Ether 10

(All of my own thoughts are in blue 2020 red type 7/20 orange 8/21 Brown 2022-23)

ETHER 10

One king succeeds another—Some of the kings are righteous; others are wicked—When righteousness prevails, the people are blessed and prospered by the Lord.

  1 And it came to pass that Shez, who was a descendant of Heth—for ^aHeth had perished by the famine, and all his household save it were Shez—wherefore, Shez began to build up again a broken people. If your whole family dies by famine except you...seems like you would have very strong feelings about the power of God and the need to walk in His ways or suffer destruction. 
  2 And it came to pass that Shez did remember the destruction of his fathers, and he did build up a righteous kingdom; for he remembered what the Lord had done in bringing Jared and his brother ^aacross the deep; and he did walk in the ways of the Lord; and he begat sons and daughters. Remembering is key; especially the lessons of history. Go back to your roots. What has the Lord done for your ancestors that have brought you to where you are today? Let that gratitude move your feet to walk in the ways of the Lord - or you may repeat the hard lessons of history!

  3 And his eldest son, whose name was Shez, did ^arebel against him; nevertheless, Shez was smitten by the hand of a robber, because of his exceeding riches, which brought peace again unto his father. Really, oldest son? It was just your own father that was saved from famine and ALL your relatives were killed by it? Why was it so easy to not believe in the power of God for you? Look where your riches got you...dead.
  4 And it came to pass that his father did build up many cities upon the face of the land, and the people began again to spread over all the face of the land. And Shez did live to an exceedingly old age; and he begat Riplakish. And he died, and Riplakish reigned in his stead.
  5 And it came to pass that Riplakish did not do that which was right in the sight of the Lord, for he did have many wives and ^aconcubines, and did lay that upon men’s shoulders which was grievous to be borne; yea, he did ^btax them with heavy taxes; and with the taxes he did build many spacious buildings. Sounds like King Noah in the Book of Mormon. 

  6 And he did erect him an exceedingly beautiful throne; and he did build many prisons, and whoso would not be subject unto taxes he did ^acast into prison; and whoso was not able to pay taxes he did cast into prison; and he did cause that they should labor continually for their support; and whoso refused to labor he did cause to be put to death.

  7 Wherefore he did obtain all his fine work, yea, even his fine ^agold he did cause to be refined in prison; and all manner of fine ^bworkmanship he did cause to be wrought in prison. And it came to pass that he did afflict the people with his whoredoms and abominations.

  8 And when he had reigned for the space of forty and two years the people did rise up in rebellion against him; Seems like the Lord waits for us to get tired of our circumstances... and there began to be war again in the land, insomuch that Riplakish was killed, and his descendants were driven out of the land.

  9 And it came to pass after the space of many years, now who is in charge?  Morianton, (he being a descendant of Riplakish) gathered together an army of outcasts, and went forth and gave battle unto the people; and he gained power over many cities; and the war became exceedingly sore, and did last for the space of many years; and he did gain power over all the land, and did establish himself king over all the land.

 10 And after that he had established himself king he did ease the burden of the people, by which he did gain favor in the eyes of the people, and they did anoint him to be their king. Interesting distinction. What is significance of "anointing"? Seems like he first "declared" himself king, but later the people gave their consent.

 11 And he did do justice unto the people, but not unto himself because of his many ^awhoredoms; wherefore he was cut off from the presence of the Lord. I believe this is the most important part of the curse on this land - being cut off from the presence of the Lord. Here we have a man whose personal life isn’t righteous, but he is a fair ruler. Sounds a little like the accusations of Donald Trump. His personal life was questionable (at least before he was President) but he seemed to promote things that were for the good of the people. He was more vocal about God and prayer and Christians so I don’t think he was cut off from the Lord. I have heard that when he visited Welfare Square the First Presidency met him there and gave him a blessing...not sure if true...

 12 And it came to pass that Morianton built up many cities, and the people became exceedingly rich under his reign, both in buildings, and in ^agold and silver, and in raising grain, and in flocks, and herds, and such things which had been restored unto them. Were the people prosperous because they were righteous even though the king was not personally righteous? This makes me think of the current Pres. of our country. Many people do not like him "personally", but he has done good things for the people. This shows you can be "personally" cut off from the Lord and still do justice by your people.

 13 And Morianton did live to an exceedingly great age, and then he begat Kim; and Kim did reign in the stead of his father; and he did reign eight years, and his father died. And it came to pass that Kim did ^anot reign in righteousness, wherefore he was not favored of the Lord. The way this is worded, it sounds like Morianton did "reign in righteousness", again, even if he did not personally live a righteous life. Possible to do both. Is this saying his father was favored of the Lord? Was he just cut off from the presence of the Lord, but not His blessings? 

 14 And his brother did rise up in rebellion against him, by which he did bring him into ^acaptivity; and he did remain in captivity all his days; and he begat sons and daughters in captivity, and in his old age he begat Levi; and he died.

 15 And it came to pass that Levi did serve in captivity after the death of his father, for the space of forty and two years. And he did make war against the king of the land, by which he did obtain unto himself the kingdom.

 16 And after he had obtained unto himself the kingdom he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord; and the people did prosper in the land; and he did live to a good ^aold age, and begat sons and daughters; and he also begat Corom, whom he anointed king in his stead. Seems like this record is trying to establish the pattern of wickedness and righteousness from the kings and the influence on the people; thus our need to choose righteous leaders.

 17 And it came to pass that Corom did that which was good in the sight of the Lord all his days; and he begat many sons and daughters; and after he had seen many days he did pass away, even like unto the rest of the earth; and Kish reigned in his stead. Also seems to be establishing the reality, that after all one's desire for power and gain...you still ultimately end up dead like everyone else

 18 And it came to pass that Kish passed away also, and Lib reigned in his stead.

 19 And it came to pass that Lib also did that which was good in the sight of the Lord. And in the days of Lib the ^apoisonous serpents were destroyed. Wherefore they did go into the land southward, to hunt food for the people of the land, for the land was covered with animals of the forest. And Lib also himself became a great ^bhunter.

 20 And they built a great city by the ^anarrow neck of land, by the place where the sea divides the land.

 21 And they did preserve the land ^asouthward for a wilderness, to get game. The first "protected wilderness area" And the whole face of the land northward was covered with inhabitants.

 22 And they were exceedingly ^aindustrious, and they did buy and sell and traffic one with another, that they might get gain.

 23 And they did ^awork in all manner of ^bore, and they did make gold, and silver, and ^ciron, and ^dbrass, and all manner of metals; and they did dig it out of the earth; wherefore, they did cast up mighty heaps of earth  was this digging all done manually? They didn't have any machinery, right? to get ore, of gold, and of silver, and of iron, and of copper. And they did ^ework all manner of fine work.

 24 And they did have ^asilks, and fine-twined ^blinen; and they did work all manner of ^ccloth, that they might clothe themselves from their nakedness.

 25 And they did make all manner of tools to till the earth, both to plow and to sow, to reap and to hoe, and also to thrash.

 26 And they did make all manner of tools with which they did work their beasts.

 27 And they did make all manner of ^aweapons of war. And they did work all manner of work of exceedingly curious workmanship. "curious" to Mormon? Or does curious mean: "strange; unusual; made carefully"?

 28 And never could be a people more blessed than were they, and more prospered by the hand of the Lord. And they were in a land that was choice above all lands, for the Lord had spoken it. The blessing of the promised land, is that if you worship God, He is with you and the result of that is that you prosper temporally. When you are wicked, you lose His presence and then the riches are lost. There isn't any mention of churches, or prophets, or the gospel or baptism so far in all this history. It just says they "walked in the ways of the Lord" but not what the "ways" were...

 29 And it came to pass that Lib did live many years, and begat sons and daughters; and he also begat Hearthom.

 30 And it came to pass that Hearthom reigned in the stead of his father. And when Hearthom had reigned twenty and four years, behold, the kingdom was taken away from him. And he served many years in ^acaptivity, yea, even all the remainder of his days.

 31 And he begat Heth, and Heth lived in captivity all his days. And Heth begat Aaron, and Aaron dwelt in captivity all his days; and he begat Amnigaddah, and Amnigaddah also dwelt in captivity all his days; and he begat Coriantum, and Coriantum dwelt in captivity all his days; and he begat Com.

 32 And it came to pass that Com drew away the half of the kingdom. And he reigned over the half of the kingdom forty and two years; and he went to battle against the king, Amgid, and they fought for the space of many years, during which time Com gained power over Amgid, and obtained power over the remainder of the kingdom.

 33 And in the days of Com there began to be robbers in the land; and they adopted the old plans, and administered ^aoaths after the manner of the ancients, SECRET COMBINATIONS and sought again to destroy the kingdom. So much war and rebellion, and Secret Combinations. We know Mormon credits them for the complete destruction of the people.

 34 Now Com did fight against them much; nevertheless, he did not prevail against them.