In the last two posts, we have responded to a reader's questions about an article
on Don R. Hender’s website entitled “Mormon’s Internal Map.” This post is a
continuation of the errors Hender uses to explain his views and model and how
they are not consistent with the scriptures.
Article: “Now
many Book of Mormon geography seekers will have gone through these verses of
Alma 22 a number of times and determined they have gleaned all they can from
them. On the other hand, every time I read through these verses, new insights
come to mind about the geography of the Book of Mormon, as I will have learned
more from other sections of the Book of Mormon, which I can now relate back to
these verses. And it changes how the verses read and what information is in
them as they are reviewed in connection with and in consequence of the other
references, not to mention the 2,000 year time fact and massive land
destructions.”
Response: While it is true that other verses
elsewhere often shed greater light on the general map outline Mormon wrote in Alma 22, nothing changes how the
verses are read, or their meaning; what changes is a person’s understanding of
what Mormon wrote. However, Mormon wrote only about a one thousand year period, including both sides of the massive destruction outlined in 3 Nephi. It was Moroni's son, after Mormon's death, who wrote about the first 1500 years or so of the Jaredite history.
Article: “It will be assumed that the width of
this narrow strip at its narrowest measure was comparable to the width of the
'narrow neck' of land mentioned later. Therefore, a day and a half journey for
a Nephite might give a point of reference to the width of this narrow strip of
land at this juncture.”
Response:
One of the many mistakes people make when trying to determine distances and
size of the Land of Promise is their tendency to think a descriptive word means
the same thing when used in different situations. As an example, when crossing
some 10,000 miles of ocean, Nephi said, “after we had sailed for the space of many days we did arrive at the promised
land” (1 Nephi 18:23-emphasis mine). Compare that to a trip from the area of
first landing to where Nephi settled and built the city of Nephi where they
“did journey in the wilderness for the space of many days” (2 Nephi 5:7-emphasis mine). The difference in distance
between these two incidents of using the same statement of time passing would
be at least 9000 miles.
We
can also look at the statement: “that not many
days after his death” (2 Nephi 4:13-emphasis mine), which is not any more
descriptive than “we did travel for the space of many days” (1 Nephi 16:15) or
“in the land of Bountiful for the space of many days” (1 Nephi 17:7). The point
is, terms like narrow, small, many days, etc., are not specific in and of
themselves unless they have other qualifying statements, such as the width of
the narrow neck of land being what a Nephi could journey across in a day and a
half. Therefore, one cannot assume the term narrow for the neck of land is the
same distance as the narrow strip of wilderness.
This is an example of the Land of
Promise. Yellow Arrow shows the width of the narrow neck of land from east to
west; White Arrows show the narrow strip of wilderness from north to south
(green arrows show the length of the narrow strip from sea to sea)
In
addition, “narrow” in the case of the “narrow neck” has reference to its
distance between the Land of Nephi and the Land of Zarahemla (a north-south
direction) as shown above, while the “narrow neck” of land is a reference to
the distance from east-west in reference to the sea surrounding the land (Alma
22:32). They cannot therefore be compared to the same directional distance.
Article:
“This narrow strip of land 'ran' from the
sea east even to the sea west…The first reported variance is that it was 'round
about' on the borders of the seashore. This seems to mean that along the
seashore, the Lamanites began to intrude beyond the line between the east and
west on into what would have otherwise been Nephite lands had a straight east
to west line been maintained.”
Response:
We cannot think of these areas as governed by political borders as we
understand them today. The Lamanites were never restricted to staying in the
Land of Nephi except that the land to the north (Land of Zarahemla) was guarded
and protected by Nephite armies. The narrow strip of wilderness obviously rose
in height from the valley of Zarahemla to the highlands of Nephi. How high
(elevation) and how long (miles) and how wide (distance) this wilderness strip
was we are not told. But it was an obvious geographical or topographical place.
Yellow Arrows show the narrow strip
of wilderness where it curves upward along the east and west seashores (Alma
22:28); this narrow strip of wilderness “ran from the sea east even to the sea
west, and round about on the borders
of the seashore” (Alma 22:27)
Yet,
even so, the Lamanites had moved along the seashore on both the east and west
coasts as this narrow strip curved along in those directions and lived their in
tents until Moroni forced them out and back into their own lands. Obviously,
the Nephites felt those sea coasts were their lands, and just as obviously, the
Lamanites did not since they moved into them.
Article:
“In addition, the Lamanites had also
began to become located in the wilderness area on northward by the land of
Zarahemla. This begins on the borders of Manti located by the headwaters of
Sidon on its west side (running from the east towards the west).”
Response:
There is no mention in the scriptural record of any Lamanites settled to the
north of the Land of Zarahemla. This is a misunderstanding of Mormon’s
statement: “…and the borders of the wilderness which was on the north by the
land of Zarahemla,” which is describing that the narrow strip of wilderness ran
east and west aross the land from sea to sea, but along each seacoast, it
curved upward (round about) along the seacoast for a ways, thus encompassing
some of the Nephites who were southward in the Land of Zarahemla. However, the Nephites
controlled “all the northern parts of the land bordering on the wilderness”
(Alma 22:29)until they came to Bountiful in the far north of the Land
Southward.
Article:
“It will be recalled that during an
earlier war with invading Lamanite forces, these Lamanites were driven into the
Wilderness which was west and north of the city of Zarahemla which was called
the Wilderness of Hermounts. Unlike the Lamanites, the Nephites had not spread
out from sea to sea in their land. Much of their early settlement had been in
the large Sidon river valley, and they had not moved on out to secure their
coast lines at this juncture in time.”
Response:
First of all, we do not know how far this round about wilderness ran, nor how
far northward along the sea coasts the Lamanites had settled. It could have
been a mile, or ten miles, or whatever. Perhaps one of the reasons the Nephites
had not settled in those areas was because the Lamanites were already
there—after all, they did not settle these areas until after Moroni drove the Lamanites out.
However,
when it comes to the wilderness called Hermounts, those Lamanites who escaped
westward and northward from the Sidon River crossing in 87 B.C., at the
conclusion of the battle with the Nephites were running for their lives (Alma
2:36). The Nephites continued after them, hewing them down with the sword and
other weapons as they fled.
When the Lamanites fled into the
wilderness of Hermounts, they ran into wild beasts that infested the area
The
wilderness of Hermounts itself was infested by wild and ravenous beasts (Alma
2:37), and when the Lamanite survivors, many wounded, reached this wilderness,
they “were devoured by those beasts and also the vultures of the air; and their
bones have been found, and have been heaped up on the earth” (Alma 2:38). There
is no mention of any settlement of occupation of this wilderness to the north
or any other place to the north!
Article:
“Now why would the Nephites have
allowed the Lamanites to have come and dwelt in 'their' lands north of the
'narrow strip of wilderness?' First Zarahemla was in the center or heart of the
land.”
Response: We do not know where within the
Land of Zarahemla, that the city of Zarahemla was located. We are never told
that, nor are we given any clues as to its position. However, the Lamanites
were never settled in any area of the Land of Zarahemla except in the
wilderness that curved upward (round about) from the narrow strip along the
seashore. The only Lamanites in the wilderness of Hermounts to the north of the
city of Zarahemla were devoured by wild beasts.
(See the next post, “Looking at Mormon’s Internal
Map – Part IV,” for more on the articles on his website and the errors he uses
to support his model and views)
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