Has the Geographical Truth of the Book of Mormon Been Kept Hidden? – Part III

Continued from the previous post regarding the belief of theorists and their claim that there are five specific and “common misunderstandings of the text of the Book of Mormon that have kept the truth of its geography hidden for the past 185 years.” The first three of these five so-called “misconceptions,” were listed in the previous posts. We continued below with next point:
4. “Directional geographical names in the Book of Mormon are absolute and always refer to the same location.”

Left: The Land Southward was divided into two areas, the Land North (north of the narrow strip of wilderness), referred to as the Land of Mulek; and the Land South (south of the narrow strip of wilderness), referred to as the Land of Lehi (Helaman 6:10); Right: Moroni “prayed that the cause of the Christians, and the freedom of the land might be favored….named all of the land which was south of the land Desolation, yea, all the land, both on the north and on the south—as a chosen land and the land of liberty” (Helaman 46:16-17)

According to Brandley, one thing that can be particularly confusing in The Book of Mormon is that all directional names are relative to the context in which they are given. He states: “The same directional names do not always refer to the same geographical locations. For example, in the following verse the land north refers to the land of Zarahemla: “Now the land south was called Lehi, and the land north was called Mulek, which was after the son of Zedekiah; for the Lord did bring Mulek into the land north, and Lehi into the land south (Helaman 6:10).”
    This should not be a problem with anyone who understands the simply language and descriptions given in the scriptural record. The only reason why people are confused, such as Brandley, is that they do not realize or consider multiple descriptions of a single area.

The Lord preserved the Land of Promise, a land choice above all other lands (Ether 2:7,9), above all the lands of the Earth (Ether 1:42), and He led the Jaredites to it (Ether 6:8,12), a land preserved for a righteous people (Ether 2:7), where the Jaredites would build up a great nation, greater than all other nations (Ether 1:43); but to Lehi, He gave the land, “we have obtained a land of promise, a land which is choice above all other lands; a land which the Lord God hath covenanted with me should be a land for the inheritance of my seed…forever”(2 Nephi 1:5)—suggesting two different promises

As an example, the land to which the Jaredites were led  was only one portion of the land promised to Lehi, for Lehi’s promise extended to all the land within the Land of Promise, while the Jaredites land promised to them was only in the Land Northward, north of the narrow neck that separated these two lands. While the early portion of the Nephite lands was in the Land Southward, when they eventually began to move into and settle the Land Northward, during the last century BC, we find that “there were an exceedingly great many who departed out of the land of Zarahemla, and went forth unto the land northward to inherit the land” (Helaman 3:3, emphasis added).
    Now the word “inherit” meant in 1828 “to take by descent from an ancestor; to receive, as a right or title descerndible by law from an ancestor at his decease. The heir inherits the lands or real estate of his father; to receive by nature from a progenitor. The son inherits [from]…the father. To possess; to enjoy; to take as a possession…of property.” Thus, for the Nephites to have gone into the Land Northward (the old Jaredite lands) to inherit that land means that the land belonged to the father, or fathers, and in this case all the way back to Lehi to whom the land was granted by the Lord for him and his children forever (2 Nephi 1:5).
    Thus, the Land Northward was also part of the land promised to Lehi, or the Land of Promise.
    Once again, the problem lies in not understanding the overall makeup and descriptions of the Land of Promise. As an example, Brandley goes on to say, “However, in this next verse Zarahemla is in the land southward: And it came to pass that I, being eleven years old, was carried by my father into the land southward, even to the land of Zarahemla (Mormon 1:6).
    So, before continuing, let us see how the Land of Promise was labeled by Mormon. First, we know there were two major land divisions: 1) the Land Northward (Alma 22:32), also called “Desolation” (Alma 22:31), and 2) the Land Southward (Alma 22:32), also called Bountiful (Alma 22:31), plus a “small neck of land” in between (Alma 22:32), also called a “narrow neck” leading into the land northward (Alma 63:5) that separated the land (Ether 10:20).
    So, in Mormon 1:6, Mormon, who was evidently born in the Land Northward, was brought to the Land Southward when a boy by his father “even to the Land of Zarahemla.” That is like saying of someone born in Idaho, that when he was young, was taken to Utah, even to Salt Lake City, without mentioning passing through Tremonton, Ogden, Layton, Kaysville, Farmington, and Bountiful to get there. Yes, Mormon was brought into the Land Southward, passing through the Land of Bountiful, the Land in Between Bountiful and Zarahemla (3 Nephi 3:23), and “even to the Land of Zarahemla.” Thus, Zarahemla is in the Land Southward.
    However, as Brandley claims: “Sometimes Bountiful is in the north as in Helaman 1:23, and sometimes it is in the south as in Alma 22:31.”

The “north parts of the land” refers to the north parts of the Land Southward (Alma 22:29)—which is the “Land North” within the Land Southward, where Mulek was led 

So it becomes necessary to understand that in addition to the two major land divisions, i.e., the Land Northward and the Land Southward (Helaman 3:8), the Land Southward was also sub-divided into two parts: the Land North, and the Land South. That is, the Narrow Strip of Wilderness that separated the Land of Zarahemla (in the north) from the Land of Nephi (in the south), was a division of the Land Southward. That divisional line obviously separated the Land Southward into the land which was to the north (Nephites in the Land of Zarahemla) and the land which was to the south (Lamanites in the Land of Nephi).
    Thus, the Lord brought Mulek into the “land north” of the Land Southward, and Lehi into the “land south” in the Land Southward.
    So when Brandley states confusion about the “land north” and the “land south” (Helaman 6:10) in that the Lord brought Mulek into the “land north” and Lehi into the “land south,” we need only understand that subdivision of the Land Southward to understand the overall meaning of the land in this passage.
    After all, we know that the Mulekites landed in the Land Southward, for they “were brought by the hand of the Lord across the great waters, into the land where Mosiah discovered them; and they had dwelt there from that time forth” (Omni 1:16). If the Mulekites had always dwelled in the land where Mosiah found them, which was the area called Zarahemla, and since Zarahemla was in the Land Southward (Alma 22:27-28,32), then the Lord brought Mulek into the land north in the Land Southward.
    Thus, it is important not to confuse the “land north” with the “Land Northward,” or the “land south” with the “Land Southward.” As an example, the statement: “in the sixty and ninth year of the reign of the judges over the people of the Nephites, that Nephi, the son of Helaman, returned to the land of Zarahemla from the land northward” (Helaman 7:1). Thus, since Zarahemla is in the Land Southward, the statement is that Nephi returned from the Land Northward into the “land north” of the Land Southward. If both land north and land northward were the same, this statement would say that Nephi returned from the land northward into the land northward.

The Land North was separated from the Land South by the Narrow Strip of Wilderness that divided the Land of the Nephites from the Land of the Lamanites 9Alma 22:27)

Obviously, the “land south” and the “land north” were two different geographical areas, as seen in “and they did have an exceeding plenty of gold, and of silver, and of all manner of precious metals, both in the land south and in the land north” (Helaman 6:9). This is also seen in the statement regarding the Gadianton Robbers: “began to come down and to sally forth from the hills, and out of the mountains, and the wilderness, and their strongholds, and their secret places, and began to take possession of the lands, both which were in the land south and which were in the land north, and began to take possession of all the lands which had been deserted by the Nephites” (3 Nephi 4:1). When this war was over, the Nephites returned to their homes: “both on the north and on the south, both on the land northward and on the land southward” (2 Nephi 6:2). Now if the land north and land south, were the same as the land northward and the land southward, then this verse reads: “both on the land northward and on the land southward, both on the land northward and on the land southward,” which would be ridiculous.
    In 73 BC, before the Nephites had ventured into the Land Northward, such as those in 54 BC (Alma 63:9), and those later in 46 BC, (Helaman 3:3), Moroni prayed mightily (pouring out his soul to God, he named all the land which was south of the land Desolation, yea, and in fine, all the land, both on the north and on the south—a  chosen land, and the land of liberty” (Alma 46:17, emphasis added).
    Now, all the land which was south of the land Desolation, means only the land in the Land Southward, and “all the land, both on the north and on the south,” means the “land north” and the “land south” in the Land Southward. At this time in 73 BC, Moroni’s charge as chief captain over all the Nephite armies (Alma 43:17) included his defense of the Nephite lands, and in that time, Moroni had never been in the Land Northward, nor do we have any record that the Nephites were in the Land Northward; thus, the statement of Moroni here is quite clear. He named all of the Land Southward a land of liberty, both the “land north” and the “land south” in the Land Southward.
(See the next post, “Has the Geographical Truth of the Book of Been Kept Hidden? – Part IV,” regarding the belief of theorists and their claim that there are five specific and “common misunderstandings of the text of the Book of Mormon that have kept the truth of its geography hidden for the past 185 years”)