The Prophet Mormon was an absolutely amazing individual—a
child prodigy, a skilled military commander, a great historian, a powerful
prophet, a man among men, and a loving father and son. He was neither crafty
nor devious and had no guile, but consistently expressed empathy and compassion
for his fellow man. He was surrounded all his days by wickedness and
abominations, but in his writings, Mormon expresses an eternal outlook that
made him cheerful, resilient and optimistic in the gospel.
Even when knowing the Nephites
had passed their day of grace, both temporarily and spiritually because of
their wickedness (Mormon 2:15), he still thought in some way in their deadly
struggle for survival that he could gain an advantage over the Lamanites
(Mormon 6:4). Despite their wickedness, he had led the Nephites many times in
battle and delivered them out of the hands of their enemies (Mormon 3:12-13).
Yet, despite his great love for his people, he stood aside and refused to lead
them when the Lord commanded (Mormon 3:13). It was his greatness that allowed
him to be chosen by the Lord to edit the writings of the Nephite prophets—a
work that made staggering demands on him.
The Nephites held a massive
number of voluminous records (Helaman 3:13), including the small and large
plates of the Nephites, and were so extensive that four times Mormon felt
compelled to declare that he could not write "the hundredth part of the
things of my people" (WofM 1:5; Helaman 3:14; 3 Nephi 5:8; 26:6). Mormon
had not only to choose what doctrines of the gospel to include in that
hundredth part of history, but also to decide which historical episodes would
best illustrate the Nephite’s relationship with God. The result is a dazzling
spiritual treasure because its editor was a divinely inspired spiritual giant.
Mormon is amazing because of his
production of The Book of Mormon, not only in his abridgement of thousands of
records, but his insertion at times of further explanation, such as the legal
system (Alma 11:1), monetary system (Alma 11:5-6), and Land of Promise
geography (Alma 22:27-34). This work was the consecrated and successful mission
of his life. While he labored all his days, from the age of 15 onward, to save
the Nephites, both from Lamanite destruction and their own folly, his greatest
labor of love was the editing of what he knew would be the scriptural record of
the thousand years of the Nephite nation (3 Nephi 5:14-16) to be read by a far
future people (3 Nephi 30:1-2).
Any reader of the Book of Mormon
today must be amazed by the choice of subject Mormon thought to include in his
extensive abridgement. It also seems well worth our while to pay attention to
those choices and try to fully comprehend what significance they had in
Mormon’s time and for our time today. While the basis of the entire work is to
be a second witness or testimony of Jesus Christ, it also contains doctrinal
understandings and historical events that aid us in our understanding of our
own age and problems--individually, collectively, as well as nationally (Helaman
5:2-3) and worldly.
For those who have a desire to know
of the geographical setting of the land in which Mormon lived, labored and
fought, and the geographical setting of the entire Land of Promise, who better
to glean information from than the one man that we know of who lived, walked
and fought throughout the entire width and breadth of the land. After all, Mormon
was born in the Land Northward, lived in the Land Southward (Mormon 1:6), knew
of the land and how the Nephites had built numerous buildings all over the land
(Mormon 1:7), and saw how the Nephites had spread over the land and “were as
numerous almost, as it were the sand of the sea.”
When Mormon was 15 years of age, there began to be a war again between the Nephites and the
Lamanites. “And notwithstanding I being young, was large in stature; therefore
the people of Nephi appointed me that I should be their leader, or the leader
of their armies”
Mormon led Nephite armies in battle
from the waters of Sidon in the far south (Mormon 1:10) to the Land
of Many Waters (Mormon 6:4) in the far north. He knew of the small or narrow neck of land since
he led the Nephite armies in their retreat to this area, negotiated a treaty
with the Lamanites for this area (Mormon 2:28-29), declared it the boundary of
the Nephite lands and fought several battles around it (Mormon 3:5-7).
Mormon included many descriptions
of small, but important facts about that land, many of which have been written
about in this blog several times over the past four years. He also inserted his
own thoughts regarding the topography and layout of the land, and it is toward
this end that this blog is generally pointed. Where was the Land of Promise and
what scriptural evidence did Mormon leave us to show us the way to knowing that
land has been the major topic of over 1500 posts during these past four years.
In fact, there are so many such evidences or descriptions that Mormon provided
us that finding the location of the Land of Promise is not as difficult as so
many Theorists, bent on their own personal view, try to make it seem.
However, we need to glean from
these small, and often seemingly insignificant descriptions to see them in the
light Mormon intended. That is not to say Mormon was trying to describe his
land to us (except for Alma 22:27-34), but to place the events of which he
wrote in the setting of his land he knew so well. Some of these comments or
descriptions are quite illuminating. However, Mormon had to pick and choose
what he wrote from the enormous material at hand, and often condensed such
descriptions to simple and seemingly insignificant statements or asides.
In fact, when Mormon first
introduces himself, he writes: “And there had many things transpired which, in
the eyes of some, would be great and marvelous; nevertheless, they cannot all
be written in this book; yea, this book cannot contain even a hundredth part of
what was done among so many people," and also stated "But
behold there are records which do contain all the proceedings of this people;
and a shorter but true account was given by Nephi. Therefore I have made my
record of these things according to the record of Nephi, which was engraven on
the plates which were called the plates of Nephi. And behold, I do make the
record on plates which I have made with mine own hands. And behold, I am called
Mormon, being called after the land of Mormon, the land in which Alma did
establish the church among the people, yea, the first church which was
established among them after their transgression” (3 Nephi 5:8-12).
Consequently, since he could
write “this book cannot contain even a hundredth part” of what was written, we
might want to consider those things he did mention and what there significance
might be to our understanding this land upon which Mormon lived.
Toward this goal the next
several posts are dedicated—for us to read what Mormon wrote and picture his
points in the land upon which he lived. One of these descriptions was covered
earlier, regarding the roads and highways he wrote about that ran extensively
throughout the Land of Promise (3 Nephi 6:8). However, others are not quite so
obvious, and one must read the description and consider its meaning, such as
the one we will discuss in the next post.
(See the next post regarding
“Mormon’s Abridgement,” for one of the descriptions Mormon wrote about that can
help us understand the location of the Land of Promise)
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