According to Lee Donaldson, anciently covenants that man made with God were entered into with a specific formula which bound both parties. The biblical scholar George Mendenhall identified six common steps in ancient covenants and treaties (Interpreter’s Dictionary 1:714). These elements are as follows: (1) the preamble, (2) historical prologue, (3) stipulations, (4) blessings and curses, (5) witnesses, and (6) deposit and public reading of the covenant.
The first element, the preamble, like all ancient preambles, contains the names of both parties to the covenant. This preamble also mentions the physical location where the covenant is established… . This is accomplished in Ether 2:4 which says, “And it came to pass that when they had come down into the valley of Nimrod the Lord came down and talked with the brother of Jared; and he was in a cloud, and the brother of Jared saw him not.”
Anciently, the preamble also contained a token of the superior authority of the one setting the terms of the covenant. The same is true with the Book of Mormon covenant to serve the God of the land, as found in the book of Ether. Moroni noted that the Lord came down in a cloud. The cloud was a divine token of the power and glory of the king of heaven. For instance, this was the same token of authority that the Lord used in creating the preamble to the Sinai covenant with Moses (Exodus 199). The cloud also led the covenant people through the wilderness (Exodus 13:21) and was a heavenly sign of the Lord‘s authority in the Savior’s transfiguration (Matthew 17:5). Additionally, the Doctrine and Covenants equates the clouds of heaven with “the glory of the Lord” (D&C 84:5). [Lee L. Donaldson, “The Plates of Ether and the Covenant of the Book of Mormon,” in The Book of Mormon: Fourth Nephi through Moroni, From Zion to Destruction, pp. 70-71]
Ether 2:4 The Lord came down and talked with the brother of Jared (Illustration): The biblical scholar George Mendenhall identified six common steps in ancient covenants and treaties (Interpreter’s Dictionary 1:714). [Lee L. Donaldson, “The Plates of Ether and the Covenant of the Book of Mormon,” in The Book of Mormon: Fourth Nephi through Moroni, From Zion to Destruction, p. 73]