Iona

Pronunciation: eye-OH-nah

A Name Misunderstood

In the Book of Remembrance of Enoch, Iona is mentioned only briefly and in an uncomplimentary way — named Iona “because she was said to have betrayed the testimony of her fathers,” and supporting her husband in his desire for high standing (Enoch, Bedal 11:96). So it came as a surprise when the Lord directed the seer of the Grandmothers book to “Look for Iona” (Grandmothers 1:3).

Born in Captivity

Iona was the daughter of Adah — herself the second grandmother — born while Adah was held captive by the wicked Lamech. The angel Pethuah delivered her, saying the child would be named after her but that her name must be hidden from the wicked, and that through what this daughter would teach, a wall of defense called Shabuwa would be set in place. Washing the newborn with calamus reed, Pethuah said: “Her name among men will be Iona, for she shall depart away from the inheritance of those who are intertwined with the wicked,” and gave Adah a white kaf stone for her (Grandmothers 5:11–13).

Wife of Methusemer

Enoch’s son Methusemer courted her with a white feather and a large acorn, and the Lord told her, “You are the rightful rib of this man.” After two years they married, and she bore a son, Javen. But Methusemer, like his grandfather Jared, became wayward, gone on the hunt for long seasons (Grandmothers 6:6–12). Javen later led his people westward into the mountains and the isles of the sea; when strangers asked where they came from, they said, “We are from Iona” — and so they came to be called the Ionians (Grandmothers 6:14–16).

The First Ceremony of Divorce

While Methusemer was away, Iona bore and raised Lamech, the future father of Noah. Then her brother Jubal brought word that her husband was now called Methuselah, “a man of the dart,” a Master of Saycoo with twin wives, and urged her not to go to him. Iona cut off her hair, giving half to the air for the white feather and placing half in an oak to return the espousal gifts, and sat seven days at her place of prayer — the first ceremony of divorce (Grandmothers 6:26–31). She was the first woman to be viewed as divorced, and was called Allmon, “a woman who has abandoned her husband” — and such women were not allowed to be heard speaking (Grandmothers 6:40).

The Message: Teach

A messenger from Enoch brought her a sealed stone box carved with an ayallah head. The message was one word: teach. Inside was the Water Tablet, and Iona wept: “Why oh Anokeesed have you remembered your daughter in her unworthiness” (Grandmothers 6:36–39). Seeking the Lord at the pool of heaven, she was told not to go to Methusemer, “for he will not repent humbly before me as his grandfather Jared has done” — and that she was “the keeper of one of the tablets of Elda” (Grandmothers 6:42–46).

The Sixth Grandmother

In vision, Iona saw herself standing before Anokeesed for an accounting of her whole life. When her account spread, “a day of recompense began to be understood and anticipated,” the righteous began to live with deliberation, and no one of her encampment called her Allmon any more. “Iona joined the people to their responsibility before God to be virtuous and accountable, she being the sixth grandmother Motsah used in His task” (Grandmothers 6:48–51). The Lord also directed her to find a maiden given a white stone at her birth as the rightful wife for Lamech — and she found Boten, daughter of Amazyadad (Grandmothers 6:52–54).

Keeper of the Guidance Tablet

In old age, snow-white and thin, Iona came out alone at night “on a mission for Motsah,” bringing the Guidance Tablet her grandfather Reshuya had taught her to read, to teach it to Shum and her companions. She prophesied that Shem would call forth the hosts of heaven to a great covenant (Melchizedek 9:158–164). Having suffered the name Allmon and loneliness, “the Lord became her holy man of Abarah for her” (Melchizedek 9:161). When Shem finished carving the Covenant Tablet, she was the only one he would show it to (Melchizedek 9:199).

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