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

Continuing with Covino's free download of his so-called inarguable "facts," we follow the first 13 answered previously, with his final "fact":

Fact #14: "The Narrow neck of land only fits these scripture descriptions if a land mass exists as described in this book, Ether 10:20; Alma 22:32; 50:34; 52:9; 63:5; Mor 2:29; 3:5."

Response: Taking the first sentence, let's take a good look at Covino's map of the Narrow Neck of Land and then the scriptures he quoted:

1) Ether 10:20, "And they built a great city by the narrow neck of land, by the place where the sea divides the land." There are two ways to look at this: a) The land was divided by the waterway between them, i.e., the Land of Bountiful was separated from the land of Desolation by the sea; or b) two large land masses were divided from one another by the sea as it curved inward to form a narrow neck. This is seen in the scripture: "the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla were nearly surrounded by water, there being a narrow neck of land between the land northward and the land southward (Alma 22:32). While Covino claims the narrow neck was separated from the Land Southward, the description in Ether does not bare this out. As an example, when the poisonous serpents were chasing the Jaredite animals (Ether 9:31) the animals fled into "the Land Southward, which was called by the Nephites Zarahemla." Later, "And in the days of Lib the poisonous serpents were destroyed. Wherefore they did go into the land southward, to hunt food for the people of the land, for the land was covered with animals of the forest. And Lib also himself became a great hunter. And they built a great city by the narrow neck of land, by the place where the sea divides the land. And they did preserve the land southward for a wilderness, to get game. And the whole face of the land northward was covered with inhabitants" (Ether 10:19-21). This, of course, would be impossible if there was a waterway separating the Narrow Neck from the Land Southward as Covino claims, for the animals could not have crossed the sea to get to it, and it makes no sense for the Jaredites to have sailed across this waterway every time they wanted to go  hunting. Thus, the first (a) possible interpretation makes no sense. Only the second (b) description is consistent with the scriptural account.

Left: The scriptures suggest a narrow neck connecting the Land Northward with the Land Southward, dividing the Land of Desolation from the Land of Bountiful (Alma 22); Right: Covino claims the Narrow Neck of Land was separated from the Land Southward

Also, consider, "they had come to the borders of the Land of 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). Also, "he should fortify the Land of Bountiful, and secure the narrow pass which led into the Land Northward" (Alma 52:9). And also, "on the borders of the Land Bountiful, by the Land Desolation, and launched it forth into the West Sea, by the Narrow Neck which led into the Land Northward" (Alma 63:5).

Obviously, then, we have a neck of land described both as a "narrow"neck and a "small" neck that exists between the Land Northward and the Land Southward. First of all, the words "narrow" and "small" should bring to mind a very small area that is narrow--a description that could never be used to describe the entire state of Florida as in Covino's map. Secondly, we also have a "narrow pass" that leads from the Land Southward to the Land Northward which, by scriptural comment, must pass through the narrow neck of land since its purpose or value in the scriptural context is a limited passage between the two lands that would easily be guarded by the Nephites and a means to keep the Lamanites (or Nephite dissidents) from gaining passage to the Land Northward.

It also makes sense for this narrow area to be the dividing line between the Nephites and the Lamanites that was arranged in the truce made between Mormon and both the Lamanites and the Robbers of Gadianton in 350 A.D. "And the Lamanites did give unto us the land northward, yea, even to the narrow passage which led into the land southward. And we did give unto the Lamanites all the land southward" (Mormon 2:28-29). In this is should be kept in mind that the Lamanites were constantly attacking the Nephites and driving them northward. A truce along more than a 2200 mile boundary between the Land of Bountiful and the Land of Desolation (as shown on Covino's map) would be senseless since the Nephites simply did not have sufficient manpower to patrol such an area. "Now this was wisdom in the Nephites--as the Lamanites were an enemy to them, they would not suffer their afflictions on every hand, and also that they might have a country whither they might flee, according to their desires " (Alma 22:34), as Mormon inserted into Alma's account, known from his vantage point about 430 years later how the battles between the two nations would play out.

Thus, we can only conclude that this narrow pass through the narrow (or small) neck of land, was a key element in first securing, and later defending, the Land Northward from any movement into or attack upon, by an enemy force, specifically the Lamanites.

(See the next post, "Did the Land of Promise Span Two Continents? Part XV--Covino's "Facts" will continue with the rest of the response to Fact #14)