Today’s story I want to tell you about Jered and his people, who probably reached South America from Sumer many centuries ago, several thousand years before Columbus.
Jered is a Biblical character, the son of Mahalaleel, a direct descendant of Seth, the son of Adam and Eve.
Ether, who wrote the Book of Jered, was the 30th direct descendant of Jered.
Genesis 1, 4:15
15. When Mahalaleel was sixty-five years old, a son, Jered, was born to him.
The story is related to the Tower of Babel; Jered asked his brother to ask God not to confuse their languages and take them to the promised land, which he did.
Book of Mormon – Ether 1:33
33. Jered came forth with his brother and their families, with some others and their families, from the great tower, at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people, and swear in his wrath that they should be scattered upon all the face of the earth; and according to the word of the Lord the people were scattered.
During the journey, the Lord spoke to Jered’s brother “in a cloud” – Ether 2:4-7
4. And it came to pass that when they did come down into the valley of Nimrod, the Lord came down and talked with the brother of Jered; andhe was in a clowd, and the brother of Jered saw him not.
5. And it came to pass that the Lord did go before them, and did talk with them as he stood in a cloud, and gave directions, whither they should travel.
6. And it came to pass that they did travel in the wilderness, and did build barges, in the which they did cross many waters, being directed continually by the hand of the Lord.
7. And the Lord would not suffer that they should stop beyond the sea in the wilderness, but he would that they should come forth even unto the land of promise, which was choice above all other lands, which the Lord God had preserved for a righteous people;
The next verses of the Book of Ether inform that for 4 years Jered’s people lived on the coast in tents, in a place they called Moriankumer.
After this time, the Lord came again and she spoke to Jered’s brother, commanding him to travel again.
Ether 2:16-17
16. Go to work and build, after the manner of barges which ye have hitherto built. And it came to pass that the brother of Jered did go to work, and also his brethren, and built barges after the manner which they had built, according to the instructions of the Lord. And they were small, and they were light upon the water;
17. …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.
The boats were to be tightly closed, without windows – dark inside. Jered’s brother was worried that they wouldn’t see anything and wouldn’t know how to control the boats. To prevent this, the Lord gave them 16 shining stones, two for each boat. The stones glowed throughout the entire journey, which lasted exactly 344 days.
According to Mormons, Jered and his people reached the coast of South America and settled it long before the Europeans.
This story make sense, but there is no hard evidence for it other than the Book of Mormon.
The questions that comes today are:
– from what “cloud” did Lord speak?
– what kind of “shining stones” did the Lord give to the Jareds?
– and the most importantly: where did the Lord take the people of Jared? Did they cross the Atlantic and reach South America?
The Jered picture’s source: Wikipedia; License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic.