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A Third Jaredite Record: the Sealed Portion of the Gold Plates

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Journal of Book of Mormon Studies Volume 11 Number 1 Article 10 7-31-2002 A Third Jaredite Record: The Sealed Portion of the Gold Plates Valentin Arts Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Arts, Valentin (2002) "A Third Jaredite Record: The Sealed Portion of the Gold Plates," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies: Vol. 11 : No. 1 , Article 10. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol11/iss1/10 This Feature Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Title A Third Jaredite Record: The Sealed Portion of the Gold Plates Author(s) Valentin Arts Reference Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 11/1 (2002): 50–59, 110–11. ISSN 1065-9366 (print), 2168-3158 (online) Abstract In the Book of Mormon, two records (a large engraved stone and twenty-four gold plates) contain the story of an ancient civilization known as the Jaredites. There appears to be evidence of an unpublished third record that provides more information on this people and on the history of the world. When the brother of Jared received a vision of Jesus Christ, he was taught many things but was instructed not to share them with the world until the time of his death. The author proposes that the brother of Jared did, in fact, write those things down shortly before his death and then buried them, along with the interpreting stones, to be revealed to the world according to the timing of the Lord. A Third Jaredite Record The Sealed Portion of the Gold Plates Valentin Arts Record of the Jaredites, by Minerva Kohlhepp Teichert he Book of Mormon informs us about two While commenting on the most important per- Jaredite records possessed by the Nephites. The sons and events of Jaredite history, Moroni digresses Tfirst was a large stone with engravings that several times to draw attention to important lessons, recounted the history of Coriantumr and his slain usually starting with the words “And now I, Moroni people, as well as a few words concerning his fathers. .” (Ether 3:17; 5:1; 8:20; 12:6). In the first digres- The people of Zarahemla brought this stone to sion, which is also the longest, Moroni informs us Mosiah the elder, who translated the engravings by the about the vision of the brother of Jared, the record gift and power of God (see Omni 1:20–22). Several that was made of that vision, and its destiny to come decades later, King Limhi sent a small number of men forth in the last days (see Ether 3:17–5:6). to search for the land of Zarahemla. On this expedi- Moroni describes in Ether 3:1–16 how the brother tion they found 24 gold plates among the bones of a of Jared, as a consequence of his efforts to provide destroyed people (see Mosiah 21:25–27). Mosiah the light for the barges in order to cross the oceans, first younger translated this second Jaredite record by the saw the finger of the Lord and afterward the Lord gift and power of God (see Mosiah 28:11–13). Moroni himself in a vision. It is that very important vision abridged these 24 plates and called the record the upon which Moroni wishes to elaborate. book of Ether (see Ether 1:2). This abridgment, which Moroni informs us that the Lord ministered to does not contain the “hundredth part” of the original the brother of Jared as he ministered to the Nephites (Ether 15:33), is included in the Book of Mormon. (see Ether 3:18). The verb to minister means “to serve Evidence demonstrates that the Nephites also or to supply with” and seems to connote more than possessed a third Jaredite record, one that was trans- just conversing or preaching. Moroni does not spell lated only after Jesus Christ’s appearance to the out the exact manner in which the Lord ministered to Nephites. This study will focus on who wrote this the brother of Jared, but he does provide us with some record, what it contained, how the Nephites ob- clues. Moroni draws a parallel with the ministering of tained it, and what became of it. Most of the evi- the Lord among the Nephites. We know from the dence for my conclusions is found in Ether 3–5. book of 3 Nephi that Jesus taught the people, healed Within these chapters, Moroni provides us with a them, and administered ordinances to them such as wealth of information on this third Jaredite record the sacrament and ordination. Thus we may infer that that has often been neglected or overlooked. the Lord also administered ordinances to the brother of Jared, some of which were sacred and not to be The Vision of the Brother of Jared revealed. This suggestion can be supported by another The unabridged book of Ether contained a his- clue from Moroni. After the ministering session, the tory of the Jaredites, whose civilization lasted many Lord commanded the brother of Jared, centuries longer than that of the Nephites, as well as an account of “the creation of the world, and also of Behold, thou shalt not suffer these things which Adam, and an account from that time even to the ye have seen and heard to go forth unto the great tower” (Ether 1:3). Ether is the author of the world, until the time cometh that I shall glorify book and probably consulted many records to write my name in the flesh; wherefore, ye shall trea- his inspired history, much as Mormon appealed to sure up the things which ye have seen and heard, the Nephite records to write his own account. In his and show it to no man. And behold, when ye abridgment of Ether’s book, Moroni omits the first shall come unto me, ye shall write them and part of Ether’s account, the early Genesis story, shall seal them up, that no one can interpret because he knows that it will come to our knowledge them; for ye shall write them in a language that through the record of the Jews (see Ether 1:3–4). He they cannot be read. (Ether 3:21–22) then begins the abridged history, or rather prosopog- raphy (which is more like an annotated genealogy), The brother of Jared was not to divulge the things he by giving the genealogy from Ether back to Jared. had “seen and heard.” He was further commanded to From there Moroni starts the story line with the treasure up the things that he had learned. Then he account of Jared and the Tower of Babel and ends was once more commanded to “show” his knowledge with the life of the prophet Ether and the destruc- to no one. The word show in this verse deserves our tion of the Jaredites. attention because it must refer to a particular kind of JOURNAL OF BOOK OF MORMON STUDIES 51 knowledge, namely the kind that can be shown or was translated. This understanding is very impor- demonstrated visually. This commandment might tant for the thesis that a third Jaredite record con- refer to the record of the Lord’s ministering to the tained the full account of the brother of Jared’s brother of Jared, which was to remain hidden or vision. It implies that any reference to either the sealed; but we are also informed in the next verse sealed record or the interpreters would mean that that he was not allowed to write “these things” until both were held in possession at the same time. (The he would come unto the Lord, or, in other words, at information that the Book of Mormon provides on the end of his life.1 During his lifetime, the brother of this matter will be considered later in this study.) Jared was therefore not able to show in written form After the Lord ministered unto him and gave him the things he had seen and heard. He had to remem- the commandments concerning this record, the ber it all. Hence, the Lord stresses that he treasure up brother of Jared was shown another vision, or the rest the things that he had heard and seen. If the knowl- of the same vision. He saw all the inhabitants of the edge that the Savior was referring to consisted of earth, “even unto the ends of the earth,” for “the Lord sacred ordinances, it was indeed important for him could not withhold anything from him” (Ether to remember it, since he could not be reminded of 3:25–26). It appears that Moroni is not our only any sacred words or signs by anyone else. Such ordi- source for the contents of that vision. Nephi, com- nances were to be performed only after the resurrec- menting on the prophecy of Isaiah about a sealed tion of Christ, including those for departed spirits. book (which refers to the sealed part of the gold This view makes sense of the Lord’s commandment plates), said: “They reveal all things from the founda- to the brother of Jared not to show the things he had tion of the world unto the end thereof ...;and all both heard and seen and to delay making a record of things shall be revealed unto the children of men them.
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