Ether 11

Ether 11:1

1 And there came also in the days of Com many prophets, and prophesied of the destruction of that great people except they should repent, and turn unto the Lord, and forsake their murders and wickedness.

Ether 11:2

2 And it came to pass that the prophets were rejected by the people, and they fled unto Com for protection, for the people sought to destroy them.

Ether 11:3

3 And they prophesied unto Com many things; and he was blessed in all the remainder of his days.

Redaction: Com repeats the basic storyline of Shule with regards to the people and prophets. The general makeup of the land is with the wicked, and so prophets are sent to convince the people to repent and return to God. The people not only do not repent, they turn on the prophets. Com, like Shule before him, succors the prophets, and his rule is blessed for his efforts. The parallelism between the two should not be seen as a poverty of imagination for Moroni, but rather as the result of his overriding purpose in telling this part of the story. The various dealings of the Jaredite kings have relevance to the spiritual mission of Moroni only if he can turn them in to spiritual lessons. The repeating lesson highlights the importance of that meaning, and the importance Moroni gives to it.

Chronology: Com would be reigning from 440-410 B.C. according to the average reign chronology.

Ether 11:4

4 And he lived to a good old age, and begat Shiblom; and Shiblom reigned in his stead. And the brother of Shiblom rebelled against him, and there began to be an exceedingly great war in all the land.

The prosperity of Com’s reign is interrupted in succeeding generation. It should not be lost on us that Com gained his throne through war, and now one of his sons rises against the other. The Jaredite lineage is filled with such intra-familiar conflicts over the right to rule. Continuing in the lineage tradition, however, the brother of Shiblom is not named.

Ether 11:5

5 And it came to pass that the brother of Shiblom caused that all the prophets who prophesied of the destruction of the people should be put to death;

The brother of Shiblom is quite clearly completely paganized in both religion and culture, to the point where he not only does not respect the prophets, but he puts them to death.

Ether 11:6

6 And there was great calamity in all the land, for they had testified that a great curse should come upon the land, and also upon the people, and that there should be a great destruction among them, such an one as never had been upon the face of the earth, and their bones should become as heaps of earth upon the face of the land except they should repent of their wickedness.

The prophets are prophesying a great calamity. This will come because the people have left their God, and therefore the blessing of the land will turn to a curse. In this particular curse, there will be great destruction of life.

Ether 11:7

7 And they hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord, because of their wicked combinations; wherefore, there began to be wars and contentions in all the land, and also many famines and pestilences, insomuch that there was a great destruction, such an one as never had been known upon the face of the earth; and all this came to pass in the days of Shiblom.

The people do not repent, and therefore the cursing begins. The loss of life comes from both natural and human means. Nature causes problems with famine and pestilence. Man causes death through waging wars. These things all begin during the days of Shiblom.

Ether 11:8

8 And the people began to repent of their iniquity; and inasmuch as they did the Lord did have mercy on them.

Contrasted with the great calamities of nearly two hundred years before, the people do begin to repent and turn to the Lord. However, the return to prosperity in the land will take some time. The immediate benefit is that the road to complete destruction is averted, but things where not completely well during these years, as we see in the next verse.

Ether 11:9

9 And it came to pass that Shiblom was slain, and Seth was brought into captivity, and did dwell in captivity all his days.

Shiblom is slain and presumably his brother takes over the kingdom. As with the multi-generational captivity of descendants of Hearthom (Ether 10:31), the Seth the son of Shiblom is held captive throughout his entire life. Nevertheless, he is listed in place in the king-list, even though he never once reigned during his lifetime.

Ether 11:10

10 And it came to pass that Ahah, his son, did obtain the kingdom; and he did reign over the people all his days. And he did do all manner of iniquity in his days, by which he did cause the shedding of much blood; and few were his days.

We are not told how Ahah finds a way to regain the throne for his clan, but he does. Moroni is giving us fewer and fewer details, because the pattern is clearly emerging, and all we will need is the most terse of details to flesh out Moroni’s meaning. Unfortunately for us, we want to know more than that.

Chronology: The average-reign chronology places Seth at 380-350 B.C. with Ahah reigning from 350-320 B.C.

Ether 11:11

11 And Ethem, being a descendant of Ahah, did obtain the kingdom; and he also did do that which was wicked in his days.

Ether 11:12

12 And it came to pass that in the days of Ethem there came many prophets, and prophesied again unto the people; yea, they did prophesy that the Lord would utterly destroy them from off the face of the earth except they repented of their iniquities.

The prophets are returning, but this time they have no champion in the king. This signals the continued decline toward the prophesied calamity.

Chronology: The average-reign chronology gives Ethem’s reign from 320 to 290 B.C.

Ether 11:13

13 And it came to pass that the people hardened their hearts, and would not hearken unto their words; and the prophets mourned and withdrew from among the people.

The withdrawal of the prophets is symbolic of the withdrawal of the Spirit of the Lord from the people. Moroni is telling us that they are sealing their fate, and that the prophesied destruction will surely come.

Ether 11:14

14 And it came to pass that Ethem did execute judgment in wickedness all his days; and he begat Moron. And it came to pass that Moron did reign in his stead; and Moron did that which was wicked before the Lord.

Ethem never repents, and the tradition of following the Lord is now far removed from the ruling line. Moron continues to deny God and follow the ways of the world.

Chronology: Moron would reign from 290 to 260 B.C according to the average-reign chronology.

Ether 11:15

15 And it came to pass that there arose a rebellion among the people, because of that secret combination which was built up to get power and gain; and there arose a mighty man among them in iniquity, and gave battle unto Moron, in which he did overthrow the half of the kingdom; and he did maintain the half of the kingdom for many years.

Ether 11:16

16 And it came to pass that Moron did overthrow him, and did obtain the kingdom again.

Moron is subjected to an attack by an outside secret combination, and while it is effective in dividing the kingdom for a while, Moron is able to conquer the upstart and return the entire area to his control.

Ether 11:17

17 And it came to pass that there arose another mighty man; and he was a descendant of the brother of Jared.

Ether 11:18

18 And it came to pass that he did overthrow Moron and obtain the kingdom; wherefore, Moron dwelt in captivity all the remainder of his days; and he begat Coriantor.

Ether 11:19

19 And it came to pass that Coriantor dwelt in captivity all his days.

It is tempting to see the “mighty man” who was a descendant of the brother of Jared as a righteous man because he was of the lineage of that very righteous ancestor. However, this is now a distant ancestor, and history has taught us the sad lesson the righteousness is individual, not inherited. The text tells us that there is a curse on the land because of iniquity. At least twice in the history of this genealogy, the righteousness of a king made up for the unrighteousness of the people and averted the cursing of the land. In this case, the curse is upon the land, and continues. This suggests that this descendant of the brother of Jared was as wicked as the men he replaced.

Chronology: Coriantor would have an overlap from 260 to 240 B.C. He is not in power, and his son will not be in power. This lineage will end in the next generation.

Ether 11:20

20 And in the days of Coriantor there also came many prophets, and prophesied of great and marvelous things, and cried repentance unto the people, and except they should repent the Lord God would execute judgment against them to their utter destruction;

As the time of the great calamity comes near, the Lord sends even more prophets into the land to warn the people. When the Lord allows us to destroy ourselves, he will at least warn us to be prepared. Righteousness is the best preparation.

Ether 11:21

21 And that the Lord God would send or bring forth another people to possess the land, by his power, after the manner by which he brought their fathers.

The prophecy is that they have violated the contract with the land, and the ultimate curse of the land that corresponds to this failure is that they are removed from power, and someone else will take over the land.

Historical: From 600 B.C. to A.D. 1 we are in the Terminal Olmec, or the Epi-Olmec period. This is a time when the Olmec as a people lose their glory, and the heart of the Olmec culture is destroyed. Historically, the Epi-Olmec is the remnants and restructuring of the Olmec culture. There is a shift from the old power sources to daughter populations that have some of the traits of the Olmec, but which have begun to look to newer inspiration in the development of their culture.

Ether 11:22

22 And they did reject all the words of the prophets, because of their secret society and wicked abominations.

Ether 11:23

23 And it came to pass that Coriantor begat Ether, and he died, having dwelt in captivity all his days.

The prophets give the people one last chance, and the people do not take it. Their destruction is now set, and it will come in the days of Coriantor’s son, Ether.

Chronology: We have Ether witnessing the final events from 230 – 200 B.C.

Textual: This is the end of the fourth chapter of Ether in the 1830 edition.