Mormon gives us a very clear
picture of the domain of the Lamanite king, and the location and size of both
the Land of Nephi and the Land of Zarahemla. To make sure we understand this
completely, Mormon states in Alma 22:27:
1. “And it came to pass that the king sent a proclamation
throughout all the land, amongst all his people who were in all his land”
The Lamanite king controlled
an area of considerable size, called the Land of Nephi.
2. “…who were in all the regions round about”
Within the Land of Nephi
were several divisions of land, such as the Land of Ishmael, Land of Jerusalem,
Land of Lehi-Nephi, Land of Shilom, Land of Shemlon, etc., all making up the
overall area of the Land of Nephi, which the king controlled.
3. “…which was bordering even to the sea, on
the east and on the west”
The Land of Nephi ran
from the Sea East to the Sea West
4. “…and which was divided from the land of
Zarahemla by a narrow strip of wilderness”
The Land of Nephi was
to the south and the Land of Zarahemla was to the north of this narrow strip of
wilderness, which ran between them.
5. “…which ran from the sea east even to the sea
west”
This narrow strip of
wilderness ran from the Sea East to the Sea West, on a parallel line with, and
between, the Land of Nephi and the Land of Zarahemla.
6. “and round about on the borders of the
seashore, and the borders of the wilderness which was on the north by the land
of Zarahemla”
Roundabout means not
in a straight line—a roundabout course. Thus, the narrow strip of wilderness,
which ran straight from sea to sea curved upward (northward) along both
seacoasts encroaching into the Land of Zarahemla along the coastal area.
According to Mormon’s description, the Land
of Zarahemla was to the north, the Land of Nephi to the south, with a narrow
strip of wilderness running in a straight line between them, and curved upward
(roundabout) on both coasts, creating a west wilderness and an east wilderness
where “the more idle part of the Lamanites dwelt in tents”
7. “…and thus were
the Lamanites and the Nephites divided”
This narrow strip of
wilderness divided the two lands and the two peoples. Whether it was a
mountainous region, a canyon, or a series of cliffs, is not stated. The
“wilderness” merely means “a tract of
land or region uncultivated and uninhabited by human beings,” it is also
defined as, “a wild and natural area in
which few people live,” and “an area
essentially undisturbed by human activity together with its naturally developed
life community.”
It
was through this narrow strip of wilderness, which separated the higher
elevation of the Land of Nephi from the lower elevation of the Land of
Zarahemla, that the Lamanties continued to “come down” to do battle with the
Nephites as shown in “when the men who
were called king-men had heard that the Lamanites were coming down to battle
against them, they were glad in their hearts; and they refused to take up arms”
(Alma 51:13), and “In this year that there were some
dissenters who had gone forth unto the Lamanites; and they were stirred up
again to anger against the Nephites. And also in this same year they came down
with a numerous army to war against the people of Moronihah, or against the army
of Moronihah, in the which they were beaten and driven back again to their own
lands, suffering great loss” (Alma 63:14-15).
Obviously, Zarahemla was also at a lower elevation
from the eastern area of the Land Southward as shown in Alma 62:7, and it is also
obvious that Mormon is referring to elevation when he speaks of “coming down”
and “going up,” as seen in “when
Amalickiah found that he could not get Lehonti to come down off from the mount,
he went up into the mount, nearly to Lehonti's camp; and he sent again the
fourth time his message unto Lehonti, desiring that he would come down, and
that he would bring his guards with him” (Alma 47:12).
Now,
since we have established Mormon’s description of the southern portion of the
Land Southward, including the lands of Zarahemla and Nephi, let’s take another
look at the West Sea, and what Mormon had to say about the land where Lehi landed—which
was along the West Sea toward the south in the Land of Nephi. In describing the
layout of the Land of Promise for his future reader, and where the Lamanites
were located along the west coast of the land, Mormon states in his insert, “Now, the more idle part of the Lamanites
lived in the wilderness, and dwelt in tents; and they were spread through the
wilderness on the west, in the land of Nephi; yea, and also on the west of the
land of Zarahemla, in the borders by the seashore, and on the west in the land
of Nephi, in the place of their fathers' first inheritance, and thus bordering
along by the seashore” (Alma 22:28).
To make sure we
understand this location of their “first inheritance,” that is the land they
first occupied and the spot where Lehi entered that land, we need to keep in
mind that Mormon is placing the Lamanites:
Mormon tells us that Lehi landed on the west coast of the Land of
Nephi, and settled that area along the seashore, which was the place of their
first inheritance; later, after Nephi left, the City and Land of Nephi became the land of the Nephite
first inheritance (Mosiah 9:1) and Lehi’s landing site became the land of first
inheritance of the Lamanites (Alma 22:28)
1. “and they were spread through the wilderness
on the west in the land of Nephi”
This is in the west
of the Land of Nephi.
2. “…yea, and also on
the west of the land of Zarahemla, in the borders by the seashore”
This is along that
west coast of Zarahemla where the narrow strip of wilderness curves up
“roundabout” along the seashore.
3. “…and on the west
in the land of Nephi, in the place of their fathers' first inheritance”
Their fathers’ first
inheritance means, in this case, the Lamanite fathers, which would be Lehi,
Laman and Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael.
4. “…and thus bordering along by the seashore”
That is, the
Lamanites (meaning Lehi and his colony) first landed along the seashore of the
West Sea in the southern portion of the Land of Nephi.
Olive’s map showing (white arrow) her
location for Lehi’s landing site along her West Sea, which is today’s Lake Erie
However, Phyllis Carol Olive
takes all that very clear information and misplaces it in an unbelievable
manner, choosing the “land-locked” area of Lake Erie in the Great Lakes, as
though she had looked on a map and seen a path up the St. Lawrence River to
Lake Ontario and then on to Lake Erie, as the location of where Lehi landed.
(See the next post, “What is in
a Scriptural Description? The West Sea – Part II,” for the rest of this article
on how clearly Mormon describes Lehi’s landing site, and how far afield Olive
has gone in placing that landing on the east coast of Lake Erie and how
impossible it would have been for Nephi’s ship to have reached that spot)
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