very pleased with himself, or sees a chance of making a little money in some way that is not perfectly fair: some moment, in fact, at which it would be very convenient if Christianity were not true. And once again his wishes and desires will carry out a blitz. I am not talking of moments at which any real new reasons against Christianity turn up. Those have to be faced and that is a different matter. I am talking about moments where a mere mood rises up against it. Now Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods. For moods will change, whatever view your reason takes. I know that by experience. Now that I am a Christian I do have moods in which the whole thing looks very improbable: but when I was an atheist I had moods in which Christianity looked terribly probable. This rebellion of your moods against your real self is going to come anyway. That is why Faith is such a necessary virtue: unless you teach your moods “where they get off,” you can never be either a sound Christian or even a sound atheist, but just a creature dithering to and fro, with its beliefs really dependent on the weather and the state of its digestion.^[2]C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Book III, Ch. 11, Para. 2-5, p. 122-124.

Ether 12.27 If men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them (Ether 12.27).

The nearer we approach God, the more we see our weakness. It takes a humble person to really listen to others’ criticism of our character, our actions, or our perceived actions. How should we respond to criticism that (to us) is untrue? Joseph Smith has given us an example of how we can behave in this very such circumstance when he is reported to have said the following:

I went one day to the Prophet with a sister. She had a charge to make against one of the brethren for scandal. When her complaint had been heard the Prophet asked her if she was quite sure that what the brother had said of her was utterly untrue. She was quite sure that it was. He then told her to think no more about it, for it could not harm her. If untrue it could not live, but the truth will survive. Still she felt that she should have some redress. Then he offered her his method of dealing with such cases for himself. When an enemy had told a scandalous story about him, which had often been done, before he rendered judgment he paused and let his mind run back to the time and place and setting of the story to see if he had not by some unguarded word or act laid the block on which the story was built. If he found that he had done so, he said that in his heart he then forgave his enemy, and felt thankful that he had received warning of a weakness that he had not known he possessed. Then he said to the sister that he would have her to do the same: search her memory thoroughly and see if she had not herself unconsciously laid the foundation for the scandal that annoyed her. The sister thought deeply for a few moments and then confessed that she believed that she had. Then the Prophet told her that in her heart she should forgive that brother who had risked his own good name and her friendship to give her this clearer view of herself. The sister thanked her advisor and went away in peace.^[3]Jesse W. Crosby, in Hyrum Andrus, They Knew the Prophet, 162-163.

Ether 12.41 Moroni invites modern readers to “seek this Jesus”…

And now, I would commend you to a seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever. Amen (Ether 12.41, emphasis added).

Elder McConkie basically said that if we live the gospel, that this promise is assuredly made to us as well. He said:

Live the Gospel

We don’t need to get a complex or get a feeling that you have to be perfect to be saved. You don’t. There’s only been one perfect person, and that’s the Lord Jesus, but in order to be saved in the Kingdom of God and in order to pass the test of mortality, what you have to do is get on the straight and narrow path — thus charting a course leading to eternal life — and then, being on that path, pass out of this life in full fellowship. I’m not saying that you don’t have to keep the commandments. I’m saying you don’t have to be perfect to be saved. If you did, no one would be saved. The way it operates is this: you get on the path that’s named the “straight and narrow.” You do it by entering the gate of repentance and baptism. The straight and narrow path leads from the gate of repentance and baptism, a very great distance, to a reward that’s called eternal life. If you’re on that path and pressing forward, and you die, you’ll never get off the path. There is no such thing as falling off the straight and narrow path in the life to come, and the reason is that this life is the time that is given to men to prepare for eternity. Now is the time and the day of your salvation, so if you’re working zealously in this life — though you haven’t fully overcome the world and you haven’t done all you hoped you might do — you’re still going to be saved. You don’t have to do what Jacob said, “Go beyond the mark.” You don’t have to live a life that’s truer than true. You don’t have to have an excessive zeal that becomes fanatical and becomes unbalancing. What you have to do is stay in the mainstream of the Church and live as upright and decent people live in the Church — keeping the commandments, paying your tithing, serving in the organizations of the Church, loving the Lord, staying on the straight and narrow path. If you’re on that path when death comes — because this is the time and the day appointed, this the probationary estate — you’ll never fall off from it, and, for all practical purposes, your calling and election is made sure. Now, that isn’t the definition of that term, but the end result will be the same.^[4]Bruce R. McConkie, The Probationary Test of Mortality, Address given at the University of Utah Institute of Religion January 10, 1982.

The New Jerusalem on This Land

Ether 13.6 A New Jerusalem should be built up upon this land

Christopher Columbus, wrote in a letter claiming that he had discovered “a New Heaven and New World which had been hidden.” In his quest for a new land, he sought the land where the New Jerusalem would be built. He claimed that “Of the New Heaven and Earth which our Lord has made, and as St. John writes in the Apocalypse, after he had told of I by the mouth of Isaiah, He made me the messenger for I and showed me where to find it.”^[5]West and Kling, Libro de las profecias, University Press of Florida; An En face ed edition (June 20, 1991) p. 68. In this podcast it was mentioned that Wilford Woodruff saw Columbus and had work for … Continue reading

A number of apocryphal/pseudepigraphal texts, including 1 Enoch, 4 Ezra, and 2 Baruch, depict the coming of the New Jerusalem with its glorious temple.

A incomplete text labeled “The New Jerusalem Scroll,” found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, gives details of a vision of the city and temple that God will build in the end of times. In the text, an angel provides particulars regarding the dimensions and form of the temple city, similar to the revelations given to Ezekiel and John the Revelator but with some differing details.^[6]Parts of this text were found on various fragments from the Qumran caves, including 4Q554–555, 5Q15, 11Q18, 1Q32, and 2Q24. Related material can be found on the “Temple Scroll” (11Q19). … Continue reading

John Taylor spoke about the New Jerusalem when he said:

“When Zion descends from above, Zion will also ascend from beneath and be prepared to associate with those from above. The people will be so perfected and purified, ennobled, exalted, and dignified in their feelings and so truly humble and most worthy, virtuous and intelligent that they will be fit, when caught up, to associate with that Zion that shall come down from God out of heaven.”^[7]John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 10:147 as taken from David B. Galbraith, D. Kelly Ogden, and Andrew C. Skinner, Jerusalem: The Eternal City, Deseret Book, 1996, p. 547.

Brigham Young put it this way:

“We have no business here other than to build up and establish the Zion of God. It must be done according to the will and law of God, after that pattern and order by which Enoch built up and perfected the former-day Zion, which was taken away to heaven, hence the saying went abroad that Zion had fled. By and by it will come back again, and as Enoch prepared his people to be worthy of translation, so we through our faithfulness must prepare ourselves to meet Zion from above when it shall return to earth, and to abide the brightness and glory of its coming.”^[8]Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 18:356.

The construction of the New Jerusalem will commence before the Savior Jesus Christ comes to the world in glory. Of this event, Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote:

The building of these two world capitals will commence before the Second Coming and continue during the Millennium. Classifying scattered Israel as Gentiles, because they are not nationals of the kingdom of Judah (the Jews), the Lord Jesus said: “If they will repent and hearken unto my words, and harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant and be numbered among this the remnant of Jacob, unto whom I have given this land for their inheritance.” We are the ones here named; the gospel spoken of came through Joseph Smith; we are of the house of Joseph to whom the land of America has been given as an inheritance, even as it was given to the Nephite portion of Joseph’s seed. “And they [the Latter-day Saints] shall assist my people, the remnant of Jacob, and also as many of the house of Israel as shall come, that they may build a city, which shall be called the New Jerusalem.” Israel – all gathered remnants assisting each other – shall build the New Jerusalem in America.^[9]Elder Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness to the Articles of Faith, p. 588.

The Coded Nature of Moroni’s Text: Another Way to Read Ether 14-15

The Book of Mormon is a book that has many levels. On the one hand, it plainly and simply testifies of Jesus Christ. On the other hand, it is loaded with symbols of First Israelite Temple religion. Hugh Nibley said this:

Everyone knows that the Egyptians called hieroglyphics the “divine words” and that they were meant to conceal if not to mystify; also that in the most important passages the scribes often resorted to cryptograms and even spoke to each other in code-language when they discussed them (Plutarch, de Isid., 9); it is not too much to say that the religious texts are written in a Meta-sprache, to use Hornung’s expression (Ein. u. Viel., p. 113), a special Initiationsprache (Thausing, Sein u. Werden, p. 147). The words used on the higher level could only be understood in their true sense by the initiated (W. Czermak, Arch. f. Aeg. Arch., I, 212). Everything was in code, the nature of the gods concealed “by a cloud of epithets,” referring to mythological or cultic situations which only the instructed understood (Hornung, Ein. u. Viel., p. 81); the cultic images are not portraits but “ideograms” that must be interpreted (ibid., 106).^[10]Hugh Nibley, Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri: An Egyptian Endowment, 2^nd Edition, Deseret Book, 2005, p. 126.

Space of 3 Hours and Darkness before coming into light – A Comparison of Ether 2 and Ether 15

At the end of the Jaredites’ wandering, we read this:

And it came to pass at the end of four years that the Lord came again unto the brother of Jared, and stood in a cloud and talked with him. And for the space of three hours did the Lord talk with the brother of Jared, and chastened him because he remembered not to call upon the name of the Lord. (Ether 2:14)

[Note the parallels between four years and three hours in Ether’s record in the end of his account. Three hours: Ether 15.27 – they “fought for the space of three hours” on the final day of battle (day 7). They gathered people to fight for four years – Ether 15.14 that they “might receive all the strength” possible. The parallel has to be deliberate.

David Butler writes:

We’re about to go up onto Mount Shelem, but I want to dwell a little bit on this “space of three hours,” because it looks to me like another subtle shalem reference. Whatever they mean, the phrase “the space of three hours” and the phrase “the space of many hours” appear to be synonymous. Samuel the Lamanite prophesies great destruction at Christ’s death for the “space of many hours” (Helaman 14:21, 26), but when the destruction occurs it occupies the “space of three hours” (3 Nephi 8:19). This ‘space of hours’ formulation is uncommon, and consistently appears in the Book of Mormon in temple contexts. The destruction among the Nephites for “the space of three hours” precedes Christ’s appearance to them, which is a great Worship of the Shalems experience (3 Nephi 12-14). In addition to three hours of destruction in that context, we’re told of silence for “the space of many hours” (3 Nephi 10:1-2). Lehi travels “for the space of many hours in darkness” to get from the dark and dreary waste to the tree and the site of his vision’s action (1 Nephi 8:8). King Lamoni is silent before Ammon’s martial prowess “for the space of an hour” in Alma 18:14, but when they speak, Ammon teaches him about the creation, the fall, and the plan of redemption, upon which the king faints (Alma 18:36, 39, 42), lies in a coma for two days and nights, and awakens having “seen” and “conversed with angels” and having been told by them the “things of God, and of his  righteousness” (Alma 19:1, 34). Each of these “space of hours” formulations describes a period preceding a temple heavenly encounter. I’m led to suspect that the Worship of the Shalems includes one or more periods of waiting, perhaps in silence or darkness, which is incorporated into each of these accounts. The brother of Jared’s encounter isn’t described as silent—he is “chastened”—but the Lord and his prophet may both be standing inside the cloud, which would provide the ritual darkness (Ether 2:14).

Waiting for a period in total darkness is a classic component in an initiatory experience. Here is Mircea Eliade on the subject, specifically discussing initiation rites among aboriginal Australian peoples:

“This is not the darkness that they have known hitherto, the natural phenomenon of night—a night that was never wholly dark, for there were the stars, the moon, fires—but an absolute and menacing darkness… a considerable number of initiation rites and ordeals reactualize the motif of death in darkness… Darkness is a symbol of the other world…”^[11]Mircea Eliade, Rites and Symbols of Initiation: The Mysteries of Birth and Rebirth, Harpercollins College Div; New edition, 1980, p. 9, 16.

A space of three hours of darkness before entering the temple proper seems like an appropriately impressive and terrifying transition into the sacred world of the Mountain of the Lord.

Not every “space of hours” formulation in the Book of Mormon obviously reflects a temple experience, and the single exception tests the rule. Ether 15:27 looks bloodthirsty and profane, but even here what we’re reading is an anti-temple account, a description of entering into the temple of death after a space of three hours, rather than into the temple of life.

Read Ether 15 with me, and look for inverted temple images. The final Jaredite showdown is at a “hill” called “Ramah” (Ether 15:11). In Hebrew ‘Ramah’ means a ‘high ground’ and in Akkadian ‘Ramah’ might bear the meanings ‘pitch a tent,’ ‘enter and occupy a palace or temple’ (said of a king or god) or ‘give a gift, endow.’ This is a startlingly good place-name for a temple encounter. The Jaredites here pitch their tents (compare with Mosiah 2:1-5). The Jaredites are specially clothed and they sing (Ether 15:15- 17). There’s no feast, but they’re drunk anyway (Ether 15:22). The collective fainting reminds us of the ritual experiences of King Lamoni and his father (Ether 15:27; compare with Alma 18:42, 22:18).

After all this setting of the stage Shiz’s decapitation looks like a parody of a temple ascent, a failed resurrection that literally ends in mindless flailing and death (Ether 15:30-31), especially in light of the secret combination’s origin story, in which their objective is to take the king’s head (Ether 8:12).

Ether 15 shows us the fate of the people who put their faith in the mysteries of the robbers, rather than in the mysteries of God. This is the bloody and pointless anti-Holy of Holies of the anti-shalems, so even here the “space of three hours” derives from temple ordinance. I think Ether wrote his underlying account of the showdown at Ramah as a deliberate parody, and tells us so. Recording the grotesque and destructive finale of the worship of the secret combination, his thoughts are turned to his own sacred ordinances, the true mysteries. Ether finishes his record:

Whether the Lord will that I be translated, or that I suffer the will of the Lord in the flesh, it mattereth not, if it so be that I am saved in the kingdom of God. Amen. (Ether 15:34)^[12]David Butler, The Goodness and the Mysteries: on the path of the Book of Mormon’s Visionary Men, 2012, p. 107-111.

Some Additional Things to Consider

Bowing before the King in a ritual setting

The king in Ether 14-15 that everyone is trying to dethrone is Coriantumr. His name may hold a key to understanding the symbolic message of these chapters. His name (if it indeed has Sumerian roots) could mean “The heavenly mountain of God.”^[13]Coriantumr (Ether 14-15) – If Sumerian can be used to explain JAREDITE names, then perhaps the suggestion of Sumerian kur, “mountain” + an “heaven” + dingir (and its variants*) “god, … Continue reading His name is rooted in kingship and the temple. In a way, Coriantumr will represent Jesus Christ in these chapters, albeit he is an inverted symbol. We will explore this a bit further below and through a close reading of Ether 14-15.

Note that in the end of Ether’s narrative, all have (in a very sad way) “bowed before the king.” Compare the account in Ether with everyone fainting (Ether 15.27), literally “falling down,” with Nephi bowing before Jesus (3 Nephi 11.19) and the healed Nephites in a temple setting who “bow down at his feet (3 Nephi 17.10). We see Nephi arising in the next verse (3 Nephi 11.20), showing the nature of Nephi’s bow. Indeed, we could say that Nephi prostrated himself before Jesus. We know that every knee shall bow before Jesus (Mosiah 27.31), and we see the Lamanite king told to “bow down before God” by Aaron (Alma 22.16-18), after which he is “struck as if he were dead.” All of these images combine together speak of a ritual context of approaching the throne of grace and entering into God’s presence. In antiquity this would also be an appropriate response to being in the literal presence of a king. These themes all combine to give a rich understanding of Jesus’ kingship.

Men, Women and Children Present in Feast of Tabernacles Contexts

A few times Moroni emphasizes that this war in Ether 14-15 does not just involve the men of fighting age, rather, it involves the whole community – men, women and children (Ether 15.2, 15). We see this also in the temple at Bountiful, where it is emphasized that all are present (3 Nephi 17.10-13, 25). We see this in the speech of King Benjamin as well, which is also placed within the context of a temple setting at the Feast of Tabernacles (Mosiah 2.5, 40) where we read that “they came up to the temple, they pitched their tents round about, every man according to his family, consisting of his wife, and his sons, and his daughters, and their sons, and their daughters, from the eldest down to the youngest, every man being separate one from another.”

This Story is About Gaining the Throne

Note how important this throne is to the followers of Shiz, Lib, and Gilead (the brother of Shared – is this a pun on the “Brother of Jared”?) The Brother of Shared (Gilead) fights to take Coriantumr’s throne and does so (Ether 14.6), but then is killed by his “high priest” as he sat on the throne (Ether 14.9). Is Lib the high priest that committed this murder? Ether 14.10 doesn’t seem to be clear on this point. What Moroni wants us to know is that Lib acquires the throne (Ether 14.10), and that he “was a man of great stature.” The throne is a temple word (1 Nephi 1.8, 14; 1 Nephi 17.39; 2 Nephi 16.1; Alma 26.22; Moroni 9.26). When we see this word in the Book of Mormon, we can know that we are dealing with the Holy of Holies in a ritual context, and in these passages, since it is all about death and rejecting God’s prophets, it is a parody or an inverted symbol being utilized by Moroni to emphasize that we are always choosing a path, even if we don’t think we are!

Moroni uses this entire final narrative in Ether to show that we all really must choose which path we will follow. Whether we will follow the path of life (Ether 12-13), or the path of death (Ether 14-15), Moroni uses the symbols of the temple to instruct his readers, thus pointing our eyes to heaven even in the midst of such a terrible and tragic final story of the disintegration of the Jaredite nation.

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