According to Hugh Nibley, here in Ether 1:41 is another striking contrast between the Jaredite story and the Lehi story. Unlike Lehi's people of the sands, these ancients in the Jaredite story do not form their societies on the basis of blood relationship. The friends of Jared and the friends of his brother are two separate groups, as they would not be if they were relatives. Apparently whoever is a friend is a supporter and member of the tribe, and this rule, significantly enough, has been a basic law of Asiatic society from the earliest recorded times. [Hugh Nibley, The World of the Jaredites, p. 185]