Jaredites
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TheJaredites(/ˈdʒærədaɪt/)[1]are one of four peoples (along with theNephites,Lamanites,andMulekites) that theLatter-day Saintsbelieve settled in ancient America.
TheBook of Mormon(mainly itsBook of Ether) describes the Jaredites as the descendants ofJaredand his brother, who lived at the time of theTower of Babel.According to the Book of Mormon, they fled across the ocean on unique barges and established an ancient civilization in America.
Mainstreamarchaeologyhas found no evidence of the existence of Jaredites or any of the other three groups.[2]
Book of Ether
[edit]According to the Book of Mormon, the Jaredites are the descendants ofJared,his brother, their immediate family, and their friends. (Joseph Smithlater identified the brother of Jared asMahonri Moriancumer.) At the time of theTower of Babel,when the tongues of all nations were confounded, the Lord acceded to the desires of Jared, and his people's language was not confounded. The people were also granted a land of promise.
The Lord guided the people through the wilderness and were eventually directed to cross the sea in "barges". The vessels were sealed and watertight[3][4]and able to be swamped by waves without sinking.[5]Air was obtained from outside the vessels, as needed.[6][7]They also brought with them animals and food.[8]The recorded length of the miraculous trip was 344 days.[9]Among other things they carried in their voyage were honeybees, which, in the language of the Jaredites were called "deseret". Additionally, they brought seeds.Ether 2:3
Etheris the last in the royal line that began with one of the sons of Jared. From the time of thefirst kingto the destruction of the Jaredites, there were only occasional periods of peace and prosperity. The times of peace were interrupted by intrigue over the throne, civil war, and the accession of wicked kings. The history of the Jaredites confirmed the fears of Jared and his brother that a monarchy would lead to evil.[10]
The Book of Mormon claims that the Jaredites grew to become a civilization that exceeded two million people just before its destruction.[11]They finally destroyed themselves about the timeLehiand the other refugees fromJerusalemarrived in America. A prophecy of[12]Etherwas fulfilled: the last Jaredite king,Coriantumr,lived to see both the total destruction of his entire house, the scattering of the remaining Jaredites, and the arrival of another people to inherit the land.[13]
Other references in Book of Mormon
[edit]Outside the Book of Ether, the Book of Mormon relates that Coriantumr was found by theMulekites.The Nephites later encountered the Mulekites and taught them the Nephite language. The Mulekites told them that Coriantumr had died some nine months after he had come to live with them. The Nephite prophet KingMosiah Iwas able to translate a large stone with engravings that gave an account of Coriantumr.[13]Another record on twenty-four plates, discovered by the people of KingLimhi,was translated by the Nephite KingMosiah II.[14]An abridged account of the Jaredite records was later included byMoroni,as the Book of Ether, in the Book of Mormon.
Geography
[edit]The ocean crossed is not specified in the Book of Mormon.Hugh Nibley'sThere were JareditesandThe World of the Jareditesargue for thePacific Ocean,butMilton R. Hunterargues for theAtlantic Ocean.
The location of the Jaredite civilization is also not specified in the Book of Mormon except that it was north of a narrow neck of land in what was called the "Land Northward" by the Nephites. The New World location of the Jaredites and Nephites is a subject of disagreement amongMormons.Joseph Smith indicated that the Jaredites arrived in "the lake country of America"[15]and that "the Nephites... lived about the narrow neck of land, which now embraces Central America, with all the cities that can be found."[16]
Proposed relations
[edit] | This sectionmay presentfringe theories,without givingappropriate weightto the mainstream viewand explaining the responses to the fringe theories.(June 2024) |
Descendants of Ham
[edit]Some early Latter Day Saints, including ApostleParley P. Prattbelieved the Jaredites were descendants ofHam,based on the group's origins near the Tower of Babel, and initial migration into the Valley of Nimrod, an area associated with the descendants of Ham.[17]
Olmecs
[edit]Some Mormon apologists[18][self-published source?][19][self-published source?][20]have argued for substantial parallels between the Jaredites and theOlmecs.For example, one scholar asserted thatwritingsan ancient Native American historian,Fernando de Alva Cortés Ixtlilxochitl,wrote about a group of people who came from the great tower toMesoamerica.Ixtlilxochitl wrote that the people lived in an area in the northern parts of the land, along theGulf Coast of Mexico.Other LDS researchers, such as W. Vincent Coon, point to native legends and suggest that the earliest immigrants to Central America migrated by land and boat from "northern America".[21]Phyllis Carol Olive compares Jaredite civilization to ancient cultures of the Great Lakes region.[22]
See also
[edit]
- 16 Stones,2014 American film
References
[edit]- ^churchofjesuschrist.org: "Book of Mormon Pronunciation Guide"(retrieved 2012-03-29),IPA-ified from «jĕr´a-dīt»
- ^Terryl L. Givens,By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture that Launched a New World Religion(New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 146-147.
- ^Ether 2:17
- ^Ether 6:7
- ^Ether 2:24
- ^Ether 2:14
- ^Ether 2:20
- ^Ether 6:4
- ^Ether 6:11
- ^Omni 6:22-23
- ^Ether 15:2
- ^Ether 13:20-21
- ^abOmni 1:20, 21
- ^Mosiah 28:11-17
- ^Times and Seasons,June 15, 1842, Vol. 3, No. 16, pp. 818-820
- ^Times and Seasons,September 15, 1842, Vol. 3, No. 22, p. 915
- ^Matthew Harris, Newell Bringhurst "The Mormon Church and Blacks: A Documentary History" University of Illinois Press 2015 e-book location 197 of 6260
- ^Douglas K. Christensen."OF JAREDITES AND OLMECS".Archived fromthe originalon 2013-02-18.Retrieved2016-03-11.
- ^Douglas K. Christensen."Jaredites and Olmec - the same?".Book of Mormon Archaeological Forum.
- ^"Relationship of the Maya and the Olmec to the Lamanites and the Jaredites".Latter-day Saints FAIR (Faithful Answers Informed Response) wiki.
- ^Coon, Vincent W. "Chapter 1, Comparing the Book of Mormon with Veytia's History of Ancient Mesoamerica".Choice Above All Other Lands.Salt Lake City, Utah: Brit Publishing LLC.
- ^Olive, Phyllis Carol,The Lost Empires and Vanished Races of Prehistoric America,Ch. 3, The Jaredites – From Babylon to the Promised Land (2000-1800 B.C.)
Sources
[edit]- Petersen, Mark E.(1984),The Jaredites,Deseret Book Co,ISBN0-87747-998-4
- Nibley, Hugh(1988),Lehi in the Desert/The World of the Jaredites/There Were Jaredites,Deseret Book Co,ISBN0-87579-132-8,archived fromthe originalon 2013-12-20,retrieved2014-01-21
- Brinley, Douglas E. (1995)."The Jaredites—A Case Study in Following the Brethren".InNyman, Monte S.;Tate, Charles D. Jr. (eds.).Fourth Nephi, From Zion to Destruction.Provo, Utah:Religious Studies Center,Brigham Young University.pp. 45–59.ISBN0-88494-974-5.OCLC32500560.Archived fromthe originalon 2013-10-22.Retrieved2014-02-04.
- Judd, Frank F. (1995)."Jaredite Zion Societies: Hope for a Better World".InNyman, Monte S.;Tate, Charles D. Jr. (eds.).Fourth Nephi, From Zion to Destruction.Provo, Utah:Religious Studies Center,Brigham Young University.pp. 147–52.ISBN0-88494-974-5.OCLC32500560.Archived fromthe originalon 2013-10-22.Retrieved2014-02-04.
External links
[edit]- Jaredite chronologyArchived2015-08-13 at theWayback Machine