Today's Favorite Verse: Ether 15:6, 19, 22, 28
"And it came to pass that the people repented not of their iniquity; and the people of Coriantumr were stirred up to anger against the people of Shiz; and the people of Shiz were stirred up to anger against the people of Coriantumr; wherefore, the people of Shiz did give battle unto the people of Coriantumr.
But behold, the Spirit of the Lord had ceased striving with them, and Satan had full power over the hearts of the people; for they were given up unto the hardness of their hearts, and the blindness of their minds that they might be destroyed; wherefore they went again to battle.
And when the night came they were drunken with anger, even as a man who is drunken with wine; and they slept again upon their swords.
And it came to pass that when the men of Coriantumr had received sufficient strength that they could walk, they were about to flee for their lives; but behold, Shiz arose, and also his men, and he swore in his wrath that he would slay Coriantumr or he would perish by the sword.
This is the last chapter of Ether and it just makes me ill. Such needless waste of life. After two million of Coriantumr's men, plus their wives and children were killed he remembers the words of Ether and began to repent of the evil he had done. Two million isn't the total number of people killed in this battle, that's just the men. Not knowing an average of children each man had, using today's averages it could have been 7 million or more people. This is only Coriantumr's side, there may have been the same number on Shiz's side. I would think a king pretty hard hearted to have to see over 7 million people killed, before you begin to feel some remorse, and want to repent.
Coriantumr writes an epistle to Shiz saying he would give up his kingdom for the lives of his people. In return Shiz writes Coriantumr and says he needs to give himself up, so Shiz can kill him with his sword, in order to spare the lives of his people. With that Coriantumr's people are so stirred up with anger they begin to prepare for battle. It takes four years to gather every man, women and child on the land together. I can't even imagine how many millions of people that had to have been. I guess it shows Coriantumr's repentance was based on getting his way and not giving up his life for his people. If he was repentant he could have been slain and probably been redeemed. It is then the two sides fight to the death until Coriantumr is the last man standing. Just like Ether prophesied would happen, if he didn't repent. An entire race of people are gone, and that just breaks my heart.
As I studied this chapter I wanted to see what would drive people to do that. I picked out every verse that recorded their motivation. It all boils down to anger. With anger the Spirit of the Lord ceases to strive with them. They are so hard hearted and blind, they are willing to all die, because they are so full of wrath and anger. Common sense and reason are beyond them. Even Coriantumr at one point wanted to repent but anger had too great of a control, and he was lost to it. I guess with anger you no longer see the need to repent. This is the message that Ether and Moroni felt were so important to tell us in our day. It is that anger will destroy our nation. That is exactly the place our nation is at today. Anger it driving the people and blindness surrounds them. The decisions and choices we make with anger lead to destruction. That just makes me ill.
Day 408 Tami Fitzgerald Harris
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