Did the Land of Promise Span Two Continents? Part XIII—Covino’s “Facts”

Continuing with Covino's free download of so-called facts" he uses to support his book and claims, which he considers to be inarguable, the first 12 "facts" were listed in the previous posts. Here we continue with #13 onward:

Fact #13: "The land of Nephi is south of Zarahemla, Mos 9:14, 21:25; Alma 50:7. Bountiful is north of Zarahemla, but you must go north from Zarahemla to get to Nephi, hence Lemhi sends people north to get to Zarahemla but did not find it, they found a remnant of the Jaredites, hence you can't get to Zarahemla from the land of Nephi by only going north, Mos 21:24-26. This is why Lemhi in Mos 22:11 bent their course" after going around Shilom. Also the land of their first inheritance the land of Nephi (os 9:1) had to be south of everything else. The Nephites hold back the Lamanites on two fronts south of Zarahemla and Bountiful, Alma 50:7-8,11."

Response: First of all, the name of the king is Limhi. Second, let's take this so-called "fact" one issue at a time.

1) "The land of Nephi is south of Zarahemla."  While this is true, Covino's map does not show this. It shows that the Land of Nephi is to the east of the Land of Zarahemla--in fact, the actual eastern boundary of the Land of Nephi extends 2350 miles to the to the EAST of the eastern boundary of the Land of Zarahemla, with only a 450 miles common boarder to the south, with an entire sea (West Sea) stretching 1000 miles along the northern border of the Land of Nephi. However, the Land of Nephi "was bordering even to the sea, on the east and on the west, and which was divided from the land of Zarahemla by a narrow strip of wilderness, which ran from the sea east even to the sea west, and round about on the borders of the seashore, and the borders of the wilderness which was on the north by the land of Zarahemla..." (Alma 22:27) [underline mine]. It is not possible for this narrow strip of wilderness to run from sea to sea separating these two lands on Covino's map! As for his references, Mosiah 9:14 states: " For, in the thirteenth year of my reign in the land of Nephi, away on the south of the land of Shilom, when my people were watering and feeding their flocks, and tilling their lands, a numerous host of Lamanites came upon them and began to slay them, and to take off their flocks, and the corn of their fields" and his reference Mosiah 21:25 states: "Now king Limhi had sent, previous to the coming of Ammon, a small number of men to search for the land of Zarahemla; but they could not find it, and they were lost in the wilderness" neither of which has anything to do with the border between the lands of Zarahemla and Nephi. Now Covino's reference of Alma 50:7 states quite the opposite of what his map shows: "And it came to pass that Moroni caused that his armies should go forth into the east wilderness; yea, and they went forth and drove all the Lamanites who were in the east wilderness into their own lands, which were south of the land of Zarahemla." Just to make sure we do not get misled here, the scriptures tell us that the narrow strip of wilderness, which divided the Land of Zarahemla from the Land of Nephi, ran from the the east sea to the west sea, thus, the east wilderness of the Land of Zarahemla was on the East Sea (not possible on Covino's map) and that this east wilderness was north of the East Sea and the eastern border of the Land of Nephi (again, not possible on Covino's map). Of course, to understand this, you need to quote Alma 22:27, which Covino conveniently leaves out of his reference.

2) "Bountiful is north of Zarahemla, but you must go north from Zarahemla to get to Nephi." This is a contradiction in terms, but also is not found on Covino's map. That is, Nephi is not north of Zarahemla on his map, nor is it referenced as such in the scriptural text. Mormon, writing in Alma 22, tells us that north of the Land of Nephi is the Land of Zarahemla, with a narrow strip of wilderness between them, each running from the sea to sea. Then he states that north of there is the Land of Bountiful, and north of there is the Land of Desolation, with a narrow neck of land between (Alma 22:32, and north of the Land of Desolation is the Land of Many Waters, etc. (Alma 22:27-34; Mosiah 8:8; Mormon 6:4). Thus you cannot go north from Zarahemla to get to Nephi--neither the scriptural record, or even his map shows this possible.

3)  "Hence Lemhi (he means Limhi) sends people north to get to Zarahemla but did not find it, they found a remnant of the Jaredites, hence you can't get to Zarahemla from the land of Nephi by only going north." To support his point, Covino quotes Mosiah 21:24-26, which states: "But when he found that they were not, but that they were his brethren, and had come from the land of Zarahemla, he was filled with exceedingly great joy. Now king Limhi had sent, previous to the coming of Ammon, a small number of men to search for the land of Zarahemla; but they could not find it, and they were lost in the wilderness. Nevertheless, they did find a land which had been peopled; yea, a land which was covered with dry bones; yea, a land which had been peopled and which had been destroyed; and they, having supposed it to be the land of Zarahemla, returned to the land of Nephi, having arrived in the borders of the land not many days before the coming of Ammon." This scripture, of course, says nothing about any course from the City of Lehi-Nephi in the Land of Nephi for the party to find Zarahemla--only that they failed to find the City of Zarahemla and found instead the old Jaredite lands. The point is, Covino's statement that "you can't get to Zarahemla from the land of Nephi by only going north" is without merit, scriptural reference, or by any other reason found outside his own mind. Even his own map shows the only way to get to the Land of Desolation from the City of Lehi-Nephi is by going northward. Evidently, Covino assumes that because Limhi's expedition couldn't find Zarahemla, that Zarahemla was not in the direction they traveled; however, such an assumption is without merit. None of this party had ever been to Zarahemla, and were third generation Nephites born and raised in the area of Lehi-Nephi. None of Limhi's people had ever been to Zarahemla and in a Land that stretched from sea to sea, passing by the City of Zarahemla without knowing it would not be difficult.

4) "This is why Limhi in Mos 22:11 bent their course" after going around Shilom." Unfortunately, Covino conveniently leaves out the reason for bending a course in this passage. Five verses earlier, Limhi's Captain of the Guard (Gideon) outlines a plane to escape from the city of Lehi-Nephi and the Lamanties, and tells him: "Behold the back pass, through the back wall, on the back side of the city. The Lamanites, or the guards of the Lamanites, by night are drunken; therefore let us send a proclamation among all this people that they gather together their flocks and herds, that they may drive them into the wilderness by night" (Mosiah 22:6).

Now, the city of Lehi-Nephi evidently faced northward (toward the City of Zarahemla), and Gideon tells him to go out the "back wall," which faced away from Zarahemla, and go through a secret "back pass" and out the "back side of the city" and then, outside, they would "bend their course" back around the city and Lamanite guards, and head northward toward Zarahemla--a course Ammon fully understood since he had just recently come from Zarahemla.

(See the next post, " Did the Land of Promise Span Two Continents? Part XIV," for points 5 and 6 of the rest of Fact #13)