Apostles in the Book of Mormon?

Ether 12:41 [BOM]
“ 41And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written, that the grace of God the Father, and also the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, which beareth record of them, may be and abide in you forever. Amen.”
So I’m at a total loss here, what apostles? Where do they come into the narrative of the Jaradites? Here in this story they are being badgered by prophets. In fact Ether is proported to be a prophet.
See there is a distinction made here apostle’s are people sent by Christ. In fact, it marks a completely new era that there are now apostles rather than prophets. Apostles are fundamentally different that prophets. Prophecy was needed in the Old Testament, people pointed towards the coming of Christ, calling people to repentance and faith. Apostles point back to Christ. The apostles were men who had witnessed the resurrection of Christ. Of course this means that they were around when he died too. If I met a man yesterday who said he had risen from the dead, I would have a hard time believing him, unless I also saw him dead and buried beforehand, or at least had reliable reports of it.
But this is where the Book of Mormon is so far off track. Whoever wrote it, was a complete idiot. That is all I can say. Reports have Spalding to be a complete idiot despite the pedigree of his university. Whoever would claim this work as their own is an idiot too. Perhaps you could write off as ignorant those who believe it today. Except I’m not sure who that is that actually believes it. Mormon’s by and large don’t seem to, as very little, perhaps nothing of it, seems to actually be the basis of their faith. Much of it contradicts the basic tenants of their faith.
Who in the Book of Mormon witnessed the death of Jesus Christ? Who then could say he rose from the dead? Who then could be an apostle here, in the sense of the New Testament. There were apostles, and we should listen to them. Paul was an apostle, and one would do well to pay attention to him, especially concerning the first chapter of Galatians, no other gospel.
Now the word apostle isn’t exactly a New Testament concept. It is rather a secular one. In order to be Christ’s apostle one needed to be a witness of Christ’s death and resurrection. But there were other people who were apostles. In reality it meant someone you contracted to speak for you. They were like ambassadors. You sent them on your behalf to speak for you, to do business for you. And when they were thus charged, whatever they said in your name, was as if you said it yourself. You were contractually obligated to do whatever your apostle said you would do. So the question remains, what apostles? B what criteria are these guys in Ether called apostles? It is rather peculiar.