Why the Vague Name Brother of Jarod?

[clbent04]

Anyone know why we don’t have the brother of Jarod’s name? Just kind of confusing how we have an entire account detailing his interactions with God, but yet no recorded name for him other than Jarod’s brother. How do we have Jarod’s name and not his brother’s? Jarod was like a background character in a movie, and his brother, the star, somehow is the one who goes nameless. Just curious if anyone knows anything about that peculiarity.

Edited January 13, 2018 by clbent04

[Guest]

I have always thought it was poetic for the brother of Jared to be referred to as such rather than by his real name.  Remember, much scripture was originally written to be wrapped in poetry (e.g. the book of Job, Psalms, etc.) while conveying true stories.  I think this is what is happening with the Brother of Jared and the fact he is never referred to by his real name - use of poetry to convey sacred themes.  

Edited January 13, 2018 by DoctorLemon

[JohnsonJones]

Mohonri Moriancumer.

Here's another interesting thing to look up.  See how often John refers to himself in the Gospel of John.

We do not know why his name was not given, though Moriancumer is mentioned.

Several theories are out there.  One I think it could be was that it was hard for Moroni to actually put it down in his own language, so did not.

Another would be that it was a book relating the the family of Jared rather than his brother.

In truth, we do not know.

Edited January 13, 2018 by JohnsonJones

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, JohnsonJones said:

Mohonri Moriancumer.

Here's another interesting thing to look up.  See how often John refers to himself in the Gospel of John.

We do not know why his name was not given, though Moriancumer is mentioned.

Several theories are out there.  One I think it could be was that it was hard for Moroni to actually put it down in his own language, so did not.

Another would be that it was a book relating the the family of Jared rather than his brother.

In truth, we do not know.

I was thinking of John myself when writing my thoughts on the matter!  

Edited January 13, 2018 by DoctorLemon

[zil]

See the cartoon found here: https://askgramps.org/what-was-the-name-of-the-brother-of-jared-cited-in-the-book-of-mormon/

[clbent04]

4 hours ago, zil said:

See the cartoon found here: https://askgramps.org/what-was-the-name-of-the-brother-of-jared-cited-in-the-book-of-mormon/

I thought I heard something about his name being revealed, but I never knew where the source came from. Thanks.

Now I’m just trying to picture how a name like Mahonri Moriancumer just rolls off the tongue in a blessing. Would Moriancumer be a last name or middle name? Did they even have last names back then? 

[zil]

I don't remember anything more about how Joseph Smith learned it than what the article says.  For wild speculation on the meaning of the name, see:

 

[CV75]

10 hours ago, clbent04 said:

Anyone know why we don’t have the brother of Jarod’s name? Just kind of confusing how we have an entire account detailing his interactions with God, but yet no recorded name for him other than Jarod’s brother. How do we have Jarod’s name and not his brother’s? Jarod was like a background character in a movie, and his brother, the star, somehow is the one who goes nameless. Just curious if anyone knows anything about that peculiarity.

Perhaps it was at his request.

[JohnsonJones]

13 hours ago, clbent04 said:

I thought I heard something about his name being revealed, but I never knew where the source came from. Thanks.

Now I’m just trying to picture how a name like Mahonri Moriancumer just rolls off the tongue in a blessing. Would Moriancumer be a last name or middle name? Did they even have last names back then? 

This is guess on another idea which might apply.  Moriancumer COULD actually be a place, thus would be similar to a last name.

There are different origins of various last names, for example, someone who has the last name of Johnson may have been [First Name Here] Son of John as their full name in the past, but John's son, then shortened to Johnson eventually came to be.

Another could be a Family name so lets say the Johns were a Family name...then a Son of John would identify the family the person was in (and still be like the last name).

Last names could also come by profession so if someone was a Blacksmith, the last name may be Black.  Or, if one was a Silversmith the last name may be Silver (makes you wonder if Long John Silver's ancestors were Silversmith's in the past...probably not though as he was a fictional character).

Yet, another way would be in regards to a location.  You could be...John from Lexington....which may be eventually shortened to John Lexington.

In this instance, they have a location that they called Moriancumer and lived there for at least 4 years (Ether 2:13).  Now it could work two ways, they may have named the location after Moriancumer (which is similar to what Lehi did with several locations they went through naming some places after his sons for example), or it may be something significant happened to the Brother of Jared here. 

If it was the latter, it may be that from thence on the Brother of Jared was also identified with that location, hence his first given name being Mahonri, but then also calling himself...Mohonri from Moriancumer.

Thus, shortened would be Mahonri Moriancumer.

Of course, as we do not actually know, it could be anything.  I would hazard a guess that Moriancumer would be more of like the last name, and Mahonri was the first name.  In truth, we do not know a TON of the cultural ideas that were floated back in those days (thousands of years ago, literally), but there are various ideas that we have gathered through the years in relation to those times and how they acted and behaved.

[CV75]

On 1/13/2018 at 12:49 AM, clbent04 said:

Anyone know why we don’t have the brother of Jarod’s name? Just kind of confusing how we have an entire account detailing his interactions with God, but yet no recorded name for him other than Jarod’s brother. How do we have Jarod’s name and not his brother’s? Jarod was like a background character in a movie, and his brother, the star, somehow is the one who goes nameless. Just curious if anyone knows anything about that peculiarity.

I had another thought on this, for what it is worth. Giving up his name could be a type for the Savior giving up His life. Mahonri Moriancumer was the one who prayed that the language of Jared not be confounded, as Jesus was the one who prayed that Adam and his posterity not remain in physical and spiritual death, and as Jesus took the punishment for sins upon Himself through His spiritual and mortal sacrifice, Mahonri Moriancumer took the confounding of his family's language upon himself through sacrificing his name.

[Traveler]

In a previous thread I mentioned the value of Josephus as a reference.  Though there is no mention of the people of Jared it is interesting that Josephus testifies that the ancient Jews of his day knew that G-d directed a people to leave Babel by building ships and to travel to places that could only be reached by such divinely inspired ships.

I think the story of the Jaredites has so many applications to us today.  The idea of language (understanding each other) applies so much now in our political climate.  That the language of G-d (Love) would not be corrupted for us as a people.  That we would have to leave the society and thinking of a prosperous Babel and in essence isolate ourselves.  One symbol we do not seem to resolve in this thread is why we do not know the name of the brother of our leader.  Rather than trying to figure out why we do not know the literal name – rather – what does this represent to our particular circumstance.   I am inclined to think this relates more to seeing a spiritual symbolism than trying to understand “the literal” meaning scripture.

 

The Traveler

[Guest]

So who is this Jarod guy? Is he a son of Nimrod?

[zil]

22 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

So who is this Jarod guy? Is he a son of Nimrod?

Isn't he the one with the jewelry store?