When Ether 13 Must Have Taken Place

This post is part 13 of a series about Venus and the Jaredites. To start at the beginning, click here.

Some unknown number of years prior to Ether’s ministry, there came prophets into the land among the Jaredites with the following message:

Ether 11:20 And in the days of Coriantor there also came many prophets, and prophesied of great and marvelous things, and cried repentance unto the people, and except they should repent the Lord God would execute judgment against them to their utter destruction; 21 And that the Lord God would send or bring forth another people to possess the land, by his power, after the manner by which he brought their fathers.

This earlier prophecy sets the stage for the Late Jaredites, who were utterly destroyed as predicted. In this blog series, we’ve been building a timeline for Ether 12-15 in hopes to estimate in which year the Jaredites were destroyed. 

I’ve seen date ranges for the destruction of the Jaredites to be anywhere from 600 BC to 130 BC. And it’s true–there’s not a ton of information there to indicate when it might have happened. However, the Venus-Jaredite model may be able to shed some light on this question because from it we get an Ether 12-15 timespan of 13 years…. And, surprisingly, with the little information that the Book of Mormon affords us, you can do quite a lot with those 13 years.

For instance, did you know that Moroni’s abridgment of Ether’s prophecy gives us a hint of a starting point for Ether 12-15? Here’s what it says:

13:5 And he [Ether] spake also concerning the house of Israel, and the Jerusalem from whence Lehi should come—

Did you catch it? — Ether was speaking to his fellow Jaredites of the Jerusalem from whence Lehi SHOULD COME–meaning that at the moment in which Ether was giving his sermon, Lehi had not yet arrived in the Americas. 

This little detail is huge.

But of course, it’s not a slam dunk. The language here is ambiguous and could be interpreted multiple ways. However, remember that this is Moroni talking about what Ether was saying in Moroni’s distant past. As such, it’s going to be a bit weird to read… But the reality is that there are two options: Either Lehi arrived before Ether’s sermon or after it. Consider the following possible ways in which Moroni could have written about Lehi’s arrival:

1. Lehi arrived in Ether’s past: “The Jerusalem from whence Lehi came”
2. Lehi arrived in Ether’s future: “The Jerusalem from whence Lehi will come”
3. Lehi arrived in Ether’s future AND Moroni’s past: “The Jerusalem from whence Lehi would come”

In my opinion, #3, which is basically how it reads in the Book of Mormon, only makes sense if Lehi arrived in the Americas after Ether’s speech. But I could be wrong. Any English experts want to chime in on this one??

Now, the question is, when did Lehi arrive in the Americas?

Unfortunately, nobody knows! We’re not even sure when he left Jerusalem. You probably automatically want to say 600 BC, but I’ve seen some estimates as high as 610 BC, so I’m not going to lean too hard on this piece of evidence, but keep it in mind…

Thankfully, Ether apparently spouted off another subtle little clue about the timeline in this same sermon. Check it out:

  13:5 And he [Ether] spake also concerning … Jerusalem … —after it should be destroyed it should be built up again, a holy city unto the Lord…

Did you catch this one? — “AFTER IT SHOULD BE DESTROYED” … When Ether said this, Jerusalem had not yet been destroyed! Because he was speaking of the “Jerusalem from whence Lehi would come,” we know that the destruction mentioned here is the one from which Lehi preemptively fled–the destruction of 587 BC. If so, and because that date has been so well established by historians, we can pretty confidently state that the Ether 12-15 timeline began before 587 BC.

Interestingly, another little fact about timing can be found in Ether’s speech. In speaking of the Lehites, I presume, he said this:

13:7 For as Joseph brought his father down into the land of Egypt, even so he died there; wherefore, the Lord brought a remnant of the seed of Joseph out of the land of Jerusalem, that he might be merciful unto the seed of Joseph that they should perish not, even as he was merciful unto the father of Joseph that he should perish not. 

The Lord had BROUGHT (in the past tense) a remnant of Joseph’s seed out already by the time Ether said this. This seems to indicate that Ether’s discourse was given AFTER Lehi had left Jerusalem.

But of course, as stated above we’re not entirely sure when that was. We do know, however, from Nephi’s account that his family “sojourned” for at least “eight years in the wilderness” (1 Nephi 17:4), meaning it likely took them longer than 8 years to get to the Americas. So, it’s fascinating to think that as the words fell from Ether’s lips, Lehi might have been sojourning in the desert eating raw meat or sitting on a boat sailing to the New World–he just hadn’t arrived yet.

Therefore, we can state that Ether must have given this prophecy:

• After Lehi left Jerusalem (~600 BC);
• Before Lehi arrived in the Americas (? BC); and
• Before Jerusalem was destroyed (July 587 BC)

In other words, Ether probably started living in his cave (Ether 13:13-15) sometime between 600 and 587 BC. 

You may have noticed that these three useful points above–all of which come from the book of Ether–are totally independent of the Venus-Jaredite model. Even if my model and its theory are completely wrong and worthless, I think you can make a good argument that 600-587 BC was when Ether gave this speech. If you disagree, please state your case in the comments below.

But although these three points stand independently, it’s with these same little nuggets of knowledge that the Venus-Jaredite model shows a great deal of its value.

Remember, the Venus-Jaredite model only allows a timespan of about 13 years from Ether’s sermon to the ceremonial decapitation of Shiz. If we have to start before 587 BC, that means that the earliest possible start date would be 600 BC. It also means that the latest possible end date would be somewhere around 574 BC. This gives us a possible range of 26 years for all of the events summarized in Ether 12-15:

600 BC — 574 BC

That’s as far as I’ll go for now, but in the next post I will zero in on a reasonable, possible starting date for Ether’s sermon, and I’ll use the calculated dates of Venus’ position in the ancient skies to do it…

But before we leave this one, this is a hot topic, so let me address a couple counterarguments to all this.

Counter Argument #1: Coriantumr could have been found by later descendants of the original Mulekite party

I’ve seen some argue that Coriantumr was discovered by a later generation of Mulekites, not the original group that fled from Jerusalem. To support this, some may note the use of the term “people of Zarahemla” in Omni when the story of Coriantumr is relayed to the reader:

And Coriantumr was discovered by the people of Zarahemla; and he dwelt with them for the space of nine moons. (Omni 1:21) 

Another verse in Mosiah 25 identifies Zarahemla (a contemporary with Mosiah 1) as a descendant of Mulek, and therefore of a later generation:

Now there were not so many of the children of Nephi, or so many of those who were descendants of Nephi, as there were of the people of Zarahemla, who was a descendant of Mulek, and those who came with him into the wilderness. (Mosiah 25:2)

So, the argument goes, it is very possible that Coriantumr was found by a later generation of Zarahemla-ites, maybe even by the same Zarahemla that met Mosiah 1 when the Nephites came into the land of Zarahemla.

I think that the text in those quoted verses definitely leaves it open for that interpretation, however I like to point out again the following verse in Omni:

Behold, it came to pass that Mosiah discovered that the people of Zarahemla came out from Jerusalem at the time that Zedekiah, king of Judah, was carried away captive into Babylon. (Omni 1:15)

The writer of this verse calls the first generation of Mulekites “the people of Zarahemla”, since he’s speaking of the group that escaped out of Jerusalem in 587 BC. Surely, the Zarahemla speaking to Mosiah in 212 BC was not with the original Mulekite party. So I see the term “people of Zarahemla” as a later term that the book of Omni is projecting onto the past.

In addition to that, there’s the issue of the large stone engraved with details about Coriantumr’s life (see Omni 1:20-22). If you remember, the people of Zarahemla could not read the words carved into the rock (see Omni 1:17)–and neither could the literate Nephites, by the way–therefore, it must have been written at least a generation or two before Mosiah 1 translated it by the gift and power of God. The farther back in time you place Coriantumr’s death, the more likely it becomes for the people of Zarahemla to forget and corrupt the original language of the first Mulekite settlers. 

I do believe that Coriantumr really lived only about 9 months after the final battle, so I contend that he was discovered by the Mulekites very soon after he beheaded Shiz:

And Coriantumr was discovered by the people of Zarahemla; and he dwelt with them for the space of nine moons. (Omni 1:21)

The reason for this is two-fold. One–because the Venus-Jaredite model shows that Coriantumr was symbolically identified as the Morning Star and that his last 9 moons align perfectly with the 263 days of the Morning Star phase immediately following the final battle. And Two– because Ether seems to prophesy that Coriantumr will “ONLY” live long enough to see that the Mulekites will inherit the land:

And in the second year the word of the Lord came to Ether, that he should go and prophesy unto Coriantumr that, if he would repent, and all his household, the Lord would give unto him his kingdom and spare the people—21 Otherwise they should be destroyed, and all his household save it were himself. And he should only live to see the fulfilling of the prophecies which had been spoken concerning another people receiving the land for their inheritance; and Coriantumr should receive a burial by them; and every soul should be destroyed save it were Coriantumr. (Ether 13:20-21)

This is important because if Coriantumr was found very soon after the final battle, then that means the Mulekites were already in the Americas by that time… or perhaps they were in the process of arriving… on boats. And if we believe the following verse in Omni, then they left the land of Jerusalem in 587 BC:

Behold, it came to pass that Mosiah discovered that the people of Zarahemla came out from Jerusalem at the time that Zedekiah, king of Judah, was carried away captive into Babylon. (Omni 1:15)

Which means of course, that unless the Mulekites had airplane or teleportation technology, they probably could not have left in 587 BC and arrived in 587 BC. I’d imagine that it would’ve taken a couple of years at least–so keep that in mind as we proceed.

Counter Argument #2: The bones of the Jaredites would not have lasted 400+ years

An interesting episode is recounted in Mosiah 8 and 21, wherein king Limhi sends a group of 43 men into the wilderness to search for the land of Zarahemla. On their way, they get lost and end up in what sounds like Late Jaredite ruins and human remains:

8:7 And the king said unto him: Being grieved for the afflictions of my people, I caused that forty and three of my people should take a journey into the wilderness, that thereby they might find the land of Zarahemla, that we might appeal unto our brethren to deliver us out of bondage. 8 And they were lost in the wilderness for the space of many days, yet they were diligent, and found not the land of Zarahemla but returned to this land, having traveled in a land among many waters, having discovered a land which was covered with bones of men, and of beasts, and was also covered with ruins of buildings of every kind, having discovered a land which had been peopled with a people who were as numerous as the hosts of Israel.

21:25 Now king Limhi had sent, previous to the coming of Ammon, a small number of men to search for the land of Zarahemla; but they could not find it, and they were lost in the wilderness. 26 Nevertheless, they did find a land which had been peopled; yea, a land which was covered with dry bones; yea, a land which had been peopled and which had been destroyed; and they, having supposed it to be the land of Zarahemla, returned to the land of Nephi, having arrived in the borders of the land not many days before the coming of Ammon. 27 And they brought a record with them, even a record of the people whose bones they had found; and it was engraven on plates of ore.

The Limhites would have found these bones around 127 BC. The argument goes that the Jaredites could not have been destroyed around 574 BC because bones don’t preserve that long in tropical climates… and of course, many people feel like the Jaredites were destroyed in Central America.

However, we don’t actually know where these Limhite explorers found these bones. Apparently, if it’s in a dry enough location, bones can last for a very long time:

“In humid conditions, bones might break down in a matter of a decade or so, but in a dry climate, it could take thousands of years!” [3]

I don’t want to go too much into Book of Mormon geographical subjects in this series, but it is entirely possible that the bones these Limhites found were in a dry area. I mean, the record does state explicitly that they found “dry bones” (Mosiah 21:25). If they did find dry bones in a dry climate, these human remains could have been old enough to support a 600-574 BC final battle.

Counter Argument #3: The Mulekites may not have left Jerusalem in 587 BC

Of course, we don’t know exactly when Mulek fled from Jerusalem, so this counter argument is absolutely valid. The little information we do have seems to suggest that he left at the same time that Jerusalem was destroyed, which we know probably happened in 587 BC…

Omni 1:15 Behold, it came to pass that Mosiah discovered that the people of Zarahemla came out from Jerusalem at the time that Zedekiah, king of Judah, was carried away captive into Babylon.

This statement is definitely open for multiple possibilities as to when exactly Mulek would have left, but it seems to be in close proximity to the capture of Zedekiah.

Conclusion

I think that the quote from Ether 11 that I started this article with supports the idea that Coriantumr was found by the original Mulekites as they sailed into the New World around 587-574 BC. The prophets had specified that a new people would come to the land in the same manner as their ancestors did–which, if you read Ether 3-6, likely means by boat. And then Ether tells Coriantumr that he will only live long enough to see those prophecies be fulfilled–which to me sounds like Coriantumr saw a new people arriving by boat… and that they had a king (MLK [1], or Mulek) with them. The king of the newly-destroyed land saw a new king come into the land by boat, and he instantly knew that all of the prophecies had been fulfilled to the letter.

Interestingly, if the Venus-Jaredite model reflects reality, then we can rule out the theory that Lehi left Jerusalem any time before 600 BC [2]. The reason why is because Lehi leaving at, say, 605 BC, would require that Ether’s sermon and ostracization was before or in the year 605 BC… and if you add 13 years to that you get 592 BC, which would make it impossible for Coriantumr to be discovered by the Mulekites.

In the next post, we will use the 598–574 BC range and the ancient movements of Venus to pinpoint when the final battle of the Jaredites happened.

(TO BE CONTINUED…)

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Sources and Notes

1. “The Phoenician root MLK refers to sole power, often associated with a king.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrgi_Tablets 
2. https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/dating-the-departure-of-lehi-from-jerusalem/ 
3. https://www.scienceabc.com/humans/skeleton-mystery-dont-bones-decay-decompose.html

Featured image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jerusalem_(587_BC)