The book of Ether is written by a prophet, but the information on these early times clearly comes from the record of the kings. We see here a political system with prophets on the outside. This is very much the Old Testament model, and highlights the more unique Nephite model of so many years where prophet and ruler were the same.
The information about the prophets tells us much about the cultural situation in the land. The people are being chastised because of their “wickedness and idolatry.” Once again we return to the historical problem of the Jaredites and others in the land. Assuming for a moment that the Jaredites were alone in the land, and that the king-list is completely accurate, how does a people who are presumable believers in Jehovah turn to idolatry in only three generations removed from their founder? How did the idea even arise?
Of course in the situation as described in this commentary, the answer is quite simple. There were other people in the land, and they already had a culture that had their own idols. In the process of establishing their own kingdoms, the Jaredites did what the Nephites would do hundreds of years later. They began to adopt more than the political structure. Since the underpinnings of ancient kingship are almost always religious, the religion associated with the conceptions of kingship came along with the institution. The Jaredites became Mesoamericanized, and the Lord sent prophets to warn the people of this.