When most everyone had died, the Lord finally said to Ether, “go forth.” He had been watching and he knew that it was safe for him to come out of the cave. Thinking about both Ether and Mormon, how do you end a book like this? How do you make a conclusion about what you have witnessed? What other options might they have had? There was no point in calling people to repentance; there was no one to call, nor to listen.
In the face of this catastrophe and tragedy, Ether acknowledged that “it mattereth not, if it so be that I am saved in the kingdom of God.” No matter what happens in your life, or what kinds of difficulties you face, salvation is most important. This was spoken by someone who had really seen trials and devastation, and I think that is really something.
When Ether wrote his book, he was not sure what was going to happen. The brother of Jared had been given promises that these teachings would come forth, but Ether did not even know what was going to happen to him next. He poured out his soul in an existential cry hoping that someone, someday, would care. He was doing what many people would do, and that was bearing solid testimony. His confidence and faith were extremely powerful, and his mind and will were submissive to the will of the Lord. Whatever would happen next, he said, “it mattereth not, if it so be that I am saved in the kingdom of God. Amen” (15:34).
Daniel F. Belnap, ed., Illuminating the Jaredite Record (Provo: Religious Studies Center, 2020). https://rsc.byu.edu/book/illuminating-jaredite-records. This new volume explores the relationship between the Nephite and the Jaredite records culturally, politically, literarily, and theologically. The first approach is a cultural-historical lens, in which elements of Jaredite culture are discussed, including the impact of a Jaredite subculture on Nephite politics during the reign of the judges, and a Mesopotamia perspective as seership and divination, and the brother of Jared’s experience as a spiritual transition. The second grouping looks at the book of Ether through a narratological lens, exploring different aspects of Moroni’s construction of the book of Ether. The third grouping considers the book of Ether’s depiction of women, as it contains one of the most descriptive, yet ambivalent, accounts of females in the Book of Mormon, both historically and contemporarily. The book of Ether is also reviewed pedagogically. For example, in Alma 37, Alma the Younger explained the value of using the Jaredite records in teaching modern audiences.
Book of Mormon Central, “How Can the Book of Mormon Survivors Give Us Hope? (Mormon 8:3),” KnoWhy 393 (December 26, 2017).