Category: Priesthood

Most members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints likely know that the Brother of Jared in the Book of Ether, has the actual name of Mahonri Moriancumer, which name was given by Joseph Smith in a blessing to Brother Cahoon’s new child. That story comes from the journal of William F. Cahoon, which I share below.

The Meaning of the Name Mahonri Moriancumer

From a General Discussions on the blog Mormon Dialogue and Discussion Board, from LDS Watchman Posted December 5, 2020, we read.

“LDS Hebrew scholar Robert Smith provided the following commentary on the meaning of the name Mahonri Moriancumer. The meaning of this name is a powerful proof that the Book of Mormon is true.

Jared was the fourth son of Joktan (See more at the bottom under Jared Descendants), but head of his own family, and his people consisting of other families including his brother and his family and friends. Strangely, we are not told the name of the brother. Joktan had 13 sons who are named in the Bible; Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. There is not a Mahonri Moriancumer among them.
…the brother is indeed one of the twelve brothers of Jerah or Jared, but that this new name was given him later as a description of the things he did. I will discuss this below…

There is no revelation giving this name (Mahonri Moriancumer) and the only record that I know of is in the journal of William F. Cahoon who tells that one day the prophet was passing by the house of his father, Elder Reynolds Cahoon, in Kirtland. His father called the prophet in and asked him to bless and name a new son just born to them. Joseph blessed the baby and gave him the name Mahonri Moriancumer. When he finished, he turned to Elder Cahoon and said, “The name I have given your son is the name of the brother of Jared.” … at that far off time, men were not given two names. There is no record of it ever happening in those days and for all the ensuing centuries up to the time of Christ…

The brother of Jared is called that more than fifty times in the book of Ether and never once named. He is the only important figure not named. Why, we might ask, should this be the case? The answer is in the name itself. The only reason Moroni would not write his name is because it is too large and unwieldy. In addition, there is no symbol in reformed Egyptian that would give the name. Moroni would have had to invent a symbol for this long name and he did not want to do it. Instead he used a symbol they had that was used before or else he wrote it in Hebrew.

The name Jared was a common name used in Israel… There are fewer than 300 names in the Book of Mormon apart from the book of Ether. But there were millions of people who lived in the 1000 year history of the Nephites. It is obvious that the name Jared would have been, if not common, at least used among them. There would therefore be a symbol for this name and a symbol for brother of Jared. It would be concise and easy to engrave. Since there was no symbol for Mahonri Moriancumer, it would require writing out this long name in Hebrew. To avoid doing that, Moroni simply used the symbol for brother of Jared or possibly wrote it out in Hebrew. In Hebrew, brother of Jared has only three syllables. In English, the name has eight syllables, which is more than double the space. This alone proves that the brother of Jared had an unusually long name…

The name is a descriptive title as are most names in Hebrew. They denote some characteristic or hope for the person named. It could be that this man was indeed one of Jared’s blood brothers, but his name was changed to reflect these characteristics. He was a man of great faith and leadership. He spoke with the Lord personally, and about whom the Lord said he had never seen such great faith. It is very likely, therefore, that the people of Jared gave him this description because of the mighty works he did.

It is sometimes difficult to figure out what a name means because it is put together from parts of other words to form a new one. In the case of Book of Mormon names, we do not have the original Hebrew spelling. If Joseph’s spelling of the name is pretty accurate, then we can transliterate it to see what it means. The first name is pretty easy, as far as the parts go. Mah means something, what, how, who or which. Of course you recognize the word “on” which means light and is also metaphor for the Savior. This is part of the word Tzion in Hebrew, meaning holy people of the Lord and also the place where they reside. We spell it Zion today. On was the city of the sun where the holy people dwelt, so by link, “on” in this word means the same thing, Zion, but in a different place. Ri means water originally. Today it is used to mean moisture or dampness, but it also means irrigation. We can put these together and get something like Who [provides or leads to] light [on the] water. There is double meaning in this as you can see. He provided the illuminated stones that provided light in the boats. He also led them across the water to the land of Zion, although they never had a Zion civilization.

The last name is a little more difficult, but we can understand it. “Mor” means to change or perform a wonder. The word “ian” is a conjunction and I know of no other meaning. It means “in order to” or “for the purpose of.” The root “cum,” pronounced “coom” is a common verb meaning “to raise up” or “to rise.” “To raise up” is a phrase we know from other scripture which means to save. The suffix –er indicates instrumentality. I think this is just the English translation of the suffix although there is a similar one in Hebrew.

Putting the parts together, we get a description of “Someone who performs wonders in order to lift, raise up, or save.” We can see from these descriptive terms the very things that the brother of Jared did while assisting the people to prepare for and cross the ocean. Because he did all these things, one short name was not enough to describe him and this was a long description rather than his given name. We only have the English spelling, as I said, but if the sounds are the same, the way I have rendered the names is probably very near the original and correct meaning.

Dissecting the name Mahonri Moriancumer

So, the name of Mahonri Moriancumer may mean:

He who leads to light on the water,
and someone who performs wonders in order to lift, raise up, or save.

A very realistic name isn’t it?

LDS Watchman continues, “This description is perhaps the biggest proof of the authenticity of the name, or more accurately, his title, because it fits almost exactly with what he did and who he was. He was a great prophet and performed wonders and miracles in getting the people across the water.

There is one final proof of the authenticity of this name… when the Jaredites came to the place where they settled for four years, they named the place Moriancumer... The area was undoubtedly named after the brother of Jared. He was the spiritual leader of the people and a great prophet.[He likely held the Priesthood See Blog Here] Why was the place not called Mahonri Moriancumer? As I showed above, Mahonri has a different meaning and the brother of Jared has not done these acts at the time they are at these waters prior to leaving. This title has to do with his providing light to cross the water. [On the Pacific Ocean from China to Seattle? or 344 Days See Blog Here].  LDS Watchman continues, “They have not built the [See second Set of Barges, as you read Ether 2:16 which says, “Go to work and build, after the manner of barges which ye have hitherto built“] boats or submarines yet, so this descriptive name would not have been given him until later. This, again, is a very important point. Had Joseph been making the name up, he would have added the first name at this point since he probably did not know what they meant... By only using the second name, again Joseph gives us a powerful evidence that the book is true, that he is a prophet and that his translation is correct and accurate.”  LDS Watchman at link here: https://www.mormondialogue.org/topic/73357-the-meaning-of-the-name-mahonri-moriancumer  [Quotes added by Editor]

 Eber or (Hebrew) Descendants

Joktan and Peleg, sons of Eber would have to both be Hebrew through Eber.(Hebrew)

Jared or Jerah is the name of one of the twelve sons of Joktan.

The Brother of Jerah or Jared is Mahonri Moriancumer Who would have to be one of the names or brothers in the picture left, of Jerah or Jared.

“There were fourteen sons of Shem by Eber through Joktan. The placement of the Babel story between the lines of Joktan and Peleg ties Joktan to the judgment of the Babel story and ties Peleg to Abram.” https://godinourliveseveryday.com/sons-of-shem-syrians-lydians-armenians-arabians/

Joktan would be considered the father of the Arabic people. Also later Abraham has a son  named Isaac where the Saviors descendance come, and Abraham had a son named Ishmael who was also the forefather of the Arab Nations.

Shem’s line through his son Arpachshad is the one that leads to Abraham (Abram) and Israel. This makes Shem the ancestor of figures such as King David and Jesus Christ. See Chart Below:

For more research material I suggest you read from the link below. Jaredites: The First Americans by David Stewart. I don’t believe all of it, but he has some great information’

David Stewart says, “The original inhabitants of North America arrived near what is now Los Angeles in eight barges in approximately 1676 BC. They lived almost exclusively in North America for exactly thirty-two generations, after which time they annihilated themselves, all but two men, in a civil war, in about 600 B.C. The history of the Jaredites is described in the Book of Ether , and in other records of the Jaredite civilization that will be translated as time permits. The Jaredite history is of particular importance as it serves as a warning to all people. Mormon recorded: “it is expedient that all people should know the things which are written in this account” ( Mosiah 28:11 ).” Continued at the link below. https://data.docslib.org/img/b1b9ffa53978023f5ddede70d1ebf147-1.webp

Did the Brother of Jared Hold the Priesthood?

I believe the Jaredites are a mixture of Ham, Shem and Japeth who were the sons of Noah. Stewart says the Jaredites were all from Ham which I don’t agree with. Ham was cursed to hold the Priesthood even though the Jaredites including Ham, Shem and Japeth were a very righteous group. See Abraham 1:21-17

I share with you that I believe the Jaredites likely landed near Seattle Washington(See my Blog Here), not like David Stewart says above, that they may have landed in Los Angeles area. Although that is definitely possible, my best estimate using the natural ocean current and finding all the artifacts dated to the Jaredites timeline in the State of Washington, they would have arrived near Seattle first. From Seattle is seems plausible that many who were from the Jaredite clan who were more from Ham, may have migrated down into the area of southwestern United State and the Ancient Olmecs in Mesoamerica. Likely the Japethites traveled from Seattle northeast into Alaska, Canada and to eastern North America.The Priesthood lineage of Shem likely traveled the Columbia River east to the Missouri River to the Ohio River and up the Mississippi Valley into northern New York. Any mixture could have migrated into any of these three areas, but it makes sense similar races and tribes may have mostly stayed together.

Remember the chosen Jaredites and likely most were from Shem who had the Priesthood, would end up in New York at hill Ramah at a battle that ended their civilization, because of wickedness just at the Nephites. Ramah was the exact same hill as Cumorah: See Ether 15:11

I believe the Jaredites who were blessed with keeping the Adamic Language likely had the Priesthood.  Bruce R. McConkie said, “These promises of God to the Jaredites contain the essential elements of the everlasting covenant detailed later to Father Abraham and to every covenant people. These elements include priesthood, posterity, and a land of inheritance” Bruce McConkie, A New Witness 505

“The book of Moses described the language of Adam as “pure and undefiled”. It is intimately connected with the “Priesthood, which was in the beginning, [and] shall be in the end of the world also.” MOSES 6:5 Thomas R. Valletta, “Jared and His Brother,” in Fourth Nephi, From Zion to Destruction, ed. Monte S. Nyman and Charles Tate Jr. (BYU Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center

“The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that “All the prophets had Melchizedek priesthood.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 181)

Yes! The Jaredites retained the Adamic Language, which relates to the Priesthood. Ether was their last Prophet and Mahonri Moriancumer would have the Priesthood. This means the Brother of Jared would have to be from the loins of Shem (Who likely was also the same person called the King of Salem or Melchizedek Blog Here:), which is the established Priesthood Lineage through all of time. The Brother of Jared could not have been from Ham or he could not hold the Priesthood. I believe Ham, Shem and Japeth all three held what is called a Patriarchal Priesthood (Father to Son), but only Shem and his descendant’s were ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood. See my blog here about the difference between the Patriarchal and the Melchizedek Priesthood.