The Jaredites Cross The Ocean

In the Book of Mormon in Ether chapter 6 the Jaredites enter into the eight barges which they had built to begin their journey to the Americas.

The Barges They Built

The properties, dimensions, and construction of the barges is described in Ether 2:16 - 17, 20.

"16 ...And they were small, and they were light upon the water, even like unto the lightness of a fowl upon the water.
17 And they were built after a manner that they were exceedingly tight, even that they would hold water like unto a dish; and the bottom thereof was tight like unto a dish; and the sides thereof were tight like unto a dish; and the ends thereof were peaked; and the top thereof was tight like unto a dish; and the length thereof was the length of a tree; and the door thereof, when it was shut, was tight like unto a dish."
"20 ...make a hole in the top, and also in the bottom; and when thou shalt suffer for air thou shalt unstop the hole and receive air..."

The Journey To The Americas

In Ether 2:23 the Lord informed the Jaredites that they were not to take fire with them. For light they have two stones (Ether 3:1,6) per barge that give light because the lord touched them. Final preparations to depart and their departure are recorded in Ether 6:4-5

"4 And it came to pass that when they had prepared all manner of food, that thereby they might subsist upon the water, and also food for their flocks and herds, and whatsoever beast or animal or fowl that they should carry with them - and it came to pass that when they had done all these things they got aboard of their vessels or barges, and set forth into the sea, commending themselves unto the Lord their God.
5 And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a furious wind blow upon the face of the waters, towards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind."

This journey lasted three hundred and forty and four days according to Ether 6:11.

A few thoughts I have had about this journey are as follows. It seems to me they very likely had to practice some form of composting on their vessels to keep the stench of their waste down and because they were in constant motion they may have had little or no opportunity to open the door and discharge waste.

Furthermore along with the food they must have had enough water for the entire journey or a method of converting sea water to drinking water for them and all the animals that were with them.

The barges had no steering so they were completely dependent upon the Lord to get them where they needed to go and keep the eight barges together such that when they landed they were all together. This must have required great faith on their part. And if there were any who lacked faith once the journey had begun, it was too late and they were stuck for the remainder of the journey since they had no way to control where they went.

The light in their barges from the stones prepared by the Lord I view as a symbol of the light of the gospel shining upon them for the entire journey.

There is no record if they knew how long the journey would take and their main indicator would have been if the Lord had told them exactly how much food to take with them. If that is not the case then I doubt they knew how long it would take. In any case the amount of food remaining toward the end of the journey would be dramatically less than when they started after consuming food for over three hundred days. Again this would test their faith that they would arrive at the promised land before their supplies ran out.

They shed tears of joy (Ether 6:12) before the Lord upon setting foot on the promised land.

Three Nephite Disciples Will Not Taste Of Death

In 3 Nephi 28 there is recorded an  extraordinary event which I will portray here.

Jesus, robed in white, is talking with his twelve disciples and asks them "What is it that ye desire of me, after that I am gone to the Father?" I will here focus on the three disciples who did not immediately give Jesus their answer and so in verse 4 Jesus repeats the same question. When they still don't reply Jesus tells them he knows their thoughts and tells them what they want and grants it unto them.

They wanted to continue to bring souls to Jesus until his second coming. This would mean they would have to not die. They knew the implications of this. What I suspect they didn't realize is everything else that would come with such a request. The experienced a change that meant they would not taste of death until Christs second coming.

What they were granted that they may not have realized would be granted is that they would no longer suffer pain nor sorrows except for the sorrow for the sins of others. This means no more broken bones for them, no more getting sick, and quite likely no more aging.

Furthermore Jesus told them Satan could no longer tempt them. From that moment on, most, if not all of their mortal test ended. They saw marvelous things in heaven which they could not tell others.

They could not be burned, prisons could not hold them, wild beasts would not hurt them, pits they were thrown into could not hold them, and in fine all manner of ways people could and would use to bind them or punish them would no longer work against them.

Jesus Blesses The Nephite Children

I am going to use visualization and hope that you can see in your mind the great and wondrous events found in the Book of Mormon in the 3rd book of Nephi in the 17th chapter in verses 11 thru 25.

First I will set up the scene based on these verses and others. There were about 2,500 people - men, women, and children (3 Nephi 17:25)  gathered around the temple in Bountiful (3 Nephi 11:1) when our resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ, descended from heaven and instructed them and organized His church among them (3 Nephi 11 -16). I imagine it is in the late afternoon or early evening and Jesus tells them to go to their homes to prepare their minds for what he will teach them tomorrow when He comes again. The people wanted Him to stay longer and so he does and He heals their sick.

Now he turns his attention to their children.

Jesus commanded that their little children be brought. So they brought their little children and set them down upon the ground round about him, and Jesus stood in the midst; and the multitude gave way till they had all been brought unto him. Infants were placed at his feet, looking up at him. Toddlers set down all around him and they sat quietly, reverently, and looked upon Jesus, older siblings sat still too. None spoke, none cried. So powerful must have been the spirit to create such a scene. The parents withdrew. Hundreds of children gathered round Jesus, some likely had just been healed by him.

All the adults knelt, making a second circle around Jesus. Jesus is at the center, encircled by the children, who are encircled by their kneeling parents. Jesus knelt. He prayed unto the Father.

The testimony the people gave of this prayer is as follows:

"16 ... The eye hath never seen, neither hath the ear heard, before, so great and marvelous things as we saw and heard Jesus speak unto the Father;
17 And no tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and heard Jesus speak; and no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls at the time we heard him pray for us unto the Father."

After this pray, Jesus arose. The joy the multitude felt overcame them to the point they were all laying on the ground. Jesus bade them arise and they did. Jesus wept for joy.

Then Jesus took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed for them. I imagine Jesus smiling as he held each infant in his arms and blessed each one. Likewise as he held each toddler, and each little child. So important are the children that he spent individual time with each one. There must have been more than one hundred.

And with joy, Jesus wept again. Tears streaming down his checks and around his smile.

Then he said, "Behold your little ones."

The heavens opened above them and hundreds of angels descended as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them.

There are a few ways to visualize this scene, one that I came upon, is that there is one ring of fire encircling all the children with the angels on the inside of that ring and Jesus in the center. The angels ministered unto them by lifting the infants into their arms, as well as the toddlers. They may have given hugs to the toddlers and little children, taken their hands, either walking beside the children hand in hand while teaching them the gospel and/or they could have set them in their laps to teach them or sat facing them moving their hands and arms as they taught them important truths. Resurrected beings (having only received their perfect bodies hours or minutes before arriving) with a white light around them brighter than the noon day sun and a circle of orange fire around this group between them and their parents but a fire that did not block what was happening from view.

And I wonder if some of these were Lehi, Nephi, Sam, Jacob, Joseph, Abinadi, Captain Moroni, both Alma's, Sariah, and others of the Nephites from times past. Wouldn't that have been something for them to be the angels that ministered unto the Nephite children.

I testify that Jesus did truly visit the Nephites after his Resurrection and he and angels ministered unto the Nephites little children. Not every word in this post is true as some of it is what I envisioned this event to be, however, every word of this event as found in 3 Nephi 17:11-25 is true and much of those words are quoted herein. May they help you to understand this scriptural event better.

How Captain Moroni Communicated With The Godhead

I find it very interesting that we don't have any record showing Captain Moroni talking with a member of the Godhead similar to how we see Nephi talk with the Holy Ghost or Enos talking with the Lord. And yet, Captain Moroni got answers from God. He understood them and took appropriate action.

In Alma 43:16 we have the first mention of Moroni being the captain of all the armies of the Nephites and in verse 17 it mentions that he was only 25 years old. The use of the word only too me implies that it was unusual for a 25 year old to be in charge of all the armies of the Nephites.

In Alma 43:19-20 we read that Moroni had prepared his soldiers with breastplates, arm-shields, shields to defend their heads, and wearing thick clothing and that the Lamanite army only wore loincloths. This in itself demonstrates Moroni's ability to think and implement new ways to protect and defend the Nephites. It is my opinion that Moroni received inspiration that he should prepare his soldiers this way. He did this after the last dissenters went to the Lamanites and before the current Lamanite army arrived. The Lamanites who had Nephite dissenters leading them had no idea the Nephite army would be wearing armor and because of this they retreated rather than fight.

Captain Moroni stayed in tune with spiritual matters as well as temporal matters both are demonstrated by the following two scriptures found in the Book of Mormon in Alma chapter 43.

"1 And now it came to pass that the sons of Alma did go forth among the people, to declare the word unto them. And Alma, also, himself, could not rest, and he also went forth."

"23 But it came to pass, as soon as they had departed into the wilderness Moroni sent spies into the wilderness to watch their camp; and Moroni, also, knowing of the prophecies of Alma, sent certain men unto him desiring him that he should inquire of the Lord whither the armies of the Nephites should go to defend themselves against the Lamanites."

Moroni had faith that if he sent someone to ask Alma where the Nephite army should go to defend the Nephites that Alma would give him the answer. Moroni had no doubt he would get an answer and so he did get it. Furthermore, Alma was on a mission to preach the gospel and yet there is no mention of Moroni's men having trouble finding him. Too me this means that Moroni knew where Alma was. He was smart enough to know he might need Alma's help and so made sure he knew where in all the cities of the Nephites Alma was or most likely would be. He didn't have time to make mistakes as the armies of the Lamanites were already on the move to where they would try and attack next.

It is quite likely that strategies he used came from hours of pondering and that because of this and his righteousness many ideas came to him through inspiration. And thus in this occasion he was ready to use a strategy to surround the Lamanites and defeat them.

After they left Moroni did not sit around idly waiting for the Lamanites to come again. Again I believe he was inspired on how to build defenses around the cities and through much pondering based on the above mentioned battle he had a pretty good idea that the Lamanites would retreat after seeing the new defenses and so the second place he figured they would go he prepared better than the first.

Here are segments of Alma chapter 48 that describe some of the new defenses and how the Lamanites reacted.

"4 ...the Nephites had dug up a ridge of earth round about them, which was so high that the Lamanites could not cast their stones and their arrows at them that they might take effect, neither could they come upon them save it was by their place of entrance."

In verse 6 we read that the Lamanites had a numerous army and had copied the Nephites and were now wearing armor just like the Nephites. And so the Lamanites had thought they would be able to do whatever they wanted.

"7 But behold, to their uttermost astonishment, they (the Nephites) were prepared for them, in a manner which never had been known among the children of Lehi. Now they were prepared for the Lamanites, to battle after the manner of the instructions of Moroni."

It is possible that Moroni had access to records that may have described fortifications and army and tactics but that assumes that such was brought by Lehi and his family when they left Jerusalem. I believe any such record, such as the brass plates and/or the plates of Nephi, simply talked about such things without giving detail about how they were made and the Lamanites were unlikely to know anything about that unless Laman or Lemuel had bothered to tell them which they probably did not.

And so the armies of the Lamanites retreated when they saw how Moroni had fortified the city of Ammonihah. It must not have occurred to the Lamanites that Moroni would expend the same amount if not more effort to prepare all the Nephite cities with the same fortifications and so the Lamanites went to the next city they thought would be easy to take, the city of Noah.

Moroni, in addition to making the fortifications at Noah better than at Ammonihah did something else to help this city. He stationed Lehi to command all the soldiers in the city of Noah. In verse 16 -17 we see the wisdom in this.

"16 And behold, Moroni had appointed Lehi to be chief captain over the men of that city; and it was that same Lehi who fought with the Lamanites in the valley on the east of the river Sidon."

"17 And now behold it came to pass, that when the Lamanites had found that Lehi commanded the city they were again disappointed for they feared Lehi exceedingly..."

This act demoralized the Lamanites and at the same time bolstered the courage of the troops in the city of Noah. Obviously the Lamanites that Moroni allowed to leave with an oath of peace after the battle in the valley near the river Sidon had not only spoken about Moroni but also Lehi. And the Nephites in the city of Noah would surely know that they were commanded by a leader, Lehi, who had fought and defeated a huge Lamanite army. They knew he would do the same again.

All of the above examples to me show and go beyond the words in the scriptures that describe Moroni. These things show that Captain Moroni trusted in the Lord, he knew how to get answers when he needed them, and he never hesitated to use the information once he got it. On numerous occasions Captain Moroni received inspiration and he even sought Alma, the prophet, for help in getting knowledge to help him defend the Nephites. I would be perfectly happy with such means of communication which I do get from time to time, if I could always understand such divine messages.

Pondering The Scriptures

I find it very interesting that some of the greatest revelations come while a person is pondering something that is of interest to them.

One example is Nephi after he listened to his father Lehi tell about his vision of the tree of live. In 1 Nephi 10:17 this is how Nephi described his reaction:

"17 And it came to pass after I, Nephi, having heard all the words of my father, concerning the things which he saw in a vision, and also the things which he spake by the power of the Holy Ghost, which power he received by faith on the Son of God - and the Son of God was the Messiah who should come - I Nephi, was desirous also that I might see, and hear, and know of these things, by the power of the Holy Ghost, which is the gift of God unto all those who diligently seek him, as well in times of old as in the time that he should manifest himself unto the children of men."

Here Nephi makes it clear that it is through the power of the Holy Ghost that he can learn these things. Too me, this also means that you, I, and all here on the earth can learn these things through the power of the Holy Ghost.

Nephi has already had some wonderful spiritual experiences up to this point. I wonder if he had any idea what was going to happen next. He doesn't seem surprised at the next events or if he was surprised he simply didn't write that he was. In 1 Nephi 11:1-3 we read:

"1 For it came to pass after I had desired to know the things that my father had seen, and believing that the Lord was able to make them known unto me, as I sat pondering in mine heart I was caught away in the Spirit of the Lord, yea, into an exceedingly high mountain, which I never had before seen, and upon which I never had before set my foot.
2 And the Spirit said unto me: Behold, what desirest thou?
3 And I said: I desire to behold the things which my father saw."

Did Nephi have any idea that he would see and talk with the Holy Ghost? I suspect he did not. In any case he actually saw and learned more than his father Lehi since there is no record of the Holy Ghost appearing to Lehi nor as far as I know to anyone else.

From this and other scriptural accounts I have learned that one of the keys to receiving revelations from God, or to put it in other words, one way to receive marvelous messages is to ponder upon something that is important to you.

I wonder how long and how intense were the desires of Nephi. I have pondered many things related to the gospel and to Jesus and yet have not had so wondrous an experience. I know that such things can happen to me but don't expect them to. In fact I would be quite satisfied to simply understand answers to my prayers more often even if those answers were simple impressions. But, since such simple ways of answering my prayers don't come this drives me forward to learn more about how to get clearer communications coming from the Godhead to me.