Com and the Prophets

In the midst of a long line of Jaredite kings, we have a few verses describing a man named Com. He was born in captivity to Coriantum but was able to eventually regain half the kingdom that had been taken from his ancestors. He “fought for the space of many years” and eventually “obtained power over the remainder of the kingdom.” After finally establishing peace, he then had to deal with the wickedness of the people: “And in the days of Com there began to be robbers in the land; and they adopted the old plans, and administered oaths after the manner of the ancients, and sought again to destroy the kingdom.” Com’s response was this: “Now Com did fight against them much; nevertheless, he did not prevail against them” (Ether 10:31-34). Moroni did not comment on Com’s righteousness in these verses, but I would like to think that here he was not just fighting to save power for himself, but he genuinely was seeking to rid the people of wickedness and destroy the evil secret combinations. But like it may feel for those who are seeking righteousness in our world today, he did not prevail much against them. As the world moves further and further away from the Lord and His standards of righteousness, it is easy for us to get discouraged that we prevail little against the turning of people’s hearts away from God and towards wickedness.

               I believe the next few verses, though, give us hope for what we can do even in the midst of wickedness. Moroni recounted, “And there came also in the days of Com many prophets, and prophesied of the destruction of that great people except they should repent, and turn unto the Lord, and forsake their murders and wickedness.” The people unfortunately did not repent and these prophets were rejected by them. But they were not turned away by Com: “They fled unto Com for protection, for the people sought to destroy them.” They found a safe haven in going to Com, who clearly must have been righteous at least by this point. He received the prophets despite the people’s rejection, and “they prophesied unto Com many things.” He showed that he could still receive them even in the midst of the wickedness around him, and Moroni recorded the result for Com: “And he was blessed in all the remainder of his days. And he lived to a good old age” (Ether 11:1-4). I think this brief story of Com can give us hope that no matter how the world receives the prophets and the word of God, we can receive them and they can symbolically find refuge with us. This reminds me of the Lord’s injunction to Oliver Cowdery concerning the Prophet Joseph: “Therefore be diligent; stand by my servant Joseph, faithfully, in whatsoever difficult circumstances he may be for the word’s sake” (Doctrine and Covenants 6:18). That is exactly what Com appears to have done for the prophets in his day, and in our time we are called to stand by our prophet and those the Lord has called to preach His word. We may not have to physically protect them from the people, but no matter how wicked the world is we can stand by them as we seek to follow their counsel and invite others to do the same.