The Mulekites—Who Were They? Part IX

As stated in the last post, Mulek and his friends were led across the great waters by the hand of the lord into the land where Mosiah found them and where they had always dwelt (Omni 1:16). Many Mesoamerican scholars and theorist have great trouble with this scripture, especially in light of how they interpret Alma 22:30, suggesting the Mulekites landed in the Land Northward. Especially when they couple this with the scripture”

“Now the land south was called Lehi and the land north was called Mulek, which was after the son of Zedekiah; for the Lord did bring Mulek into the land north, and Lehi into the land south” (Helaman 6:10).

Many have interpreted this “Land North” to be the “Land Northward,” thus, coupled with Alma 22:30, believe that the Mulekites landed first on the east coast of the Land Northward, then came south into the Land Southward, still along the east coast, and cite the name of the City of Mulek as their proof, and finally some (not all) came westward to the Land of Zarahemla. In previous posts we have discussed the correct interpretation of Alma 22:30, and the City of Mulek does not signify this was settled by the Mulekites.

However, as these scholars and theorists always do, they simply ignore any scripture that is not consistent with their thinking, for Omni 1:16 shows conclusively that the Mulekites landed and had always been where Mosiah found them, which was in the city of Zarahemla.

But that is not all. This Land North, where “the Lord did bring Mulek into the land north” (Helaman 6:10) is referring to a land designation within the Land Southward. Captain Moroni makes that perfectly clear when he also separates the Land Southward into two divisions of the Land North and the Land South, when he says: ““When he had poured out his soul to God, he named all the land which was south of the land Desolation, yea, and in fine, all the land, both on the north and on the south—a chosen land, and the land of liberty” (Alma 46:17). He knew, as Helaman did, that the Land Southward, that is, the land south of the Land of Desolation, was divided into two parts, one part for Mulek—the Land North—and the other part for Lehi—Land South—for that is the location within the land of Promise that the Lord guided both their ships and where they made landings.

Omni 1:16 makes it perfectly clear that the Lord led Mulek across the waters into the land where Mosiah found them—thus, Mulek landed in the northern part of the Land Southward, or in the Land of Zarahemla where Mosiah found them. And Alma 22:28 makes it perfectly clear that Lehi landed in the Land Southward, along the west coast of the Land of Nephi.

Thus, both landings were in the Land Southward, which shows that the Land North (within the Land Southward) was called the Land of Mulek, which would be from the Land of Zarahemla northward to the Land of Bountiful and to the Narrow Neck of Land (beyond that was the Land of Desolation in the Land Northward). And the Land South was called the Land of Lehi, which would be all of the Land of Nephi southward including the area of First Landing or First Inheritance (Alma 22:28).

At the time of Moroni’s statement (73 B.C.), the Land Northward had not been “discovered” and entered by Nephite emigrants. This movement into the Land Northward happened abut 20 years after Captain Moroni’s statement and is the first mention in any record of the Nephites entering the Land Northward (Alma 63:9) and 27 years before the great migration into the Land Northward (Helaman 3:3)

It should also be kept in mind that the Nephites had occupied and had their capital in the Land of Nephi, which was the Land of Lehi, and in the Land South of the Land Southward. In 73 B.C., the Nephhites had only been in the Land North, the Land of Mulek, for about 150 years. So the nomenclature of the two lands would have had a definite understanding among the Nephites, to whom Moroni is speaking.

To Utahns living in Utah and Salt Lake Counties, this division should make perfect sense like the separation or division at the “Point of the Mountain,” which has always been a very definitive separation of that area, though there is no specific landmark other than the hills (point of the mountain) to the east of the freeway (I-15) between Thanksgiving Point and Draper. Such divisions are rather common among people of an area where the division is more mental, social, or cultural, than an actual division.

Thus the Mulekites landed in the Land southward in the area of the city of Zarahemla “and they had dwelt there from that time forth” (Omni 1:16).