The book of Ether goes over like a lead balloon. It’s freighted with the history of two millennia, mired with lurid violence. The story is heavy—ill-suited, perhaps, to show the “great things” of God’s deliverance, as the title page of the Book of Mormon promises. Surely, it is too earthbound for greatness. The book lifts off, nonetheless.
Learn more about how the Book of Ether contributes to the theology of the Book of Mormon.
Editorial Note: To indicate the ancient record written by Ether, I’ll refer to the “Book of Ether” (with the capitalized “Book”, in accordance with its capitalization in the text of the title page of the Book of Mormon. To indicate Moroni’s redaction of that underlying record, I’ll refer to the “book of Ether.”
Passages of spiritual reflection concentrated near its beginning and end open fresh views on Christ and the salvation he offers. In the opening story of the brother of Jared, sixteen stones are miraculously illuminated to reveal a vision of Jesus Christ himself.
In the book’s twelfth chapter, examples of mighty faith prompt us to reconsider strength and weakness in light of Christ’s grace. In the thirteenth chapter, prophetic vision promises the ultimate reconciliation of old and new in holy cities chartered by God’s covenant.
Throughout, the book’s self-aware narrator explores the workings of scripture itself.
The Book of Ether: First Considerations
The book of Ether is the Book of Mormon’s miniature, a book-within-a-book recorded on plates-within-the-plates. It recounts the history of an ancient people that both echoes and prefigures the broad contours of Nephite migration, society, and demise. It holds a mirror to the Book of Mormon’s own origin and reception. And it has fascinated readers from the moment of its discovery.
The Nephites initially become aware of an extinct indigenous society when an engraved stone is discovered in Zarahemla and presented to Mosiah1. He interprets the engravings, which recount the lineage of one Coriantumr, the last king and sole survivor of an ancient people (see Omni 1:21–22). The Mulekite people, we are told, encounter Coriantumr himself and harbor the wandering king for a time.
Later, additional artifacts are discovered by separatist Nephites in a ruined city littered with bones. Among the artifacts are twenty-four gold plates engraved with indecipherable characters. They are delivered to King Mosiah2, who translates the plates with the aid of divine instruments called “interpreters” (Mosiah 8:7–18). The plates container a fuller history of the ancient people.
Mosiah2‘s translation does not circulate widely, despite the evident mystique the lost inhabitants hold for the Nephites. Much later, Moroni will learn in the course of his editorial work that the brother of Jared’s mighty vision, recorded in the Jaredite record, was forbidden from public knowledge until Christ should make it manifest at his ministry to the Nephites (Ether 4:1).1
For this reason, perhaps, the content of the record remains mostly unfamiliar to Nephites. Notably, the brother of Jared’s encounter with Jesus Christ, the spiritual apex of the book of Ether, seems to have remained entirely unknown to—or at least unremarked upon by—earlier Nephite prophets, who focus instead on the destructive secret combinations contained in the Jaredite plates (see Alma 37:21).
As the Jaredite plates are transmitted with the larger trove of records through the centuries, the story of the lost people lingers in the Nephite scribal culture with an air of archaic mystery.
Moroni writes with a singular focus.
It falls to Moroni, son of Mormon and last of the Nephite prophet-scribes, to bring the ancient record to light. He writes to fulfill his father’s promise earlier in the Book of Mormon that the Jaredite account “shall be written hereafter; for behold, it is expedient that all people should know the things which are written in this account” (Mosiah 28:19).
Moroni writes with a singular focus. After inheriting responsibility for the plates and the editorial production of the Book of Mormon, he wraps up the book named for his father with a decisive shift. While Mormon grieves the past destruction of the Nephite people and looks ahead to the recovery of the remnant of Lehi1, Moroni states brusquely, “Behold, I make an end of speaking concerning this people” (Mormon 8:13). Instead, he directs his prophetic attention to modern readers and the cultural circumstances of the future coming forth of the Book of Mormon (see Mormon 8–9).
When Moroni turns to the ancient book of Ether, this latter-day context is still foremost in his mind. Functioning as both a highlight reel and an historical preview tucked just before the larger volume’s end, the book of Ether takes the reader “back to the future” on a final wild ride recapping the lessons of Jaredite (and Nephite) history.
Moroni says little about the methods and circumstances of his editorial work on the book of Ether. He does not clarify whether he consults the prior translation of Mosiah2, whether he makes use of Mosiah’s interpreter instruments, or whether the twenty-four plates contain a single record or several distinct writings. He reports that his account is constrained by the dwindling space for inscription on the plates and the scarcity of ore to produce more (Mormon 8:5); moreover, he seems to suggest that he relies on his memory for some part of his work (Ether 5:1).
Ether’s voice is largely absent.
His primary source is a record called the Book of Ether, compiled by the Jaredite prophet of that name who witnessed the violent end of his civilization and survived to record its destruction. Ether’s voice is largely absent from Moroni’s rendition, however, which preserves only a single verse of first-person language from Ether and very little of his prophet teaching (Ether 15:34; see Ether 12–13). Moroni concedes that “the hundredth part [of Ether’s record] I have not written” (Ether 15:33).
It is Moroni’s prophetic mind, then, that prevails in the book of Ether. As Mormon does with the large plates of Nephi, Moroni introduces interpretive comments to highlight lessons of Jaredite history. Unlike Mormon, however, Moroni directly addresses these comments to a particular readership and expands them at length in his own voice. Jaredite history is a grim march of intrigue and depravity, and Moroni’s six inserted comments lend rhythm to the chronicle.
Book of Ether Structure
The structure of the book of Ether may be summarized in the following way, with Moroni’s comments in red:2
1:1–6. Moroni introduces the record of Ether; he omits material from creation to the great tower.
1:6–33. Genealogy of Ether’s descent from Jared.
1:34–2:8. Jaredite departure from the great tower.
2:9–12. Moroni addresses the Gentiles; Jesus Christ is the God of the land.
2:13–3:16. Jared’s brother prepares the barges and is visited by the premortal Jesus Christ.
3:17–20. Moroni compares the brother of Jared’s vision to Christ’s Nephite ministry.
3:21–28. Jared’s brother receives an apocalyptic vision, sealed until the Lord’s due time.
4:1–5:6. Moroni discusses the sealed vision, promises modern Gentiles and the remnant of Israel that the vision may be opened through faith, instructs a future translator on witnesses of the plates.
6:1–27. The transoceanic Jaredite migration and settlement in the promised land.
6:28–8:6. The chronicle of Jaredite kings, marked by rebellion, intrigue, and overthrow.
8:7–19. Jared2, his daughter, and Akish consult ancient texts to form a secret combination.
8:20–26. Moroni warns Gentiles against secret combinations.
9:1–11:23. The people suffer affliction under wicked rulers and blessings under righteous rulers. King Emer sees the Son of Righteousness. Prophets periodically exhort the people.
12:1–5. Ether teaches of faith, hope, and repentance.
12:6–41. Moroni discusses the faith of Nephite heroes; the Lord promises grace, that Gentiles may receive weak things with charity; Moroni bids farewell to readers until judgment day.
13:1–12. Ether prophecies of an apocalyptic New Jerusalem raised by the seed of Joseph.
13:13–34. Ether witnesses the destruction of the Jaredites. He trusts in God’s salvation.
Moroni and the Gentiles
Moroni’s comments overwhelmingly address a specific readership, the modern readers of the Book of Mormon whom he calls “Gentiles”: “And this cometh unto you, O ye Gentiles, that ye may know the decrees of God” (Ether 2:11). Moroni draws here on the Nephite prophecies of God’s deliverance of Israel in the last days.
As recorded in the prophecies of Lehi1, Nephi1, and Jacob, and later reiterated by Jesus Christ himself, the Abrahamic covenant will be honored and extended to the entire human family through the collaboration of peoples outside the covenant known as the Gentiles (see 2 Nephi 30:2). Moroni, more than any other Book of Mormon author, turns his attention to the promises and warnings issued to this group.
Ether 13 contains an extraordinary prophecy.
Moroni’s worldview foregrounds a set of ethnic categories in the land of promise, which he understands as a particular geographical place set apart by God. His ethical teachings and his prophecies of events in the modern world are rooted in the relationship between the Gentiles, who are relative newcomers to the land of promise, and the remnant of Lehi1, who are the indigenous people of that land.
The intertwined responsibilities, gifts, and spiritual destinies of the two groups are at the heart of his vision of salvation in Christ. To grasp the meaning of the book of Ether, then, readers must attend to its treatment of indigenous power and promise in two different historical contexts.
First, the ancient Book of Ether represents for Moroni the sacred history of an aboriginal society, the Jaredites, native to his people’s homeland.
Second, Moroni’s comments to modern Gentiles portray the remnant of Lehi1 as the “new” indigenous peoples who will lead the promised land to its sacred destiny. Ether 13 contains an extraordinary prophecy of the remnant of Joseph—now the indigenous inhabits of the land that the Gentiles occupy—in which the despised and scattered seed of Lehi1, will become the favored ushers of the second coming of Christ and the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant.
A caveat is in order, however.
A theological interpreter must be thoughtful in her “likening” of the book of Ether to present-day society. Moroni’s worldview does not map transparently onto modern understandings of ethnic identity and geography. The category of indigeneity is historically contingent: the Jaredites are indigenous relative to the Lehites, while centuries later the Lehites are indigenous relative to the Gentiles. Furthermore, Moroni’s vision of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon is focused on the time and place of the early restoration.
Today, however, the Book of Mormon is read around the world, in places and cultures far removed from the particular ethnic dynamics Moroni foresees.
The text speaks with great moral vigor.
For the purposes of this theological study, then, I set aside specific matters of geography or population genetics in my use of the terms Israel, seed of Lehi, Gentile, and other ethnic categories. These terms appear frequently in the chapters that follow because they are central to the concerns of the book of Ether.
In each context, I try to discern Moroni’s understanding of the terms, without implying endorsement for any modern determination of their meaning. The text speaks with great moral vigor even when these interpretive categories remain open. Building on the Nephite tradition, Moroni considers Israelites to be “insiders,” those originally included in God’s covenants with Abraham and Moses, while Gentiles are “outsiders,” those who are drawn into God’s saving plan through other means and missions.
Moroni comes to understand that these boundaries are porous and that insiders of any group may, in another time and place, find themselves on the outside. His message for both groups is clear and insistent: God will never cease working to bring outsiders into his blessed presence. God instructs his insiders to act on his behalf to accomplish the end. All readers, in any context, may carry this message into the particular systems of power and exclusion that they inhabit.
Moroni the Man
The book of Ether reflects the character and experience of its editor and narrator, Moroni. Despite the voluble self-expression of his inserted comments, Moroni writes little about the events of his life. Mormon reports that Moroni leads a legion of Nephites in the final battles with the Lamanites, and together they witness the destruction of their community (Mormon 6:11–12).
Following the death of his father, Moroni wanders alone for decades through lands wrecked by violence and bloodshed (Mormon 8:5–8). He understands that his life has been spared so that he may “write the sad tale of the destruction of my people,” and the preservation and completion of the Book of Mormon fills the remainder of his life (Mormon 8:3).
He sees the spiritual decline of his people and the narrowing of his historical horizon in the literal depletion of the remaining plates that he fills one by one. The tragic saga of the once-blessed Nephites fades to black with the exhaustion of metallic ore.
His tone is urgent, excitable, anxious.
Though his experiences closely parallel those of the prophet Ether, Moroni shows little interest in biography and remains silent on his authorial resemblance to the last Jaredite prophet-scribe. Instead, Moroni identifies with the latter-day translator and custodian of the plates, Joseph Smith, whose experience he first considers in Mormon 8:16–26, and whom he admonishes directly in Ether 5.
In Moroni’s remarks to readers, his character readily shows itself. Moroni is a time traveler, a ghost walking the border between two worlds: “I speak unto you as though I spake from the dead,” he writes to his modern readers (Mormon 9:30). Having witnessed the apocalyptic destruction of his world, he is preoccupied with the apocalyptic future into which the Book of Mormon will emerge.
His split-screen perspective straddles the distant past of the Jaredites and the distant future of the Gentiles. At times, his immersion in the nineteenth-century context of the early restoration is so complete that we might plausibly consider Moroni the first latter-day prophet: “Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present,” he writes to his latter-day readers, “and yet ye are not” (Mormon 8:35). He is prone to both fiery diatribes against the unbelieving and the avaricious (Mormon 8–9) and bouts of crippling self-doubt (Ether 12).
His tone in the book of Ether is urgent, excitable, anxious. Yet he finds comfort in communion with his Lord. Bereft of companions, Moroni seeks intimate fellowship with Jesus, who, he reveals, “hath talked with me face to face . . . in plain humility” (Ether 12:39).
Though the bleak wanderings of his life would seem to show little sign of divine providence, Moroni insists that God’s miraculous love reverberates unabated through time and place. Every sentence he writes brims with his faith in the constancy of Jesus Christ’s universal power to save.
A Theological Introduction
Like the book of Ether itself, the word theology may land like a lead balloon. It is somehow both too heavy and too light—heavy with doctrinaire jargon but all too light on the pressing issues of our lives.
In a satirical scene near the end of the novel Madame Bovary, a priest and a pharmacist hold a vigil at the deathbed of the tragic Emma. All night the two men wrangle over arcane matters of theology, ignoring the bereaved household who shuffle by in search of human comfort and understanding. As they leave for breakfast, the priest sprinkles the room with holy water and the pharmacist pours a little chlorine water on top for good measure.
So much for the spiritual edification of theology. One imagines Christ’s rebuke: “Ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith” (Matthew 23:23).
The theological introduction to the book of Ether, together with the other volumes in the series, works to shed the baggage that clings to this idea of theology. I leave to the pharmacist and priest all combat over cumin, any wrangle for the right answer. I look instead to Latter-day Saint scholar Francine Bennion’s vision of theological investigation:
It is not enough that theology be either rational or faith promoting. It must be both. It is not enough that satisfying theology be mastered by a few expert scholars, teachers, and leaders. It must be comfortably carried by ordinary people. It is not enough that theology helps me to understand God. It must also help me to understand myself and my world.
Francine R. Bennion, “A Latter-day Saint Theology of Suffering,” in At the Pulpit: 185 Years of Discourses by Latter-day Saint Women, ed. Jennifer Reeder and Kate Holbrook (Salt Lake City, UT: The Church Historian’s Press, 2017), 217.
Excerpt from Ether: A Brief Theological Introduction by Rosalynde Frandsen Welch. Copyright © 2020 by Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University. All rights reserved. Minor style changes have been made for online reading.
About the Author
Rosalynde Welch is Associate Director of the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at BYU. Her brief theological introduction to the book of Ether includes insights about Moroni, the Jaredites, Book of Mormon theology, and more. Welch holds a PhD in Literature from the University of California, San Diego, and is editing an ambitious series of seven volumes on the Doctrine and Covenants, titled “Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants,” which will be available from the Maxwell Institute.
Further Reading
- Angel Moroni: The Ultimate Q&A
- How Did We Get the New Testament Canon?
- Latter-day Saints and the American Apocalypse
- Do Book of Mormon Names Have Ancient Origins?
- How Do Latter-day Saints Approach Biblical Theology?
Brief Theological Introductions: Interviews and Excerpts
- Series Introduction
- 2 Nephi
- Enos, Jarom, and Omni
- Book of Mosiah
- Alma 1–29
- 3rd Nephi and 4th Nephi
- Book of Moroni
Book of Ether Resources
- Ether: A Brief Theological Introduction (Maxwell Institute)
- Book of Ether Text (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
- The Plates of Ether and the Covenant of the Book of Mormon (Religious Studies Center)
- Why Is The Book of Ether an Epic? (Scripture Central)
- Who Is Mahonri Moriancumer? (Religious Studies Center)
Sources
- It is unclear why Mormon includes nothing about the matter in his account of Christ’s ministry.
- My summary is indebted to the structural analysis of Grant Hardy in Understanding the Book of Mormon (see p. 236), and to his editorial subheadings in the Maxwell Institute Study Edition of the Book of Mormon. Grant Hardy, The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, Maxwell Institute Study Edition, ed. Grant Hardy (Provo, UT: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2018).
One reply on “How Does the Book of Ether Contribute to Book of Mormon Theology?”
Very helpful analysis and commentary, Rosalynde. Thanks much.