We’ll have to take something for granted to set the stage for this post, and that is that the mountain the brother of Jared “moved” in the BoM was not a mountain by the name of Zerin. Instead, “Zerin” is actually the word “seron” (which in elvish means “friend”) and is the password by which the doors to said mountain will open.
And let me quickly add, this is not my original thought. I’m borrowing this from RBOM Platinum Plus member William Wright (WW) who blogged about this theory here. I don’t know if Bill got the idea all on his own or from someone else but I think it’s a pretty brilliant reading that directly places the BoJ not at some unknown mountain but instead at the doors of Moria. He is in fact speaking the password Gandalf could not remember when he and the Fellowship sought to enter Moria.
Gandalf says “mellon” which is also an elvish word for friend, albeit Sindarin rather than Quenya. In Bill’s story, the BoJ is Celebrimbor reborn in which case he is standing before the doors of Moria that he himself had helped craft in his deep friendship with the dwarves of the Second Age. The BoJ, like Gandalf, speaks the password, and the doors “remove”.
For the Brother of Jared said unto the mountain, Zerin, Remove!
And it was removed.
I believe the idea is that the BoJ entered the mines of Moria to obtain mithril and that is what he used to craft the 16 small stones that Jesus filled with light. Recall that Mithril, as reported by Gimli and Gandalf, can be “polished like glass”.
This whole BoJ narrative works pretty well with Moria. The BoJ is said to have taken the small stones to “the top of the mount”, which was apparently of “exceeding height”.
And it came to pass that the Brother of Jared … 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
Recall that Gandalf too made it to the top of this same mountain as he pursued the Balrog from the depths of Moria’s mines deep under the earth. The Balrog fled up the Endless Stair
In that despair my enemy was my only hope, and I pursued him, clutching at his heel. Thus he brought me back at last to the secret ways of Khazad-dum: too well he knew them all. Ever up now we went, until we came to the Endless Stair.’
…
‘From the lowest dungeon to the highest peak it climbed, ascending in unbroken spiral in many thousand steps, until it issued at last in Durin’s Tower carved in the living rock of Zirakzigil, the pinnacle of the Silvertine.
It was there that Gandalf overcame the Balrog but died in the process. He then encountered Eru (Jesus) and was sent back with greater powers, endowed from on high. Gosh, that’s quite a few parallels to what we see with the BoJ, isn’t it? Perhaps he too entered the mines, found the stairs, and climbed to the top to encounter God. No Balrog this time but the rest is pretty much there.
The BoJ is said to have had faith of a particular kind. He wasn’t the only one to demonstrate such faith, but it was apparently a noteworthy faith:
And there were many whose faith was so exceedingly strong, even before Christ came, who could not be kept from within the veil, but truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith, and they were glad. And behold, we have seen in this record that one of these was the Brother of Jared. For so great was his faith in God, that when God put forth his finger, he could not hide it from the sight of the Brother of Jared, because of his word which he had spoken unto him, which word he had obtained by faith.
And I suppose it’s worth saying that the BoJ was the first “man” to do so:
And never has man come before me with such exceeding
Faith as thou hast, for were it so ye could not have seen my finger.
I guess before him it was elves doing this? Or….ahem….dwarves? Maybe the Endless Stair was built by Durin just for this very purpose.
Regardless, we get it. The BoJ had more than his fair share of faith. Faith in spades, as it were. Faith to be emulated, actually.
Not long after telling us about the BoJ’s encounter with Jesus, Moroni sends a message to the future Gentiles about the conditions under which they can read what the BoJ saw in his great vision:
Behold, I have written upon these plates the very things which the Brother of Jared saw. And there never were greater things made manifest than those which were made manifest unto the Brother of Jared. Wherefore the Lord hath commanded me to write them. And I have written them. And he commanded me that I should seal them up. And he also hath commanded that I should seal up the interpretation thereof. Wherefore I have sealed up the interpreters according to the commandment of the Lord. For the Lord said unto me:
They shall not go forth unto the gentiles until the day
That they shall repent of their iniquity,
And become clean before the Lord.
And in that day that they shall exercise faith in me,
Saith the Lord, even as the Brother of Jared did,
That they may become sanctified in me,
Then will I manifest unto them the things which the Brother of Jared saw
All the Gentiles have to do is repent, become clean, and exercise faith like the BoJ. Easy! Well, maybe. What is this faith, exactly? I used to think it was just believing really, really hard. Like grit your teeth, furrow your brow, and just believe, man!
Not so.
There is plenty of that in this world and humanity falls far short of experiencing what the BoJ did.
Here’s the thing: he saw the finger of the Lord not because he believed super duper really hard. No,
when God put forth his finger, he could not hide it from the sight of the Brother of Jared, because of his word which he had spoken unto him, which word he had obtained by faith.
He saw the finger because of God’s word or promise. And the BoJ got that word or promise by faith.
For he had said unto him in times before, that if he would believe in him, that he could show unto him all things, it should be shown unto him. Therefore the Lord could not withhold anything from him, for he knew that the Lord could show him all things.
So the BoJ believed that promise, a promise he got by faith. Meaning, “things which are hoped for and not seen”. Like, say, an Endless Stair built to encounter God that even the dwarves had stopped believing in:
‘Long has that been lost,’ said Gimli. ‘Many have said that it was never made save in legend, but others say that it was destroyed.’
‘It was made, and it had not been destroyed,’ said Gandalf.
These dwarves lacked faith, one could say, but Gandalf assures us that these stairs are worth hoping for even if not seen.
So if it’s not just believing super duper really hard, what was the BoJ’s faith, exactly? You’ve already read it:
For I know that thou workest unto the children of men according
To their faith.
For the Brother of Jared said unto the mountain, Zerin, Remove!
And it was removed. And if he had not had faith it would not have moved. Wherefore thou workest after men have faith.
His faith was that he entered Moria, found the stairs, and climbed to the top to encounter God. Just like Gandalf.
I surmise the following…
The Endless Stair was made by Durin not as some vanity project but as a path to God for himself and his descendants. Call it a Dwarvish Meneltarma. It is a strait and narrow path by which one may encounter God, and in fact is preserved to this day (even if it is still partially damaged from Gandalf’s mortal combat w a Balrog). It was made for dwarves but one man (and later a wizard) used it for its intended purpose, long ago.
Because he did that, today’s Gentiles (who are dwarves born as men) can follow his pattern. They can repent, become clean, and exercise the same faith as that man did by LITERALLY entering the gate(s of Moria), ascending the (strait and narrow) Endless Stair, and finding at the top their God of adoption who awaits them, for they, like this man, have a “word” or “promise” from God that when they do, He will manifest to them what was manifested to that man.
What they receive there will “sanctify” them and is to be taken to the house of Israel, for:
…it is by faith that my fathers have obtained the promise that these things should come unto their brethren through the gentiles.
WJT
Very interesting interpretation.
In Genesis 22, the story of the Binding of Isaac, Abraham (Aule?) takes his son (the Dwarves?) to the top of a mountain in “the land and of Moriah.” They have to leave their beasts of burden behind when they ascend (consistent with a stair), and the visitation they experience at the peak gives rise to the saying “In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.”
The only other reference to Moriah in the Bible is also about an appearance of the Lord: “Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father” (2 Chr. 3:1).
LEE
This is pretty intriguing actually. I’ve got a follow up post coming I think.