Was There a Need for Indigenous People?

Mesoamerican Theorists continually tout the need for indigenous people in the Land of Promise to equate to the numbers of Nephites and Lamanites in the Book of Mormon.

However, when Lehi left Jerusalem in 600 B.C., there were four married families: Lehi (6), Ishmael (7), and Ishmael’s two sons (about 10), for a total of about 23 people. Along the way were added Zoram, Jacob, Joseph, Nephi’s 2 sisters, and children born to five new married couples (one each per every two years) for a total 25 additional children, plus 10 more for the two sons of Ishmael, for a total of 35 additional, or overall total of 62 (less Ishmael who died) by the time the colony left Bountiful.

If there were servants included, and most likely there would have been since it was common for wealthy families to have live-in servants in that period of time—and Nephi specifically mentions “All the house of Ishmael” (1 Nephi 7:22), suggesting those of his household, which, had there been servants there, would have been included. And it would be likely they would have been taken with the family since they did not want to leave anyone behind who might tell the Jews where they had gone (1 Nephi 4:36)

It should also be considered, that since Lehi had “seeds of every kind” (1 Nephi 8:1;16:11;18:6) which he took with him when he left the land of Jerusalem (1 Nephi 18:24), we can expect him to have had extensive planted fields, not only to feed his own family, but also to sell in Jerusalem. Thus, servants would have been needed to till the fields, especially when he was gone on his business—and since he was such a wealthy man, it is unlikely he tilled his own fields.

As a result, we can expect Lehi to have had at least four servants, with their families, when leaving Jerusalem. If each family had four children, that would be an additional 24 people—if he had more servants, the numbers would be greater. In addition, if we extrapolate these numbers to Ishmael’s household, we can add a total of at least 48 people to the colony, making the grand total of 110 people leaving by ship from Bountiful, and possibly as much as 120.

Assuming the colony spent two years in the land of first inheritance before Lehi died, then it is likely that each couple might have had another child each, for a total of at least 7 more people, plus the 8 servant families having one to two more children, making that additional total as much as 23. And when Nephi fled with “those who would go with him,” he would have taken about 68 people with him, leaving about 76 people behind. And it should be considered, that while Jacob, Joseph, Nephi’s two sisters, were unmarried, all of those older adults among left behind were married.

Nephi lived about 50 years in the land of promise, which means, if families had ten children each (Lehi had 8 to 10 children; Ishmael 7 to 8), with Jacob, Joseph, and Nephi’s two sisters now married, that would be 7 couples or a total of 77 Nephites (plus another 60 or so from the servants, or a total of 137 Nephites) at the start of the Book of Jacob. Keep in mind that Jacob and Joseph, and possibly the two sisters, were about 25 years younger than Nephi, providing three generations, not two. Thus, the numbers might have been greater, since Nephi, Laman, Lemuel, Sam and Zoram would have had marrid children by Jacob 1:1.

In addition, the Lamanites would have had more children faster since Ishmael’s two sons already had children in Jerusalem (1 Nephi 7:6), which means by the time they reached the Land of Promise, some of those children would have been near marrying age. Thus, over time, the Lamanites would have outnumbered the Nephites by greater and greater numbers as each generation grew.

Thus, in the course of living, by the time Nephi died, the numbers of both groups could have been in the 200s. And much contention could have developed between them, especially between the original brothers, with Laman and Lemuel fostering the attitude among their children and grandchildren, that remained down through the ages in the Land of Promise that Laman should have been the one to rule over all the people (2 Nephi 5:3).