Jared
- Topic in Antediluvian Patriarchs. By Charles Kamins.
- Jared the biblical figure was the sixth generation from of Adam. Jared's father was Mahalel, his son Enoch and his grandson, Methuselah. Genesis 5:18-20[1]
Meaning of his name
According to the Book of Enoch, Mahalel named his son Jared which means "to descend" because it was around the time of his birth that angels, called "Watchers" in the Book of Enoch, descended to earth to take wives of human women. The mountain on which the angels met and took an oath was thereafter named Mt. Hermon, hermon meaning "to swear." It was named this because here the Watchers "swore" they would together take human women as wives.
The Fall of the Angels
- 1. And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. 2. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: 'Come, let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.' 3. And Semjâzâ, who was their leader, said unto them: 'I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.' 4. And they all answered him and said: 'Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecations not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.' 5. Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. 6. And they were in all two hundred; who descended ⌈in the days⌉ of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. 7. And these are the names of their leaders: Sêmîazâz, their leader, Arâkîba, Râmêêl, Kôkabîêl, Tâmîêl, Râmîêl, Dânêl, Êzêqêêl, Barâqîjâl, Asâêl, Armârôs, Batârêl, Anânêl, Zaqîêl, Samsâpêêl, Satarêl, Tûrêl, Jômjâêl, Sariêl. 8. These are their chiefs of tens.[2]
Jared and the Mormons
Mormons believe that native Americans are descendants of Jared and cite passages from the Book of Ether[3], one of the books that make up the Book of Mormon[4]. Ether was a Jaredite prophet who, under God's direction, led the Jaredites to the Americas shortly after the "confusion of tongues" which took place as a result of the construction of the Tower of Babel. The Book of Ether is referred to as "a record of the people of Jared." According to the account, Jared and his people were spared the 'confusion of tongues" because of his brother's pleas and because his brother was "favored of the Lord."[5]
See also
