Those problems are:1. The Steppes, as shown above, lie over 1000 miles to the north of Mesopotamia where the Tower was built. Why were the Jaredites so far away from the Tower and the land of Shinar when the scriptures claim the Jaredites “came forth from the great tower at the time the Lord confounded the language” (Ether 1:33)?
2. If what was meant was the progenitors of Jared, his brother and friends were from the Steppes area, then one must wonder about the timing. Nimrod, the son of Cush, was the great grandson of Noah, born probably within fifty years or so of the Ark landing. It is unlikely that Ham or Cush went north up above the Aral Sea, to dwell in the Steppes area for just a few years, then in a single generation backtracked their journey and went west through Iran to Mesopotamia.
3. The extreme western steppes area is approximately 700-800 miles north of Mt. Ararat along the Turkish-Iranian border—the proposed landing site of the Ark. On the other hand, the tower area of Babel is about 400 miles south of Mt. Ararat. We know of no children or grandchildren of Noah who went north from the Ark after the waters regressed. The age-old understanding was that descendants of Japheth went east, Ham went south, and Shem moved west and south.
4. While the later Jaredite generations became a warring nation in the land of promise, there is nothing in scripture to suggest that Jared, his brother, or their friends had been warring people in Mesopotamia. First of all, the whole earth “was of one language and of one speech” (Genesis 11:1), a situation that does not often lead to warring tribes. Second, they worked together to build a city and a tower (Genesis 11:4), again, not the fodder for warring tendencies. Third, the brother of Jared, a large and mighty man, was highly favored of the Lord (Ether 1:34) and had been a very prayerful man much of his life (Ether 1:43). His brother was also a faithful man who knew that the Lord (Ether 1:34) had compassion for him (Ether 1:35), who felt the Lord would lead them into the most choice land of all (Ether 1:38). None of this speaks of a people “from the warring steppes of Asia,” but rather of God-fearing men who knew and conversed with the Lord through prayer with some regularity, close descendants of Noah, and no doubt, living in close proximity to him.
5. Nor can it be shown from scripture that Jared and his brother and friends were people used to “issuing forth from the well-known dispersion center of the great migrations in western Asia.” In fact, Jared did not even know that the Lord was going to drive them out of the land (Ether 1:38). And if they lived in a well-known dispersion area, why would Jared not know where to go if they were driven out of the land of Shinar?
Nothing regarding Nibley’s statement seems consistent with the Book of Mormon, nor of the Jaredite people as a whole. Nor do we know from history that the Steppes were occupied by “warring tribes” around 2100 B.C., about two years after the Flood. In those twoo hundred years or so, all the people of the earth were brothers, cousins, uncles, etc. While warring tribes could have existed, we find nothing to verify this fact so close to when Noah and his sons lived after the Ark landed.
(See Part III for additional information on how Nibley has the Jaredites reaching the Pacific Ocean and the severe problems involved)
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