Redeeming Grace and the 16 Stones

by John Draney

I devote this post to the remarkable hidden metaphor of redeeming grace in the account of the brother of Jared and the 16 stones.

Here is the relevant excerpt from the Book of Ether:

And he cried again unto the Lord saying: … I have prepared the vessels for my people, and behold there is no light in them. Behold, O Lord, wilt thou suffer that we shall cross this great water in darkness?

And the Lord said unto the brother of Jared: What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels? For behold, ye cannot have windows, for they will be dashed in pieces; neither shall ye take fire with you, for ye shall not go by the light of fire.

…

And behold, I prepare you against these things; for ye cannot cross this great deep save I prepare you against the waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone forth, and the floods which shall come. Therefore what will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea?

And it came to pass that the brother of Jared, (now the number of the vessels which had been prepared was eight) went forth unto the mount, which they called the mount Shelem, because of its exceeding height, and did molten out of a rock sixteen small stones; and they were white and clear, even as transparent glass; and he did carry them in his hands upon the top of the mount, and cried again unto the Lord, saying:

… Now behold, O Lord, and do not be angry with thy servant because of his weakness before thee; for we know that thou art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that we are unworthy before thee; because of the fall our natures have become evil continually; nevertheless, O Lord, thou hast given us a commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee we may receive according to our desires.

…

And I know, O Lord, that thou hast all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man; therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in darkness; and they shall shine forth unto us in the vessels which we have prepared, that we may have light while we shall cross the sea.

Behold, O Lord, thou canst do this. We know that thou art able to show forth great power, which looks small unto the understanding of men. (Ether 2:22-23, 25; Ether 3:1-2, 4-5; emphasis added)

We Latter-day Saints know this story.

Under the guidance of heaven, the brother of Jared, along with close family and friends, is preparing to travel from the Old World to the promised land of the Americas. The problem is that the eight barges, the “vessels” for the trip, are pitch black inside.

The Lord has prohibited the use of windows and fire, so the brother of Jared is very much in the dark.

What to do?

He decides to venture up “the mount Shelem” and “molten out of a rock sixteen small stones” that are “white and clear, even as transparent glass.” He takes the 16 stones to the summit of Shelem, calls on the Lord, and asks him to touch the stones so that they “may shine forth in darkness.”

The Lord approves the proposal, touches the stones, and the problem is solved.

Now, what is going on theologically behind this narrative?

Like many Latter-day Saints, I recently attended a Gospel Doctrine class in which we discussed the story of the brother of Jared and the 16 stones. The well-prepared instructor cited a quotation that caught my attention. Here is the source material from Chapter 50: Ether 1-5 of the Book of Mormon Student Manual (2009):

• The Lord wants us to grow and learn as we make our own decisions. He also wants us to take our conclusions to Him frequently for His confirmation. When the brother of Jared asked the Lord about the matter of light for the vessels, the Lord answered with a question of His own: “What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?” (Ether 2:23). According to President Harold B. Lee (1899–1973), the Lord’s question was similar to saying the following:

“‘Well, have you any good ideas? What would you suggest that we should do in order to have light?’ …

“Then the Lord went away and left him alone. It was as though the Lord were saying to him, ‘Look, I gave you a mind to think with, and I gave you agency to use it. Now you do all you can to help yourself with this problem; and then, after you’ve done all you can, I’ll step in to help you.’”

After considering the possibilities, the brother of Jared demonstrated his great faith by asking the Lord to touch 16 stones and supply light. The Lord answered this plea and not only provided light for the vessels but gave this faithful man a vision unlike any other.

President Lee concluded: “This is the principle in action. If you want the blessing, don’t just kneel down and pray about it. Prepare yourselves in every conceivable way you can in order to make yourselves worthy to receive the blessing you seek” (Stand Ye in Holy Places [1974], 243–44).

According to President Lee, the Lord wants the brother of Jared to “do all [he] can to help [himself].” Once he has done all he can, the Lord will “step in to help” the brother of Jared.

President Lee is not alone in this interpretation. In the Book of Mormon Student Manual’s very next entry, there is a quotation from Elder McConkie, who very much agrees with President Lee and goes even further:

• Elder Bruce R. McConkie (1915–85) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained that the Lord requires us to use our agency as we seek His help. Regarding the brother of Jared’s experience, Elder McConkie said: “The Lord talked to him about it a little and then he said this: ‘What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?’ (Ether 2:23.) In effect, ‘What are you asking me for? This is something you should have solved.’ And he talked a little more, and he repeated in essence the question: ‘What will ye that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are swallowed up in the depths of the sea?’ (Ether 2:25.) In other words, ‘Moriancumer, this is your problem. Why are you troubling me? I’ve given you your agency; you are endowed with capacity and ability. Get out and solve the problem’” (“Agency or Inspiration?” New Era, Jan. 1975, 40–41).

According to Elder McConkie, the same Lord who provides or approves the plans and specifications for the construction of the barges (Ether 2:16), which plans and specifications the brother of Jared faithfully executes, informs him that the lack of light “is [his] problem.” McConkie argues that the brother of Jared is “endowed with capacity and ability” and therefore should be able to “solve the problem” himself.

Great.

From President Lee we get another erroneous appraisal of 2 Nephi 25:23, the most misinterpreted passage in the canon of the Restoration, which pervasive wresting has been with us for at least 40 years, and from Elder McConkie we get a healthy dose of so-called spiritual self-reliance.

Are these explanations truly compatible with the story of the brother of Jared and the 16 stones?

Do all you can do, after which the Lord fixes it?

Or, if you prefer—

Just do it yourself?

These two explanations sound an awful lot like the gospel we routinely preach today.

Put yourself in the shoes of the brother of Jared. You go into the barge, shut the door (or hatch, or whatever), and you are in absolute darkness, a total blackout.

You say to yourself, “I know how I can help solve this problem. I will carefully prepare some very shiny, translucent stones, and maybe they will help me see a little better.”

Is this how the brother of Jared does all he can do to solve the problem?

Is this how the brother of Jared actually solves the problem?

What do you think? Do your shiny rocks bring any light to the darkness? Does your alleged solution do anything at all to illuminate the deathly gloom?

The brother of Jared might as well bring his shoe to the Lord, or a lump of coal, or a chicken, because all these solutions, along with a handful of sparkling diamonds, fail equally badly. They all have at least one thing in common—they do absolutely nothing to solve, in a direct and casual sense, the problem.

Might the brother of Jared know something that President Lee and Elder McConkie do not mention or otherwise marginalize?

What is the remarkable hidden meaning of redeeming grace and salvation in the account of the brother of Jared and the 16 stones?

The Lord expressly forbids the brother of Jared from using the works of his hands or his efforts to provide the requisite light.

What might this imply with regard to salvation?

Might this not propose that the works of our hands and the efforts of fallen, mortal beings are useless with regard to the successful completion of our itinerary to heaven?

Might we not find ourselves in most unusual circumstances in fallen mortality, which circumstances, by nature, not only grant us true freedom, but also strip from us any and all ability to effectively confront and overcome the monumental problems of the Fall and its aftermath of sin and imperfection?

The brother of Jared recognizes the immanent futility of his own works. Where he comes with the 16 stones before the Lord, the brother of Jared declares: “[W]e know that thou art holy and dwellest in the heavens, and that we are unworthy before thee; because of the fall our natures have become evil continually.”

He acknowledges that he is “unworthy” by virtue of “the fall.” He is inherently, intrinsically, innately unable to solve this problem. Moreover, the brother of Jared does not pretend that he contributes in any way to the ultimate solution to this problem.

The enlightened man does, however, avail himself of the one thing that fallen, mortal beings can do: “O Lord, thou hast given us a commandment that we must call upon thee, that from thee we may receive according to our desires.”

What do you want, brother of Jared?

What do we want, fallen, mortal beings?

Do we want the righteousness of heaven provided for us in the Son of God, or do we want something else?

The brother of Jared takes his meager but meaningful offering of otherwise useless faith and places it before the Lord. By so doing, the wise man demonstrates what he wants.

And in like manner, so do we.

What a pleasing, glorious illustration of the redeeming grace of Jesus!

The Lord—not the brother of Jared, not fallen, mortal human beings and the sum total of all our ingenuity, resourcefulness, and talent—the Lord God of Israel, alone, unaided, reaches out and gives light, divine light, the light of redeeming grace to us, if that is what we want.

The brother of Jared testifies: “O Lord, thou canst do this.” The brother of Jared knows how to distinguish the cause of salvation from the conditions on which it comes to fallen, mortal beings.

Should we not do the same?

The brother of Jared can build seaworthy barges (Ether 2:16-18) and provide for their ventilation (Ether 2:19-20). Were these two examples applicable to the matter of redemption, then they would effectively argue for the shared burden of salvation that regularly sounds from the pulpits of the Restoration.

Only in the miraculous provision of light do we find an apt metaphor for our salvation in Christ.

We can with heaven’s help build all the earthly barges we want and in them put as many holes as we desire, but if we want eternal life, then we must come, according to the word of the Lord, with an offering of faith to him, for only he possesses the infinite offering of that most valuable of all gifts.

What is the soteriological meaning of the account of the brother of Jared and the 16 stones?

Come to Christ and find salvation in him.

For a more comprehensive discussion of the roles of the Savior and us in the plan of salvation, see Chapter 4: Distinguishing the Cause from the Conditions in the book Redeeming Grace in the Canon of the Restoration (Amazon CreateSpace and Kindle).