Ether 9:21-25

Brant Gardner

The record returns to the sparse accounting for the generations. Emer was righteous, and begat Coriantum, who ruled (and who appears in the king list in Ether 1).

All continues to be good in Coriantum’s reign, and he begets Com, and Com begets Heth. There is apparently no rebellion, and therefore either the original text, or Moroni, has little to say about those years. It is likely that the original text was this sparse. Moroni fills out the information with moralistic insertions, but not elaborations of history. He didn’t have the information to do so.

The phrase in verse 22, “Son of Righteousness,” helps us determine that this is Moroni writing. He would have read his father’s work, and is referencing 3 Nephi 25:2, which is quoting Malachi. Both here and in 3 Nephi 25:2, the scribe wrote the homophone son, instead of sun, as it appears in Malachi.

The ages listed for Coriantumr and his first wife are difficult to reconcile with a reasonable life span in antiquity. It does appear that many of those listed would have lived to a reasonably old age, but a hundred and forty-two is beyond a reasonable old age. This suggests that there is some insertion of mythical numbers into the record that Ether used. Given the time when he lived, an exaggeration in the life of what was considered to be a righteous king would not have been surprising.

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References