Correcting a Few Errors

As a result of our recent series of posts on the Jaredites, a reader sent me in some counter information from an internet site, which in part, was claimed: 
“They built barges on which to cross ‘many waters.’ They continued until they came to ‘that great sea which divideth the lands.’ They remained on the seashore for four years during which time they constructed eight vessels for crossing the sea. How far they traveled we can only guess. That guess places the terminus of their land journey on the Pacific shores of the Asian continent. From there the prevailing winds ‘never cease to blow towards the promised land.’”

Where and in what direction winds blow and waves move is an all important knowledge to acquire before starting to determine where the Jaredites went and from where they entered the sea
   It is poor scholarship such as this that causes readers to misunderstand the scriptural record by mis-attributing and misquoting or quoting out of context information in a manner that causes confusion. While most of these are innocent mistakes, and people can look up the scriptural record to verify the information, the end result is that most people accept what they see in print, or make up their mind about it, and fold that information into their storehouse of data they have on a subject. The problem is that most of us are lazy readers—we do not take the time to verify information we read. The other side of the problem is that those who choose to write about the scriptural record do not often use the scriptural reference for their statement, and certainly few use it often enough to make it easy for the person reading the information to look it up and verify its veracity. Some might say it is deliberate; however, the point is scriptural references, because they are short and do not detract from the reading when inserted, should be used as often as such a quote is given.
    As an example, in this statement above, there is not a single reference given, nor a complete quote provided, so that a person could easily look up the five different scriptural quotes. There is also a very big assumption made that is not supported by any of the scriptural references referred covered. Thus, a reader, even if they looked up the first six chapters of Ether, in which this information is contained, would have to read through several pages to try and find these quotes. In this way, readers lose interest in trying to verify and take the easier road to acceptance, which again leads to misunderstanding without realizing it.
    As an example:
    1. They built barges on which to cross ‘many waters.’

The Jaredites built barges to transport themselves, their animals, food and supplies across the “many waters”
    This is a correct statement found in Ether 2:6. It should additionally be noted that these barges were built under, and the travel was directed under, the Lord’s guidance “being directed continually by the hand of the Lord” (Ether 2:6), which becomes of greater interest later when the Lord has the Jaredites build more barges along the seashore of the Great Sea. It also provides an understanding that the Jaredites were not “on their own” as to what course to take, but were “directed” by the Lord continually along their path—a journey, by the way that took “many years” (Ether 3:3), and obviously much direction, which also gives us a greater understanding of the spirituality of these families and the Lord’s involvement in their emigration to the promised land.
     2. They continued until they came to ‘that great sea which divideth the lands.’
    Again, a correct statement found in Ether 2:13; however, another sea mentioned in Ether (sea in the wilderness [2:7]) is left out though it is an extremely important issue in determining or verifying direction of travel, for there are only so many “seas” in any direction from Mesopotamia that the Lord would call “a sea.”
    Considering this in the mix, both as to what “many waters” the Jaredites crossed in their first barges, and the “sea in the wilderness” to which would be appealing enough for the Jaredites to want to stop and settle that the Lord cautioned them against it, are two important ingredients skipped over as though they were unimportant in determining the end result of their travel—the so-called “Pacific shores of the Asian continent.”
    Stated differently, when writing about or discussing a scriptural event, it is imperative that all information pertaining to that event be covered, at least briefly, so the reader/listener gets the full correlation of the total information.
    3. They remained on the seashore for four years during which time they constructed eight vessels for crossing the sea.

There are three important issues here: a) they did spend four years at the seashore, b) they did not call upon the Lord during this time, and c) they did not build barges during those four years, which shows an erroneous statement regarding this information.
    a. The fact that the Jaredites spent four years on the seashore is, in and of itself, perhaps not important other than to understand that during that time they (b) neglected to call upon the Lord. That is, they were acting on their own without finding out what the Lord had in mind for them—which was to continue to the Land of Promise, for as he told them, “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” (Ether 2:7). Stated differently, the Jaredites during those four years, in effect, had said to the Lord, “we don’t need you any more, this is where we will settle.”
    The Lord “chastened” the brother of Jared, and called it a “great evil” that he had done, to which the brother of Jared repented (Ether 2:15), suggesting that when we are in the service of the Lord, we need “to call upon him” regularly, and be ready and receptive to his direction at all times. The brother of Jared (as did the author of the above statement) neglected this very important part of the journey, which is that we are not to stop when we want in the Lord’s service—but continue on until the work is completed. This was a great issue for the Jaredites, a learning experience for the brother of Jared, and one for the readers of the scriptural record. It is poor scholarship to outright eliminate it even if it is not the main impetus of the writing.
    The other issue (c) is even more important and that is to so misread the scriptural record that one can write erroneously about it when repeating the simple story—the Jaredites did not build barges during those four year they stayed on the seashore.
    The major point of this entire story at the seashore is to understand that the Jaredites had abandoned their following the Lord to the promised land—the intent and purpose of the Lord guiding them away from Babylon and the end result of his effort.

After all, “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” (Ether 2:7).
    After four years of dwelling in tents upon the seashore (Ether 2:13), the “Lord came again unto the brother of Jared” (Ether 2:14), and after chastisement and repentance, “the Lord said: Go to work and build, after the manner of barges which ye have hitherto built” (Ether 2:16).
    To write that the Jaredites had spent four years at the seashore building barges is to misunderstand completely the “evil they had done,” the “chastening” the Lord did, and the “repentance of the evil,” by the brother of Jared.
    4. How far they traveled we can only guess.
    Both an inaccurate and unnecessary statement—from Mesopotamia to the Pacific shores (the course of this comment) of the Asian continent are clearly understood and would have been a distance of about 4000 miles—a very long distance to basically walk for women, children, babies, flocks of animals of every kind, and carrying an enormous amount of supplies for a “many years” travel, plus containing swarms of bees and having barrels of water containing fish to transport.
    Secondly, we need not be guessing about the scriptural content. It is quite clear and with the understanding of the reader, it becomes clearer through the “pondering” we have been asked to do in reading the scriptural record.
    5. That guess places the terminus of their land journey on the Pacific shores of the Asian continent.
    There is absolutely nothing in the scriptural record to suggest that the Jaredites traveled eastward from the Valley of Nimrod, that they crossed 4000 miles of three deserts, three high mountain ranges, and the lengthy Steppes. Orson Pratt spoke of the Jaredites crossing the Pacific Ocean from the China coast in 1868, and Hugh Nibley outlined that eastward trek across the Steppes, a direction and journey so many people have repeated over the years without considering the facts of the matter.
    6. From there the prevailing winds ‘never cease to blow towards the promised land.’”
    It might do well for people repeating this scriptural statement to understand where winds blow, since they blow in a continual pattern all year long and have always done so. They certainly do not blow from the “Shores of the Asian continent” toward the Western Hemisphere—in fact, the winds along the shore of the Asian coast do not even blow into the Pacific Ocean—it is one of the major reasons  no movement from west to east across the Pacific was ever recorded until nearly 4000 years after the time of the Jaredites and two thousand years after Lehi's voyage.
    The point is, that when one writes about the scriptural record, one might want to spend some time understanding the record before just writing about it.