Emer was born when Omer was born. Before his death, Omer
anointed Emer to be king. Two years later, Omer died. Emer became king.
Under Emer, the Jaredites prospered. Over sixty-two years,
they became a strong and wealthy people. They had “all manner of fruit, and of
grain, and of silks, and of fine linen, and of gold, and of silver, and of
precious things; [a]nd also all manner of cattle, of oxen, and cows, and of
sheep, and of swine, and of goats, and also many other kinds of animals which were
useful for the food of man” (Ether 9:18-19).
In verse 17, we have a reference to silk. We know silk was
first introduced around 1619. What is meant by “silk?” The use of the English
word “silk” is most likely an example of a word that was not directly
translatable to English. An example of a word like that is the German word “schadenfreude.”
There is no direct translation to English. The closest translation to English
is “pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune.”
My junior year in high school, my German teacher gave us
German issues of Reader’s Digest. Our
assignment was to translate the articles into English. A friend and I had a
copy of the German Book of Mormon. We asked him if we could translate that
instead of an article. He had no problem. We jokingly told him we would just
copy from the English Book of Mormon.
My friend and I quickly learned translating the German Book
of Mormon did not give us identical wording found in the English version. I
learned when translating from another language, you do not get the exact
wording.
Based on my experience, explains why we find the word “silk”
in the Book of Mormon. It is not silk as we know it today.
They also had all manner of cattle, oxen, cows, sheet,
swine, goats, and other useful animals. “And it came to pass that when they had
prepared all manner of food, that thereby they might subsist upon the water,
and also food for their flocks and herds, and whatsoever beast or animal or
fowl that they should carry with them—and it came to pass that when they had
done all these things they got aboard of their vessels or barges, and set forth
into the sea, commending themselves unto the Lord their God” (Ether 6:14).
“The term cattle is used in the Book of Mormon (Enos 1 :21;
3 Nephi 3:22). Generally we tend to think that this term refers only to cows.
However, it is not clear from the Book of Mormon exactly what the term cattle has
reference to. The Hebrew word bdēmāh, sometimes translated as ‘cattle’ in the
Old Testament, can refer to ‘any large quadruped or animal.’ The Hebrew word śeh,
also translated as ‘cattle,’ usually refers to smaller domesticates such as
sheep or goats). The Book of Mormon term could easily refer to any small or
large quadruped. There are, of course, many New World species that could fall
within this description.
“The term swine is used only twice, once in the Jaredite
period (Ether 9: 18) and once by Jesus during his sermon at the temple (3 Nephi
14:6). The Book of Mormon does not claim that the Nephites ate swine as did the
Jaredites. (The Jaredites were not under the law of Moses.) Peccaries were well
known in Mesoamerica and look very much like domesticated pigs and could easily
fit the Book of Mormon designation of swine.”[1]
They also had horses, asses, elephants, cureloms, and
cumoms. Moroni informs us the elephants, cureloms, and cumoms were very useful.
“The Book of
Mormon mentions horses, yet these animals seem not to have been known to native
Americans who greeted the Spaniards upon their arrival in the New World in the
sixteenth century. Moreover, archaeological evidence for the presence of the
horse in the pre-Columbian Americas is presently scant and inconclusive.”[2]
What is meant by
the translated word “horse?”
“It is
also possible that some Book of Mormon peoples coming from the Old World may
have decided to call some New World animal species a ‘horse’ or an ‘ass.’ This
practice, known as ‘loanshift’ or ‘loan-extension,’ is well known to historians
and anthropologists who study cross-cultural contact. For example, when the
Greeks first visited the Nile in Egypt, they encountered a large animal they
had never seen before and gave it the name hippopotamus,
meaning ‘horse of the river.’ When the Roman armies first encountered the
elephant, they called it Lucca bos, a
‘Lucanian cow.’ In the New World the Spanish called Mesoamerican jaguars leones, ‘lions,’ or tigres, ‘tigers. (emphasis in original).’”[3]
This shows, when the people obey the Lord’s commandments,
this land would be a choice land for them. “And the brother of Jared repented
of the evil which he had done, and did call upon the name of the Lord for his
brethren who were with him. And the Lord said unto him: I will forgive thee and
thy brethren of their sins; but thou shalt not sin any more, for ye shall
remember that my Spirit will not always strive with man; wherefore, if ye will
sin until ye are fully ripe ye shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord.
And these are my thoughts upon the land which I shall give you for your
inheritance; for it shall be a land choice above all other lands” (Ether 2:15).
Should they reject the Lord and become a wicked people, they
will feel “the fulness of [the Lord’s] wrath.
“And he had sworn in his wrath unto the brother of Jared,
that whoso should possess this land of promise, from that time henceforth and
forever, should serve him, the true and only God, or they should be swept off
when the fulness of his wrath should come upon them.
“And now, we can behold the decrees of God concerning this
land, that it is a land of promise; and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall
serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fulness of his wrath shall come
upon them. And the fulness of his wrath cometh upon them when they are ripened
in iniquity.
“For behold, this is a land which is choice above all other
lands; wherefore he that doth possess it shall serve God or shall be swept off;
for it is the everlasting decree of God. And it is not until the fulness of
iniquity among the children of the land, that they are swept off.
“And this cometh unto you, O ye Gentiles, that ye may know
the decrees of God—that ye may repent, and not continue in your iniquities
until the fulness come, that ye may not bring down the fulness of the wrath of
God upon you as the inhabitants of the land have hitherto done” (Ether 2:8-11).
[1] Review
of Mormonism: Shadow or Reality? (1987),
by Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Matthew Roper, Review
of Books on the Book of Mormon 4/1 (1992): 208.
[2] Farms
Research Report, Maxwell Institute website.
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