Category: Gospel Doctrine

A few general introductory notes about the Book of Ether.

First, unlike the other two Book of Mormon migratory peoples, the Jaredites (as we call them) are not under the Law of Moses. Abraham>Isaac>Jacob (Israel)>>>>Moses. They’re not Jewish nor even Israelite (also a late term) nor Canaanite, but Mesopotamian, probably. So they are operating under a different set of religious ideas, different language— Sumerian, Akkadian, something else? Hebrew isn’t an option— and different cultural background than the rest of the Book of Mormon. And indeed, Ether has a different feel to it than the rest. It’s largely political history, stories of wars between scheming royal families, imprisonment, regicide, etc. All very Game of Thrones-y. Continue reading

Let’s begin with this observation about the power of art, by a BYU professor with training in both art and religion. Continue reading

Today we continue the war chapters, and get to read some military correspondence. Let’s start with a rough chapter outline and then drill down into individual verses.

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As I’ve pointed out previously, the Book of Mormon moves at different paces in different places. We’ve spent the last few weeks making a slow section even slower, and that means that with today’s chapters, we’ve likely forgotten some important history relevant to today’s readings. After six chapters of doctrinal exposition, we hit the famed “war chapters.” Continue reading

First, a summary. Continue reading

I’d remind you of the book on King Benjamin’s speech (paper here), and the verse-by-verse commentary in it.

I’ll add my own bits which don’t overlap, and happen to be, well, on quasi-controversial topics. Continue reading

To open, we need some big picture structural discussion.

Mosiah 1 is not Mosiah 1. In fact, it is Mosiah 3, and the first two chapters are missing. How do we know this? Continue reading