Were There Other People in the Land of Promise? – Part I

Despite not a single mention, hint, or suggestion of other people in Lehi’s Land of Promise when he landed, or throughout the scriptural record, numerous theorists have weighed in to claim there were. The reason for this is that it fits their narrative of a Mesoamerican model and speculations.

As an example, Mesoamericanist Matthew P. Roper (left), a research associate for the Laura F. Willes Center for Book of Mormon Studies, a part of the Maxwell Institute, associated with BYU, where he received his MA in Sociology, claims people occupied the Land of Promise before, during and after Lehi. A resident scholar and research assistant for the Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Studies at BYU, Roper, like many other
Mesoamerican theorists, speculates that “the Book of Mormon itself does not claim that the Jaredites were the first human beings in the New World.” He goes on to state that “When Joseph Smith’s statement is read within its context of the Wentworth letter, it is clear that he was actually, at that point, offering a general description of the time span of the book…and in so doing, he was not necessarily designating the Jaredite settlement as the oldest in the land, but merely as the oldest mentioned in the Book of Mormon account.”
    Roper then makes this surprising statement: “Perhaps, like many other Latter-day Saints, [Joseph Smith] assumed that the Jaredites were the first settlers of ancient America, but this goes beyond what the Book of Mormon says. It specifically mentions three migrations to the Americas but never claims that they were the only ones or the earliest,” He then concludes his statement with: “Finally, neither in the Book of Mormon itself nor in the scriptural revelations concerning it is there anything to contradict the view that Nephi had neighbors in his New World land of promise. There is, on the other hand, much within these sources that seems to support this idea”
    He goes on to state in reference to Joseph Smith and the Wentworth Letter: “The history of ancient America is unfolded, from its first settlement by a colony that came from the tower of Babel, at the confusion of languages to the beginning of the fifth century of the Christian era. We are informed by these records that America in ancient times has been inhabited by two distinct races of people. The first were called Jaredites and came directly from the tower of Babel. The second race came directly from the city of Jerusalem, about six hundred years before Christ.”
    Roper then makes another startling assertion: “Does this statement discredit the idea of other people coming to the Americas because Joseph Smith only mentions two groups? Since Joseph Smith refers to the Jaredite colony as the “first settlement” of ancient America, are Latter-day Saints required to believe that no other people came to the Americas before that time?”

On the other hand, we might suggest that perhaps a better question to ask would be: ”Since Joseph Smith made the statement that the Jaredites were the first to come to the Land of Promise, what reason do we have to suggest others were here before that time?” However, such thinking does not fit the Mesoamericanist narrative, as shown  by Roper who goes on to state: “First, it is important to note that in the Wentworth letter, Joseph Smith starts with what the angel told him and then provides his own description of the Book of Mormon narrative for the press. Consequently, his words about the Jaredite and Israelite migrations do not come from the angel Moroni” (Roper, “Nephi’s Neighbors: Book of Mormon Peoples and Pre-Columbian Populations,” FairMormon).
    It might also be said here that whatever knowledge Joseph Smith had at this point would appear to have come to him either from the Angel Moroni, or to him from the plates he had interpreted. There seems little purpose in speculating as Roper does that what Joseph Smith said was contrary to what he was told byh the Angel Moroni or not found upon the plates he interpreted, so why even bring up the subject?
    Another Mesoamericanist who claims others were in the Land of Promise is John L. Sorenson. Writing in his book An Ancient American Setting for then Book of Mormon, (pp86-87) states: “The findings of science provide positive evidence that pre-Nephite peoples were culturally, linguistically and biological continuous with those found in Mesoamerica after the date for the Nephite arrival…Drastic changes were then being completed as a result of the death of the civilization tradition of which the Jaredites had been part. …It seems possible that the population present in the immediate vicinity where the Israelites landed was small and weak enough to be no serious hindrance to the colonizers.”

Another such advocate of other people in the Land of Promise was Hugh B. Nibley (left0, who once stated that “Latter-day Saints have long been open to the idea that peoples not mentioned in the Book of Mormon may have migrated to the Americas either before, during, or after the events described in the Book of Mormon and that these various peoples intermingled with those of Israelite or Jaredite descent” (Hugh Nibley, Lehi in the Desert, The World of the Jaredites, Deseret Book, Salt Lake City, 1988, p250).
    In fact, Nibley has also stated: “the idea of other pre-Columbian migrations to the Americas has a long history and can be traced back to the earliest Latter-day Saints. In the 15 September 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons, the editor Joseph Smith, according to the paper’s masthead cited favorably an account of Don Juan Torres, grandson of the last king of the Quichè Maya, which affirmed that the Toltecas themselves descended from the house of Israel, who were released by Moses from the tyranny of Pharaoh, and after crossing the Red Sea, fell into idolatry. To avoid the reproofs of Moses, or from fear of his inflicting upon them some chastisement, they separated from him and his brethren, and under the guidance of Tanub, their chief, passed from one continent to the other, to a place which they called the seven caverns, a part of the kingdom of Mexico, where they founded the celebrated city of Tula.” Nibley’s conclusion was: “Whether such a migration ever took place or not, it is significant that the Prophet was not reluctant to recognize the possibility of other migrations than those mentioned in the Book of Mormon.”
    Nibley also stated that the scriptural record: “Directly tells us that much more is going on in the background. Therefore we shouldn’t be surprised to discover that large amounts of historical or cultural information, such as descriptions of other societies, is missing from the text. As President Anthony W. Ivins of the First Presidency stated in 1929, “We must be careful in the conclusions that we reach. The Book of Mormon…does not tell us that there was no one here before them. It does not tell us that people did not come after.”

In 1852, the Deseret News cited with interest an account of a purported Welsh migration to America “three hundred years before Columbus.” Apostle Orson Pratt (left) interpreted the promises found in the book of Ether regarding other nations inheriting the land as referring to pre-Columbian migrants to the Americas after the Nephite destruction at Cumorah. It should be considered that Pratt, one of the earliest converts to Mormonism, who did much to popularize the hemispheric model of Book of Mormon geography in the nineteenth century, apparently had no difficulty simultaneously asserting that many other nations came to the Americas in the interval between the Nephites’ destruction and the European arrival (“Discovery of America, above three hundred yeeres before Columbus,” by Madoc ap Owen Gwyneth,” Deseret News, 3 April 1852, 44).
    Some therefore surmise that such statements and findings suggest that the Book of Mormon’s lack of detail about surrounding peoples and cultures is a subtle evidence of its historical authenticity. It is also consistent with claims made by several Book of Mormon authors that they couldn’t record even a “hundredth part” of their peoples’ history.
    As one Mesoamericanist claims: “Textual evidence also points to the high probability that Lehi and his family encountered native inhabitants in the New World upon their arrival who were adopted under “Nephite” and “Lamanite” tribal designations.” He then cites 2 Nephi 5:5-6 as reference. However, that scriptural reference does not say anything to support the theorist’s claim, stating only that: “And it came to pass that the Lord did warn me, that I, Nephi, should depart from them and flee into the wilderness, and all those who would go with me. Wherefore, it came to pass that I, Nephi, did take my family, and also Zoram and his family, and Sam, mine elder brother and his family, and Jacob and Joseph, my younger brethren, and also my sisters, and all those who would go with me. And all those who would go with me were those who believed in the warnings and the revelations of God; wherefore, they did hearken unto my words” (2 Nephi 5:5-6). 
    After all, “All those who would go with me,” and “All those who would go with me were those who believed in the warnings and the revelations of God,” are not statements warranting another group of people other than that portion of the original colony that sided with Nephi and followed the Lord. It certain does not suggest that a pre-Lehi group existed in the land when Lehi landed and broke off to follow Nephi.
    Such referencing by theorists do nothing to support their claim and suggest just the opposite, that they are making up and speculating on issues not included in the scriptural record.
(See the next post, “Were There Other People in the Land of Promise? – Part II,” regarding the speculative historicity of other pre-Columbian occupants of the Land of Promise before, during and after Lehi landed)