“The Last Words Which Are Written by Ether”

Alan C. Miner

If the "Book of Ether" represents the "words which are written by Ether" (Ether 15:34) and if the 24 plates found by the people of Limhi (Ether 1:2) represented an abridgement by Ether of the history of the Jaredites; then where were all the other Jaredite records hidden up? Was it in Ether's cave? Was Ether's cave in the hill Ramah? We are not specifically told. We are also not told the time period beyond 401 A.S. that it took Moroni to abridge the record of Ether. Moroni first writes, "Behold I, Moroni, do finish the record of my father, Mormon. Behold, I have but few things to write, which things I have been commanded by my father" (Mormon 8:1). At this time Moroni mentions that "four hundred years have passed away since the coming of our Lord and Savior" (Mormon 8:6). In Moroni 10:1, Moroni mentions that "more than four hundred and twenty years have passed away since the sign was given of the coming of Christ." Then in verse 2 he says "I seal up these records." [Alan C. Miner, Personal Notes]

Step by Step Through the Book of Mormon: A Cultural Commentary

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