It's Simple!

Ether 9
What a delightful chapter. NOT! The Jaredites begin to suffer the consequences of their evil ways.

The first thing I noticed was that the king, Akish, had sons and he taught them and swore them to do iniquity. They are evil children. Duh! I see a little bit of politics at this point. In verse 11 the people wanted gain (money), and Akish's sons offered them money. Where did the money come from? I believe evil kings live on the money of the people, so it must have come from the people – redistribution of wealth. This is a phrase that is mentioned frequently in our home.

Then the sons of Akish war against their father. It's a beastly war and only 30 people survive it. They join with the people of Omer who had left the land earlier at the warning of the Lord. So Omer was restored to the land of his inheritance. (v13) He begat Emer in his old age and he was a good king. They had peace and prosperity in the land for the next 62 years. Emer was righteous enough to see Christ. (v22) Emer died after 64 years of peace in the land. Coriantum walked in his footsteps and was a righteous leader as well. He didn't have children until he remarried after his wife died at the age of 102 years. His second wife gave birth to Com who was wicked and was made king. Com had a son, Heth, who embraced wicked combinations again and destroyed his father. Prophets came into the land and Heth commanded his people to kill them. And guess what started to happen? The Lord did what he has done since the beginning of time. They began to perish. There were famines in the land and this time the Lord used poisonous serpents. The serpents were in the way of them leaving the land for a better. When they saw that they were about to be obliterated, they repented and cried unto the Lord (v34). Really!?

If you don't want to read the entire Book of Mormon, start with Ether. It is a condensed version of the Book of Mormon. The people are righteous. They become rich. They become evil. They begin to perish for any number of reasons, i.e. famine, killing each other, poisonous serpents. They are humbled and repent. The are blessed by the Lord. It is a cycle. We see it in the individual lives of people today. We will see it as a great nation. As I mentioned yesterday, it is only because of the prayers of the righteous that the Lord hasn't destroyed us yet.

This is such a frustration to watch. I'm at a loss to come up with anything original. How does this apply to me? I must be ever vigilant in keeping the commandments that I will be worthy of the Holy Ghost to guide me and protect me in the choices I make. It's really rather simple.