Understanding Words in the Book of Mormon about the Land of Promise—Part II

Continuing with the understanding of words Joseph Smith would have known and used in the translation of the plates growing up in New England from 1805 to 1829, when the plates were finished, we find that the New Englander, Noah Webster, according to his own words, felt inspired to create an American dictionary of the English Language. Published in 1828, this dictionary was the first in setting down words as they were known and used in the New England area of the early United States, as opposed to the words then defined by English dictionaries in England.

As an example of words used in the Book of Mormon and their 1828 definition:

• Neck = A narrow tract connecting two larger tracts of land

As in “launched it forth into the west sea, by the narrow neck which led into the land northward” (Alma 63:5), and in “there being a small neck of land between the land northward and the land southward” (Alma 22:32).

It seems unlikely that the term “narrow neck” (of land) would be used to describe the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mesoamerica that is 144 miles across. By comparison, the distance from Provo, Utah, to Ogden, Utah, is 81 miles; from Provo, Utah, to Logan, Utah, is 129 miles—the same distance from Ogden to Pocatello, Idaho; and from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Fillmore, Utah, is 144 miles. No one, with any understanding of distances, would use the terms “narrow” or “small” to described the distance between Salt Lake City and Fillmore.

Yet, Mesoamerican Theorists claim that the 144-mile-wide Isthmus of Tehuantepec is the Narrow Neck of Land in the Land of Promise.

Left: A narrow neck that matches scripture; Right: Mesoamerica narrow neck that does not match scripture

• Narrow = Of little breadth, very limited, not wide or broad; applied to the surface of flat or level bodies

As in “the narrow pass which led by the sea into the land northward, yea, by the sea, on the west and on the east” (Alma 50:34), and in “secure the narrow pass which led into the land northward” (Alma 52:9), and in “a narrow strip of wilderness, which ran from the sea east even to the sea west” (Alma 22:27).

• Pass = A narrow passage, entrance or avenue; as a pass between mountains

• Passage = Road, way, or avenue—a place where men or things may pass or be conveyed; an entrance or exit

As in “to the borders of the land Desolation; and there they did head them, by the narrow pass which led by the sea into the land northward, yea, by the sea, on the west and on the east” (Alma 50:34), and in “secure the narrow pass which led into the land northward” (Alma 52:9).

This narrow pass or passage through the narrow neck of land which separated the Land Northward from the Land Southward, separating the Land of Bountiful and the Land of Desolation, is described as narrow—meaning “of little breadth, not wide or broad” and would provide sufficient movement for people and an army, but could obviously be defended by a small number. Such a place is found nowhere in Mesoamerica, for it is sufficient wide enough to bypass any single pass or passage and still gain access from one land to the other.

Wayne May's Land Southward to Land Northward--Narrow Pass Map

In his Book of Mormon Geography presentation, Ancient American History Conference in Salt Lake City, April 1, 2011, Wayne May presented this concept of the Narrow Pass in his Great Lakes Theory location for the Land of Promise. However, it should be noted that the narrowest point of this pass between Lake Huron and Lake Erie is 50 miles just northeast of present-day Detroit, 70 miles between Georgian Bay and Lake Ontario (at present day Toronto), and 140 miles in width at its widest point between Owen Sound and Lake Erie. This narrow pass stretches along 265 miles in length. Hard to imagine anyone considering this a "narrow pass" through a narrow neck that is also described as "small."

A narrow pass is, by definition, narrow. It is typically used to describe a choke area, or narrowing of a path, road, or way,and hardly the example of May's narrow pass above.

(See next post, “Understanding Words in the Book of Mormon about the Land of Promise—Part III” for more understanding of the words Joseph knew when translating the Book of Mormon)