Review:
As we know, Jared, His Brother, and their families and friends — all who were spared from having their language confounded at the tower of Babel — were directed by the Lord in the previous chapter to gather at the valley called Nimrod. Once this party had gathered and made extensive preparations, which included:
1 …flocks of every kind [both male and female]…
aviaries of fouls that were caught with snares; aquariums
2 …in which they did carry with them the fish of the waters [,]
3 …swarms of [honey] bees… and seeds of every kind [of that which was upon the face of the land]
they embarked upon a voyage to a place
5 …into the wilderness, yea, into that quarter where there never had man been. And it came to pass that the Lord did go before them, and [in fact, as this verse goes on] did talk with them as he stood in a cloud, and gave directions whither they should travel.
This voyage involved barges, as the next verse told us:
6 And it came to pass that they did travel in the wilderness, and did build barges, in which they did cross many waters, being directed continually by the hand of the Lord.
This brought the Jaredites to a new place, named Moriancumer, most likely named after the Brother of Jared — but this was not the end of their journey. They had not yet arrived at the land of promise envisioned by Jared in Ether 1:38:
38 …And who knoweth but the Lord will carry us forth into a land which is choice above all the earth? And if it so be, let us be faithful unto the Lord, that we may receive it for our inheritance.
Instead, as the Lord told them in Ether 2:7, their task was to press on;
7 And the Lord would not suffer that they should stop beyond the sea in the wilderness, but he would that they should come forth even unto the land of promise, which was choice above all other lands, which the Lord God had preserved for a righteous people. This is why we read that Moriancumer, this place by the sea, was only to be a staging area for the next leg of their journey. Something greater was in store for the Jaredites, but it required a willingness for them to embark upon yet another sea voyage — one that would last for the better part of a year (at its end, Ether 6:11 will tell us that they were on the water for 344 days!). So Moriancumer is the place-setting for all that unfolds between the Brother of Jared and the Lord in Ether 2, and in this chapter, Ether 3. Ether 4 and 5 depart from the storytelling narrative and contain teachings from Moroni. Then when the Jaredite exile resumes in Ether 6, they board their newly-lighted barges and leave Morinacumr for the promised land.
Three Questions, Three Answers:
As we learned in the previous chapter, the brother of Jared had some misgivings about the limitations of his barges — and as we could see there, these misgivings were born of experience (in the voyage from Nimrod to Moriacumer). The eight barges that were to carry the Jaredite people to the promised land were actually the second iteration. We know this because of the Lord’s comment to the Brother of Jared in Ether 2:16 that he was to build barges
16 …after the manner of barges which ye have hitherto built. And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did go to work, and also his brethren, and built barges after the manner which they had built, according to the instructions of the Lord.
So — with this second “go-round” of voyage via barge, the brother of Jared requested a few changes. Perhaps the people asked the brother of Jared to take these concerns to the Lord. This was certainly the pattern established in Ether 1, where it was Jared who asked his brother to approach the Lord. After all, these people would have been intimately acquainted with the limitations of these barges. We can’t know for sure; nor do we know how long their journey from Nimrod to Moriancumer actually was; but it certainly would have been substantial enough to motivate them to request a few revisions…
And in fact, it was “a few” revisions — three exactly — that were requested of the Lord by the Brother of Jared at the end of Ether 2 (I will present them here in the order in which they were addressed by the Lord).
Breathing
The first request had to do with breathing. As the Brother of Jared told the Lord:
19 …in them we cannot breathe (again — he knew this from experience) save it is the air which is in them; therefore we shall perish.
The Lord answered this concern very directly, telling the Brother of Jared:
20 ..thou shalt make a hole in the top, and also in the bottom; and when thou shalt suffer for air 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.
From this, we can see a very direct concern that is given a distinct and direct answer. Sometimes this is the way the Lord answers our prayers. It is especially appropriate that the Lord answered the Brother of Jared’s request regarding breathing in this manner, when we think about King Benjamin’s description in Mosiah 2:21 of a “Heavenly King” who:
21 …has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath… supporting you from one moment to another —
Steering
Then there was the matter of steering. “whither shall we steer?” asked the Brother of Jared in Ether 2:19. We might imagine the people wondering — and possibly even murmuring — over whether they were taking a direct or a circuitous route in their barge journey between Nimrod and Moriancumer. Could that journey have been shortened through better steering? Were they simply to follow the whims of the ocean? For this next leg of their ocean voyage, could they take matters into their own hands? To this question, the Lord does not offer a direct answer to this very real concern. He only addresses it incidentally when describing the need for a “closed” design for the barges in v. 24, saying that
24 …the winds have gone forth out of my mouth, and also the rains and floods have I sent forth.
So as to steering, this answer would have to be good enough for the Brother of Jared and his people. Simply put, the Lord answered him with an indirect “no.” Even though he was granted means for breathing, he was simply not granted means for steering — at least in the way he anticipated. Regardless of the Jaredites’ possible desire to the contrary, this voyage was not a time for mortals, with their limited vision and judgement, to steer their own crafts — any more than it was Lehi’s role to tell the Liahona where it should point, or for Moses to personally decide when his people left Sinai. These 8 barges, then, would be devoid of rudder or wheel; all who boarded them would have to assume the passenger-seat. Their only driver, their only captain, would be the Savior Himself, as He directed the winds and waves in their behalf.
Looking forward in the text, we will discover in Ether 6 that the Jaredites do meekly accept this unusual navigational method. They “set forth into the sea, commending themselves unto the Lord their God,” as 4 tells us. The way in which the Lord directed the wind is a thrice-repeated point of emphasis, ending with this verse:
8 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.
This seems to tell us that sometimes the Lord’s answer to our “steering” questions is an indirect “no” as well; even though we are agents unto ourselves, and even though our efforts to avoid being compelled in all things are laudable (D&C 58:26), there are times when our mortal judgement will not suffice in navigating us through the hazards and complexities that lie just outside of our field of vision. “Thou wilt show me the path of life,” Psalm 16:11 says. Our task instead, then, is to learn the patience of a passenger — or to return to the metaphor at hand, the trust of a sea-traveller — subjecting ourselves to the prevailing winds of our circumstances, and trusting that He is behind them — that in instances such as these, this really is His way of steering us along.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55)
Again, “the winds have gone forth out of my mouth,” as the Lord told the Brother of Jared. In other words, “the winds of your circumstances may seem violent and unmerciful at some times, and random at others; but I am directing them. Allow me to steer you.” As the hymn says:
Jesus, Savior, pilot me Over life’s tempestuous sea; Unknown waves before me roll, Hiding rock and treach’rous shoal. Chart and compass came from thee; Jesus, Savior, pilot me.
As a mother stills her child, Thou canst hush the ocean wild; Boist’rous waves obey thy will When thou say’st to them, “Be still!” Wondrous Sov’reign of the sea, Jesus, Savior, pilot me.
When at last I near the shore, And the fearful breakers roar ’Twixt me and the peaceful rest, Then, while leaning on thy breast, May I hear thee say to me, “Fear not; I will pilot thee.”
(Hymn 104 — by Edward Hopper)
Light
As to the matter of light, the first concern posed by the Brother of Jared and the final concern to be resolved in the narrative, an answer to this query comes in an entirely different way.
22 …O Lord, behold I have done even as thou hast commanded me; and I have prepared the vessels for my people, and behold there is no light in them. Behold, O Lord, wilt thou suffer that we shall cross this great water in darkness?
The Lord doesn’t answer this question directly (as He did with the matter of breathing) or indirectly (as he did with the matter of steering). Instead, He avoids answering at all; he puts the question back upon the Bother of Jared’s shoulders — saying:
23 …What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?
Here, then, is the Lord’s third way of answering prayer in this episode: he puts the question back to us! As Elder Robert D. Hales once taught:
“As parents and leaders, we must remember that ‘it is not meet that [the Lord] should command in all things’ [D&C 58:26]. Like the brother of Jared, we must carefully consider the needs of our family members, make a plan to meet those needs, and then take our plan to the Lord in prayer. This will require faith and effort on our part, but He will help us as we seek His assistance and do His will” (in Conference Report, Apr. 2003, 15; or Ensign, May 2003, 16).
This is consistent with what President Harold B Lee taught in his book, Stand Ye in Holy Places:
“This is the principle in action. If you want the blessing, don’t just kneel down and pray about it. Prepare yourselves in every conceivable way you can in order to make yourselves worthy to receive the blessing you seek” (Stand Ye in Holy Places [1974], 243–44).
Could it be then, as we consider the Brother of Jared’s three requests, that the issues we take to the Lord tend to fall within similar categories to the three described above? Perhaps; perhaps there are times when our request to God is a “breathing” issue, and we will receive a direct solution from him — something specific that we can do. Perhaps at other times, our request is a “steering” issue, and it is best that we don’t take the wheel at all; instead we
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
And finally, perhaps our request for a solution is a “light” issue, and it will remain up to us to use our own understanding; to find the solution, being led in our strivings as was Nephi, when he said,
6 …I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do.
So — having considered this third way in which the Lord answers the Brother of Jared’s request, let’s return to the narrative and see how it unfolds. There are many lessons to be gleaned from the events in Ether 3. I’d like to focus on a couple of them before we read it.
After putting the question of light back to the Brother of Jared, the Lord reminds him of the circumstances at hand — the need for a barge design that is impervious “against these things,” as v. 25 says, or in other words, against the “mountain waves” (v. 24) that are to be generated from the aforementioned winds from His mouth. In so doing, the Lord pulls the Brother of Jared into the dilemma and asks him to consider a viable solution. This is an instance when it is better for the Master Teacher to not simply dispense an answer, but to allow the learner to co-discover the answer to his query.
With this in mind, the Lord nudges the Brother of Jared further in v. 25 by repeating a variation of his earlier question:
25 …Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea?
This time, notice that the Lord suggests that there might be something that he could prepare.
The Symbolism of the Stones
So — this is the question that we as readers are left with as well, as Ether 2 comes to a close. As Ether 3 begins, we wonder what the Lord meant with his question to the Brother of Jared. What could he prepare for the Brother of Jared in order to light these 8 barges — and what can the Brother of Jared bring to the Lord to effectuate this result?
The answer, which we will look at in more detail in our reading of the text, is that the Bother of Jared brings something of his own making to the Lord: 16 small stones that “were white and clear, even as transparent as glass.” (Ether 3:1)
And with these stones, the Brother of Jared brings an idea; to us it seems audacious, but to him it seemed plain enough: he says in v. 4:
4 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, O Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in darkness; and they shall shine forth unto us in the vessels which we have prepared, that we may have light while we shall cross the sea.
Incredibly, the Lord — who was more present in this exchange than we as readers would have dared to have imagined — obliged. He responded to Jared’s request by touching these stones, “one by one with his finger.” (v. 6) Marvelous things follow for the Brother of Jared, as we will discover in our reading of this chapter.
TheGestureof the Stones
Stones that allow one to see — stones forged by man and illuminated by the Lord — these are deeply symbolic objects that are generated by a deeply symbolic gesture. I will leave the meaning of the objects themselves for now, to focus instead upon the gesture:
Jared undoubtedly expended great effort in preparing these stones — but the transformational miracle had yet to occur. His efforts were really only an actuating gesture, as was the woman’s reaching out to touch the hem of the Savior’s garment. The real miracle was when the Saviors power (in the form of light) flowed into them.
Among other things, I believe that this gesture is symbolic of the way in which we access the power of change through the atonement of Jesus Christ. In other words, I believe this sequence has something to teach us about repentance. Repentance is two changes; it is not just a change we make (not just “miserable behavior modification,” as Elder Renlund put it) even though that change is soul-wrenching and substantial — as was the Brother of Jared’s efforts to make these stones. But the transformational light of repentance does not emanate from our own fingers. It is ultimately a change wrought by the Lord upon us. The change we make, or “all we can do,” as Nephi described it, is really only the actuating (or triggering) gesture for the miracle that follows, the second change — a miracle that is as real as any that we read of in the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth — it is when the Lord touches us with His divine hand, infuses us with light, into new creatures who “have no more desire or disposition to do evil,” and who sing the Redeemer’s praises in word and deed from that transformational moment forward.
So what do we learn from the Brother of Jared in this episode at the land by the sea called Moriancumer? The Lord is near. We can approach him in prayer. We can go to his holy mountain to be in His presence. He answers our prayers — and he does so in a variety of ways. he lends us breath. He steers us. He gives us light. And through all of this, He changes us — until we come to the point attained to by the Brother of Jared, when the Lord told him in this chapter that “ye are redeemed from the fall.”
