So-Called Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Sheep, Goats and Swine

Continuing with these posts regarding the critics’ claim of anachronisms in the Book of Mormon. Regarding the mention of sheep, goats and swine, the critics write:

“Sheep are mentioned in the Book of Mormon as being raised in the Americas by the Jaredites between 2500 BC and 600 BC. Another verse mentions “lamb-skin” (21 AD). However Domestic sheep are known to have been first introduced to the Americas during the second voyage of Columbus in 1493.” And also, “Goat are mentioned three times in the Book of Mormon placing them among the Nephites and the Jaredites (i.e. between 2500 BC and 400 AD). In two of the verses, "goats" are distinguished from "wild goats" indicating that there were at least two varieties, one of them possibly domesticated or tamed. Domestic goats are known to have been introduced on the American continent by Europeans in the 15th century, 1000 years after the conclusion of the Book of Mormon, and nearly 2000 years after goats are last mentioned in the Book of Mormon. The aggressive mountain goat is indigenous to North America. There is no evidence that it was ever domesticated.” And finally, “The Book of Mormon suggests that swine existed and were domesticated among the Jaredites. There have not been any remains, references, artwork, tools, or any other evidence suggesting that swine were ever present in the pre-entrada New World.”

Assumedly, the last sentence means that swine were never present in the pre-Columbian New World. Since enrada means entrance, pre-entrada refers to “before the entrance”—or before the Spaniards arrived in the New World.

In Nephi’s description of what he found after first landing in the Land of Promise, he used the term “both” to describe more than two, and it is necessary to understand exactly what he means. First, the cow and the ox are of the same family, and the horse and the ass are from the same family, which could justify the term both, i.e., both the cow and the ox, and the horse and the ass. Yet, Nephi adds two more, i.e., the goat and wild goat. So we have to consider another possibility of meaning to show two different types to justify the use of the word both. This can be done by recognizing that the cow, ox, horse, ass and goat are all domesticated animals. This would satisfy one group. The other group is indicated by the term wild goat. Now following directly afterward, in the same sentence, is the term and all manner of wild animals. So, this entire verse could be rendered: We did find upon the land of promise...both 1) the cow, ox, ass, horse, and goat (domesticated), and 2) all manner of wild animals (including the wild goat), which (all these animals) were for the use of men (1 Nephi 18:25).

Most people do not question that Noah brought animals from the pre-flood period to after the flood, thus preserving the animal kingdom on earth. Simple logic tells us that some of these animals had to have been brought to the Western Hemisphere by the Jaredites

Of course, one might ask where the domesticated or tame animals came from when the Lehi Colony was the first to land in the Land of Promise. This is answered by turning to the Jaredites. The Lord told the Brother of Jared: "...gather together thy flocks, both male and female of every kind; and also of the seed of the earth of every kind..." (Ether 1:41) The Jaredites did as they were told: "and they went down into the valley of Nimrod with their flocks which they had gathered together, male and female of every kind." (Ether 2:1) In Mesopotamia, they worked on getting every possible creature to take with them: "And they did also lay snares and catch fowls of the air; and they did also prepare a vessel, in which they did carry with them the fish of the waters...and the deseret (or) honey bee...and all manner of that which was on the face of the land..." (Ether 2:2-3). Finally, the Jaredites brought all this with them across the ocean to the Land of Promise (Ether 6:4).

During the days of the Jaredite Heth, a great famine came upon the Land Northward accompanied by poisonous serpents (Ether 9:30-31). The Jaredite flocks fled before the poisonous serpents toward the Land Southward (Ether 9:31). Many of these animals perished by the way, but there were many that fled into the Land Southward (Ether 9:32). These were domesticated animals of the Jaredite herds and flocks. The record is clear that the Lord caused the poisonous serpents to chase many of the flocks and herds into the Land Southward and then caused the serpents to cease chasing them as well as keeping anyone from following the animals into that land (Ether 9:33). During the days of Lib, seven generations after Heth, these serpents were finally destroyed and Jaredites went into the Land Southward to hunt for food, for the land was covered with animals of the forest (Ether 10:19). After that, the Jaredites built a city by the narrow neck of land where the sea divides the land (Ether 10:20), and preserved the land southward for a wilderness for hunting (Ether 10:21). Thus, we see that before the Lehi Colony landed, the Jaredites' animals, both domestic and wild, had filtered into the Land Southward. This, of course, led Nephi to exclaim that there were in the Land of Promise: "beasts of the forest of every kind." (1 Nephi 18:25). Thus it can be assumed that the Lord wanted animals of every kind to go into the Land Southward for “a wise purpose” which seems to create animals of every kind for the use of the Nephites when they arrived many centuries later.

Thus, all of these animals had to have been brought from the Old World by the Jaredites and, therefore, would have existed during Jaredite times from about 2200 B.C. to about 600 B.C.

(See the next post, “So-Called Book of Mormon Anachronisms: Sheep, Goats and Swine – Part II,” for more on the Sheep, Goats and Swine of Jaredite and Nephite times)