No Jaredites, No Nephites Left

Continuing from the last post and John L. Sorenson’s insistence there were other people in the Land of Promise other than those mentioned in the scriptural record, he states: “The people of Zarahemla must have been involved in one of those bridging groups (making Omni 1:17 understandable). They would have combined genetic and cultural elements of the earlier civilization with whatever the Mulek group of voyagers from the Mediterranean had introduced. The scientific information is unmistakable; there was definite continuity of population from earlier times into the days of the Nephites. The Book of Mormon account neither contradicts nor confirms it, but neither does such continuity pose any particular problems for the scripture, as I read it.”

However, as has been stated before on these pages, there is no indication that anyone other than Lehi’s descendants and the Mulekites, along with the Jaredites before them, ever set foot on the Land of Promise. Yet, Mesoamerican Theorists try and keep trying to make us think that there were. First of all, the idea that Omni 1:17 requires additional people from an earlier civilization is hard to understand. Amaleki wrote: “And at the time that Mosiah discovered them, they had become exceedingly numerous. Nevertheless, they had had many wars and serious contentions, and had fallen by the sword from time to time; and their language had become corrupted; and they had brought no records with them; and they denied the being of their Creator; and Mosiah, nor the people of Mosiah, could understand them” (Omni 1:17).

By the time Mosiah discovered Zarahemla, the Mulekites had been in the Land of Promise for about 400 years. In that length of time a people—probably about 100 to begin with—could reproduce into quite a large group. It would have required no additional people to have wars and serious contentions after the first hundred years or so. In fact, that is almost a repeat of what took place among the Jaredites. In addition, the idea that a people without records or written material after a time would find their language being corrupted and eventually disintegrate into linguistics far different than what they started out with. Finally, we have no verification of any kind that there was any genetic and cultural elements of any mixture of peoples.

When the Mulekites left Jerusalem, there would have been Mulek, the youngest son of king Zedekiah, and the retainers, guards, and the child’s guardians, nurses, and possibly even a grandmother, aunt, etc., among the group. But whatever the number, they would have left in a hurry, with the city under siege. There would have been little time to plan and organize their escape. The main objective would have been to get Mulek out of the city before the Babylonians tightened their siege around the city.

Babylonia controlled the entire Levant and all entrances and exits around Jerusalem during their ten year sieges and defeats of Jerusalem from 597 to 587 B.C., when Zedekiah was taken captive and his family killed and Jerusalem entirely destroyed. The only possible direction of escape for Mulek would have been to the southeast (yellow arrow), away from Egypt to the southwest, Phoenicia in the west, and Babylon to the north

And, as has been said here before, the direction could not have been toward the sea to the west since the Babylonians would have sealed off that escape route, for their main purpose in the siege was to capture the royal family to set an example to the Jews for any future rebellion. The south route toward Egypt would also have been sealed off. And to the north was Babylonia and the east impassable deserts. The only direction of escape would have been toward the Red Sea and the western Arabian Peninsula—which was the direction Lehi took about 8 to 10 years earlier.

The point being that the Mulek expedition out of Jerusalem would have contained a small, but sizable group who “were brought by the hand of the Lord across the great waters, into the land where Mosiah discovered them; and they had dwelt there from that time forth” (Omni 1:16).

Since there is absolutely no comment about another people they encountered, other than Coriantumr, the last Jaredite, it has to be concluded that there were no other people encountered by the Mulekites. Nor were there any surviving Jaredites, for Ether makes it quite clear that the Jaredites were all destroyed (Ether 15:12-14). In addition, the Lord told Ether to go down and inform Coriantumr that “every soul should be destroyed: (Ether 13:20-21) and later, after Coriantumr killed Shiz, the Lord told Ether to go down and  he “beheld that the words of the Lord had all been fulfilled” (Ether 15:33).

Thus, it cannot be said that Omni 1:17 has anything to do with other people in the Land of Promise.

230,000 Nephites with their wives and children were annihilated at the final battle with the Lamanties in the Land of Cumorah, near the hill Cumorah, where they had gathered in all their remaining people (Mormon 6:5)

In addition, it cannot be said, though Sorenson tries to claim so, that there were Nephites that survived the last battle with the Lamanites. In 384 A.D., Mormon says, “We had gathered in all the remainder of our people into the Land of Cumorah” (Moremon 6:5), and again said, “All my people had fallen” (Mormon 6:15). While Mormon says that a few Nephites had escaped the battle and went into the south countries (Mormon 6:15), Moroni added later that those Nephites “who had escaped into the country southward were hunted by the Lamanites until they were all destroyed” (Mormon 8:2). Moroni makes it quite clear that all the Nephites were destroyed. He said the “Nephites are no more” (Mormon 8:7).

It is interesting that Mormon uses the same terminology for the same concept of a total people, as he did in Alma: “And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities. Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me” (Alma 7:11-13—emphasis mine), which obviously has reference to all the people, just as he uses the terms “our people” and “all my people,” with the same concept of  meaning all the people. Thus, there can be no argument that all the Nephites were destroyed, and that the “Nephites are no more.”

Consequently, though Sorenson argues that not all the Nephites were killed off—only those involved in the fighting—and that others did not join in the conflict and remained in the land. Yet, Moroni said that he was alone (Mormon 8:5), and Mormon said the “Nephites were no more.” So when Sorenson claims that “The Book of Mormon account neither contradicts nor confirms” the existence of other peoples, he is ignoring the scriptures that show that there were no other people—not Nephites, not Mulekites, not Jaredites, and certainly not some indigenous people he claims existed.