What Great Things Did the Lord Show Nephi?

Nephi tells us he learned his building knowledge directly from the Lord: “I did build it after the manner which the Lord had shown unto me; wherefore, it was not after the manner of men. And I did go into the mount oft, and I did pray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord showed unto me great things” (1 Nephi 18:2-3).

What great things did the Lord show Nephi? Since Nephi wrote this in conjunction with the building knowledge the Lord was imparting unto him for the building of his ship, we might conclude that he learned many things about building, not just a ship, but in construction in general. Since he later built a temple like Solomon’s (2 Nephi 5:16), and to teach his people, the Nephites, how “to build buildings, and to work in all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and of steel, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores,” (2 Nephi 5:15), we might conclude that the Lord taught Nephi these things to pass on to his people since Nephi taught them “to be industrious, and to labor with their hands” (2 Nephi 5:17).

Lehi’s wealth was used to try and purchase the brass plates from Laban, but though a wealthy man himself, he desired Lehi's gold, silver and precious things for himself

It seems that we need to think of the Nephites as an advanced people when they arrived in the Land of Promise. Lehi was a very successful businessman of some type for he had great wealth (1 Nephi 2:4,11;3:16), so much so that Laban, a man of wealth himself, considered it “exceedingly great” and desired it (1 Nephi 3:24). While we are not certain, we might assume Lehi was successful in some business endeavor, and probably connected with the Egyptians, for he was knowledgeable of Egyptian language (1 Nephi 1:2) and obviously had some knowledge of that advanced society, whose building history and ability was quite extensive.

Left: A replica of Solomon’s temple, and (right) Jerusalem in 600 B.C. The entire city was built of stone buildings and surrounded by a stone wall

In Jerusalem, Solomon’s temple had stood for some 350 years during Nephi’s time there, and was a marvel to all who saw it. Jewish houses were made of stone, two stories high with a patio-roof that was used for relaxing, and for cooking and sleeping during the hot summer months. It is unlikely that when the Lehi colony arrived in the Land of Promise and Nephi separated himself and settled in an area they called the land and city of Nephi, that he, Sam and Zoram would have built with sticks and wood, for their knowledge of building, stonework and construction would have been along the lines of what they knew and had seen in Jerusalem. Surely, their buildings in this new land would have been more than sticks and wood that have since crumbled and disappeared as many Great Lakes and heartland Theorists claim.

It would seem more likely that we would find buildings of stone built by Nephi after the manner of buildings he knew in Jerusalem. And surely we would find buildings built with a knowledge imparted by the Lord to Nephi in the Land of Promise that were still standing when the Spanish arrived—buildings of stone like those they had known in Jerusalem. Edifices like temples and palaces (Mosiah 11:9), stone walls (Mosiah 11:10), and high towers of great height (Mosiah 11:12), with city walls a man could stand upon (Helaman 13:4), and cities even the Lord called great (3 Nephi 9:3-5).

Yet, according to Great Lakes Theorists, there would have been none because they believe the Nephites built out of sticks and wood, which would have disappeared over time; however, Nephi. Sam and Zoram came from Jerusalem where everything was built of stone and it would seem unlikely that they would not have carried out the same concept of building that they had known. The problem with all theories surrounding North America, from the Great Lakes to Baja California (and the same could be said for Malay in Indonesia) is that there are no buildings of stone anywhere to be seen, no matter the state of decay or collapse—they simply do not exist and never have.

Top: Two examples of the Woodland peoples living in the Great Lakes area from about 1000 B.C. to about 1000 A.D. As can be seen, these are hardly the type of buildings, houses, etc., described in the Book of Mormon of the Nephites; Bottom: Two examples of advanced building in Peru, South America, more like Nephite building would have been

Later, when Capt. Moroni built defenses, Mormon said he, “also building walls of stone to encircle them about, round about their cities and the borders of their lands; yea, all round about the land” (Alma 48:8), thus we can conclude that in several locations in the Land of Promise there were stone walls encompassing cities and throughout the land—especially walls built for defense. Such walls, of course, would have to be strong and either so fitted or mortared, and tall enough, to withstand a concentrated attack. This is not just a wall in order to hide behind and shoot arrows, but walls that could withstand an enemy trying to tear it down and get over or through it.

Consequently, might not we find some walls of stone showing a certain degree of building expertise, even after more than 2000 years? Great Lakes theorists suggest the rock walls found in the back country around the area of the lakes show a Nephite presence.

Two different rock walls found in western NewYork that some Theorists claim were built by the  Nephites

However, when we talk about things Nephite, we need to consider that Nephi, Sam and Zoram not only knew about the stonework in Jerusalem, but Nephi had special tutelage in building directly from the Lord (1 Nephi 18:3). It would seem that his knowledge was far beyond that of his day, perhaps of any day, for he tells us, “I, Nephi, did not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by men, neither did I build the ship after the manner of men; but I did build it after the manner which the Lord had shown unto me; wherefore, it was not after the manner of men.” One can only wonder what was the manner of his boat and its construction? Was it just an advanced design and more modern working of the timbers, such as that of the Europeans in the 14^th century A.D.? Or was it even more than that?

Compare the two left images of stacked rocks in the Great Lakes area with the two right images of cut and fitted stone in Peru. Which do you think would have been Nephite? Which would have been a real deterrent to an attacking enemy?

Now imagine the Lord tutoring Nephi in how to build a ship and work timbers, etc., unlike anything that man knew or understood at the time. Then imagine what else the Lord might have taught Nephi that he called “Great Things.” Obviously, the Lord was not only preparing Nephi how to build a ship that would take all of them to the Land of Promise, but certainly how to live and build in that land, since there would be millions upon millions living in that land over the 1000 year history of the Nephites.

Did the Lord teach Nephi how to build so the Nephite cities could withstand the many earthquakes that would hit that land? Did he instruct Nephi how to build cities that would last 1000 years? Did Nephi write upon the larger plates what the Lord taught him and what its impact on the Land of Promise would be? We may never know the answers to these questions, but we can see a place in the Western Hemisphere where building unique techniques were used to not only withstand numerous earthquakes over the past two thousand years and more, but that the workmanship was so advanced for the time that even today builders and engineers marvel at what they have found in the Andean area of South America.

Huge stones, weighing many tons, were shaped, rounded, cut in numerous shapes, some with 14 to 16 sides, and fitted perfectly into place so not even a knife blade could be inserted between them. Their interlocking manner and trapezoidal openings are thought to have enabled the constructions to withstand numerous earthquakes. Where might such an advanced knowledge of building come from? Who might have instructed the builders in such advanced and unique building techniques more than two thousand years ago?