In the

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude date ...

, the brother of Jared is the most prominent person in the account given in the beginning (Chapters 1–6) of the

Book of Ether The Book of Ether () is one of the books of the Book of Mormon. It describes the Jaredites, descendants of Jared and his companions, who were led by God to the Americas shortly after the confusion of tongues and the destruction of the Tower of Ba ...

. The brother of Jared's name is not given in the text of the Book of Mormon but

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, he ...

stated in 1834 that it was Mahonri Moriancumer.

In the Book of Mormon

Tower of Babel

According to the

Jared Jared is a given name of Biblical derivation. Origin In the Book of Genesis, the biblical patriarch Jared (יֶרֶד) was the sixth in the ten pre-flood generations between Adam and Noah; he was the son of Mahalaleel and the father of En ...

and his brother were present at the

Tower of Babel The Tower of Babel ( he, , ''Mīgdal Bāḇel'') narrative in Genesis 11:1–9 is an origin myth meant to explain why the world's peoples speak different languages. According to the story, a united human race speaking a single language and mi ...

. When the language of the people was confounded, Jared asked his brother to ask God not to confound their own language, that of their friends, and that of their immediate families.

Land of Moriancumer

After being granted to have their language not confounded, they asked to be led to where the Lord would have them go in the hope that it would be a choice land. They were led through the wilderness, across many waters, to the "great sea which divides the lands" and then dwelt in tents at the seashore for four years. They named the place that they had temporarily settled Moriancumer. The account relates that after four years, the Lord came to the brother of Jared and "chastened him because he remembered not to call upon the name of the Lord."

Journey to the Promised Land

The brother of Jared was then instructed to build "barges" or boats. After building the boats, the brother of Jared worried about how the insides of the boats would be lit during their journey across the sea. The Lord told the brother of Jared that he should figure out a way to light the boats, and so the brother of Jared produced sixteen stones from molten rock, two for each ship, and they were white and clear, just like transparent glass. Jared's brother then asked the Lord to touch each stone he had made so that they would shine in the darkness. The Lord touched each stone with his finger. Jared's brother watched as the Lord did so and fell to the ground in fear. The Lord then revealed to the brother of Jared that he had seen his spirit (his premortal spirit body), even as he would appear in the flesh (as

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

in his mortal ministry). The brother of Jared was then told to write down what he saw in his own language (Adamic), which no one would understand, and that his record would be revealed after Christ had been lifted upon the cross. (When Mosiah interpreted the 24 gold plates found by the people of Limhi, and read this account, he was instructed that these things were not to be revealed until after his people had been visited by Christ.) The account continues to relate that the

Jaredite The Jaredites () are one of four peoples (along with the Nephites, Lamanites, and Mulekites) that the Latter-day Saints believe settled in ancient America. The Book of Mormon (mainly its Book of Ether) describes the Jaredites as the descenda ...

s, as they came to be known; boarded the boats; and were driven by the wind until they arrived at the "promised land."

In the Promised Land

When Jared became old, he and his brother gathered their descendants to count them. Jared's brother had 22 descendants, the oldest male being named Pagag. Jared had four sons (Jacom, Gilgah, Mahah, and Orihah) and eight daughters who are mentioned but unnamed. The Jaredite people wanted a king appointed. The brother of Jared was opposed to the idea but ultimately relented and asked the people the choose a king from among his and Jared's sons. All of Jared's brother's sons refused the position, as did Jared's older sons, but Jared's youngest son, Orihah, accepted. Jared and the brother of Jared died during the reign of Orihah.

Name

In an 1835 letter

Oliver Cowdery Oliver H. P. Cowdery (October 3, 1806 – March 3, 1850) was an American Mormon leader who, with Joseph Smith, was an important participant in the formative period of the Latter Day Saint movement between 1829 and 1836. He was the first baptized ...

parenthetically gives the name of the brother of Jared as "Moriancumer," which appears in the Book of Ether in the Book of Mormon only as a place name. A later account describes an 1834 statement by Joseph Smith in which he said that the brother of Jared's name had been revealed to him as "Mahonri Moriancumer": Etymologies have been proposed but remain largely speculative. According to

Daniel H. Ludlow Daniel Hansen Ludlow (March 17, 1924 – February 14, 2009) was a professor of religion at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. He was also the chief editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Mormonism'', published in 1992 by Macmillan. Biogra ...

, it is not clear why the name of the brother of Jared does not appear in the Book of Mormon. However, the following are possible reasons: * The brother of Jared may have omitted his name out of modesty (John the Beloved did essentially the same thing in the Gospel of John, which he wrote). * The Book of Ether is clearly a family record of Jared, not the brother of Jared; Ether, the final writer and perhaps the abridger of the record, was a descendant of Jared and might naturally have emphasized the achievements of his direct ancestor rather than the brother of his ancestor. * Moroni may have omitted the name in his abridgment because of difficulty in translating (or "transliterating") the name into the Nephite language. * In the Roman practice of ''

damnatio memoriae is a modern Latin phrase meaning "condemnation of memory", indicating that a person is to be excluded from official accounts. Depending on the extent, it can be a case of historical negationism. There are and have been many routes to , includi ...

'', names were intentionally removed from the record. Egyptian factions also wiped out names and statues of heretical rivals. In Ether 11:17–18, a direct descendant of the Brother of Jared, and rival king, is also not named.

References

External links

* Henry B. Eyring
"The Brother of Jared: An Expert at Learning"
''

Ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...

'', July 1978
Book of Mormon Seminary Student Study Guide (2000)

{{Latter-day Saints Book of Mormon prophets Book of Mormon words and phrases