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Book of Mormon Commentary
Ether Chapter 5
MORONI WRITES ON THE POWER OF FAITH, VLR. 1-41
Ether 5:2 And Ether was a prophet of the Lord; wherefore Ether came forth in the days of Coriantumr,
and began to prophesy unto the people, for he could not be restrained because of the Spirit of the Lord
which was in him;
Coriantumr was king over all the land" (I). He seems not to have been of the royal line. The
prophecies of Ether did not vary from those of former prophets: repent, turn unto God, or be
destroyed (3).
Moroni exhorts the people to believe in God, as they could then ''with surety hope for a better
world." Hope, which comes of faith, anchors the souls of men (4). "I would show unto the world
that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen" (6). "Dispute not because ye see not, for ye
receive no witness until after the trial of your faith, for it was by faith that Christ showed himself
unto our fathers, after he had arisen from the dead" (7). "Ye may also have hope, and be partakers
of the gift, if ye will but have faith" (10).
Moroni lists several of the historic achievements of faith: "They of old were called after the holy
order of God" and "the law of Moses given" (11). Alma and Amulek "caused the prison to tumble
to the earth" (14; A. 10:76-79). Nephi and Lehi "wrought the change upon the Lamanites" (E.
5:15; H. 2:82 ff.). Ammon and his brethren "wrought so great a miracle among the Lamanites . ..
even those who were before Christ, and also them who were after" (E. 5:16). "The three disciples
obtained a promise that they should not taste of death" (17).
Ether 5:18 And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore they first
believed in the Son of God.
"There were many whose faith was so exceeding strong even before Christ came, who could not
be kept from within the vail, but truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with
an eye of faith" (19). For instance, as shown in this record, the brother of Jared had such faith in
God "that when God put forth his finger, he could not hide it from the sight of the Brother of
Jared" (20). Nor could the Lord "withhold anything from his sight; wherefore he showed him all
things" (21).
By faith "my fathers have obtained the promise that these things should come unto their brethren
through the Gentiles" (22). "These things" refer to the records in the Book of Mormon. To the
Hebrews, all who were not Israelites or Jews were classed as Gentiles.
Ether 5:23 And I said unto him, Lord, the Gentiles will mock at these things because of our weakness in
writing; for Lord thou hast made us mighty in word by faith, but thou hast not made us mighty in
writing;
"All this people ... could speak much .. .and . . . write but little, because of the awkwardness of our
hands" (2-4). The Brother of Jared was an exception, for "the things which he wrote were mighty
even as thou [Lord] art, unto the overpowering of man to read them" (25).
The Lord answered, "Fools mock, but they shall mourn; and my grace is sufficient for the meek."
"If men come unto me, I will show unto them their weakness" (27). "If they humble themselves
before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them” (28).