Ether 8
8:1-7 - I’ve had a kind of difficult weekend. I took two days off of work and felt really just grumpy and irritated, had a couple of run ins with people, it’s been a while since I’ve had that and it felt really bad. I realized that when I’m on my regular schedule, I listen to conference or the Ensign or something like that for over an hour everyday while driving to work, then I do an intensive scripture study and blog post at night, and then I pray not only on the way home from work, which is about 45 minutes, but then I try to have an honest conversation with God when I get home too. So in all, on a work day I usually spend 3+ hours engaged in some sort of spiritually strengthening activity, whereas on the weekends pretty much everything comes to a complete stop, I don’t blog, the only scripture study that I do is with my kids for about 10 minutes every day, my prayers are more lax because I have kids in my face pretty much all the time. In comparison, I spend 3+ hours a day engaged spiritually during the week, whereas on the days that I don’t work, that gets cut to about 20 minutes at the most. That lack of spiritual communion for 4 days, in conjunction with my own hostility, really took me down this weekend and I was really unhappy with the way I let that happen. I’m going to have to work on that and make some changes because I can’t do one step forward, 5 steps back like I did this weekend. Anyway, Shule was a righteous king and “he begat Omer, and Omer reigned in his stead. And Omer begat Jared; and Jared begat sons and daughters. And Jared rebelled against his father, and… gave battle unto his father, and he did carry away his father into captivity, and did make him serve in captivity.” This is similar to what happened to Shule, the captivity was similar too because while Omer was a prisoner “he begat sons and daughters.” Again, I really don’t understand this concept of captivity where the prisoner is allowed to have children, very obscure for me. Again, like the sons of Shule, the sons of Omer “were exceedingly angry because of the doings of Jared their brother, insomuch that they did raise an army and gave battle unto Jared.” These boys were mad at their brother for the injustice he had done to their father, and when given, raised their own army and fought against the tyranny that Jared had implemented. Interestingly, again, like the story of Shule when Corihor, the rebellious son, was spared, Jared, the rebellious son this time begged his brothers not to kill him when he was overthrown. Now here is where the story diverged, the rebellious Corihor eventually repented of his wrong doings and was granted power in the kingdom, but this time around, the rebellious Jared, whose life was spared by his brothers, “became exceedingly sorrowful because of the loss of the kingdom, for he had set his heart upon the kingdom and upon the glory of the world.” That’s not a repentant spirit, that man is not interested in getting right with the Lord and upholding the righteous rule of his father, Omer who had been restored to the throne, no he’s not angry because he did wrong, he’s angry because he can’t do wrong any more.
8:8-26 - We’re introduced to an interesting character, Jared’s daughter, who is not named in the story. She sees that her father is upset because he can’t be wicked on the same scale as he was before and “thought to devise a place whereby she could redeem the kingdom unto her father.” This is the ultimate example of daddy-issues here, she knew that she was beautiful, kind of an interesting concept too, so many women hate their bodies, that’s why super models have eating disorders, it’s a rabbit hole, but I guess she shows us here that vanity is a rabbit hole too. She’s “exceedingly expert” as Moroni describes her, and is very well versed in the “record which our fathers brought across the great deep,” and since I’m assuming that they were in the same records as the holy scriptures, so it would seem that she was quite the student of history and possibly even the scriptures, and if she read the scriptures and most importantly gleaned the way to create secret combinations, then that’s pretty hard hearted right there. She proposes to her father that he invite Akish to see her dance, and knowing that he will want to marry her after he sees how beautiful she is, and that she will marry him if he agrees to kill the king Omer, her grandfather. There’s a lot to this story that doesn’t make sense, first why did she choose Akish? Did she already secretly love him? Was he the most likely to agree to murder as a bride price, and if that’s the case imagine what kind of husband he would be? If there wasn’t already some sort of relationship there, he had to be one of the wicked men, because first, it’s crazy that he would agree to murder as a wedding gift, and second, he’s an idiot for desiring to marry a woman just because he saw her dance. This indicates that he’s incredibly misogynistic, doesn’t care about her as a person, and doesn’t plan on that being an equal and loving relationship, he wants her for her body and that’s it. So Akish is either some secret lover or is the biggest mark of all time. It’s interesting to note that king Omer was friends with Akish, maybe this is why they chose him, because he would have had the opportunity to be close to the king and kill him, but I also still stand by what I said earlier. This plan of secret murder and struggle for power is a first the for Jaredites, and the IM says, “Moroni paused in his rapid summary of Jaredite history to recount in great detail the instituting of secret combinations among these people. Moroni did so because these organizations caused the entire downfall of both the Jaredite and the Nephite societies; unless we repent, secret combinations will cause the downfall of society in our own time. Ether 8:9 indicates that the Jaredites learned about secret combinations form records that their fathers had brought with them from the old world. It is possible that these records contained an account of the earliest secret combinations. We know that the Jaredites had the records of the ‘creation of the world, and also of Adam, and an account from that time even to the great tower.’ The plan by which Jared’s daughter proposed to help secure the kingdom for her father indicates how evil persons can take advantage of human weakness. Jared’s daughter was well aware of her personal beauty, as well as Akish’s desire for her. In her anxiety to help her father get power and fain, she was willing to participate in an evil plot.” I’d like to add that she didn’t just participate, but she orchestrated the whole thing. I wonder if it was only a desire to please her father that began this whole thing, perhaps she was eager for power and influence as well, but as a woman at the time wouldn’t have been as able to do so as her father was who was already king for much of his lifetime. It’s interesting to me that she got the idea from the books of record had among her people because it reminds me of the portion of the Book of Mormon where the prophets are forbidden to write all about the secret combinations because it could give the people ideas. I’m trying to find that right now, but until then, it’s just interesting that the Lord said, “don’t let the people have records about secret combinations because it could give them ideas” and here it’s recorded as happening centuries prior to that commandment to the Nephite prophets, maybe as a way of illustrating why that commandment was important. Even Moroni says in verse 20 that he does “not write the manner of their oaths and combinations, for it hath been made known unto me that they are had among all people, and they are had among the Lamanites.” Even when the secret oaths and all that were destroyed, as happened a few times in the Book of Mormon, the people didn’t need step by step instructions on how to restart them, Satan is always in people’s ears telling them how to do things like this, and like Moroni said, secret combinations are “had among all people” because Satan teaches and exploits all people who will listen. As verse 16 says, “they were kept up by the power of the devil to administer these oaths unto the people, to keep them in darkness, to help such as sought power to gain power, and to murder, and to plunder, and to lie, and to commit all manner of wickedness and whoredoms.” This is Satan’s realm, his ideas and a result of his constant influence, where we allow it. The IM says, “Whereas the Lord is ‘a God of truth, and canst not lie,’ Satan ‘was a liar from the beginning.’ The Lord revealed to Moses that ‘Satan, yea, even the devil, (is) the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice.’ Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained that Satan ‘and the spirits who follow him are still deceiving the world… Satan’s methods of deception are enticing: music, movies and other media, and the glitter of a good time. When Satan’s lies succeed in deceiving us, we become vulnerable to his power.’” Tragic, when we think about it that Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and wants to provide for us rewards and treasures beyond comprehension, but Satan would not only persuade us to give those up but tries to convince us that it’s God’s fault that we aren’t happy when we sin. It’s really pretty sick actually. The IM continues, “In speaking of the Millennium, Nephi explained that ‘because of the righteousness of (God’s) people, Satan has no power;… for they dwell in righteousness, and the Holy One of Israel reigneth.’ Moroni states that one purpose of revealing Satan’s tactics is to do away with evil while looking forward to the time to come when ‘Satan may have no power upon the hearts of the children of men, but that they may be persuaded to do good continually.’ The Prophet Joseph Smith declared: ‘The devil has no power over us only as we permit him; the moment we revolt at anything which comes from God, the devil takes power.’” I think that it’s hard to imagine, in our society, especially as members of the church, that we are surrounded by secret combinations, sure we think of gangs and all that, but if gangs are the only ones who are dishonest or seeking for power and gain, they are too small scale to cause our downfall. But if there are bigger secret organizations that desire to get gain and have power, big enough and strong enough to take over major corporations and government entities, then we are doomed for sure. The word “conspiracy” is by its very nature meant to make those who speak of it seem paranoid and crazy, but if we are being so warned about secret combinations that have the ability to destroy our society, then maybe it would beneficial for us to lay down some of the ideas we’ve been force fed our whole lives and look at some new ones. The stakes are pretty high because secret combinations “seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people, for it is built up by the devil, who is the father of all lies; even that some liar who beguiled our first parents, yea, even that same liar who hath caused man to commit murder from the beginning; who hath hardened the hearts of men that they have murdered the prophets, and stoned them, and cast them out from the beginning.” The price of ignorance or denial is high and the consequences severe, let us heed this prophetic warning to uphold righteousness, and turn away from blanketed teachings and assumptions that we are indoctrinated with by our society. There’s one example that I want to make here, and I don’t remember if I talked about it here before, but there’s a song, first introduced to me by the 9 year old daughter of a really good friend. The first line of the song says, “she has the body of an hourglass, but I’ll give it to you all the time.” I didn’t catch it the first time but after several times hearing it, I realized what it was really saying. I would never tell my daughter, “that other girl has a better body than you do, but if you give the boys your body whenever they want, they will like you more.” It might seem like I’m over reacting, but that’s the message that that song has, I would never say that to my daughter so why on earth would I ever let some singer, who just wants my money, tell my daughter that. And the most tragic part about this whole thing isn’t that this one song is still played on radio, the tragedy is that 90% of music these days talks about sex and the vast majority of those talk about women’s bodies like they are toys, not that we are special, not that our virtue should be guarded by girls and boys alike, but that that’s how we get boys to like us, by letting them have our bodies, and that getting boys to like you is the most important thing. The solution to teen pregnancy and abortion isn’t legislation or graphic sex education in schools, it’s teaching boys that women are valuable and precious and daughters of God, and making sure that the girls believe that they are all that too. Who pushes the idea that girls are not valuable contributors of society? Large corporations. Why pushes education that doesn’t really teach what’s important? The government. Still think that there are no conspiracies? So Jared’s daughter’s plan works out just the way that she thinks it will and she dances and Akish wants to marry her, and so he’s told that if he kills the king then she will marry him. Then Akish puts all his friends and family members under oath, punishable by death, to help him, and they all agree “leading them away by fair promises to do whatsoever thing he desired.” Promises, promises… I’m a firm believer that if they’ll do it with you, they’ll do it too you, if they will plot with you to destroy the king, they will plot with others to destroy you when you are the king. “For the Lord worketh not in secret combinations, neither doth he will that man should shed blood, but in all things hath forbidden it, from the beginning of man.” God has shared with mankind the power to create life, which we’ve handled very poorly, but he has not shared his power to take life, he is the judge of all, he is the executioner, and when it comes time to take life, it’s only after he has tirelessly worked toward repentance, it’s a last resort, and a very complicated matter.
8:8-26 - We’re introduced to an interesting character, Jared’s daughter, who is not named in the story. She sees that her father is upset because he can’t be wicked on the same scale as he was before and “thought to devise a place whereby she could redeem the kingdom unto her father.” This is the ultimate example of daddy-issues here, she knew that she was beautiful, kind of an interesting concept too, so many women hate their bodies, that’s why super models have eating disorders, it’s a rabbit hole, but I guess she shows us here that vanity is a rabbit hole too. She’s “exceedingly expert” as Moroni describes her, and is very well versed in the “record which our fathers brought across the great deep,” and since I’m assuming that they were in the same records as the holy scriptures, so it would seem that she was quite the student of history and possibly even the scriptures, and if she read the scriptures and most importantly gleaned the way to create secret combinations, then that’s pretty hard hearted right there. She proposes to her father that he invite Akish to see her dance, and knowing that he will want to marry her after he sees how beautiful she is, and that she will marry him if he agrees to kill the king Omer, her grandfather. There’s a lot to this story that doesn’t make sense, first why did she choose Akish? Did she already secretly love him? Was he the most likely to agree to murder as a bride price, and if that’s the case imagine what kind of husband he would be? If there wasn’t already some sort of relationship there, he had to be one of the wicked men, because first, it’s crazy that he would agree to murder as a wedding gift, and second, he’s an idiot for desiring to marry a woman just because he saw her dance. This indicates that he’s incredibly misogynistic, doesn’t care about her as a person, and doesn’t plan on that being an equal and loving relationship, he wants her for her body and that’s it. So Akish is either some secret lover or is the biggest mark of all time. It’s interesting to note that king Omer was friends with Akish, maybe this is why they chose him, because he would have had the opportunity to be close to the king and kill him, but I also still stand by what I said earlier. This plan of secret murder and struggle for power is a first the for Jaredites, and the IM says, “Moroni paused in his rapid summary of Jaredite history to recount in great detail the instituting of secret combinations among these people. Moroni did so because these organizations caused the entire downfall of both the Jaredite and the Nephite societies; unless we repent, secret combinations will cause the downfall of society in our own time. Ether 8:9 indicates that the Jaredites learned about secret combinations form records that their fathers had brought with them from the old world. It is possible that these records contained an account of the earliest secret combinations. We know that the Jaredites had the records of the ‘creation of the world, and also of Adam, and an account from that time even to the great tower.’ The plan by which Jared’s daughter proposed to help secure the kingdom for her father indicates how evil persons can take advantage of human weakness. Jared’s daughter was well aware of her personal beauty, as well as Akish’s desire for her. In her anxiety to help her father get power and fain, she was willing to participate in an evil plot.” I’d like to add that she didn’t just participate, but she orchestrated the whole thing. I wonder if it was only a desire to please her father that began this whole thing, perhaps she was eager for power and influence as well, but as a woman at the time wouldn’t have been as able to do so as her father was who was already king for much of his lifetime. It’s interesting to me that she got the idea from the books of record had among her people because it reminds me of the portion of the Book of Mormon where the prophets are forbidden to write all about the secret combinations because it could give the people ideas. I’m trying to find that right now, but until then, it’s just interesting that the Lord said, “don’t let the people have records about secret combinations because it could give them ideas” and here it’s recorded as happening centuries prior to that commandment to the Nephite prophets, maybe as a way of illustrating why that commandment was important. Even Moroni says in verse 20 that he does “not write the manner of their oaths and combinations, for it hath been made known unto me that they are had among all people, and they are had among the Lamanites.” Even when the secret oaths and all that were destroyed, as happened a few times in the Book of Mormon, the people didn’t need step by step instructions on how to restart them, Satan is always in people’s ears telling them how to do things like this, and like Moroni said, secret combinations are “had among all people” because Satan teaches and exploits all people who will listen. As verse 16 says, “they were kept up by the power of the devil to administer these oaths unto the people, to keep them in darkness, to help such as sought power to gain power, and to murder, and to plunder, and to lie, and to commit all manner of wickedness and whoredoms.” This is Satan’s realm, his ideas and a result of his constant influence, where we allow it. The IM says, “Whereas the Lord is ‘a God of truth, and canst not lie,’ Satan ‘was a liar from the beginning.’ The Lord revealed to Moses that ‘Satan, yea, even the devil, (is) the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice.’ Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained that Satan ‘and the spirits who follow him are still deceiving the world… Satan’s methods of deception are enticing: music, movies and other media, and the glitter of a good time. When Satan’s lies succeed in deceiving us, we become vulnerable to his power.’” Tragic, when we think about it that Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and wants to provide for us rewards and treasures beyond comprehension, but Satan would not only persuade us to give those up but tries to convince us that it’s God’s fault that we aren’t happy when we sin. It’s really pretty sick actually. The IM continues, “In speaking of the Millennium, Nephi explained that ‘because of the righteousness of (God’s) people, Satan has no power;… for they dwell in righteousness, and the Holy One of Israel reigneth.’ Moroni states that one purpose of revealing Satan’s tactics is to do away with evil while looking forward to the time to come when ‘Satan may have no power upon the hearts of the children of men, but that they may be persuaded to do good continually.’ The Prophet Joseph Smith declared: ‘The devil has no power over us only as we permit him; the moment we revolt at anything which comes from God, the devil takes power.’” I think that it’s hard to imagine, in our society, especially as members of the church, that we are surrounded by secret combinations, sure we think of gangs and all that, but if gangs are the only ones who are dishonest or seeking for power and gain, they are too small scale to cause our downfall. But if there are bigger secret organizations that desire to get gain and have power, big enough and strong enough to take over major corporations and government entities, then we are doomed for sure. The word “conspiracy” is by its very nature meant to make those who speak of it seem paranoid and crazy, but if we are being so warned about secret combinations that have the ability to destroy our society, then maybe it would beneficial for us to lay down some of the ideas we’ve been force fed our whole lives and look at some new ones. The stakes are pretty high because secret combinations “seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people, for it is built up by the devil, who is the father of all lies; even that some liar who beguiled our first parents, yea, even that same liar who hath caused man to commit murder from the beginning; who hath hardened the hearts of men that they have murdered the prophets, and stoned them, and cast them out from the beginning.” The price of ignorance or denial is high and the consequences severe, let us heed this prophetic warning to uphold righteousness, and turn away from blanketed teachings and assumptions that we are indoctrinated with by our society. There’s one example that I want to make here, and I don’t remember if I talked about it here before, but there’s a song, first introduced to me by the 9 year old daughter of a really good friend. The first line of the song says, “she has the body of an hourglass, but I’ll give it to you all the time.” I didn’t catch it the first time but after several times hearing it, I realized what it was really saying. I would never tell my daughter, “that other girl has a better body than you do, but if you give the boys your body whenever they want, they will like you more.” It might seem like I’m over reacting, but that’s the message that that song has, I would never say that to my daughter so why on earth would I ever let some singer, who just wants my money, tell my daughter that. And the most tragic part about this whole thing isn’t that this one song is still played on radio, the tragedy is that 90% of music these days talks about sex and the vast majority of those talk about women’s bodies like they are toys, not that we are special, not that our virtue should be guarded by girls and boys alike, but that that’s how we get boys to like us, by letting them have our bodies, and that getting boys to like you is the most important thing. The solution to teen pregnancy and abortion isn’t legislation or graphic sex education in schools, it’s teaching boys that women are valuable and precious and daughters of God, and making sure that the girls believe that they are all that too. Who pushes the idea that girls are not valuable contributors of society? Large corporations. Why pushes education that doesn’t really teach what’s important? The government. Still think that there are no conspiracies? So Jared’s daughter’s plan works out just the way that she thinks it will and she dances and Akish wants to marry her, and so he’s told that if he kills the king then she will marry him. Then Akish puts all his friends and family members under oath, punishable by death, to help him, and they all agree “leading them away by fair promises to do whatsoever thing he desired.” Promises, promises… I’m a firm believer that if they’ll do it with you, they’ll do it too you, if they will plot with you to destroy the king, they will plot with others to destroy you when you are the king. “For the Lord worketh not in secret combinations, neither doth he will that man should shed blood, but in all things hath forbidden it, from the beginning of man.” God has shared with mankind the power to create life, which we’ve handled very poorly, but he has not shared his power to take life, he is the judge of all, he is the executioner, and when it comes time to take life, it’s only after he has tirelessly worked toward repentance, it’s a last resort, and a very complicated matter.
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