Jaredite Stories

Esrom May 8, 2018

My name is Esrom and I am the son of the King Omer and his wife Cass. I was born in captivity under the rule of my older brother Jared.

Life in captivity was the only life that I knew. As a child, I felt a lot of love from my parents so it appeared that my childhood was pretty good. I had siblings to play with, and occasionally fight with. I had cousins and friends to hang out with. We had enough food, although, some days there was not as much food and I went to bed feeling hungry.

We worked hard. Even as a young child, I went with my parents to work in the fields, weeding, hoeing, and whatever else my small hands could do. All my siblings and friends worked hard, we all had our assignments, all to support my brother and his lavish lifestyle. Some watched the flocks and herds, only to have most of the young animals taken from to support Jared. Some of my friends learned woodworking skills, art, granite works, metal works, and various other skills. Some of the women cared for the smallest children while the other mothers worked. All of this was to sustain Jared and his insatiable, lavish lifestyle.

I never properly met my brother Jared as I was born in captivity and he no longer spoke to our parents. I often saw him as he and his guards would saunter through our settlement inspecting our work, often demanding more from us. He never acknowledged me, although I looked almost exactly like him. I am confident that he knew I was his brother.

Although life was difficult, we were greatly blessed and we prospered because we kept the commandments of God to the best of our abilities, considering we lived in captivity. We found joy as we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, who we knew was yet to come.

One beautiful spring day when I was about 12-years old, my mother felt sick, so a couple of my sisters and their families divided her tasks among ourselves so all my mother’s duties would be covered. One of my sisters watched extra children so another sister could do my mother’s job. Unfortunately, sickness was not an excuse not to work.

The healer came and brought herbs and used energy from her hands to help her heal. After the healer left, my mother quietly rested alone while the rest of us went to our assigned tasks.

Later in the day, I had an powerful foreboding feeling come over me, a feeling I could not ignore. I knew something was terribly wrong with my mother; I felt strongly that I needed to run home right then. I dropped the tool that I was using to weed out in the wheat field and sprinted to my house. On the way, I saw my sister’s husband, Len, and commanded him to come with me. He felt my urgency and did not hesitate; together we rushed to my home.

When Len and I reached my house, my father, brother, and another one of my sister’s husband all arrived at the same time. We were all out of breath as all felt an urgency to rush into the house. As we swung the door open, two of Jared’s guards were about to defile my mother.

The guards, completing their daily rounds, came into the house checking to make sure everyone was out doing their assigned chores and found my mother there. She told them that she was sick and her assignments were covered. Despite an agreement that my father made with Jared that his guards were to leave our women alone, these two guards chose to ignore that agreement and follow the desires of their lusting, and the prize of defiling the captive king’s wife.

My mother’s hands were tied and a cloth was stuck into her mouth preventing her from screaming out. Even though the guards were armed, there were five of us to face them. Even though my father was getting old, he was still very strong. So were my brothers and my sisters’ husbands. I was the smallest in the group, but was still large and muscular for my age.

My father sternly ordered the guards to get away from his wife and leave his house. He assured the guards that he would inform Jared that they broke the agreement. My brother, Coriantumr, ran to my mother, untied and ungagged her. She broke down in tears and hugged him.

The guards quickly departed. They had no remorse in their eyes or their speech as they bragged to each other about how they almost had their way with the captive queen. They planned to brag to other soldiers of what happened.

My father ran to comfort my mother. She was crying and shaking from the terror and trauma of what so nearly happened to her. My father asked us to stay with his wife while he departed to talk to Jared.

Two of my sisters, hearing the commotion at our house, came running in, finding our father comforting our crying mother. We rehearsed what had happened and assured them that everything was alright.

After this incident, I was determined to free us from captivity. It was not right that my father, the rightful king, was treated as a slave and his beautiful wife was almost defiled to satisfy someone’s lustful desire. I knew that we were blessed living in captivity, as was demonstrated by how many of us were inspired to run and save my mother, but seeing my mother tied, gagged, and almost defiled instilled the desire in me to put my father back on the throne where he rightfully belonged.

Even though I was the youngest of those who were at the house, I told my family that I wanted to fight Jared and free us from this captive state that we were in. I expected Coriantumr and the others to take me as a fool for such a rash idea, but surprising to me, Coriantumr completely agreed with me and so did my sisters’ husbands. Once my father returned, he likewise agreed that it was time to begin planning for our escape and the overthrow of Jared’s government.

(To be continued…)