Did Jaredites Survive Their Final Battle? – Part III

Continuing with the theorist view of Hugh Nibley, John L. Sorenson, John A. Tvedtnes and others that some Jaredites survived the final battle that destroyed their kingdom, and even intermingled and intermarried with the Lamanites, as well as many of their names showing up in Nephite and Mulekite descendants.
    While there are some strictly Jaredite names like Coriantumr, Ogath, and Akish, there are several examples of the Jaredite name being of much later (and sometimes much earlier) vintage, such as the name Gilgal, being Hebrew; as well as Seth (Ether 1:10), Aaron (Ether 1:15), Ephraim (Ether 7:9), Heth (Ether 1:16), Levi (Ether 1:20), and Noah (Ether 7:14) being Hebrew and Biblical names (the latter two also being Book of Mormon names (3 Nephi 24:3); Mosiah 7:9).

LtoR Columns: Jaredite names found in the Bible; Nephite names found in the Bible; Origination of names; Jaredite and Nephite common names or derivatives

 

Both the Jareditres and Nephites called a hill “Shim” (Ether 9:3, Mormon 1:3), and the Jaredite place name “Nehor” (Ether 7:4), appears as a Nephite man’s name (Alma 1:15), accused of teaching priestcraft and killing Gideon. Hugh Nibley points out that the name “Moron,” a Jaradite place name, could actually be of West Semitic root “mr’” meaning “lord, master,” as in “mrn” meaning “our lord.” There is also the overlap of the name “Morianton,” according to Nibley as coming from the Egyptian, meaning “beloved of Aton” (as Moriamon, which means “beloved of Amon”). Compare with Moriantum, an Akkadian/Hebrew name, meaning “beloved of Antum” in Egyptian and “Chosen Waters” in Hebrew.
    The point is, trying to claim a name or names as being Jaredite is not always workable since there are numerous overlaps. A case in point, is that all names came from Noah and his three sons, after the Flood, who settled in Mesopotamia, where the Jaredites came from, and through whom the Hebrews later emerged.
    In another example, Tvedtnes in defending his view, states: “The citing of Ether's prophecy as evidence that all the Jaredites except Coriantumr were to be destroyed (Ether 13:21); however, a careful reading of that verse indicates that it was all of Coriantumr's 'household' that was to be destroyed. We cannot know for sure how many Jaredites may have escaped to other places before or during the last great war.”
    The problem is, these theorists, as they so often do, fail to consider what is being discussed when they cite Book of Mormon statements. At this time, there are two factions among the Jaredites—those against the government and its rightful king, Coriantumr, who was the head of the Jaredite government/kingdom. And the other faction was led by a succession of rebels, who wanted to overthrow Coriantumn and take control of the government (or kingdom) for themselves—the first of which was a group of mighty men who sought to destroy Coriantumr by their secret plans of wickedness (Ether 13:15), among whom was Shared (Ether 13:23), his brother Gilead (Ether 14:8), followed by Lib, and his brother was Shiz, the last of the rebellious leaders.

Ether delivers the Lord’s message to Coriantumr in the second year of the war

Early in this war, the word of the Lord came to Ether, that he should go and prophesy unto Coriantumr that, if he would repent, and all his household, the Lord would give unto him his kingdom and spare the people. Now the repentance had to do with his household, but the kingdom had to do with all the people, for under the custom of the Jaredites, if a leader was killed or died, one of his sons, brothers, etc., in his household took control. Stated differently, if Coriantumr and his household repented, all the Jaredites would be spared the war and destruction. If he did not repent along with his household, who would take over in the course of Coriantumr’s death, then all the people of the kingdom would be lost—which is what eventually happened.
    The Jaredites at this time were a kingdom, i.e., an entire people under the leadership of a single king. Or stated differently, a kingdom is a politically organized people or major territorial region or country, having a monarchical form of government headed by a king (such as England until 1660 following the Wars of the Three Kingdom; France until 1791 when it became a provisional constitutional monarchy; Germany until 1918 when the monarch abdicated, etc).
    Coriantumr (and his household) were the royal leadership of the people. If the royal leader (king) repented, the people would be spared. There is no indication that this repentance and sparing had to do only with Coriantumr’s family and household—but of the entire kingdom. And it was the entire kingdom, one half under the rightful king, Coriantumr, and one half under a group of usurpers, including Shared; his brother, Gilead; Lib, who murdered Gilead; and his brother, Shiz.

Ether spent his days in a cave, writing what he had seen the night before upon leaving the cave to observe the day’s events

Finally, in another instance, there is the occurrence of Ether going out at night after the day’s battles in this final war, to see the destruction of that day. However, the theorists’ claim about this seems out of step with the facts. As one theorist reports, “Ether reported only what he saw; he could not have been everywhere.” And Sorenson uses this theme to limit the size of the battles, in which the Jaredites were involved, and the area over which they fought. As Sorenson states:
    “Of course, the ’end of the Jaredite people’ by no means indicates that all Jaredites perished. That would be far-fetched. There is solid evidence within the Book of Mormon itself, and certainly more from archaeology, indicating that Jaredite remnants of the old population survived in various spots after their final organized battle. The scriptures only speak of the destruction of the Jaredite people as a social entity, not the extinction of the entire population. There is every reason to believe that there were many scattered pockets of Jaredites around the world who were not killed in the final battle.”
    However, the scriptural record tells us differently, such as the comment about all the people being killed being far-fetched—however, in an earlier period, we see that almost all the people were killed: “And there began to be a war between the sons of Akish and Akish, which lasted for the space of many years, yea, unto the destruction of nearly all the people of the kingdom, yea, even all, save it were thirty souls, and they who fled with the house of Omer” (Ether 9:12, emphasis added). In another instance, “all the people” are described as: “in which time all the people upon the face of the land were shedding blood, and there was none to restrain them” (Ether 13:31, emphasis added). In another use of “all the people,” we find: “and Lib was a man of great stature, more than any other man among all the people” (Ether 14:10, emphasis added). And again, “And Coriantumr had taken all the people with him as he fled before Lib in that quarter of the land whither he fled” (Ether 14:15, emphasis added).
    Still another such case: “they did gather together all the people upon all the face of the land, who had not been slain, save it was Ether” (Ether 15:12, emphasis added). Another instance: “Wherefore, they were for the space of four years gathering together the people, that they might get all who were upon the face of the land, and that they might receive all the strength which it was possible that they could receive” (Ether 15:14, emphasis added).

The Lord told Ether to go out at night and see the results of the day’s battles—no doubt as he walked among the dead, the Lord showed him a vision of the day’s fighting

Now, as for Ether being able to see all the battlefield, we need to keep in mind that there is no way Ether could have seen the doings of several million people, even if they were all gathered together. Either the Lord showed him in a vision, or told him what had happened as he viewed what he could see. When Ether wrote: “And it came to pass that Ether did behold all the doings of the people; and he beheld that the people who were for Coriantumr were gathered together to the army of Coriantumr; and the people who were for Shiz were gathered together to the army of Shiz” (Ether 15:13). This, in no way, suggests that Ether was present on the battlefield viewing all these things—what part he saw and what he was told or shown in a vision would have been necessary for Ether to have had a full grasp of what was going on.
    Having been in the military, it is a certain fact that what one person can see of an overall event, attack or battle is limited to a very small area. For Ether to have seen an entire battlefield and all the events unfolding upon it, would have taken more than simply what he could personally view. Obviously, as he viewed the field before him, he was given a vision of the events the Lord wanted recorded. The same can be said of his viewing the field of battle at night, when he was given visions of the entire battle areas that would have stretched over several miles. To assume that Ether traveled all those miles at night is not as realistic as if he was given a vision of the events that unfolded and wrote about them.
    Lastly, Sorenson adds: “It is not impossible to consider that some of the people with whom the Lamanites intermarried were Jaredites. This brings us to the question of indigenous peoples with whom the Lamanites may have joined.  [We might suppose] that such outsiders would have been mentioned in the Book of Mormon. But since that book was a clan record, it may have deliberately left out mention of peoples not originating in Jerusalem, with the sole exception of the Jaredites, who left a written record that came into the hands of King Mosiah."
    Thus, contrary to Sorenson’s remarks that there is ample evidence that Jaredites survived, the scriptural record states otherwise. In because they did not survive, all the theorists views of other people have to be discarded from part of the unspoken Book of Mormon. In fact, we should concentrate on what the book does say, not what it does not.