The battle continued. Neither side was able to defeat the
other. At night, cries from both armies were heard, mourning those who had
died.
Again, Coriantumr wrote Shiz, telling him he would end the
battle then and there. He would give him his kingdom. All he asked of Shiz was
to spare the lives of his people.
Because of their wickedness, the Spirit of the Lord ceased
being with them. “For the Spirit of the Lord will not always strive with man.
And when the Spirit ceaseth to strive with man then cometh speedy destruction,
and this grieveth my soul” (2 Nephi 26:11).
After seeing the destruction of his people, Mormon wrote
Moroni, telling him to “[p]ray for them, my son, that repentance may come unto
them. But behold, I fear lest the Spirit hath ceased striving with them; and in
this part of the land they are also seeking to put down all power and authority
which cometh from God; and they are denying the Holy Ghost” (Moroni 8:28).
“And he that repents not, from him shall be taken even the
light which he has received; for my Spirit shall not always strive with man,
saith the Lord of Hosts” (D&C 1:33).
Instead, Satan had full power over the Jaredites. “But
remember that he that persists in his own carnal nature, and goes on in the
ways of sin and rebellion against God, remaineth in his fallen state and the
devil hath all power over him. Therefore he is as though there was no
redemption made, being an enemy to God; and also is the devil an enemy to God” (Mosiah
16:5).
Their hearts were hardened by Satan, and they were now
paying the prices of their sin. “[H]e that hardeneth his heart shall fall into
mischief” (Proverbs 28:14).
“Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the
life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness [GR
hardness] of their heart” (Ephesians 4:18).
“And thus we can plainly discern, that after a people have
been once enlightened by the Spirit of God, and have had great knowledge of
things pertaining to righteousness, and then have fallen away into sin and
transgression, they become more hardened, and thus their state becomes worse
than though they had never known these things” (Alma 24:30).
“In the case of the Jaredites, “the Spirit of the Lord had
ceased striving with them, and Satan had full power over the hearts of the
people; for they were given up unto the hardness of their hearts, and the
blindness of their minds that they might be destroyed” (Ether 15:19). This is atē[1]
at full play. The Lord withdrew his Spirit because the people had blinded their
minds and hardened their hearts, and willed it that way. The result was
self-destruction.”[2]
Over the next two days, the battles continued during
daylight, and they retreated after sunset. The armies were drunk with anger and
slept with their swords. “And if [the Nephites] perish it will be
“God offers no promise of victory to armies that neither
heed his word nor keep his commandments; without God, boasts of victory are no
more than fustian. The final battle at Cumorah simply validates the principle
given already to the ancient Israelites: through war, and by the wicked, God
will punish his people. ‘The judgments of God will overtake the wicked; and it
is by the wicked that the wicked are punished; for it is the wicked that stir
up the hearts of the children of men unto bloodshed’ (Mormon 4:5). Their battle
fury, ‘as a man who is drunken with wine’ (Ether 15:22), is redolent of the ‘wolfish
rage’ of the Homeric warrior, the amoq (amuck) of the Malaysian hero, or the
frenzy of the Germanic berserkr or Celtic fighter when he is possessed.”[3]
The battles continued until the army of Shiz consisted of 32
people and Coriantumr’s army consisted of 27. They met again and fought for
three hours and fainted due to the loss of blood. Some of Coriantumr’s army
were eventually able to flee. Shiz and his remaining soldiers pursued them.
Shiz’s army finally caught up with Coriantumr and the battle
continued. It came down to two survivors – Coriantumr and Shiz. They fought and
Shiz passed out due to the loss of blood. Exhausted, Coriantumr leaned on his
sword, and in the process, cut off the head of Shiz. “And it came to pass that
after he had smitten off the head of Shiz, that Shiz raised up on his hands and
fell; and after that he had struggled for breath, he died” (Ether 15:31). Coriantumr
then collapsed.
“Writing of Ether 15:29-31, Decker informs his readers that
Shiz’s struggle for breath after his beheading at the hands of Coriantumr ‘violates
several biological realities’ (p. 114). Unfortunately, though, Ed Decker’s
grasp of ‘biological realities’ is inadequate for the evaluation of the story.
Dr. Gary Hadfield, professor of neuropathology at the Medical College of
Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, whose knowledge of biology is
adequate, has recently shown that the account of Shiz’s demise given in the
Book of Mormon is entirely plausible.”[4]
The Lord commanded Ether to go forth and see “the words of
the Lord had all been fulfilled” (Ether 15:33). It was here that Ether finished
his record (the twenty-four plates – “And I take mine account from the twenty
and four plates which were found by the people of Limhi, which is called the
Book of Ether” [Ether 1:2].).
“Now the last words which are written by Ether are these:
Whether the Lord will that I be translated, or that I suffer the will of the
Lord in the flesh, it mattereth not, if it so be that I am saved in the kingdom
of God. Amen” (Ether 15:34).
An interesting perspective.
“It is therefore possible that in his old age Ether visited
Mosiah, either still in the land of Nephi or in Zarahemla. He also might have
been translated. In this connection Moroni preserved an interesting note from
Ether. After finishing his abridgment of Ether’s book, Moroni found it
worthwhile to quote Ether’s last words: “Whether the Lord will that I be
translated, or that I suffer the will of the Lord in the flesh, it mattereth
not, if it so be that I am saved in the kingdom of God” (Ether 15:34). Moroni
must have had a reason to include these words of Ether. Apparently, Ether
suspected he would be translated. If he were chosen to hand over the sealed
record and interpreters to the Nephites, he was likely aware of this calling
when he wrote his last words, and he also would have known that he lived
contemporaneously with the Nephites (see Ether 11:21), even though he must have
been in his old age. It is possible, then, that Ether knew he had an important
mission to fulfill but had not yet been commanded by the Lord to carry it out.”[5]
And it is here Moroni intended to end the Nephite record.
[1] A spiritual blindness that impels the individual or
society toward its doom.
[2] Hubris and Atē: A Latter-day Warning from the Book of
Mormon, Richard D. Draper, Maxwell Institute website.
[3] “Holy
War”: The Sacral Ideology of War in the Book of Mormon and in the Ancient Near
East, Stephen D. Ricks, Maxwell Institute website.
[4] P.
T. Barnum Redivivus, Daniel C. Peterson, Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 7/2 (1995): 95.
[5] A
Third Jaredite Record: The Sealed Portion of the Gold Plates, Valentin Arts,
Maxwell Institute website.
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