Continuing from the last three posts, listing actual
descriptions in the Book of Mormon and how any Land of Promise model should
match all of those listed in that scriptural
record.
Earlier posts in this series have covered 1)
Mountains, “whose height is great”;
2) Two unknown animals; 3) Two unknown grains; 4) Plants that cure fever; 5)
Land of promise as an island; 6) The four seas surrounding the Land of Promise;
7) the Climate where Lehi’s seeds grew that he brought to the Land of Promise
from Jerusalem; 8) Roads and Highways; 9) Driven before the wind; 10) Lehi’s
Course to the Land of Promise; 11) Both Gold and Silver and Copper; 12)
Hagoth’s ships went northward; 13) Forts, fortifications and resorts; 14) Fortified
wall; 15) Narrow neck of land; and 16) Defendable narrow pass or passage.
Following are more descriptions found in the
scriptural record:
An
example of a sea dividing, but not separating, a land. That is, dividing one
land into two parts, without separating the land entirely
One of those additional descriptions is the
statement about the sea dividing the land. This occurs in Moroni’s translation,
when he wrote: “And they built a great
city by the narrow neck of land, by the place where the sea divides the land”
(Ether 10:20).
This statement occurs just after the poisonous
serpents blocking the way into the Land Southward were all destroyed (Ether
10:19), and the Jaredites decided to preserve the Land Southward, which was “covered with animals of the forest,” as
a “preserve,” that is, a hunting
ground. No Jaredite settlements were built in the Land Southward as seen by
the following statement: “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 10:21).
The question that many theorists struggle with is
what sea is being described here? To answer this question, we need keep in mind
that the sea that divides the land is mentioned in conjunction with the narrow
neck of land. And the city they built, and the sea mentioned, is along by
this narrow neck of land. So to understand the sea, we need to understand what made
this land narrow at the neck. We also need to keep in mind that this is written
by Moroni who is reading the Jaredite record.
Stated differently, unlike the Jaredites, Moroni
knew very well what the Land Southward looked like, how it was shaped, how the
land narrowed to form the narrow neck of land, and what waters flowed around
these south countries. He also knew how the waters formed around this narrow
neck and its narrow passage which had seas on the west and east (Alma 50:34).
He also knew about Hagoth’s shipyard and from where the ships that went
northward sailed.
Left: The
Bay of Guayaquil in southern Ecuador divides the western coast of Andean South
America, today leaving about a 25 mile wide corridor, or neck, between Peru
(south) and Ecuador (north), blocked on the east by the sheer height of the
Andes Mountains, and on the left by the sea; Right: In Nephite times, the Andes
had not yet risen and this area on the east was a sea, referred to as the
Pebasian Sea (See the post “The Rising of South America—Part III,” dated September 7, 2012)
Thus, from a viewpoint of knowing this
configuration, Moroni wrote the words “where the sea divides the land.” Or,
where the sea encroached into the land and divided it. Or where the sea
separated the Land Northward from the Land Southward.
This, of course, is the same sea into which Hagoth
launched his ships, which Moroni knew very well from reading the records and
knowing what his father wrote and knew. No doubt Hagoth’s shipyards at the narrow
neck existed long after the period in which he is mentioned, since the Nephites
were involved in shipping and the building of ships (Helaman 3:14).
The sea that divides the land is that
portion of the West Sea that flows into the Bay of Guayaquil, separating the
northern land from the southern land and creating the narrow neck of land
No doubt Hagoth’s shipyards at the narrow neck
existed long after the period in which he is mentioned, since the Nephites
were involved in shipping and the building of ships (Helaman 3:14). And since
Moroni was in the narrow neck area during the ten year hiatus of peace (Mormon
2:29; 3:1), and was part of Mormon’s army which withstood the Lamanite invasion
through the narrow neck of land (Mormon 3:5) during the following three years. Consequently, it
must be understood that Moroni, when writing about the Jaredites around the
narrow neck of land some forty years later, was well versed in the area he was
describing.
The fact that this sea had no name is consistent
with the Jaredite manner of not giving names to seas; at least the record lists
no names, though directions are understood. Take the example of Omer when he departed out of the
land and traveled many days, it says he traveled “eastward, and came to a place which was called Ablom, by the seashore,
and there he pitched his tent” (Ether 9:3). Again, “And it came to pass that
in the first year of Lib, Coriantumr came up unto the land of Moron, and gave
battle unto Lib. And it came to pass that he fought with Lib, in which Lib did
smite upon his arm that he was wounded; nevertheless, the army of Coriantumr
did press forward upon Lib, that he fled to the borders upon the seashore” (Ether 14:11-12), and also “Shiz
did pursue Coriantumr eastward, even to the borders by the seashore, and there
he gave battle unto Shiz for the space of three days” (Ether 14:26).
In these three
uses of the word “seashore,” no name is given to the sea, though a direction,
“eastward,” is mentioned. In fact, there
are very few directions given in the entire Jaredite record. Moroni uses the
term “north country” twice, Land Northward once, the term “southward” once, and
the Land Southward four times. The terms “north” or “south” are never mentioned
as a direction, and the word “sea” is mentioned only four times, and never with
a name, unless Ripliancum, meaning “to exceed all,” is their North Sea.
Thus,
when the words “where the sea divides the land,” is given, it should be
considered that this sea is the main sea with which Moroni was well familiar
and the Jaredites evidently simply called “the sea.” Obviously, the sea Moroni
would have associated with the narrow neck of land would have been the Nephite West Sea
(Alma 63:5).
Another
consideration is that the wordage “divides the land” is the same terminology
used earlier in Ether 2:13, referring to the oceans that
separated them from their homeland and the land of promise, when Morsoni wrote:
“And now I proceed with my record; for behold, it came to pass that the Lord
did bring Jared and his brethren forth even to that great sea which divideth
the lands.”
Thus, we see that both statements are Moroni’s, and
again, Moroni was well familiar with the sea that divided the land in the Land
of Promise—the West Sea, where it cut into the land to create the narrow neck.
Once again, we can see that Mormon (and Moroni)
described the Land of Promise as two main land masses, the Land Southward, and
the Land Northward, which were connected by a small and narrow land mass he
called a neck. And these two lands were divided by the West Sea except for the
narrow neck, and within this narrow neck was a narrow pass, which was the only
passage between the two lands. And that pass was narrow enough that it could
easily be guarded against an army trying to move from one land to the other.
Obviously, then, any true Land of Promise must match
all of the descriptions listed in the Book of Mormon—it is not a pick and
choose arrangement in selecting those that agree with your point of view, but
must match all of the descriptions,
beginning with these first 17 covered in these six posts.
(See the next post,
“So Where is the Land of Promise? –
Part VII,” for more of these descriptions as listed in the scriptural record of
the Book of Mormon)
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