Lehi's not Ether's Land of Promise – Part V

Coming back once again to the H38 Virus website, which claims to have the “True Book of Mormon Geography,” we find that author claiming that: “1. The Land Northward was a prized piece of land. The Jaredites lived there solely, and the Nephites protected it at all costs, living there exclusively just before their extinction in 400 AD. The land was considered "choice above all other lands." Ether truly told them of all things from the beginning of man and that after the waters had receded from off the face of this land it became a choice land above all other lands, a chosen land of the Lord. (Ether 13:2).”

Let’s take the these points one by one:

1. “The Land Northward was a prized piece of land.”

At no time does the scriptural record single out the value of the Land Northward over that of the rest of the Land of Promise. The Land Northward was a specific topographical feature of the Land of Promise, just like the Land Southward. In fact, it was obviously smaller in size than the Land Southward. The Nephites occupied the Land Southward for about 900 years, with Zarahemla the nation’s capitol for about 500 of those years. Before that, the Nephite capitol for about 300 years was the City of Nephi in the Land of Nephi, also in the Land Southward. At no time was the Nephite capitol ever in the Land Northward.

In fact, Moroni considered the Land Southward extremely important. “When he had poured 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).

2. “The Jaredites lived there solely.”

The Lord brought Jared, his brother, and their friends into the Land Northward. They were obviously not an expansionist people and remained in that land, spreading east, west, and northward “And the whole face of the land northward was covered with inhabitants” (Ether 10:21). At one time when their animals were driven into the narrow neck of land and to the Land of Bountiful (Ether 9:31-32), where “the Lord did cause the serpents that they should pursue them no more, but that they should hedge up the way that the people could not pass, that whoso should attempt to pass might fall by the poisonous serpents” (Ether 9:33). Thus, the Lord prevented the Jaredites from going into the Land Southward, because it was promised to Lehi and his descendants” (2 Nephi 1:9). This does not make the Land Northward a more choice place, merely the one given to the Jaredites.

3. “The Nephites protected it at all costs.”

The Nephites considered the Land Northward as a “land of last resort”—that is, it was a land to which the Nephites could retreat if they were overrun by the Lamanites from the south and pushed far northward. The Narrow Neck of Land separating the two lands was an excellent “stop gap” or last line of defense against the Lamanites if that were to happen (which, of course, it did). They did not protect the Land Northward because it was special, they protected it to keep their enemies from circling them and having to fight or defend two fronts. As Mormon wrote:

“The Nephites had inhabited the land Bountiful, even from the east unto the west sea, and thus the Nephites in their wisdom, with their guards and their armies, had hemmed in the Lamanites on the south, that thereby they should have no more possession on the north, that they might not overrun the land northward. Therefore the Lamanites could have no more possessions only in the land of Nephi, and the wilderness round about. Now this was wisdom in the Nephites -- as the Lamanites were an enemy to them, they would not suffer their afflictions on every hand, and also that they might have a country whither they might flee, according to their desires.” (Alma 22:33-34).

4. “(The Nephites) living there exclusively just before their extinction in 400 AD.”

The Nephites had no choice in this. Around 350 A.D., about 35 years before they were annihilated at Cumorah, the Nephites were forced into the Land Northward by a treaty with the Lamanites (Mormon 2:28-29). This occurred because the Lamanites had conquered all of the Land Southward and the Nephites lost all of the southern area of their inheritance. For 35 years, they lived exclusively in the Land Northward, however, during the last 25 of those years, they were constantly at war with the Lamanites, beginning in 360 A.D. (Mormon 3:4) and ending in 385 A.D. (Mormon 6:15-16).

5. “The land was considered "choice above all other lands."
Ether truly told them of all things from the beginning of man and that after the waters had receded from off the face of this land it became a choice land above all other lands, a chosen land of the Lord. (Ether 13:2).”

As part of the Land of Promise (actually, the entire Western Hemisphere), the Land Northward was a choice land. “After the waters had receded from off the face of this land” refers not only to a small portion of the land in the Western Hemisphere, but the entire land mass called a single continent in Joseph Smith’s time, but two continents today. On the other hand, Ether, writing from his perspective, did not know about the Land Southward other than it was used as a hunting ground (Ether 10:19-21). His perspective was solely to the land they had occupied for 1500 years. The same attitude is displayed by Moroni calling the Land Southward the Land of Liberty (Alma 46:17).

(See the next post, “Lehi's not Ether's Land of Promise – Part VI,” to see that the Land Northward cannot be considered more choice than the Land Southward)