Continuing with this
series, and moving on now to Jacob’s description of the Land of Promise, and
Amaleki’s coverage of Mosiah’s move further northward.
We have written about
Jacob’s comments several times, but we will cover it briefly here again in this
series since we have new readers and it is important to keep some of this
information in chronological order.
When
Nephi was untied by his brothers and given back control of his ship at the tail
end of the storm that threatened to capsize the vessel, he merely says: “after they had loosed me, behold,
I took the compass, and it did work whither I desired it…I prayed unto the
Lord; and after I had prayed the winds did cease, and the storm did cease, and
there was a great calm. And I, Nephi, did guide the ship, that we sailed again
towards the promised land. And after we had sailed for the space of many days
we did arrive at the promised land” (1 Nephi 18:21-23).
As they sailed up the Humboldt (Peruvian)
Current, the land came into view. Obviously, the southern end would have been
noticeable, since that is basically where they landed according to Mormon,
along the West Sea: “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).
How
much of the land they would have seen can only be guessed at, and whatever led
Jacob to have the opinion he had of the land mass is not stated. However, forty
years after leaving Jerusalem (2 Nephi 5:34), when the Nephites were settled in
the City of Nephi in the Land of Nephi, after the temple “like unto Solomon’s”
had been built, the people, for whatever reason, were evidently feeling that
the Lord had forgotten them, that they had been cast off from their inherited
lands of Jerusalem and were highly agitated over the issue.
To
properly understand Jacob’s eventual remarks, we need to set the stage for a
moment of what was taking place and why Jacob said what he did. First of all,
during a two-day conference in the temple, Jacob arose to speak. Nephi writes: “The
words of Jacob, the brother of Nephi, which he spake unto the people of Nephi”
(2 Nephi 6:1). And these were the words of Jacob as Nephi recorded them:
“Behold, my beloved brethren, I, Jacob, having been called of God, and ordained
after the manner of his holy order, and having been consecrated by my brother
Nephi, unto whom ye look as a king or a protector, and on whom ye depend for
safety, behold ye know that I have spoken unto you exceedingly many things.
Nevertheless, I speak unto you again; for I am desirous for the welfare of your
souls” (2 Nephi 6:2-3). Jacob spoke for some time, covering several points and
reading from Isaiah on the Brass Plates, at one point saying, “Yea, for thus
saith the Lord: Have I put thee away, or have I cast thee off forever?” (2
Nephi 7:1), and eventually concluding the first day with: “And now, my brethren, I would
speak unto you more; but on the morrow I will declare unto you the remainder of
my words. Amen.”
On the second day, Jacob again
rises to speak, saying, “And now I, Jacob, speak unto you again, my beloved
brethren, concerning this righteous branch of which I have spoken” (2 Nephi 10:1).
During this time, Jacob adds, “this land, said God, shall be a land of thine
inheritance, and the Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land. And this land
shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon
the land, who shall raise up unto the Gentiles. And I will fortify this land
against all other nations” (2 Nephi 10:10-12).
Obviously, Jacob is trying to
ease the minds of his listeners that this land upon which they now lived is not
only a land the Lord knows and that they have not been forgotten by God, but
that this land is favored even over the land of the Jews. Jacob adds, “Wherefore,
for this cause, that my covenants may be fulfilled which I have made unto the
children of men” (2 Nephi 10:15), Jacob then says to answer everyone’s concern
and as Nephi records, “And
now, my beloved brethren, seeing that our merciful God has given us so great
knowledge concerning these things, let us remember him, and lay aside our sins,
and not hang down our heads, for we are not cast off” and after assuring them
that they Lord still knew them and where they were he adds, “nevertheless, we
have been driven out of the land of our inheritance; but we have been led to a
better land, for the Lord has made the
sea our path, and we are upon an isle of the sea.”
Obviously, this was not a
surprise to his audience. They had been in the Land of Promise for forty years,
they had built numerous buildings, at least three cities and probably more, a
temple, and no doubt were well familiar with their land. So Jacob goes on: “But
great are the promises of the Lord unto them who are upon the isles of the sea;
wherefore as it says isles, there must needs be more than this, and they are
inhabited also by our brethren” (2 Nephi 10:21). Jacob is assuring his audience
that they are not the only ones upon an island in the midst of the great
ocean—a fact that evidently had been troubling the minds of the Nephites for
some time, knowing they were on an island and well away from the mainland of Israel
where God’s people lived.
Jocob continues: “For behold, the
Lord God has led away from time to time from the house of Israel, according to
his will and pleasure. And now behold, the Lord remembereth all them who have
been broken off, wherefore he remembereth us also. Therefore, cheer up your
hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves -- to choose the
way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life. (2 Nephi 10:22-23).
Now we need to keep in mind that
while numerous Land of Promise theorists with their pre-determined models do
not like this idea, since their lands do not equate to an island, either now or
during the time Jacob spoke this, the point is the Land of Promise was an
island, it was in the midst of the ocean over which they sailed, and its
accuracy and importance cannot be diminished by weak arguments of how did Jacob
know this, etc. In fact, Nephi continues on after this statement with the
comment: “And now, Jacob spake many more things to my people at that
time; nevertheless only these things have I caused to be written, for the
things which I have written sufficeth me” (2 Nephi 11:1). Isn’t it interesting
that of all the things Jacob said in a two days conference in the temple, Nephi
chose to record this information—the Lord had not forgotten them, they were on
an island in the midst of the sea, but were not cast off, and that this island,
the Land of Promise, was a better land than Israel, and had a destiny beyond
anything the Nephites could imagine.
It seems that it is time that
those who truly seek to know the location of the Land of Promise stop promoting
areas that do not match the scriptural record, do not follow the information
the Lord’s prophets have given us as to the many descriptions of the Land of
Promise. At the time Jacob spoke and
Nephi recorded, the Nephites were on an island in the midst of the sea—this is
not an arguable point! No more than any comment made by a speaker at a General
Conference of the Church. We call such talks scripture today! Jacob spoke not
about geography, but our dealings with the Lord, and how we need to act. He
concluded his comment with: “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, reconcile
yourselves to the will of God, and not to the will of the devil and the flesh;
and remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through
the grace of God that ye are saved. Wherefore, may God raise you from death by
the power of the resurrection, and also from everlasting death by the power of
the atonement, that ye may be received into the eternal kingdom of God, that ye
may praise him through grace divine. Amen.” (2 Nephi 10:24-25).
(See the next post, “Finding
Lehi’s Isle of Promise – Part IX,” for more on the island Jacob describes and
Nephi records, that was the home of the Nephites)
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Later when ships take people to a land Northward and are never heard of again, this only makes sense in the Andes as an Island model. It makes no sense in the Mesoamerican or any North American model. Why would they need ships to go Northward? What would stop them from hearing of these people again? It makes NO Sense. These two points support each other, so they have to be brushed under the rug together by those pushing for other models.
ReplyDeleteAnother important point you've made is Alma 22 where is says that the landing place of Lehi was on the seashore of the west sea. What this means is Lake Erie could not have been the west sea because the distance between Zarahemla on the west sea and the land of the first inheritance is hundreds of miles apart. This completely destroys the North American model in this one verse 28 of Alma 22.
ReplyDeleteDo not some of them say that the Lehite ship came up the Mississippi and other rivers to lake Eire? Don't I remember Del explaining how absurd such an idea is?
ReplyDeleteI want a rich Mormon to finance a contest:
ReplyDeleteEvery model builds a ship according to their understanding of what Nephi built, and then sails it from where they believe he set sail-- just driven by the winds and currents -- to the place they believe the Lehites landed.
We can be sure that the only ship that would make it would be the one on Dowdell's model.
The Mississippi River has always been shallow,requiring flat-bottomed paddle-wheels to negotiate the shallows and ever-changing Mississippi course. Besides, no interior river ever reached even close to the Great Lakes--why the Erie Canal was dug, etc. People look at a map and see what looks possible to them and write about it, but a map puts 1000s of miles within a foot or two and perspective flies out the window. You get a much truer perspective by driving or flying over this land and seeing just how far points are from one another and what lies in between.
ReplyDelete