Where Do We Find Accurate Dates? – Part VII

Continuing with Joseph L. Allen’s descriptive information in his book Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon, that poses as Land of Promise discussion but really is meant to solidify his Mesoamerican model.

Still hammering away at dates, that confuse any issue, Joseph L. Allen states: “The date of the arrival of the Jaredites is based upon 1) the dating of the great tower (Tower of Babel) and 2) the archaeological and traditional evidence coming out of Mesoamerica in relationship to the first settlers. According to Ixtlilxochitl we learn that 416 years elapsed from the time of the flood until the confusion of Babel and the first settlers arrived in Mesoamerica 520 years later.”
    If we are going to accept the Lord's dates as Moses wrote them down in two documents which testify of each other, then Ixtlilxochitl's dates tell us that the confusion of Babel occurred in 1927 B.C., and the Jaredites landed in the Land of Promise in 1823 B.C.  These dates are close, but off from those submitted earlier, i.e., that the Jaredites landed around 2100 B.C., which would have been mid-way through the period of Peleg’s life, in whose time the “earth was divided,” thus leading to the building of the Great Tower, confusion of tongues, and exodus of the Jaredites. The dates that Allen uses simply do not match the time frame of the events we know took place around the same time as when the Jaredites would have left Mesopotamia, and arrived a few years later in the Land of Promise.
    Continuing with Allen: “Traditional statements place the dating of the Jaredites at about 2200 BC.  However, since no dates appear in the Book of Mormon regarding the arrival date of the Jaredites, we are left to choose between the archaeological dates of the Old World and the Spanish Chronicle dates of the New World.”
    Not so.  We are left to choose from the Biblical dates, which place the arrival of the Jaredites sometime around 2100 B.C., give or take a 100  years (2200 B.C. to 2000 B.C.)  Having to choose from other sources that are not scripture, and rate them over scripture is foolhardy.  The Lord knew what he was talking about when he dictated the history of the world so Moses could write it down.
    Continuing again with Allen: “Ixtlilxochitl said that the first settlers, who came from the great tower at the time of the confusion of languages, wandered for 104 years before they settled.”

If this is true, then the Jaredites wandered for 104 years between their original home (Mesopotamia) and the Great Sea that divided the land.  This would place the landing date of the Jaredites pretty close to 2100 B.C. as outlined elsewhere in this work.
    Again quoting Allen: “If the Jaredites arrived in Mesoamerica around 2700 BC then by 2500 BC we can expect to see the beginnings of legitimate civilization centers.  Early settlement patterns along the Gulf of Mexico and Oaxaca support that expectation.” 

This is the reason Allen is so bent on ignoring the dates the Lord dictated to Moses, for those dates (flood in 2344 B.C. and Jaredite arrival around 2100 B.C.) do not fit in with his Mesoamerican model. Now, if the Lord is correct, and Moses wrote down what he was told (has there ever been a prophet that did not?), then the Jaredites indeed reached the Land of Promise around 2100 B.C.  So who was settling in Mesoamerica around 2700 to 2500 B.C? Certainly not the Jaredites. In fact, both those dates fall before the Flood, according to Moses dates he received from the Lord.
    Allen: “The archaeological sites of San Lorenzo, La Venta, and Tres Zapotes in Veracruz, Mexico, tell the story of the classical period of the Olmecs. This period lasted roughly until 600 B.C. when their civilization began to decline. 
    Using Allen's dates, he is stating about a 300-year period of decline for the Jaredites (600 BC to 300 BC).  However, Ether makes it very clear that the decline of the Jaredites from success to annihilation took only one generation—during the lifetime of a single king—Coriantumr.  And it would be hard to say that the Jaredite civilization declined toward the end. They were heavily involved in war for the last 50 to 100 years of their existence, a war which saw millions die, a war which killed women and children, a war which—according to Ether, who was an eye-witness—took the life of every Jaredite except himself and Coriantumr, all within a few years.  A civilization that numbered in the millions wiped out in a very short time frame, hardly agrees with Allen's decline of the Olmecs.
    Allen: “By conducting a generation count in the Book of Ether, we are justified in saying that events stated in Chapter 5 correspond to the early part of the above date, probably in the 1300—1200 BC time period.” 

Insisting on using Ixtlilxochitl’s erroneous dates that the Jaredites landed before the Flood in 2700 B.C., using the 30 generations of 50 years per generation, the entire Jaredite time frame would have covered only 1,500 years. 1,500 years from 2700 B.C., brings us to 1200 B.C.  That means the Jaredites were wiped out around 1200 B.C.  Since this is hardly possible (Coriantumr would have had to live another 650 years after the final, great battle), it seems using a generation count does not seem to verify Allen's premise.  
    There are 30 generations mentioned from Jared to Ether (Ether 1:6-32). In this account, there are three generations, Ether (Ether 1:6), Aaron (Ether 1:16) and Morianton (Ether 1:23) that are listed as a descendant rather than a son; however, two of these, Ether (Ether 11:23) and Aaron (Ether 10:31) are listed as sons and not descendants later in the record. This leaves only one generation gap and that is of Morianton who was listed as a descendant of Riplakish both early and later in the record (Ether 10:9).  
    However, it might be assumed that Morianton was Riplakish's son, since Either was quite specific about naming every generation, and two of the three descendants in that geneaology turned out to be sons anyway. Thus, we can use the 30 generations Allen uses.  
    Now, doing a little arithmetic, Lib was the 16th generation from Jared, and it is his day that Allen considers was probably in the 1300-1200 B.C. time period. So, taking 2700 B.C. as a start date (however, Jared was married and had some of his family by this time), for Lib to live in 1300 B.C., 1,400 years would have had to pass.  That makes each generation averaging 87 ½ years, a figure that is way out of line even in that era. If Lib lived in 1200 B.C., then each generation would have averaged 93 ¾ years, an even more improbable figure. Taking this further, 30 generations between 2700 B.C. to 300 B.C. as Allen suggests, would average out to 80 years per generation. Taking Allen's premise further, if 16 generations lived from 2700 B.C. to 1300 B.C. averaging 87 ½ years, then the next 14 generations, living from 1300 B.C. to 300 B.C., would have averaged about 71 ½ years. Few arguments can be found to support such long generational periods. Today, we consider a 20 year or 25 year generation.  However, if the Jaredites landed in 2100 B.C., which Biblical dates seem to justify, then 16 generations later, averaging 50 years per generation, we arrive at 1300 B.C.  And in using 2100 BC to 600 B.C., 30 generations would also average 50 years per generation, a far more reasonable generation time frame in the era being discussed.
    Allen: “In 1 Nephi 1:4, we are informed that Lehi lived in Jerusalem when Zedekiah was placed on the throne as king of Juldah. 

The scriptures does not tell us that Lehi lived in Jerusalem. The actual scripture quoted states:  "For it came to pass in the commencement of the first year of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, (my father, Lehi, having dwelt at Jerusalem in all his days)..."  (1 Nephi 1:4). While Allen might not find much difference between the word in and at, Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English language shows that in Jerusalem would mean inside the walled city, while at Jerusalem would mean living out in the nearby or surrounding countryside. This difference has led to the possible understanding of Lehi's occupation which Nibley and the Hiltons have so effectively expanded upon. But regardless of the discussion on Lehi's occupation, the misuse of a word that determines meaning when quoting a scripture is a sign of sloppy research and writing and poor scholarship!
    It seems amazing that a scholar of Allen’s reputation, who has a company that takes members and people on guided tours of the so-called Mesoamerican Land of Promise, is going to be so far off on the very dates he discusses, writes about, and covers in his tours. One would think that it would be important to get the dates correct.
(See the next post, “Where Do We Find Accurate Dates? – Part VII,” for more of Allen’s descriptive information that poses as Book of Mormon discussion but really is meant to solidify his Mesoamerican model)