[Most Deeply Religious Book]
[Traveled East Over Asia Which Was Flooded]
[Jaradite Magur Boat Similar to Noah’s Ark]
[Compressed Air System According to Nibley]
[Shining Stones Also Lit Noah’s Ark]
[Sang Songs During the Voyage]
[Saw the Finger of the Lord]
[Never Accuse, Aspire, Contend, Coerce]
265 This morning my little grandson was watching cartoons, and naturally it was monsters and Superman— good guys against the bad guys. The good guys are 100 percent good, and the bad guys are 100 percent bad. The bad guys are bad because they’re fighting the good guys, and the good guys are good because they’re fighting the bad guys. That’s the only reason that’s ever given. Well, that’s the story of the Jaredites, isn’t it—the good guys and the bad guys fighting with no in-betweens. We’ll see more of that here.
265 We saw that they went from sea to sea. Bear in mind that these people aren’t of Israel. This is long before there was any Israel or anything else. This is blank humanity, races all mixed up. They came from the Tower where everything was mixed up. There’s no race or religion here, and yet this is the most deeply religious book of the Book of Mormon. You get somebody like the brother of Jared. What’s the difference between them here? There were two religions in antiquity; always wherever you go you’ll always find the two attitudes. The Orphic mysteries explain them. You have your two fountains, the two springs. On the left hand you have the spring of Lethe, the spring of forgetfulness. Things pass away, and that’s that. The other is Demosthenes’ or anamnesis, as Plato calls it. It’s the difference between remembering and forgetting. The one religion says the best thing you can have is forgetting—die and get it all over with; it [would be] best that we were not born, etc. This is typical of the Romans—where death is, we are not; where we are, death is not. “The sun goes down, the sun comes up again. But one time our sun has gone down, and there’s nothing but one black night of nothing.” So that’s what we have to look forward to. The conclusion is, therefore, let’s get as much sex as we can while we can. That’s about it, you see. Well, you find this everywhere, in Egypt and everywhere else.
265 On the other hand, there is the doctrine of Demosthenes, that memory is the greatest thing, and it’s always there. You’ll never be able to get rid of it. In the anthropic system, without me the universe is defective. I’m dependent on it, but it is also dependent on me—there’s something definitely missing. In our civilization we are taking the position that there’s too much life. Remember, the only solution to the Lamanite problem was to get rid of the Lamanites, you’ll remember. We’ll go up against them and cut them off from the face of the earth. That’s our solution. It’s the same way all through the Book of Mormon—like the citizens of Antioch [claiming] there were too many people in the world. If everybody in Antioch was killed in an earthquake, I’d be the richest man in the city. That’s what he wants to happen. We “kill a gook for God,” we say. We have to get rid of as many enemies as possible. That’s the god of wars, and that’s what we’re devoted to more or less today—keep the population down. The funny thing is, the population is not a problem at all from a certain point of view. But Christ came to say, “I came to bring them life, that they might have it more abundantly. I am the resurrection and the life,” not just the life, but the resurrection. Keep it going forever, and the idea that once it’s there, it’s there forever. This idea of Demosthenes is you’ll never be able to forget, and you’ll never be able to stop. The Book of Mormon teaches us this.
265,266 Here we’re dealing with these rough, tough people, the Jaredites. They crossed the great sea, which shows they were going east over the great central plains of Asia, which were flooded at the end of the last Ice Age. Everybody agrees on that. And they dwelt in tents. Then there’s the promised land. The promised land is not a doctrine peculiar to Israel at all. When the great Yadin was here, a little group of us met one night. We asked him, “What is your religion?” He said, “We don’t believe in miracles, but we count on them.” We said, “Well, what do you believe in?”
“I believe in the land,” he said. “The promised land—that’s my religion.” But all these people that were driven out talk about the promised land. That’s the theme of the Greek lyric poets. As they begin the period, the wandering poets are always looking for the promised land, whether it’s in Egypt or anywhere else. They’re always looking for—not Utopia—but the land that was lost, the lost Eden, the paradise, the Golden Age. Every one of them is obsessed with that idea—a golden land, and they’re going to look for it again.
266 Ether 2:8-10 The Lord gives to the brother of Jared what he calls his thoughts on this subject of the promised land, and of course the thoughts are the same as those that you find in the Book of Mormon with Israel and with the Nephites. We have it here in Ether, and it’s the usual thing. This is the land of promise, “and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fulness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity” (Ether 2:9). You’ll notice it’s when the cup is full. He uses both expressions here, fulness and ripeness. He says the same thing in verse 8, and then again in verse 10, it “shall be swept off; for it is the everlasting decree of God. And it is not until the fulness of iniquity among the children of the land, that they are swept off.”
266 Ether 2:8-11 See, in the preceding verse he called it ripeness. When the fruit is ripe there’s no point to letting it get riper—it will just rot. In verse 10 when the cup is full, you can’t dilute it anymore; you’ve just got to throw it out. “And it is not until the fulness of iniquity among the children”—so he’s going to hold out until the very end. Well, how far have we got to go? “And this cometh unto you, O ye Gentiles.” This is being addressed to the Gentiles. See, the story of Ether is the story of people who never heard of the gospel [apparently], but they did after all. They had it down from Noah. “O ye Gentiles ... that ye may repent, and not continue in your iniquities” as you have been doing in the past.
266 Ether 2:15 Then it talks about freedom. Then they crossed the great sea and they dwelt in their tents. And he said [verse 15]: “My Spirit will not always strive with man. . . . These are my thoughts upon the land which I shall give you for your inheritance.”
266 Ether 2:23-26; Ether 3:1-6 Then comes this thing about the boats and the lighting of the boats, etc. This has caused more merriment and mockery than any other aspect of the Book of Mormon, so we’ll refer to it quickly here. According to the famous Dr. J. C. Bennett, who was once mayor of Nauvoo, and Joseph chose him for a counselor, “The story of the Jaredites was the climax of all Joseph Smith’s indiscretions in which he used his utmost endeavors to see how far he could impose upon the gullibility of mankind. It would be useless to make any further comment to prove the absurdities of this extraordinary book.” That’s the story of the Jaredites.
267 Ether 6:7 Well, an important clue to the ships is that the Lord tells us in Ether 6:7 that they were built on the same pattern as Noah’s ark. To get Noah’s ark from the Bible—you never get a picture of what it was like. We have the Babylonian account in the first kingdom, and then you have the Sumerian account discovered by Hilprecht. It goes way back. We have two very old accounts of the flood story, and they describe the ark. It’s a very good description, and it matches the ships that Jared made very closely. We won’t spend much time on it, but it’s an interesting thing. They were built on the same pattern. Well, that’s the clue. See, they built them like Noah’s ark. What was Noah’s ark like? Why don’t the critics laugh their heads off at the ark? We now know what it looked like. Can these nonbiblical documents really tell us? Of course they can.
267 The thing they were going to spend a million bucks to find they’d had in the library all the time.. But there it was, and it goes back to 2100 B.C. It’s a nice story of the flood, and it gives a very good description of the ark. And again you can compare the primal version of the story with the Jaredite ships.
267 Ether 2:17,16 “The top thereof was tight like unto a dish [a tight deck, in other words]; and the length thereof was the length of a tree.” There wouldn’t be too many seams in it, and there were some pretty tall trees in those days. Verse 16: “And they were small, and they were light upon the water, even like unto the lightness of a fowl upon the water.” They bounced around. Boy, this was something to get seasick in. We’re told they did get terribly seasick.
267,268 Ether 2:17,24 The door thereof, when it was shut, was tight like unto a dish.” So, they had the hatches; when you cut them down, the water couldn’t get into the boat. But how could you breathe when you were inside? Well, this was the problem. And believe it or not, the editors—especially Brother Tarlmage—very officiously changed the reading of Joseph Smith’s first edition. It gives a different picture of how this thing worked. We’ll mention that a little later. Verse 24: “For behold, ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea; for the mountain waves shall dash upon you.”
268 Ether 6:4-11 Then their flocks and their herds. Oh boy, this would make it something, wouldn’t it? Ether 6:4: “. . . their flocks and herds, and whatsoever beast or animal or fowl that they should carry with them ... got aboard of their vessels or barges. . . . And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind, . . . and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind [the wind did never cease to blow for 344 days]. And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea.. . . When they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the ark of Noah. [Verse 10:] And thus they were driven forth: and no monster of the sea could break them, neither whale that could mar them.” And you can be sure that the north Pacific was quite full of whales in those days. That was quite a thing.
268 Now let’s match each of these twelve points with the magur boat that Ut-napishtim [according to the Babylonian account] built to survive the flood. Not trusting our own interpretation, we’ll quote Hilprecht throughout. “This class of boats, according to the Nippur version [the oldest version, were] in use before the Deluge.” So they were familiar. In historic times the archaic craft was preserved only in ritual, the gods “in their boats . . . visiting each other in their temples during certain festivals.”
268 Two: “In all three versions of the Deluge Story UT-NAPISHTIM receives special instructions concerning the construction of a roof or a deck on the boat.” That’s why it’s called an ark or TEBET. See, an ark is a closed box, and the Hebrew word TEBAH is the Egyptian word DB T, which means boat or deck, covered with a deck—it means a box or ark. See, the ark is described as a box. Why do they use the same word for the ark as for the ark of the covenant? Because they were both boxes. So that’s why they have such a hard time describing the ark, because it was a box. Can you imagine floating around in a box? That means it had a covered top; it was closed tight. In all three versions he received special instructions concerning the construction of the boat, and he received these instructions by speaking with the Lord through the veil. “By the wall a word will I speak to thee.. . . My pure one, my wise one, by our hand a deluge” shall be caused. The seed of mankind shall be destroyed. He [the Lord] gave him instructions through the KIKKISU, which was a woven screen in the temple.
268 Three: There was “of course a solid part, strong enough to carry heavy freight and to resist the force of the waves and the storm.”
268 Four: “Jensen explains the MA-TU as a ‘deluge boat,’ [it couldn’t capsize] . .. adding, that when seen from the side it probably resembled the crescent moon. . . . Moreover, the representations of sea-going vessels of the Tyrians and Sidonians . . . show that a certain class of boats really had such a shape.”
268 The next point [five] is “The principal distinguishing feature of a magur boat (was). .. the roof or deck of the boat. . . . We notice in the Biblical as in the Babylonian version great stress is laid on the preparation of a proper ‘roof or ‘cover.’ ... ‘Cover it with a strong deck,’ the Nippur version says. ‘With a deck as strong as the earth,’ or ‘let its deck be strong like the vault of heaven above,” the Second Nineveh Version says. This emphasis on the tightness and strength was very important.
268 Six: The lines containing “a brief statement concerning the measures of the ark” have been effaced in the Nippur version (we don’t know how big they were). The First Nineveh text says simply: “Its measures be in proportion, its width and length shall correspond.” But they only built one ark, you see.
269 Seven: “Furthermore in the First Nineveh Version the boat... has a door to be shut during the storm flood.” The various names for the boat “designate ‘a boat which can be closed by a door,’ i.e., practically a HOUSEBOAT, expressed in the Hebrew story by an Egyptian word TEVAH, ark originally meaning “box, chest, coffin,” [something that’s closed], an essential part of which is its cover or lid”
269 Eight: “The boat has ... a door to be shut during the storm flood and at least one air-hole or window.” NCFASHAH means air hole. *NPS is a verbal root meaning “to breathe.” NEFESH is spirit, breath, life, or soul. So it had an air-hole. The word NAPPASHU means “a breather or ventilator.” It doesn’t apply to window at all. That’s the word we use in the book of Ether, too.
269 Nine: “The vessel built by UT-NAPISHTIM being such a ‘house boat’ or MAGUR, this word could subsequently be rendered ideographically by MA-TU, a ‘deluge boat.’ ... A MAGUR BOAT, then is a ‘house boat,’ in which gods, men, and beasts live comfortably, fully protected against the waves washing overboard, the driving rain from above and against the inclemencies of wind and weather.”
269 The fact that the MAGUR boat was built to be completely submerged gives strong support for this. [Number ten was left out.]
269 Eleven: In a MAGUR boat “men and beasts live comfortably.” Nineveh 2: UT-NAPISHTIM is to take “domestic animals of the field, with wild beasts of the field, as many as eat grass.” Of course, that’s the whole story of Noah and the ark. He got all the animals in. He got a lot more animals than the Jaredites got. The Nippur version mentions “the beasts of the field, the birds of heaven.”
269 Twelve: “The storm-winds with exceeding terror, all of them together raced along with the deluge. The mighty tempest raged with them, . . . and the mighty ship over the great waters the storm-wind had tossed [thus the Sumerian version]. Jensen explains MA-TU as a ‘deluge boat.’ “ It’s driven by the wind; it’s not a sailing vessel. There are no sails ever mentioned. There don’t need to be. Though driven by the storm, it had “nothing in common with a boat in full sail (and) nowhere ... is a sail mentioned, nor would it have been of much use in such a hurricane as described.”
269 Thirteen: “It shall be a house-boat carrying what is saved of life,” says the Nippur version, its purpose being to preserve life and offer full protection “against the waves washing overboard.”
270 Ether 2:20: “And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: Behold, thou shalt make a hole in the top [thereof], and also in the bottom [thereof]; and when thou shalt suffer for air thou shalt unstop the hole [it doesn’t say open the window] and receive air.” That’s a very different thing from opening windows. It talks about opening windows, and this is something else. There’s a hole in the top. What is this, an air compressor? “Thou shalt unstop the hole and receive air. And if it be so that the water come in upon thee, behold, ye shall stop the hole, that ye may not perish in the flood.”
270 Ether 2:20,19 Notice “the hole thereof; there’s the hole of the air and the hole of the water, “that ye may not perish in the flood.” An exacting editor, by removing the very significant thereofs [has changed the meaning]. When you suffer for air, you unstop the hole thereof and receive air. That means air hole, you see. but he removed the [word] thereof, and he said, “When thou shalt suffer for air thou shalt unstop the hole” and receive air.” He doesn’t mention THEREOF meaning air hole. He made it to appear that when Jared wanted air, he had to open the top window of the boat to admit fresh air. That’s the very time he had to keep it closed. When they didn’t have air inside, they had to keep it closed because the waves are dashing outside. That was not what the original of the Book of Mormon said. For one thing, the ships had no windows communicating with the outside. “Ye cannot have windows,” it said. Each ship had an air-tight door, we’re told, and that was all. Air was received not by opening and closing doors and windows. Only when they were quiet and riding on the surface could they open the window and replenish the air. But he says by unplugging air holes “thou shalt unstop the hole [thereof] and receive air,” this being done only when the ship was not on the surface. “When thou shalt suffer for air”—that is, when the ships were not able to open the hatches and replenish their air. Well, this can only refer to a reserve supply of air, and indeed the brother of Jared recognizes that the people cannot possibly survive on the air contained within the ship at normal pressure. Ether 2:19: “We shall perish, for in them we cannot breathe, save it is the air which is in them; therefore we shall perish.”
270 So the-Lord recommended a device for compressing air with a hole in the top thereof and also in the bottom thereof--not referring to the ship but to the air chamber with the peculiar language “unstop an air hole.” When the crew found it impossible to remain on the surface, [verse 20], “And if it be so that the water come in upon thee,” they were to plug up the air chamber. “Ye shall stop the hole [thereof], that ye may not perish in the flood”—to keep the air after you’ve replenished it.
270 Ether 2:18 Anyway, much more important than that is the conversation the Lord has with the brother of Jared on the subject of light when he’s told how to build [the ships]. He says in Ether 2:18: “O Lord, I have performed the work which thou hast commanded me, and I have made the barges according as thou hast directed me [but there’s something wrong]. And behold, O Lord, in them there is no light; whither shall we steer? And also we shall perish, for in them we cannot breathe, save it is the air which is in them [they know that, you see]; therefore we shall perish.” Then the Lord gives the instructions here, which have been changed in our book, to unstop the hole, etc. They have a compressor.
270 Ether 2:23-25 “Ye cannot have windows, for they will be dashed in pieces; neither shall ye take fire with you.” The Lord tells them they can’t have windows for light, and they can’t take fire. That’s interesting. It would use up all the oxygen. That’s out of the question, you see, “for ye shall not go by the light of fire. For behold, ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea.” So what will you do? Verse 25: “For ye cannot cross this great deep save I prepare you against the waves of the sea, the winds which have gone forth, and the floods which shall come. Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you ?”
270,271 Ether 2:23 The brother of Jared says what will we do for [light], and the Lord always answers him this way, “What ideas do you have on the subject?” He must contribute—that’s the whole idea. After all, the whole company could have been taken through the air across the Pacific just like that. That wasn’t the idea. We all have to go through this, so he asks the brother of Jared, well, what ideas have you got on the subject? Verse 23: “What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels,” when you’re swallowed up in the depths of the sea? Well, he had an idea.
271 Ether 3:1 “The brother of Jared (now the number of the vessels which had been prepared was eight) went forth unto the mount which they called the mount Shelem.” Shelem means high, safe, secure. The word shalom is derived from that. Remember, shalom means you’re safe. Shalom is a “ladder, a high place.” If you’re going to a high place, it is a safe place, a secure place, a shelem. He went to the highest mountain around. Moses did the same thing. Lehi and Nephi did the same thing. So again this is a pattern. And he melted out sixteen stones. Well, how did he know that he’d have to do that? Because the ark of Noah was lit by shining stones that the Lord had blessed. That’s how he knew about it. It says it was constructed after the manner of Noah’s ark, so when the Lord asked what do you want me to do—he thought, Ah, I’ll get some shining stones. “And they were white and clear, even as transparent glass,* but alas, they wouldn’t shine. That was the trouble—they didn’t shine in the dark. There was another problem, so what did he do?
271 Ether 3:1 This is very symbolic, too. He climbed the highest mountain around, “and he did carry them in his hands upon the top of the mount.” He stood on the top of the mountain and said, Lord, this is where I get off. This is as far as I go. He held them up and said, you’ve got to do something now. I’ve done everything in my power. Then he suggested what the Lord could do—touch these and make them shine, and then everything will be all right. But the way he puts it, he’s not laying commands to the Lord or anything. He is reduced to the depths of humility now. Of all the humble requests we have in all of scripture, this is the most profound. Talk about a man in humility. The need is urgent now.
271 Ether 3:2,3 So the Jaredites discover their limitations. He says [verse 2] “Now behold, O Lord, and do not be angry with thy servant because of his weakness before thee; for we know that thou art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that we are unworthy before thee; because of the fall our natures have become evil continually; nevertheless, O Lord, thou hast given us a commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee we may receive according to our desires. [Anything you want you ask the Lord for, and you have a right to do that. You’ve been commanded to do it.] Behold, O Lord, thou has smitten us because of our iniquity, and hast driven us forth, and for these many years we have been in the wilderness [how eloquent the man is]; nevertheless, thou hast been merciful unto us. O Lord, look upon me in pity and turn away thine anger from this thy people, and suffer not that they shall go forth across this raging deep in darkness; but behold these things which I have molten out of the rock.” These little pretty things. They don’t mean a thing. He calls them “these things” rather contemptuously.
271 Ether 3:4-6 “And I know, O Lord, that thou hast all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man; therefore touch these stones . . . that they may shine forth in darkness; and they shall shine forth unto us in the vessels which we have prepared.” So the Lord stretches forth his hand and touches the stones with his finger. Verse 6: “And the veil was taken from off the eyes of the brother of Jared, and he saw the finger of the Lord,” and was knocked flat, “and it was as the finger of a man, like unto flesh and blood [the Lord does not have flesh and blood, you know; flesh is of this earth, and blood is the corruptible part of our nature]; and the brother of Jared fell down before the Lord, for he was struck with fear.”
271,272 Ether 3:8 The Lord said why have you fallen? Verse 8: “I knew not that the Lord had flesh and blood.”. He hadn’t showed himself to Adam in the flesh. He showed himself to Adam before the Fall. After that he didn’t show himself to Adam. Adam before the Fall was not a body of flesh and blood. He was not perishable; he was immortal.
272 Ether 3:9 “I shall take upon me flesh and blood.” Well, the Lord did, so he could suffer, be crucified, and die. As we know, the blood is the life, the earthly life, the corruptible element, and flesh is itself of the substance of the earth. Flesh is BASAR, the perishable and corruptible. So he said “I shall take upon me flesh and blood,” which he was to do. And he said “Sawest thou more than this? And he answered: Nay; Lord, show thyself unto me. . . . And he answered: Yea, Lord, I know that thou speakest the truth.” And then the Lord showed himself unto him as he was and said, “Ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore ye are brought back into my presence.” There’s the preexistence again, you see.
272 Ether 3:14,15 “Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son.” Notice in the same verse he says, “They who shall believe on my name . . . shall become my sons and my daughters.” Well, if he has sons and daughters, of course he’s the Father. And he is the Son also. Verse 15: “And never have I showed myself unto man whom I have created.” See, Adam in the Garden was eternal; he was not a mortal. The first time he showed his immortal body to a mortal man—that’s what this was.
272 Ether 9:19 I want to talk about this polarization. We’ve been talking about that all along, but nevertheless there are some things here. Well, it mentions elephants. You notice elephants are never mentioned in connection with the Nephites, just with the Jaredites. Just in the very early days you find them on the continent, and they were used. They’re easily tamed, as you know, in India.
272 Ether 6:8,9 How did they cross the waters in the sixth chapter? How would they endure those terrible situations? Well, it says they had sing-ins. We just sang all day long and enjoyed it. Notice, “And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters; and thus they were driven forth before the wind. And they did sing praises unto the Lord; yea, the brother of Jared did sing praises unto the Lord, and he did thank and praise the Lord all the day long; and when the night came, they did not cease to praise the Lord” (Ether 6:8-9). That’s how they lived through it; they had these super sing-ins. It can be quite invigorating, you know, to keep on [singing].
274 So there you have it.[Previous discussion omitted by the Editor.] There are just two poles. And strange thing—we have to do exactly what they do. We have to react every time. We don’t act—we react. That’s what Satan does. He has to react. All his power is to destroy. He can lie, but after a statement has been made. He does the four things that Joseph Smith said we must never do under any circumstances. We accuse. See, Satan is Diabolus; devil means accuser. He’s the accuser of his brethren. Never accuse. You must never aspire. Joseph said Satan aspired, and that was his undoing. He aspired to greatness. You must never contend. The first rule to the Nephites was there shall be no more contentions among you as there have been in the past, for all contention is of the devil. And you must never coerce. You must never force. That’s the way the devil works. That’s always reacting to something someone else has done; you never initiate your own doing, you see.
275 Moses 6:15 At this point we recall what Moses 6:15 says, “And in those days Satan had great dominion among men, and raged in their hearts; and from thenceforth came wars and bloodshed . . . because of secret works seeking for power. He says here, “The sine qua non of the conduct and exercise of power is secrecy.”
275 Ether 8:15,16 Then Moroni’s statement in Ether 8:15-16: “. . . oaths which were given by them of old who also sought power. . . . And they were kept up by the power of the devil to administer these oaths unto the people, to keep them in darkness [there’s the secrecy, you see], to help such as sought power to gain power.” There’s the same formula, the secrecy and the power. Granted that such power-seeking is bad on their side, what else can it be for those who imitate them? Well, and so it goes on.