Ether 7
Ether 7:1–4
1 And it came to pass that Orihah did execute judgment upon the land in righteousness all his days, whose days were exceedingly many.
2 And he begat sons and daughters; yea, he begat thirty and one, among whom were twenty and three sons.
3 And it came to pass that he also begat Kib in his old age. And it came to pass that Kib reigned in his stead; and Kib begat Corihor.
4 And when Corihor was thirty and two years old he rebelled against his father, and went over and dwelt in the land of Nehor; and he begat sons and daughters, and they became exceedingly fair; wherefore Corihor drew away many people after him.
Comments
After the transcendent experience the brother of Jared had with his God, we return to the record of Ether and find that it is distinctly different from the kind of record we have received through Mormon. Moroni has the same task as did Mormon, to take an original document, and turn it into an important historically based moral instruction. After the experience with God and the brother of Jared, the record turns far from spiritually uplifting content, and rather simply and rapidly begins to recount history.
We must remember that Mormon was working with a record of history that would have had the same kinds of events, but he also had both the original with all its detail, and records of other important people, from whom he took most of the important religious content. The record of Ether was already compiled by Ether from other records, and Moroni had only that one document to work from. Moroni gives us history and will interject lessons as he can.
The rapid-fire history has the Jaredites begin well with Jared’s son, Orihah, who “did execute judgment upon the land in righteousness.” Although the text does not specifically mention multiple wives, we might hope that a single wife had not given birth to thirty-one children.
By the time of Orihah’s grandson, Corihor, things were starting to turn bad, and Corihor “rebelled against his father” and left to found a different city and people.
An interesting phrase is found in verse 4: “and they became exceedingly fair; wherefore Corihor drew away many people after him.” Although the language of becoming fair is the same as what we see in Nephite writings, there is no indication that there was any specific cursing involved. Thus, it is unlikely that this fair meant anything other that what we might call blessed. This continues to suggest that the word must be seen as metaphorical in both the Nephite texts and the Jaredite record.
Ether 7:5–7
5 And when he had gathered together an army he came up unto the land of Moron where the king dwelt, and took him captive, which brought to pass the saying of the brother of Jared that they would be brought into captivity.
6 Now the land of Moron, where the king dwelt, was near the land which is called Desolation by the Nephites.
7 And it came to pass that Kib dwelt in captivity, and his people under Corihor his son, until he became exceedingly old; nevertheless Kib begat Shule in his old age, while he was yet in captivity.
Comments
As a distant parallel to the Nephite/Lamanite division, Corihor not only leaves his father’s lands and founds a new people, but he comes against his father in war. Unlike the Nephite stories where they are victorious until the end, the Jaredites will have multiple times where the rulership of the lands will change.
We are also introduced to a new concept in the Book of Mormon, one that does not appear anywhere except the Jaredite record. We have a captive king who is kept alive but imprisoned. The reason is not given. Some ancient societies believed that the person of the king was sacred, and should not be harmed, even if defeated. That could be the case. It certainly was not the case among the Nephites, as the Gadiantons murdered rulers in order to advance their cause.
In Kib’s old age, he begat Shule. Shule, therefore, is Corihor’s younger brother. When we return to the genealogy in Ether 1:31–32, that genealogy goes directly from Kib to Shule. Corihor is not mentioned.
Days of Shule
Ether 7:8–10
8 And it came to pass that Shule was angry with his brother; and Shule waxed strong, and became mighty as to the strength of a man; and he was also mighty in judgment.
9 Wherefore, he came to the hill Ephraim, and he did molten out of the hill, and made swords out of steel for those whom he had drawn away with him; and after he had armed them with swords he returned to the city Nehor, and gave battle unto his brother Corihor, by which means he obtained the kingdom and restored it unto his father Kib.
10 And now because of the thing which Shule had done, his father bestowed upon him the kingdom; therefore he began to reign in the stead of his father.
Comments
Even though Kib was effectively in prison, that did not mean that he did not have access to his wife (or wives, more likely). Thus, in his old age he has another son. Importantly, that son is not restricted to a prison, but is free to raise and arm a rebellion that successfully defeats his older brother Corihor. This releases Kib, but Kib is not restored to kingship. That passes directly to Shule.
Verse 9 speaks of creating “swords out of steel.” There is no known metal forging that early in the New World. This may be a translation issue. The brother of Jared had “molten” stones, and perhaps that term is used for stones here. If so, it would have been obsidian which was the standard means of providing a cutting blade in Central America, being much sharper than knapped stone. Some obsidian can be knapped to be as sharp as a surgical scalpel.
Ether 7:11–17
11 And it came to pass that he did execute judgment in righteousness; and he did spread his kingdom upon all the face of the land, for the people had become exceedingly numerous.
12 And it came to pass that Shule also begat many sons and daughters.
13 And Corihor repented of the many evils which he had done; wherefore Shule gave him power in his kingdom.
14 And it came to pass that Corihor had many sons and daughters. And among the sons of Corihor there was one whose name was Noah.
15 And it came to pass that Noah rebelled against Shule, the king, and also his father Corihor, and drew away Cohor his brother, and also all his brethren and many of the people.
16 And he gave battle unto Shule, the king, in which he did obtain the land of their first inheritance; and he became a king over that part of the land.
17 And it came to pass that he gave battle again unto Shule, the king; and he took Shule, the king, and carried him away captive into Moron.
Comments
Jaredite intrigue continues. With Shule as the king, Corihor comes into line. However, Corihor’s son rebels against his uncle, and the process recurs. Noah raises an army and dethrones Shule, taking Shule captive.
Although Moroni does not point it out, it is possible that this political instability is one of the reasons that Mormon saw connections between the Jaredites and the Gadiantons who were also bent on political disruption.
Ether 7:18–20
18 And it came to pass as he was about to put him to death, the sons of Shule crept into the house of Noah by night and slew him, and broke down the door of the prison and brought out their father, and placed him upon his throne in his own kingdom.
19 Wherefore, the son of Noah did build up his kingdom in his stead; nevertheless they did not gain power any more over Shule the king, and the people who were under the reign of Shule the king did prosper exceedingly and wax great.
20 And the country was divided; and there were two kingdoms, the kingdom of Shule, and the kingdom of Cohor, the son of Noah.
Comments
Once again there is a division in the land. This time there are very clearly two separate nations. Conflict is the order of the day. The major conflicts are arising within ruling families, with sons avenging fathers, or rescuing fathers, or taking over for their fathers. As there are more Jaredites, there is more conflict.
Ether 7:21–22
21 And Cohor, the son of Noah, caused that his people should give battle unto Shule, in which Shule did beat them and did slay Cohor.
22 And now Cohor had a son who was called Nimrod; and Nimrod gave up the kingdom of Cohor unto Shule, and he did gain favor in the eyes of Shule; wherefore Shule did bestow great favors upon him, and he did do in the kingdom of Shule according to his desires.
Comments
Again, war between the two separated peoples is waged. This time Shule’s people come out on top. They have a combined kingdom, for a while.
Shule is considered to be a king who was faithful to God, but the next verses show that there were large divisions among the people. They had not only had political differences, but they had already managed to have many who left behind the religion of Jared and his brother.
Ether 7:23–27
23 And also in the reign of Shule there came prophets among the people, who were sent from the Lord, prophesying that the wickedness and idolatry of the people was bringing a curse upon the land, and they should be destroyed if they did not repent.
24 And it came to pass that the people did revile against the prophets, and did mock them. And it came to pass that king Shule did execute judgment against all those who did revile against the prophets.
25 And he did execute a law throughout all the land, which gave power unto the prophets that they should go whithersoever they would; and by this cause the people were brought unto repentance.
26 And because the people did repent of their iniquities and idolatries the Lord did spare them, and they began to prosper again in the land. And it came to pass that Shule begat sons and daughters in his old age.
27 And there were no more wars in the days of Shule; and he remembered the great things that the Lord had done for his fathers in bringing them across the great deep into the promised land; wherefore he did execute judgment in righteousness all his days.
Comments
We begin to learn that there was religious apostasy among the people as well as political differences. We do not learn where those religious differences came from, but if we assume that the Jaredites arrived in the New World along the Gulf Coast of Mexico (which is a plausible assumption), they would have discovered people already there, just as the later people of Lehi must have discovered when they landed in a different location, on a different coast. Those people were forming a culture that is now known as Olmec, which is a name given to a general set of artistic and other physical remains that have similarities in region and time. The religion of the people we call Olmec would have been different from that of the Jaredites. It is quite likely that the early religious difficulties arose from the conflicts with the previously dominant religion of the region.
The situation is widespread enough that the people reject the prophets, and King Shule had to step in to make peace. He did, and kept peace through the remainder of his days.
This is not the end of a chapter in the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon.
