Origin of the Jaredites and their annals
Before discussing the teachings of Jaredite travel, it is convenient to remember the origins of your nation and the discovery of your records.
We have proof that the Jaredites were the first migration to the new world, described in the records of Mormon. After 29 generations and innumerable battles, only Coriántumr remained. The next migration, from Jerusalem was that of Lehi, 1500 years after Jared and 600 years BC They will be known as Nephites. When they reached the beaches, the Jaredite people had disappeared.
A few years after the arrival of Lehi, Mulek, son of Zedekiah, disembarked.
Around 279 BC, the Nephite people, under the leadership of Mosiah I (father of Benjamin and grandfather of Mosiah II) «came out of the land of Nephi» or the land of their disembarkation ( Omni 1:13 ). On their journey through the desert, they found the descendants of Mulek in a city called Zarahemla. They had no annals and their language had been corrupted. The Mulekites inform Mosiah I that they met Coriantumr, who «lived with them for the term of nine moons» ( 21) Both peoples unite into one, taking the name of Nephites.
Mosiah I received a large stone with Jaredite engravings, but only gave some details of that town ( Omni 1: 21-22)
The 24 plates
In the year 188 BC, being Nephites and Mulekites a single nation, Zeniff ventures out of Zarahemla with some followers. They wanted to return and take possession of the land of Nephi, from where Mosiah I departed. His story can be seen in Mosiah 9 – 22.
Seventy years later, the people of Zeniff are enslaved by the Lamanites. Ruled to date by Limhi, son of Noah, he returns to Zarahemla. Released by Ammon, who found them and converted them to the gospel, he received from King Limhi 24 plates of gold with engravings. They were found in a failed attempt by Limhi to contact the Nephites, anxiously seeking the Nephite help to free themselves from the Lamanite yoke.
Those 24 engraved plates, make up the book of Ether. He was a Jaredite prophet who recorded the end of his civilization.
The Jaredite migration
In chapter 10 of Genesis he tells us about the offspring of Noah, «These are the sons of Ham according to their families, by their languages, in their lands, in their nations» ( 20 ) repeating the same observation in the offspring of the other children Conclude Chapter 10 affirming «and from these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood.» ( 32 ) The chronology of the facts, as you can see, is changed. In chapter 11, where confusion of languages occurs, it would be earlier than 10.
To understand the book of Ether, we must understand why they came out of the kingdom of Nimrod, of the city of Babel in the land of Shinar. ( 8-10 ) and the key to that is found in Genesis 11: 6-7.
«And the LORD said, Behold, the people are one, and all these have one language; and they have begun to build, and now nothing will make them desist from what they have thought to do. Now, let’s go down and confuse their language there … «
However, the intentions of the descendants of Noah were different. «Come on, let’s build a city and a tower whose top reaches heaven; and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered upon the face of the whole earth. « ( 11: 4 )
The reason
The real reason why Jehovah scatters them is «Behold the people are one» and the means to achieve this is «they have begun to build» that is, the city and its tower.
In a literal interpretation, the Lord confused his language. But also in a great project like the one they proposed, it is difficult to understand and coordinate. They may not even speak the language of the unit. That which is confused when ambitions and protagonisms wreck the purpose undertaken.
Why did Jehovah want to scatter them? a movement contrary to the current one, of recollection.
They wanted to have a name and be a single nation. Where is the bad in that desire? Actually, I do not think there is anything wrong. He simply needs variety for his plans. As Lehi teaches if «… all things [were] one whole … one body, it would remain as dead …» ( 2 Nephi 2:11) Nations and their languages provide movement in the mechanisms of history. Just as species and their varieties provide an ecosystem for life. The nations on earth are equally continents that have their movements and derive their plans.
The birth of the Jaredite nation
Jared asks his brother to plead before the Lord for them «Pray to the Lord not to confuse us so that we do not understand our words.» ( Ether 1:34 ) is a self-interest, that of the family. But Jared continues «Pray again to the Lord, for perhaps he will separate his anger from those who are our friends …» ( 36 ). Then the Lord does something else «he had compassion on his friends and their families as well» ( 37 ) This extension of their interest leads to Jared’s last plea. «… ask him to tell us where we should go. And who knows if the Lord will not take us to a region that is the most favored of all the earth? « (38)
The Lord agrees to take them to a land of promise and make them «a great nation.» However, he does not realize with Jared the pact he made with Abraham. Although in its purposes was the foundation of his house, to structure his plan, that does not cancel his activity in other places and with other people.
The desire of Jared, is not as refined as that of Abraham, who wanted to be a father of many nations and also «be the possessor of great knowledge» looking for a «legality» when he says «the right to which I should be ordained». But also Jared’s situation is more urgent and his decisions more pressing. Thinking as Jared did in family and friends, and asking the Lord for a common destiny, denotes a lot of faith and leadership on his part.
Trust in the Lord when the world of Babel collapses.
The learning model
If we observe, both in the Jaredite journeys, or those of Lehi, Abraham or Moses, the Lord always uses a desert to form his people. Even with the saints in this dispensation, the church made a pilgrimage through valleys and deserts. And he led them in a cloud in the case of Jared and Moses, with a Liahona in the case of Lehi or with the inspiration of their leaders such as Abraham or Joseph Smith. But why cross deserts of sand or great waters?
We can find an answer by reading in Lehi’s dream «for behold, I seemed to see in my dream a dark and gloomy wilderness.» ( 1 Nephi 8: 4 ) This is the nature of the world without the guidance of God. A fallen world, impartial with our desires or needs. The very consistency of the terrain and the nature of its climate make it so. It is not a pessimistic view that Lehi has. After spending many hours in that place, it no longer only seemed to him, but «I saw that I was in a dark and dreary desert.» ( 7 )
That inhospitable nature of the desert, at any time of the day, is a good school to understand that «You can not say that you are even as the dust of the earth» ( Mosiah 2:25 ). Even when we were created from that dust, «behold, this belongs to the one who created us.» Those builders of brick towers, they should learn about that powder they kneaded.
Carried to hope
In that learning environment it is easier to «implore the Lord to [have] mercy on [us], according to the multitude of his tender mercies.» ( 1 Nephi 8: 8 ) Lehi was led away, while exploring that lugubrious landscape, to implore his mercy. Thus in the darkest moments the prophet Joseph exclaims «Oh God, where are you?» ( D & C 121: 1 ) thus giving way to a great revelation ( 121)
The Jaredite journeys are a magnifying lens of the increase of the nature of the soul before the world. Exploring our personal desert we are also brought to the great knowledge that Abraham sought. But only after we accept the orography of the world, we understand the wise advice of Benjamin,«You can say something of yourselves I answer: No …» ( Mosiah 2: 25 ) Jared knew that the Lord was the only hope.
The time of learning.
Lehi’s journey through the desert was eight years. The one in Israel forty, because of his rebellion. Joseph Smith, like Moses, did not set foot on the land of promise or recollection. And the church had to wait until July 1847 to enter the salty valley. The temple of Nauvoo performed ordinances for forty days before being destroyed by the populace and later by a tornado. But it was not until April 1877, with the dedication of the third temple in Saint George , that the church carries out its mission in a stable manner and in a properly built house.
The Lord answers the brother of Jared «… And so I will work with you, because you have implored me all this long time» ( 1:43 ). To that long time we must add the trip to the valley of Nimrod ( 2: 1 ), from there to the desert ( 2: 6 ). They crossed an inland sea after building ships. They crossed another desert until they reached the beaches «to that great sea that separates the lands» ( 2:13 ). On the beaches of Moriáncumer they lived inactive for four years.
Those times in the Jaredite changes are like the times of the soul. It also crosses deserts and green places. In this transit he recognizes his own form and experiences walking, the dark and gloomy nature of the terrain. And as Benjamin showed «giving you encouragement so that you may live, move and act according to your own will, and even sustaining yourselves moment after moment» ( Mosiah 2:21 ) verbs all pertaining to the journey of the soul through a desert.
The journey of the soul
Therefore to overcome the world by faith is to endure its contrasts and works without losing sight of the promised land. Even without knowing where it is or how to get there.
In the cover image we see the storm over Tiberias with the apostles and Jesus in a boat. That little trip subjected his passengers to the same question that gravitated about Jared and his family, «Master, are you not careful that we perish?» ( Mark 4:38 ) That detailed scene in the gospels does not transcend by the arrival to earth nor what they did once there. The teaching is in the during, in the trip itself.
In another environment, Alma compares the growth of faith to a seed. In short, the times of the gospel are not those that the world proposes.
The restoration and its ordinances began to unfold in 1820 and we are still seeing its form and development. Being the order of the restoration pertaining to the kingdom of the alive beings and not to the mineral.
In this way, his plan embarks on a long journey. Where each step is a teaching for the soul and where fate does not matter as much as the way.
Jaredite trips
In the trips of the Jaredites, we learn patience and perseverance in projects over time. However, we live in a world where the extinction of time is sought. Only talk about it to explain its reduction in all areas. Time is a divisor that evaluates all human activity. The smaller it is, the more satisfied we are with the result. It turns out now, that time is in our world is the biggest setback.
But in Jaredite travel it is an important term. Also in the plan of salvation is a necessary part because «man was granted a time to repent» ( Alma 42: 4 ) Now, by reducing it in our travels and in obtaining our desires, it is hard for us to understand that » without having a time to repent … the word of God would have been vain « ( 5).
On the journey of Lehi and his family they spent eight years in the desert ( 1 Nephi 17: 4) that dilation of time, when it came to reaching a place, may seem frustrating to the current man. But apparently it is necessary in the forge and tempering of his projects. In all the founding trips of their people there are times and trips. Likewise of our youth, who seeks in mission the journey and foundational time of his soul.
Learning to wait
Before my son David left his mission to England, he planted 10 plants to make a hedge at the back of the yard. I expected to say on his return Look how time has passed !. but after their return from the mission they were the same size. So I did not mention the subject.
Then I dug them, I could, I paid them with horse dung. I hired myself thoroughly with them. But it had not worked. I did not know what else to do. Two years later I start them and I only keep the copy they see there.
Four years to get nothing.
When the Jaredites came to the beaches of Moriancumer «at the end of four years, the Lord came again to the brother of Jared, and was in a cloud, and spoke with him.» ( 2:14 ) The Lord rebuked him Jared «because he had not remembered to invoke the name of the Lord» and after speaking with him for three hours in the cloud, he concluded by saying «Get to work and build ships …» ( 2:16 ).
Deal with the times of the Lord , in this case in a fallen garden, forces us to rethink things. The quality of our wishes and our willingness to achieve them. He proposes patience as the chisel of time. To an effort not as intense as persistent.
Discarded times
Celestial times are long, as are astronomical or agricultural times. Apparently, patience abounds in the skies and in families with good parents. The family is also a journey of long time and unsuspected roads. Now, that all roads are laid out on the earth, we learn from the Jaredites to navigate and cross deserts.
That is why, sometimes, those who do not learn from the Jaredites faint on the way. They hurry and their spirits falter.
So after removing them I returned to plant some chifleras, which are now growing, compared to the previous four years pretty fast.