Ether 15:1-3 Coriantumr…began to remember the words of Ether and
began to repent
Coriantumr was told that the
key to peace was his own repentance (Ether 13:21). As a leader, Coriantumr’s individual
disobedience became a key factor in the destruction of an entire nation.
Now after two million casualties, Ether’s memory finally quickens. But the
violence has become a self-perpetuating monster, continually accelerating out
of Coriantumr’s control. The national
consequences of his individual disobedience had become irrevocable. He had, in
effect, procrastinated the day of his salvation until it was everlastingly
too late (Hel 13:38).
Neal A. Maxwell
“This
grizzled veteran began to reflect upon the loss of two million of his people,
and there were the beginnings of sorrow. ‘He began
to repent of the evil which he had done; he began to remember the words which
had been spoken by the mouth of all the prophets, and he saw them that they
were fulfilled thus far, every whit; and his soul mourned and refused to be
comforted.’ (Ether 15:3.)
But sorrow which is compelled only by casualty figures is not enough.
Coriantumr’s sorrow must have been the ‘sorrowing of
the damned’ (Morm. 2:13),
because he was still locked into a way of life from which he seemed unwilling
to disengage fully.” (Ensign, Aug. 1978, “Three Jaredites: Contrasting
Contemporaries”)
Ether 15:2 there had been slain…nearly two millions of his people
“To
provide some perspective of the magnitude of the slaughter among Coriantumr's
people, we note that…From the American Revolutionary War through the Vietnam
conflict (including the Civil War)wars that introduced weapons of mass
destruction—‘only’ 652,769 Americans died on the battlefield compared to the
millions killed in these final Jaredite struggles where the people died in
hand-to-hand combat.” (Douglas E. Brinley, Book of Mormon Symposium Series, 4
Nephi - Moroni, edited by PR Cheesman, MS Nyman, and CD Tate, Jr., 1988, p. 55)
Ether 15:5 if he would give himself up, that he might slay him…that
he would spare the lives of the people
Neal A. Maxwell
“There
for us to ponder also is a clear case in which personal pride and rage kept two
principals from acting for the welfare of their people. Shiz insisted on
‘getting his man,’ even if it meant the destruction of his own people; and
Coriantumr offered his kingdom but not his life for his people. Each
said, in effect, that the ultimate object of his selfishness was nonnegotiable!
Neither was willing to play the role of the intervenor and say of the
circumstances, ‘This has gone too far—enough is enough.’ How often on a lesser
scale in human affairs do tinier tragedies occur for want of this selfless
intervention? How often do we withhold the one thing that is needed to make a
difference?” (Ensign, Aug. 1978, “Three Jaredites: Contrasting
Contemporaries”)
Ether 15:6 the people of Coriantumr were stirred up to anger against
the people of Shiz
Neal A. Maxwell
“Though
the central characters bear heavy and awesome responsibility for the unfolding
tragedy, each of their followers is culpable to a degree. Each of those who
heaped their hostility to further fuel the flames was likewise accountable.
Each man had a choice, each time, as to whether or not to take up or to lay
down his sword. Major mistakes by wicked leaders are usually surrounded by a
bodyguard of smaller mistakes by lesser souls. Others are responsible for their
failings, but so are we responsible for our reactions and responses to those
failures.” (Ensign, Aug. 1978, “Three Jaredites: Contrasting
Contemporaries”)
Ether
15:8 Shiz also pitched his tents near unto them…on
the morrow they did come to battle
The
Jaredites had been fighting vicious wars for years. Yet, they seem to have
developed rather structured rules of warfare. Such structure amidst the
violence and chaos of war would be surprising if it were not so common among armies
throughout history. In this verse, we see that the armies camp next to each
other without a midnight attack. Such an attack may well have been devastating
but was apparently “against the rules.”
Hugh
Nibley
“…in true epic ‘a dignified and
fastidious tone’ prevails in the dealings of these men with each other, and
strict rules of chivalry are observed, especially in war and duels. So we are
told in Ether how Shiz and Coriantumr pitch formal camps and ‘invite’ each
other's armies forth to combat by regulated trumpet blasts (Ether 14:28),
exchange letters in an attempt to avoid needless bloodshed (Ether 15:4-5, 18),
and rest at night without attempting to attack each other, fighting only at the
proper and agreed times (Ether 15:8, 21-26). As in all epics, including Ether,
‘the waging of war is not incidental but essential to the heroic way of life.’
A great chief gains ‘power over all the land’ only after he has ‘gained power
over many cities,’ and ‘burned many cities,’ (Ether 14:17) in the best Homeric
fashion.” (Lehi in the Desert and The World of the Jaredites, p. 409)
Ether 15:11 the hill Ramah…was that same hill where my father Mormon
did hide up the records
The hill in which Mormon hid
the records is the hill Cumorah (Mormon 6:6, For a discussion on the location
of the hill see commentary for Mormon 6:2). Remarkably, the site of the
Jaredite’s final destruction was the site of the Nephite’s final destruction.
But there are other striking similarities between the final events of each
nation. Obviously, there are parallels with regard to their spiritual downfall,
but even the particulars of their destruction are remarkable. They were both
destroyed in the same place. Each was led by a powerful military leader. Each
had carefully gathered their people together prior to the final battles (Mormon
6:2, Ether 15:14). Each nation had to resort to arming their women and
children—who were filled with that awful fear of
death which fills the breasts of all the wicked (Mormon 6:7, Ether
15:14). In these similarities, we do not see Joseph Smith repeating the same
fictional plot among two different groups, we see history repeating itself. The
question remains whether history of the wicked inhabitants of this continent
will repeat itself again?
One great event is yet to
take place at the hill Ramah/Cumorah. At the end of the Millenium, hundreds of
thousands of graves will open and hundreds of thousands of spirits will be
reunited with hundreds of thousands of bodies which fell long ago on a bloody
battlefield. Mormon spoke of this day saying, these
bodies which are now moldering in corruption must soon become incorruptible
bodies; and then ye must stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, to be judged
according to your works (Mormon 6:21). Then, the lamentation of Mormon
will again ring true—and it will apply to the Nephites and the Jaredites—O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways
of the Lord! O ye fair ones, how could ye have rejected that Jesus, who stood
with open arms to receive you! (Mormon 6:17).
Ether 15:15 they were all gathered together…with their wives and their
children
“In the
final Jaredite battle, women and children actually did fight along with the men
to the literal end of their civilization. Four years were spent gathering all
the people together, that they might have ‘all the
strength which it was possible that they could receive.’ Sides chosen, a
lamentable scene unfolded: ‘Both men women and
children being armed with weapons of war, having shields, and breastplates, and
head-plates, and being clothed after the manner of war—they did march forth one
against another to battle.’ (Ether 15:14-15.) Women were not immune to death
by the sword, unfortunately, and slaughter claimed untold numbers of female
lives. Even before this great and final battle, Coriantumr sorrowed that ‘two millions of mighty men, and also their wives and
their children,’ had been slain (Ether
15:2), to the extent that the bodies of men, women,
and children covered the face of the land (see Ether 14:21-22).” (Marjorie Meads Spencer, Ensign,
Sep. 1977, “My Book of Mormon Sisters”)
Ether 15:19 the Spirit of the Lord had ceased striving with them and
Satan had full power
Neal A. Maxwell
“At
first the wicked are lost because they ignore the commandments. At a later
stage, we sense that they seem almost to celebrate their alienation and to
insist on playing out the decadent drama to the depths. Perhaps theirs is in
some strange way, a descending search for the bottom, which, when finally
touched, might somehow provide them with some modicum of upward momentum.
“When
societies veer toward violence, the violence becomes self-reinforcing: they may
seek at first to punish others because they hated them; but later they hate
others all the more because they have punished them. Gross guilt feeds upon
itself so crudely and so publicly at times. Excess begets excess.
“The
anger written of in these episodes is as addictive as alcohol.
“We
also see the chilling scene of evil at the end of its journey, when Satan ‘had full power over the hearts of the people.’ (Ether 15:19.)
No wonder another prophet said of Satan that he does not finally support his
own. (Alma 30:60.)
The adversary is the ultimate loner and a loser; he is no brother, and those
who follow him will finally be deserted by him.” (Ensign, Aug. 1978,
“Three Jaredites: Contrasting Contemporaries”)
Ether 15:23-31 after he had smitten off the head of Shiz, that Shiz raise
up on his hands
If the scenes of the Book of
Mormon were portrayed in a motion picture, the film would have to be rated “R”
for violence. The reason we have such a graphic representation of the final
battle is because of Ether, who did behold all the
doings of the people (v. 13). We imagine him perched in some
inconspicuous location, viewing the entire bloody conflict as the only innocent
bystander. For two days of the last week of fighting, he gives us a body count,
not of the casualties, but of the survivors (vs. 23,25).
The whole ugly scene
concludes in an incredulous decapitation. While one might wonder how a beheaded
body could extend its arms and struggle for breath, the reader is reminded of
the behavior of the proverbial chicken who runs and flaps well after losing its
head. Now Shiz was no chicken, but the concept of body movements after
decapitation is not unheard of. A brief review of the current medical
literature shows scores of articles which study the effects of certain
neurologically active drugs on decapitation convulsions which predictably
happen in mice and rats (e.g. “The
effect of 5,6 dihydroxytryptamine on decapitation convulsions,” Life Sci.
1977 Nov 15;21:1475-82) . Certainly, Shiz’ body movements were the result of
brief muscle spasms—a rare but real form of human decapitation convulsions.
B.H. Roberts
“It is claimed that this represents an impossible thing--a man with his
head stricken off rising upon his hands! And yet equally marvelous things of this
nature have occurred, and are matters of record.
“Mr. G. W. Wightman, of the Seventeenth Lancers of the British Light
Brigade, and a survivor of the wild charge at Balaclava, relates, in the
‘Electric Magazine’ for June, 1892, the incident of Captain Nolan's death
during that charge…
“We had ridden barely two hundred yards and were
still at the ‘trot,’ when poor Nolan's fate came to him…[suffering a fatal
wound, his] hand dropped the sword, but the arm remained erect. Kinglake writes
that ‘what had once been Nolan' maintained the strong military seat until the
'erect form dropped out of the saddle’…The sword-hand indeed remained upraised
and rigid, but all other limbs so curled in on the contorted trunk as by a
spasm, that we wondered how for the moment the huddled form kept the saddle.
“It is quite as remarkable that a man stricken unto death by the
fragment of a shell should continue erect in the saddle, with sword-arm
upraised and rigid, while the other limbs so curled in on the contorted trunk
that those who saw him ‘wondered how the huddled form kept the saddle,’ as that
a man as his head is stricken off should momentarily rise on his hands.
“Mr. Wightman, in the same article, relates the still more remarkable
case of Sergeant Talbot's death:
“It was about this time that Sergeant Talbot had his
head clean carried off by a round shot, yet for about thirty yards farther the
headless body kept the saddle, the lance at the charge firmly gripped under the
right arm.
“After this well attested fact, and many others of a similar nature that
might be cited, it is not worth while being skeptical about Shiz convulsively
rising on his hands for a moment after his head was stricken off.” (New
Witnesses for God, 3:556-7)
Ether 15:29 Coriantumr…fainted with the loss of blood
Certainly, Coriantumr would
have perished without divine protection. In recent battles, he had three times
fainted with the loss of blood (Ether 14:30; 15:9,29). But why would the Lord
preserve him? Not because of his righteousness, but so he could see how the
word of the Lord had been fulfilled every whit. Certainly, when he recovered
from this last battle, he again mourned and refused
to be comforted (v. 3).
Ether 15:33 he hid them in a manner that the people of Limhi did find
them
Like Moroni and Mormon,
Ether was writing to an unborn generation, but what good is Ether’s exhaustive
record if no one ever reads it? Ether did all he could to make sure his record
was found. He “hid” the records but he did not want them to remain hidden. He “hid”
them like a mother hides an Easter egg for a 3-year old—in a conspicuous
location. Fortunately, Limhi’s scouts did not have as much trouble finding the
record of Ether as they did finding the city of Zarahemla (Mosiah 21:25-27).
Ether 15:34 Whether the Lord will that I be translated…it mattereth
not
Neal A. Maxwell
“Ether’s
great love for the people reflected a selflessness and lack of concern for his
own life. Ether said, ‘Whether the Lord will that I be
translated, or that I suffer the will of the Lord in the flesh, it mattereth
not, if it so be that I am saved in the kingdom of God.’ (Ether 15:34.)
The willingness to die which is born of a despair and a disdain for life is not
the same thing as Ether’s courage, in which he was willing to suffer before
death and then to die, if necessary—even though he loved life.
“We see
in the book of Ether intimations that this very special prophet might have been
translated, but we never do learn what actually happened to him. The silence
concerning his circumstance is not unlike the disappearance of Alma the
Younger, of which it was written,
‘And when Alma had done
this he departed out of the land of Zarahemla, as if to go into the land of
Melek. And it came to pass that he was never heard of more; as to his death or
burial we know not of.
Behold, this we know,
that he was a righteous man; and the saying went abroad in the church that he
was taken up by the Spirit, or buried by the hand of the Lord, even as Moses.
But behold, the scriptures saith the Lord took Moses unto himself; and we
suppose that he has also received Alma in the spirit, unto himself; therefore,
for this cause we know nothing concerning his death and burial.’ (Alma 45:18-19.)”
(Ensign, Aug. 1978, “Three Jaredites: Contrasting Contemporaries”)