Book of Mormon Studies (12 September 1929)

RELIEF SOCIETY

BOOK OF MORMON STUDIES

For the first lesson in October

Chronologically the book of Ether should be placed first in the Book of Mormon record. To have it come as the next to the last sub-division makes a decided and confusing break in the narrative. It was so placed as an abridgment by Moroni before he closed his records.

The story of the Jaredites with which the book of Ether deals, was treated in bare outline in one of the first lessons last year; but it is strongly advised that its thirty-one pages be read and considered for October’s lesson this year. The book of Ether is briefly explained on the title page of the Book of Mormon.

Covering the many generations that it does in the thirty-one pages, we cannot hope to get more than a glimpse of Jaredite history. The record is frequently interspersed with the writings of Moroni, its abridger. Like the rest of the Book of Mormon, the book of Ether bears record of the personal attributes of God, of the divinity of Jesus Christ; it teaches the rewards of obedience and the disasters of iniquity; it forcefully stresses the danger and hideousness of secret combinations and works of darkness. It gives ns reasons to believe that the Lord has had, and possibly has now, many peoples upon the face of the earth of whom we know nothing, and that He loves and blesses them alike, according to their deeds, and that He ministers and directs all the children of His creation wherever they may be —if they will seek Him.

The closing words of Ether are classic examples of faith and resignation to the will of. God. “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.”

That is all that matters to any of us eventually, and salvation is assured us by our obedience and righteous living.

QUESTIONS

1. What peoples are considered in the book of Ether? Where did they come from? When did they live?
2. How did the record of the Jaredites come into the possession of the Nephites? Why is it so placed in the Book of Mormon? Who abridged the book of Ether?
3. Why did the Jaredites wish to leave the Eastern hemisphere? Briefly tell of their experiences and dealings with the Lord from the time they first petitioned Him until they reached the western continent.
4. What were the results of seeking offices as recorded in chapter eight of the book of Ether? Do you think that office-seeking in the Church today brings the same results in proportion? Discuss.
5. Compare the repeated rising and falling, the periods of peace and periods of war, of the Nepliites and the Jaredites.
6. Compare the last days of Moroni with those of the Prophet Ether.
7. Discuss the power of faith, and the purpose of the weaknesses of men, as they are discoursed upon in Ether, chapter twelve.
8. What finally happened to Coriantumr?

R.L.E.