The Jaredites Among the Nephites

In the article I referred to yesterday, John Sorenson made an interesting conjecture about the influence of the Jaredites on the Nephite society.  He quoted Alma 46:22 in which captain Moroni referred to “our brethren in the land northward,” and then commented, “The only reason apparent to me why the term ‘brethren’ would be applied by Nephites to Jaredites is because the former recognized that some of the people living with them were descended from the Jaredites.”  He referenced an article in the Improvement Era in 1902 in which Anthony Ivins suggested that Coriantumr left descendants: “Coriantumr was found  by  the  people  of  Zarahemla, and lived for the  space  of nine moons among them.  During this period, he may have begotten children; in fact, more so, when we consider the high  estimate  placed  upon  posterity  by  the  ancients,  and  the further fact that Coriantumr,  being  the last  of  his  race,  he would be desirous that his  name  be  perpetuated;  and  would  take  wives and beget children,  thus preserving the race of which he was the sole representative.”  That’s certainly an interesting suggestion, and we see at least some influence of the Jaredites on the names of Nephite people after they came in contact with the Mulekites who had lived with Coriantumr and left his writing.

              One name that possibly comes from the Jaredites is Moroni.  Brother Sorenson suggested that “in Hebrew the name Moroni means ‘one from Moron.’”  Moron was the “land where the king dwelt” among the Jaredites and perhaps the name was passed along and used among the Nephites (Ether 7:6).  Perhaps captain Moroni who called the Jaredites their “brethren” was actually a descendant of Coriantumr and his name refers back to the place of the Jaredites.  Of course we can’t know for sure, but it does seem that there are names that originated at least with the Jaredites.  For example, Alma— who had the Jaredite record (the twenty-four plates) and passed them along to his son Helaman—named one son Shiblon and another Corianton.  These match closely with Jaredite names; there was a king named Shiblom (the spelling of his name was in one place actually Shiblon) and another named Coriantum (Ether 1:12-13, 11:4, 10:31).  So perhaps Alma was intentionally using references to the Jaredites in the names he gave.  Other Nephite names such as Morianton and perhaps even the later Nephite generals such as Gidgiddonni also came from the Jaredites. 

              Ultimately whether or not the Jaredites are truly “extict” doesn’t really matter, but understanding why they died is crucial for our society.  Moroni reminded us what the Jaredite story should really teach us “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” (Ether 4:8).