The Downfall of the Jaredites

One of the most surprising parts of the story of the Jaredites is what we read about the final battles among the Jaredites: “There had been slain two millions of mighty men, and also their wives and their children” (Ether 15:2).  If the average man had two family members, then that means six million people were killed—an enormous number.  That would be about 10 times the number of people who died in the Civil War, and it implies that at its peak the Jaredite civilization was simply enormous.  At the end of the Nephite civilization Mormon wrote that 230,000 Nephites were killed in battle, which is significantly smaller than the number of Jaredites (see Mormon 6:11-15).  The Jaredite civilization lasted approximately 2000 years, whereas the Nephite civilization was only about 1000 years, so it does make sense that there were more Jaredites after twice as long.  This shows just how little information we have about the Jaredite civilization: approximately 30 pages to cover two millennia, and about 500 pages for the rest of the record of the Nephites.

            Other passages suggest that the number of Jaredites was indeed very large, such as this description: “The whole face of the land northward was covered with inhabitants” (Ether 10:21).  When the people of Limhi found the Jaredite records they “discovered a land which was covered with bones of men, and of beasts, and was also covered with ruins of buildings of every kind, having discovered a land which had been peopled with a people who were as numerous as the hosts of Israel” (Mosiah 8:8).  I’m not sure quite what it means to be as numerous as the hosts of Israel, but clearly the phrase is meant to convey a huge number of people.  Given the vastness of the Jaredite nation, the story of their downfall is all the more tragic and incredible.  How could they let their civil war continue after millions had died like that?!  Even when there were about a hundred people left they still continued fighting: “And it came to pass that they slept upon their swords that night, and on the morrow they fought again, and they contended in their might with their swords and with their shields, all that day” (Ether 15:24).  How could they keep going when it was clear they were being annihilated as a people?  Moroni gave the only answer that even comes close to explaining what drove them: “And when the night came they were drunken with anger, even as a man who is drunken with wine; and they slept again upon their swords” (Ether 15:22).  They were blinded by anger so they couldn’t see the absolute futility of their fighting and failed to stop.  Even when Coriantumr tried to stop the war near the end he was unable to because the remaining people were so full of hatred for their enemies.  The story serves as a dramatic warning for us in our day—prolonged anger unchecked leads to our own downfall, impairing our ability to reason and see even right from wrong.