More Covino Comments Answered-Part IV—Five Lands of the Land of Promise

Peter Covino in his True Book of Mormon Geography website, he quotes John L. Sorenson, Mormon’s Map, p 23, as a prerequisite to follow. He quotes:

“They considered the domain designated as “the promised land” to be relatively compact, continuous, and complete in itself comes from the finality and brevity of the statement in Helaman 6:10: “Now the land south was called Lehi, and the land north was called Mulek.” The preceding verses connote that when the Nephites referred to these paired lands, they meant nothing was left over – at least nothing that interested them.”

While many consider Sorenson the guru of Book of Mormon geography, he makes that statement to verify his Land of Promise in Mesoamerica. And, like other Mesoamerican Theorists, he claims the Land of Promise was an Isthmus, with lands to the south of the Land of Nephi, and lands to the North of the Jaredite Lands and the Land of Many Waters.

We have written extensively about Sorenson’s work, and more than half of a book about his inaccuracies, Inaccuracies of Mesoamerican and Other Theorists. So let’s just relate this to Covino who quoted it. And the reason he quotes it is to support his theory that the Land of Promise was only 75x120 miles in size. This allows him to place his Land of Promise in a tiny area around Lake Erie in Western New York state.

First, let’s deal with the statement, then with Covino’s further comments.

1. There are five terms used in the scriptural record in describing the Land of Promise:

• Land Northward

• Land Southward

• Land that was Northward

• Land North

• Land South

Obviously, all words in the Book of Mormon contain important purpose, since Mormon could only abridge about 1/100^th of what had been written, so why would we suppose those different statements meant the same thing?

• Land Northward and Land Southward. These two lands are pretty well defined as separate areas of the Land of Promise, connected to one another by a narrow neck of land (Alma 22:32). The Jaredites solely occupied the Land Northward, and the Nephites occupied the Land Southward until around 54 B.C. when they moved into the Land Northward (Alma 63:9).

• Land Which Was Northward. When Hagoth built “an exceedingly large ship,” 5,400 men, with their wives and children, set sail and “took their course northward,” and went “into the land which was northward” (Alma 63:4, 6). This is the only mention in all of the scriptural record of “a land which was northward.”

• Land South. It is well understood that the Lehi Colony lands along the West seacoast, south, as indicated “and on the west, in the place of their fathers’ first inheritance, and thus bordering along by the seashore” (Alma 22:28). This southern part of the Land Southward was where Lehi landed, thus it is said “for the Lord did bring…Lehi into the land south” (Helaman 6:10).

• Land North. This land is not so well understood, but none-the-less important, as Mulek landed in the Land Southward. For the Mulekites “journeyed in the wilderness, and 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). Thus, “the land north was called Mulek, which was after the son of Zedekiah; for the Lord did bring Mulek into the land north” (Helaman 6:10).

Moroni, after making his flag of liberty, “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). Note that he “named all the land which was south of the land Desolation.” This means, of course, he is talking about the Land Southward, in which he divided it between the land on the north and the land on the south.

So when Sorenson claims “Now the land south was called Lehi, and the land north was called Mulek.” the preceding verses connote that when the Nephites referred to these paired lands, they meant nothing was left over – at least nothing that interested them,” he is actually telling us the Nephites were not interested in the Land Northward. This, of course, is not what was meant at all as anyone can easily see. It was the Land Northward that the Nephites received by Treaty, and in which they lived the last few decades of their existence.

Thus, the Land Southward was divided into two parts: The Land North (where Mulek landede) and the Land South (where Lehi landed). 

So much for what Covino calls a “prerequisite” on his website.

(See the next post, “More Covino Comments Answered-Part V, for more of Covino’s so-called “errors,” which, in fact, are errors he makes in the defense of his model)