Abstract: Within the text of the Book of Mormon, the name of Jared’s brother is never revealed. Various reasons have been offered for the lack of a name, but nothing conclusive has been offered. Taking a cue from the polemical nature of Old Testament theology, this paper argues that the opening of the book of Ether is a polemic against Babel, with the brother of Jared being contrasted against the people and ruler of Babel. Led by the mighty hunter Nimrod, the people of Babel refused God’s command to multiply and fill the earth. Instead, they gathered together, built a tower to reach the heavens, and explicitly sought to make a name for themselves. In response, the Lord confounded their language and scattered them abroad. In contrast, the brother of Jared was a mighty, unnamed man who communed with the heavens on top of a high mountain. The language of his people was spared, and they spread across the face of the promised land. Moroni’s abridgement of Ether thus may present the anti-Babel origins of the Jaredites.





It is well known that within the text of the Book of Mormon, the name of Jared’s brother is not revealed. He is simply known as “the brother of Jared.” Extratextual sources have potentially identified his name. A late, third-hand source provides the most detailed account:

While residing in Kirtland Elder Reynolds Cahoon had a son born to him. One day when President Joseph Smith was passing his door he called the Prophet in and asked him to bless and name the baby. Joseph did so and gave the boy the name of Mahonri Moriancumer. When he had finished [Page 320]the blessing he laid the child on the bed, and turning to Elder Cahoon he said, the name I have given your son is the name of the brother of Jared; the Lord has just shown [or revealed] it to me. Elder William F. Cahoon, who was standing near heard the Prophet make this statement to his father; and this was the first time the name of the brother of Jared was known in the Church in this dispensation.1

Other sources lend increased credence to the account. For example, “Moriancumer” is the name given by the Jaredites to the place they settled prior to their sea voyage (Ether 2:13 ). Furthermore, an 1835 Church publication identified the brother of Jared as “Moriancumer.”2 But the Book of Mormon does not identify the brother of Jared as “Moriancumer,” and external sources do not answer the question of why his name is never given within the text itself. Various reasons have been offered for the missing name of this prominent figure. These include modesty on the part of the brother of Jared, difficulty in transliterating the name into English during the translation process, or the emphasis on Jared’s ancestral lineage (instead of his brother).3 On the latter, Brant Gardner has suggested that “Jared is the ruler and his brother is his accompanying priest. . . . Ether is writing this story as it has descended through Jared’s line.”4 While there may be some truth to these explanations, the Genesis account of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1–9) may provide a potential answer and act as a key in interpreting the brother of Jared story.

The opening of the book of Ether could be seen as a polemic against Babel and its leader,