While studying the record of the Jaredites, I noticed that the number 8 was hidden multiple times throughout the text—seemingly on purpose. Here is a list of every instance of a veiled eight that I found.
- 8 boats
- 8 x 2 stones
- 8 prayers made by the brother of Jared
- 8 times saying “O Lord” before the Lord appears
- 8 x 43 days on the water
- 8 daughters of Jared
- 8 daughters of Orihah
- 8th king always named Heth, the 8th letter in Semitic alphabet
- 8 apparent generations of poisonous serpents
- 8 unnamed men
- 8 battles in the penultimate war
- 8 battles in the final war
- 8 full synodic periods of Venus until the people were destroyed
- 8 years of fighting before the “Shiz hits the fan”
- 8 years of rest during the final wars
- 8 Morning Star rises for Coriantumr
- 8-day long final battle
- 8 full lunar cycles after the final battle
- 8 x 3 gold plates in Ether’s record
- Base-8, Jaredite-inspired Nephite monetary system
Further, I’ve found a few interesting eights connected to the Jaredites elsewhere in the Book of Mormon:
- The very first mention of the Jaredites in the translation process (after the 116 pages were lost) is found in the 8th verse of the 8th chapter of the 8th book in the Book of Mormon (Mosiah 8:8).
- The first mention of the Jaredites in the finished Book of Mormon is found in Jacob 5:44; and 44 reduces to 8 (4+4=8).
- The middle chapter of the book of Ether is chapter 8 (because 8 is the exact middle number between 1 and 15).
Watch the video I made documenting every hidden eight I could find:
And watch the eighth episode of Gathered In One, which just so happened to be about the Jaredites (this wasn’t planned):
In addition, I believe I’m the first one to point out the interesting fact that the 104-year Mesoamerican cycle (Venus century), which is 65 synodic periods of Venus, is equal to 8 x 8 + 8/8 Venusian synodic cycles.
Also, I’m the first to connect the historical Pawnee Morning Star Ceremony—in which they would sacrifice a 13-year-old girl to Venus—to the passing of specifically 8 synodic cycles of Venus—8 and 1/8 synodic cycles being equal to 13 years (read more here*).
