The Prophecy Had Been Heard

The end is near for the Jaredites. There is a lot of wickedness, and very little (if any) righteousness among the people. People don't trust anyone, and there are a number of murders to get to lead the people.

Lib, a large man, fought the people of Coriantumr, and he even wounded Coriantumr himself, but ultimately, Coriantumr was able to defeat him. Lib's brother, Shiz, took command of Lib's army, and he quickly got a reputation that struck fear in his enemies' hearts.

At this point, pretty much every man, woman, and child was swept up in the war, either on the side of Shiz, or on the side of Coriantumr.

"Nevertheless, Shiz did not cease to pursue Coriantumr; for he had sworn to avenge himself upon Coriantumr of the blood of his brother, who had been slain, and the word of the Lord which came to Ether that Coriantumr should not fall by the sword." (Ether 14:24)

So Shiz had two motivations. First, Coriantumr had killed his brother, and he was seeking vengeance for that. This is a typical reaction in history. The other motivation has to do with Ether's prophecy to Coriantumr. At some point, Ether had gone and spoken with Coriantumr about the gospel, and warned him to repent. If he did not repent, however, he prophesied that Coriantumr would live to see the destruction of all his people.

I find this second motivation interesting, because it seems word had got out about this prophecy. Shiz, I imagine, was just trying to "prove" something by killing the man who the prophecy had said would be the last man standing, so to speak.

Why Shiz put such stock in that prophecy, we may never know, but it's worth considering. I've always thought that was basically just a private conversation between him and Ether.

Now, hopefully when we hear God's prophet prophesying, we take the opportunity to repent and follow God, rather than be like Coriantumr, who didn't listen, but just continued in wickedness and bloodshed, or even like Shiz, who actively tried to go against it and prove that Ether couldn't prophecy the future.