Evidence #96 | September 19, 2020

Book of Mormon Evidence: Ether’s Genealogy

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Scripture Central

Abstract

Each name given in a lengthy genealogical list in Ether 1 is discussed in precisely reverse order throughout the rest of the book. This dynastic history, which has parallels with king lists from ancient America and the ancient Near East, is believably ancient and remarkably consistent.

The opening chapter of the book of Ether contains a lengthy genealogical list of Ether’s ancestors, most of whom were kings. As recognized by literary scholar Grant Hardy, this list provides a framework for the rest of the book, which discusses each of the list’s names in exact reverse order.1 For example, Jared is the last name on the list (Ether 1:32), and the first one mentioned in the narrative (v. 33). This pattern continues throughout the entire book,2 never missing a name or getting them out of order, despite all the additional names of people and places in between.

Infographic by Book of Mormon Central.

The list in Ether 1 is similar to the king lists attested in the ancient Near East and to dynastic histories found in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Comparable to the lengthy list in Ether 1, a Hittite king list is 30 names long,3 and an example from the ancient Maya has 33 names.4 Genealogies in the Bible usually start at the beginning and document descendants until arriving in the present.5 However, king lists in reverse chronological order, called retrograde king lists, are often found in the ancient Near East and may have been the style of king list adopted by the Jaredites.6 Mesoamerican dynastic histories also usually start with the most recent ruler and then trace the lineage backward through their ancestors.7

An Ancient Sumerian king list.

Hardy described the retrograde list in Ether as a “striking example of narrative complexity,” concluding that it would have required “quite a feat of memory” to compose the record on the fly.8 If Joseph Smith were the author—rather than the text’s divinely-aided translator—he would have been faced with the task of producing each of the names on this list in reverse sequential order without reviewing the original list and without relying on any notes or outline to aid his memory.9

Further Reading
Appendix
Endnotes
Complexity
Intertextuality (Internal)
Ether's Genealogy
Book of Mormon

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