Abinadi as the 'translated' prophet Ether

I touched on King Noah (Brigham) a few posts ago.  

I also briefly mentioned Abinadi - the man who was sent to warn and then condemn Noah - in my post about the Burning of Faramir (here).  I will briefly summarize a few points from that post here before going into a little more on how I see Abinadi's story playing out.

Denethor looked into the Anor Stone and saw a vision of Faramir burning, before also seeing a vision of everything burning (this is my interpretation of what he saw when he went up to his tower for the last time after Faramir was brought back on the verge of death).  As the seeing stones cannot lie, in Denethor's mind there was no way around the fact that Faramir was going to burn and die, and this knowledge was the straw the broke his grip on reality.  He decided to take matters into his own hands, and rather than have his son be burned at the hands of enemies, he would do it himself.

But Denethor did not realize that what he was shown was a vision of Faramir burning in a more distant future, and under a different identity.  What he saw was Noah and his priests burning Faramir as Abinadi.

In my opinion, some important details around the story of Abinadi are glossed over because historically we (in general) haven't known what to do with them.  Some elements are nonsensical if one assumes that Abinadi is just a regular man.  Elements such as Abinadi giving a fairly drawn out discourse and prophecy to Noah and his priests while being burned alive (Mormon is careful to say that Abinadi gives his final words after faggots and flames are already scorching his skin).  For anyone who has been burned in any way, or is aware of what happens to someone who is burned alive, talking in full complete sentences is not really possible.  

Then there is the matter of his disguise when he enters back into the land after being expelled.  I guess we could imagine Abinadi dawning a costume or something, but then I feel we have to believe that Noah's people are very stupid, or worse, that the story is made up or sensationalized.

I believe neither of these things - that Noah's people are stupid or that the story is fictionalized - and so I go the place that these details, plus others that occur during his discourse in Noah's court (i.e., his divine power and his body and face radiating), take me:  Abinadi is no mere man.  At the time of his entrance into Noah's tale, he is a being of power, as one might expect from a messenger from God sent directly to tell an evil man that God has marked him.  Indeed, can anybody find an example in the Book of Mormon where God seems to have a more direct vandetta against an individual than in the example of Noah?  Read the words that God told Abinadi to tell Noah in Mosiah 12:3 and then in verses 9 - 12.  Even for the wicked people there will be chance for repentance after some serious suffering, but not for Noah - his fate is sealed, and God uses very forceful language on exactly what Noah's fate will be.  This is very personal (for God!), and in my view more details will come forward as to just why Noah (Brigham) has found himself at the pointed end of God's spear.

In any case, my belief is Abinadi is a transformed and powerful being, in the form of a man, but with capabilities exceeding those of Men, by the time he enters the story, with some of these capabilities on display in his confrontation with Noah.

But as I said, my guess is Abinadi is actually the same being as Faramir.  So how did this happen?  What is the story that lands Faramir as Abinadi in this tale?  I think the answer to that question entails at least a couple lives for Faramir to arrive at this spot.  In this post, I will cover the step most immediate to his taking on the identity of Abinadi.  As the title of the post hints at, I believe that Abinadi is also the prophet Ether, and his identify as such helps explain why he holds such remarkable power (as well as helps explain event that happen following his death).

As Moroni indicated in the book he summarized titled "The Book of Ether", Ether as a prophet saw many great things - actually 'all things' as Moroni writes.  Not least of these things was the establishment of the New Jerusalem and the "Jerusalem of Old" again on the earth in the last days.  His vision was far, and he said many things to the people of his time that were completely rejected.  Moroni was going to write more on what he saw, but was ultimately forbidden from doing so.  My guess is Ether/ Abinadi will have his own chance to elaborate on these things sometime in our future.

Getting back on track... despite all that Ether saw, he was left in some doubt as to his own fate.  Following the destruction of the Jaredite society (all but Coriantumr), Moroni records Ether's final words as:

Whether the Lord will that I be translated, or that I suffer the will of the Lord in the flesh, it mattereth not, if it so be that I am saved in the kingdom of God.

I will get it out of the way right off the bat as an interesting tie the last part of the quote is repeated verbatim by Abinadi in his words to King Noah, and he and Ether are the only ones who said this.

But that is just an interesting tie that doesn't really mean anything necessarily.  I am more interested in his wondering whether he will be translated or die naturally (which I take as what he means when he writes of suffering the will of the Lord).  Why wonder about this if he hasn't had at least some premonition, heads up, or some other reason to think on it that the course of his life might be a bit non-traditional?  

I think actually both ended up happening to Ether.  He was 'translated', meaning he was given an extended life on this earth just as others have been given with additional powers given to him and his body as a result, BUT that this translation did not mean that he would tarry on this earth in that form indefinitely.  He would still be called on to 'die' and that it would be at the hands of Noah that this would happen.

Coriantumr, by the way, was also likely given a similar 'gift' although in his case it was more of a curse.  Coriantumr's life was extended so that he could not die until he was able to see another people come to live on the land that had once been his.  Many years on, he finally met up with the Mulekites, lived with them for a short time, and then departed.  We are left to imagine whether his deathless curse was ended at that point, or he continue to live on.  In my opinion, given the wording of what Ether told him, Coriantumr would have died probably fairly shortly after leaving the Mulekites.

To my mind, Abinadi being a translated Ether (in addition to having additional roles that I hope to elaborate my guesses on in the future)  helps explain the capabilities that were displayed in his tale.  He could literally change his own physical appearance, or how his appearance was perceived by others, in putting on his disguise.  The power he displayed in Noah's court came from his own being, and as he told them, meant that they had no power to hurt him or even touch him unless he permitted it.  They had no power to kill him, and this is important for understanding his death, I think.

I do not believe the flames significantly hurt Abinadi.  Meaning, the joke was on Noah and his priests a little bit on this one.  They had no power to kill him anyway, but to try and do it by fire of all things, given who I believe he was, is an interesting choice.  But they have and will suffer by fire.

So, Abinadi didn't suffer, and this is why he was able to speak as he did even while being burned alive.

It may be disappointing to some to think that he didn't suffer an excruciating death.  Some may feel the story is better if Abinadi suffers greatly.  But it is important to remember that Abinadi is not on trial here or being tested.  He didn't need to prove anything to God, and God didn't require Abinadi to die painfully in order to accomplish what need to be done.  I think the being that is Abinadi (and Faramir, Ether, etc.) has suffered enough in many other ways, and I am not convinced a painful fire death is a necessary part of his story, nor does it sound like what he experienced.

It was Noah and his priests who were on trial - although maybe not on trial, per se, more of given another chance to reveal themselves as to what and who they are.  I think their crimes (some yet to written) will become even worse when I finally write who I think Abinadi also is, as well as Noah, in addition to what I already written about my guesses regarding them.

Anyways,  Abinadi gave up his life - no man took it from him - and his spirit departed his body when his mission was done.  There was other work for him to do, and his task as Abinadi was done.  

Incidentally, to conjecture a bit more, I think that perhaps the mind and influence of Ether-Abinadi was able to help Limhi's people find Ether's plates.  Moroni indicated that Ether hid the plates in a manner so that these people could find them.  Like a kind of Obi-wan Kenobi, I guess, perhaps Abinadi was able to grow in influence in some ways once he was slain, and one way in which that was manifested was in leading those people to the place where he had hid the plates.

To quickly summarize and conclude this post, it is Faramir who would later be born as Ether, who would go on to be translated and be given extended life so that he could be a messenger to Noah, specifically, and his people, more generally (with Alma's conversion being another important outcome of all of this, of course).  Abinadi and Noah's confrontation - the fact that it was these two beings - is not incidental, by the way, and it is likely not the first time these two have met, though one has to look to other lives and venues for those stories.  There is also more to the story as to how Faramir ultimately ended up as Ether but that will have to be another post, I think.