The head or source of the Mississippi
River is in Minnesota at Lake Itasca—it is the only head of the Mississippi
River; The mouth or end of the Mississippi River is the Gulf of Mexico below
New Orleans in Louisiana—it is the only mouth of the Mississippi River. There
are no other heads or mouths. The head or source is in Minnesota and the Mouth
is in Louisiana at the Gulf of Mexico; Right: the official beginning of the
Mississippi River is the rock “wall” across the head, headwaters or source at
Lake Itasca
Yet, ever pressing his point, Meldrum continues: “This being the case, it cannot be said with confidence that the river Sidon flowed north. It could have been flowing in either direction. Therefore, the Mississippi River, based on this criterion, is a valid alternative to be considered to be the Book of Mormon’s “River Sidon.”
Whether the Sidon river flowed northward, or flowed southward, is not the point of this. The scriptural reference has to do with the “head of the River Sidon” and not its direction of flow. As Meldrum well knows, every definition one might present defines the head of a river as its “source.” And in Webster’s 1828 dictionary, we find a definition of “source” as: “Properly, the spring or fountain from which a stream of water proceeds, or any collection of water within the earth or upon its surface, in which a stream originates. This is called also the head of the stream. We call the water of a spring, where it issues from the earth, the source of the stream or rivulet proceeding from it. We say also that springs have their sources in subterranean ponds, lakes or collections of water. We say also that a large river has is source in a lake. For example, the St. Lawrence has its source in the great lakes of America.”
Thus, the head of a river is its source, and the source is the river’s beginning—it cannot be applied to a part of a single river downstream from its head or source.
Where the Ohio River ends as it flows into the Mississippi River,
creating the mouth of the Ohio River. There is no head of the Mississippi River
here since the Mississippi River’s head, source, and beginning is at Itasca
Lake in Minnesota
Meldrum, however, not one to accept defeat, continues to chip away at his point. He states: “In Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary, the reference dictionary in Joseph Smith’s time, the word 'head' as relating to a river is defined thus: ‘The principal source of a stream; as the head of the Nile.' While this is one definition, there is also another equally valid definition relating to rivers which is less well known but very important to a more complete understanding.” He then states a definition of the words “conflux” and “confluence” out of Webster’s 1828 dictionary: “Conflux: A flowing together; a meeting of two or more currents of a fluid,” then adds: “Confluence: A flowing together; the meeting or junction of two or more streams of water, or other fluid; also, the place of meeting; as the confluence of the Tigris and the Frat, or of the Ohio and Mississippi.”
However, no one is denying that a single river stem, or main river, may have several tributaries (that flow into) or several distributaries (that flow out of) its length. What is in question is that Meldrum is claiming that the main stem river has a new head when such a joining occurs, and as has been pointed out here, that is simply not true!
Meldrum then states: “So the 'head' of the Sidon river of the Book of Mormon has two possible definitions, one at the commencement of a stream or river and one which is defined as the location where two branches or tributaries of a river meet, or their confluence. Which definition did the Book of Mormon authors and translator mean and is there a scriptural basis for the idea of the 'head' of a river being a junction of two or more rivers?”
The problem, once again, is that there are not two definitions of the word “head” relating to the “head of a river,” despite Meldrum claiming there are. The answer to this is quite simple when we don’t add unrelated ideas to the explanation. As an example, Meldrum quotes the dictionary, then adds the word “head” into their definitions of “conflux” and “confluence” which the dictionary does not do nor imply. The conflux of a river is where two rivers join, or the confluence of two rivers. There are no references to a “head” in these two explanations, because the head of the stem river does not change at any confluence or distributary.
White Circle shows the area of the “Head
of the Sidon River,” which was “away
beyond the borders of Manti into the south wilderness” [map for
illustrative purposes only]
Of this arrangement Rod Meldrum stated his opposite viewpoint: “The direction of flow of the river that is in question since there is no scripturally explicit text so indicating. Nowhere does the text of the Book of Mormon definitively state the direction of flow of the Sidon River, therefore it was simply deduced from alternative sources of information.”
However, the facts in Mormon’s description seem quite clear:
1. The head of the river Sidon was in the narrow strip of wilderness (Alma 22:27);
2. The narrow strip of wilderness was south of the Land of Zarahemla, between the lands of Zarahemla and Nephi (Alma 22:27);
3. The Sidon River had an east bank and a west bank (Alma 2:15, 17;43:53; east bank 49:16; west bank: 8:3, 43:27,32,53). There is no mention of north or south banks, therefore the Sidon River flowed northward or southward;
4. The Sidon River ran by the Land of Zarahemla (Alma 2:15);
5. The Land of Gideon was to the east of the River Sidon (Alma 2:26-27; 6:7);
6. The Sidon River ran between the Land of Zarahemla (to the West) and on the East the Land of Gideon, Valley of Gideon and City of Gideon (Alma 8:1; 49:16).
7. The Land of Gideon was north of the Land of Manti (Alma 17:1), which borders were in the narrow strip of wilderness near the Head of the River Sidon (Alma 16:7; 22:27).
Therefore, since the Head of the River Sidon was in the south or narrow strip of wilderness to the south of the Land of Zarahemla (Alma 22:27), and ran either north or south, running by the land of Zarahemla, which was to the north, the Sidon River had to run north, or it could not have run past the Land of Zarahemla to the Sea. Thus, it was not “simply deduced from alternative sources of information,” but taken directly and singularly from the scriptural record.
Consequently, when we follow the scriptural record of the Book of Mormon and understand the meaning of the words without changing, altering, or fudging on such meanings, we find a very clear understanding of what Mormon and others wrote and meant us to understand. In this case, the head of the River Sidon was to the south of the Land of Zarahemla up in the higher elevations of the narrow strip of wilderness and flowed northward, along the borders of the Land of Zarahemla between that land and the Land of Gideon. It is too bad that theorists feel it necessary to try and explain their views by discounting what the scriptural record actually says about the matter.
At some point the promised Latter-day "latter rain" of revelation will bring out enough truth about the Book of Mormon that there will no longer be any need to carefully expose the absurdities of the theories of Meldrum and others.
ReplyDelete"I have yet MANY things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into ALL truth..." --John 16:12-13
"We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal MANY great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God." --AoF 9
"God shall give unto you knowledge by his Holy Spirit, yea, by the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost, that has not been revealed since the world was until now... A time to come in the which nothing shall be withheld... How long can rolling waters remain impure? What power shall stay the heavens? " --D&C 121
erichard: It is my opinion that that time has already arrived. The Lord is flooding the world with information that just a few short years ago was almost entirely unavailable. I have been studying the Land of Promise geography for the past 20 years quite regularly, and for the past 18 almost daily, and the past 10 years exclusively--it is amazing to me how much more information is known about far off places just in this period of time. What was very difficult to find when I first began and wrote the early books, is today easily obtained from numerous sources. What was very limited in its existence when I started this blog going on 9 years ago is today abundantly covered from general articles to unpublished papers to scientific journals and the like. I believe the Lord is providing us with information about all things--we only have to put out the effort to search it out and learn. It is also my opinion that the Lord is not going to hand this additional information to us on a silver platter, but is expecting us to glean it out from "the best books" and other available material and work today. Hopefully, this will become a standard practice among intelligent people who want to know what more the Lord can teach us.
ReplyDeleteOh, I agree. There is also new information coming to light which challenges the consensus science of the world which has held back the discovery of truth for far too long. The truth will not be able to hide in plain sight for long. It's fun to watch.
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