A Dictionary of the Book of Mormon/Jared (II)
JARED. One of the most unscrupulous and bloodthirsty of the ancient Jaredites. In early life he rose in rebellion against Omer, his father, eventually dethroned him, and held him a captive for many years, while he (Jared) occupied the throne. Some of Omer's younger sons, incensed at the treatment to which their father was subjected, raised an army and totally routed the forces of the usurper. Jared was taken prisoner and only saved his life by humble submission to his father. At first he kept his promise, but his ambition would not remain dormant. He sighed and wearied for the kingly authority, until his unrest became marked by all. He had a daughter who shared her father's feelings, and at her instigation he sent for a friend of Omer's named Akish, through whom he hoped to regain the throne. An entertainment of some kind, by which Jared's daughter could be introduced, was given. By prearrangement with her father, she danced before Akish, and so exhibited the beauties of her person and the graces of her movements that he became desperately enamored of her. As she anticipated, Akish asked Jared to give her to him as a wife. The latter consented, but on most revolting conditions. The father and daughter had planned that the price of her hand was to be the head of her grandfather, the king. Did ever ambition conceive a more unnatural crime? Akish, though a friend of Omer, consented to the proposed terms, and to help him in his treason Jared suggested to him, again at the instance of his daughter, the plans and oaths common among the antediluvians, originally used by Cain, by which the wicked accomplished their vile and bloody purposes. He consented, Omer was driven from the throne, though by God's mercy his life was spared; Jared was again proclaimed king, and Akish became his son-in-law. Soon the latter coveted the royal dignity; possibly the woman who plotted the death of her grandfather was willing to sacrifice her father also that she might be queen; such a supposition is not improbable. At any rate, Jared was slain on his throne while giving audience to his people, by some of the members of the secret society of assassins that he had been the means of calling into existence; and Akish reigned in his stead.