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Brother of Jared

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Lehi (far right, bearded) bestowing a blessing on his family. At least 21 different figures are visible (inclusive of infants and children). There is a mix of men, women, and children. A man in blue appears to be writing, perhaps transcribing what Lehi is saying. One infant is nursing. Several men have beards. All but the children wear hats or scarf-like head coverings. The fashion and style is reminiscent of nineteenth-century Christian art of Old Testament scenes. There is a vibrancy of color, with clothing in blues, greens, whites, and reds. The family gather in something like a circle, on a green, grassy field. There are tents visible in the background. This is cropped from a full version of the scene.
Lehi Blessing His Posterity, C. C. A. Christensen (1890)
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In the Book of Mormon, 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 Brother of Jared's name is not given in the text of the Book of Mormon, but Joseph Smith stated in 1834 that it was Mahonri Moriancumer.

Name

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In an 1835 letter, Oliver Cowdery parenthetically gives the name of the brother of Jared as "Moriancumer,"[1][2] which appears in the Book of Ether in the Book of Mormon only as a place name.[3] 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":

While residing in Kirtland Elder Reynolds Cahoon had a son born to him. One day when President Joseph Smith was passing his door he called the Prophet in and asked him to bless and name the baby. Joseph did so and gave the boy the name of Mahonri Moriancumer. When he had finished the blessing he laid the child on the bed, and turning to Elder Cahoon he said, the name I have given your son is the name of the Brother of Jared; the Lord has just shown [or revealed] it to me. Elder William F. Cahoon, who was standing near, heard the Prophet make this statement to his father; and this was the first time the name of the brother of Jared was known in the Church in this dispensation.[4][5][6]

Christ, appearing in a vision, to the Brother of Jared

Etymologies have been proposed but remain largely speculative.[7]

According to Daniel H. Ludlow, 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 is traditionally said to have written);
  • 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;[8]
  • In Ancient Rome, damnatio memoriae meant names were intentionally deleted from the public record. Ancient Egyptian factions also expunged 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.[9]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Cowdery, Oliver (April 1835). "Letter VI. to W. W. Phelps, Esq." . Messenger and Advocate. Vol. 1, no. 7. p. 112. the Lord showed the brother of Jared [Moriancumer] all things which were to transpire from that day to the end of the earth ...
  2. ^ Underwood, Grant (1985). "The Earliest Reference Guides to the Book of Mormon: Windows into the Past". Journal of Mormon History. 12: 87–88 n.71. JSTOR 23285890. (registration required)
  3. ^ Ether 2:13
  4. ^ George Reynolds, "The Jaredites," The Juvenile Instructor, vol. 27, no. 9 [1 May 1892], p. 282 n. [1]
  5. ^ Chapter 48, Book of Mormon Student Manual, Religion 121 and 122, 1996
  6. ^ "Book of Mormon Seminary Student Study Guide" (PDF). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 2000. p. 188. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 August 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  7. ^ Moriancumer, Book of Mormon Onomasticon, The Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University
  8. ^ Daniel H. Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon, p. 310
  9. ^ Ether 11:17–18

Further reading

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