Book of Mormon Commentary CofC - Odessa, Missouri Community ...

Book of Mormon Commentary
Ether Chapter 1
"Whatsoever nation shall possess it, shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all
other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ" (35).
(See comments on Mos. 8:13.)
The Lord led the group "forth even to that great sea which divideth the lands" (36). Here they
dwelt in tents upon the seashore for four years. They called the place Moriancumer (37). "At the
end of four years" the Lord "stood in a cloud and talked" to Jared's brother for three hours. He
chastened him for his failure "to call upon the name of the Lord" (38, 39).
Ether 1:41 And the Lord said unto him, I will forgive thee and thy brethren of their sins; but thou shalt
not sin any more, for ye shall remember that my Spirit will not always strive with man; wherefore if ye
will sin until ye are fully ripe, ye shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord.
Then the Lord said, "Go to work and build, after the manner of barges which ye have hitherto
built" (28, 43). These barges were small, and light upon the water like a fowl, were "tight .. . like
unto a dish," and were peaked; the top and the doors were also watertight. Their length "was the
length of a tree" (46).
Some critics of the Book of Mormon have ridiculed this variable measure. They ask, "Which
tree?" Accurate and standard weights and measures came into use by civilized men many centuries
later than this.
The most primitive system of measurement made use of certain parts of the body. . . . Among the
Hebrews and other ancient peoples, the smallest unit of length seems to have been the finger, etsba
(Jer. 52:21), four fingers making a handbreadth, tephah (I Kings 7:26), three handbreadths a span,
zereth (Exod. 28:16), and two spans a cubit, ammah.
Cruden's Concordance says a cubit is "the distance from the elbow bending inwards to the
extremity of the middle finger, or about 18 inches" (p. 119).
When the eight barges were completed, the brother of Jared asked the Lord about getting light and
fresh air. They were instructed to make "a hole in the top thereof, and also in the bottom thereof."
When they needed air they should "unstop the hole" (50).
Ether 1:60 And it came to pass that the Brother of Jared, (now the number of the vessels which had been
prepared, was eight,) went forth unto the mount, which they called the mount Shelem, because of its
exceeding height, and did moulten out of a rock sixteen small stones;
"They were white and clear, even as transparent glass." He then prayed: "Touch these stones, 0
Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in darkness" (66). One of the
great concerns he had was not to be in the dark as they went "forth across this raging deep" (65).
STONES MADE LUMINOUS BY THE LORD'S FINGER, VER. 68-89
Ether 1:69 And the vail was taken from off the eyes of the Brother of Jared, and he saw the finger of the
Lord; and it was as the finger of a man, like unto flesh and blood; and the Brother of Jared fell down
before the Lord, for he was struck with fear.