We are continuing with John
L. Sorenson’s book An Ancient American
Setting for the Book of Mormon, which is so extensively hyped by
Mesoamericanists and Land of Promise Theorists, especially because of
Sorenson’s reputation as the one-time Dean of Anthropology at BYU, and current
status as Professor Emeritus, and referred to as the “Guru of Book of Mormon
Archaeology,” that it needs a reality check every so often to remind us what is actually being said by the "leader of Mesoamerican theory."
Continuing with Sorenson’s comments about the use of
compass points and what directions the Nephites used, he states
on p39:
Sorenson: “In fact, we don’t know what Laman, Lemuel, Sam, and Nephi did call
their directions, since the first terms for directions appear in the Book of
Mormon only hundreds of years after the first landing (Mosiah 7:5; 9:14). In a
footnote to this statement, Sorenson states: ”Some people have thought the
Liahona of Lehi (1 Nephi 16:10) was a magnetic device. I find no persuasive
evidence for such a view Hugh Nibley’s valuable discussion of it gives an
alternative picture of its functioning.”
Upper Left: Four Cardinal Points of the Compass; Upper Right: Eight
sub-cardinal points; Bottom Left: Sixteen Ordinal points; Bottom Right: Full
thirty-two points of the compass. Nephi knew all sixteen ordinal points
according to his statements
Response: Let’s take this one
point at a time. We know that Nephi not only knew his cardinal (NESW),
sub-cardinal (NE, SE, SW, NW) but even his ordinal compass points (SSE, NNE,
SSW, NNW) and used them correctly in his narrative of his journey in the
wilderness (1 Nephi 16:13; 17:1)—and he did this in an area he had never before
been. At the same time, we should keep in mind that prior to his use of
“south-southeast” direction, no directions had been stated in their
journey southward from Jerusalem to
where they first pitched their tents (1 Nephi 2:6).
Now, as the party was about to
disembark after a lengthy stay (obtaining the Brass Plates, Ishmael’s family,
and the five weddings), Lehi finds the “Liahona” (1 Nephi 16:10), two verses
later, Nephi gives us the compass direction they are heading, and then states
after another stop, they started out again “And
we did go forth again in the wilderness, following the same direction” (1
Nephi 16:14), “traveling for the space of
many days” (1 Nephi 16:15), “following
the directions of the ball” (1 Nephi 16:16). And when they turned and
headed into the empty desert, he states: “And it came to pass that we did again
take our journey in the wilderness; and we did travel nearly eastward from that
time forth” (1 Nephi 17:1).
Isn’t it interesting
that once the Liahona was obtained, Nephi tells us what direction they
traveled, even down the the third level ordinal compass point. Now this
“Liahona” Nephi calls a compass (1 Nephi 18:12), so that Laman and Lemuel had
no idea in which direction to steer the ship when it stopped working (1 Nephi
18:13). He calls it a “compass” a second time (1 Nephi 18:21). In fact, Alma
tells us that the word “Liahona” is interpreted as “compass” (Alma 37:38), and
refers to it as a “compass” more than once (Alma 37:43, 44).
In defining the word
“compass” today, it is “an instrument
containing a magnetized pointer that shows the direction of magnetic north and
bearings from it.” In Joseph Smith’s day, Noah Webster states two types of
compass: 1) A Mariner’s compass—“An
instrument for directing or ascertaining the course of ships at sea, consisting
of a circular box, containing a paper card marked with the thirty two points of
direction, fixed on a magnetic needle, that always points to the north, the
variation excepted. The needle with the card turns on a pin in the center of
the box. In the center of the needle is fixed a brass conical socket or cap, by
which the card hanging on the pin turns freely round the center. The box is
covered with glass, to prevent the motion of the card from being disturbed by
the wind,” or 2) A normal or land compass—“An instrument used in surveying land, constructed in the main like the
mariners compass; but with this difference, that the needle is not fitted into
the card, moving with it, but plays alone; the card being drawn on the bottom
of the box, and a circle divided into 360 degrees on the limb. This instrument
is used in surveying land, and in directing travelers in a desert or forest,
miners, etc.”
Joseph Smith, in translating the
word used by Mormon, chose “compass,” which had a very specific meaning in his
day and was a magnetic-based instrument, using the north pole as its magnetic
point in the northern hemisphere. Had this instrument been of some other
nature, surely Joseph would have chosen another word to define it, such as a Pointer, Indicator or just Instrument. The fact that the Spirit
ascribed to the word “compass” should suggest to us that a compass of Joseph
Smith’s day was what he had in mind. Now, having said that, it should be kept
in mind that the “Liahona” had two spindles (1 Nephi 16:10; Alma 37:40) or
needles, and one showed the direction they were to go (1 Nephi 16:10). In
addition, the instrument could show writing on the ball, which was instructions
and guidance from the Lord (1 Nephi 16:26).
Field or Military Compass has either extra needles or outside rings
that can be set in position of direction so when holding the needle to north,
you can site along your direction to identify landmarks, etc.
However, for anyone who has ever
used a field compass out in the true wilderness where no landmarks are visible
or known, such a compass has at least two very important uses—the first is to
point toward north, but the second is that the magnetic needle can be set so in
its pointing north, another marker can be set to show the actual direction (say
east by southeast) one wants to travel. By keeping the compass pointing north,
the other needle or marker points in the way you want to go, so with these two
needles or points working, it is quite possible to unerringly reach a
specific compass point miles away. Sophisticated military compasses, though
simple in use, operate in this fashion, since seldom is a person going to be
actually traveling due north. We see a parallel of these two working in tandem
when Alma states: “if they had faith to believe that God
could cause that those spindles should point the way they should go” (Alma
37:40).
The “Liahona” operated out of
faith (Alma 37:40) and righteousness (1 Nephi 18:13), showed the course one was
to travel (Alma 37:39), and provided written counsel and knowledge (1 Nephi
16:29; Alma 37:43).
It is both unrealistic and
unbelievable to think that when Nephi arrived in the Land of Promise, that he
did not determine the directions of their new land. And with the “Liahona” in
hand, it is also unbelievable to think that he had to place his back to the sea
to know which way was east (Sorenson p38-39), for that was not necessary for
him to do along the Red Sea where he showed his accurate knowledge of three
levels of compass points. In fact, had he thought of the normal sea and placed
it to his back (Mediterranean Sea, the sea he knew from birth and life, which
he knew was behind him), he would have thought himself facing east rather than
south, and his directions he stated would have been wrong—but they were
correct, showing he was using some other means rather than the sea at his back.
Just as a side note, since
numerous Jews traveled to Egypt (evidently including Lehi), where the
Mediterranean Sea, if to their back, would have made Egypt lying to the
east—how would they have equated that, with both Egypt and Jordan to the east?
And, Syria too, if they were up the east coast of the Mediterranean?
According to Sorenson’s explanation, a Jew standing with his back to
the Mediterranean Sea in the area of Israel (red arrow) would think of Cypress
to the “west” (behind him); standing in Egypt, with his back to the Sea (green
arrow), Cypress would also be to his “west,” though it would actually be to the
“north”; standing along the Black Sea in Turkey (black arrow), Cypress would be
to his “east” (fore), though actually “south.”
If Sorenson is right, then every
Jew who ever traveled in the Old Country would have been confused as to his
directions most of the time. After all, with his back to the sea in northern
Israel, Cyprus would have been basically behind him, or to the West, yet in
Egypt, Cyprus would have been to the north. Talk about confusion! And what if
he traveled to Cyprus? Where do you stand with your back to the sea on a small
island? And what if he put his back to the Dead Sea—would Jerusalem be to the
east? One can only wonder how Moses and any Old Testament prophet ever got
their directions correct.
Let’s take another example of
Sorenson’s convoluted way of thinking about directions for the Nephites.
Sorenson: “From the east to the west sea” seems to me probably the equivalent of
“from the east sea to the west
sea,” particularly when we pay attention to the end of the sentence: “thus the [greater] land of Nephi and
the [greater] land of Zarahemla [together constituting the land southward] were
nearly surrounded by water.”
Response: OK, that sounds
reasonable. We are going from then East Sea to the West Sea, a description
Mormon uses later in describing the narrow pass that runs through the narrow
neck of land “to the borders of the land Desolation;
and there they did head them, by the narrow pass which led by the sea into the
land northward, yea, by the sea, on the west and on the east“ (Alma
50:34).
(See
the next post, “More on Sorenson’s Land of Promise – Part V.” You won’t believe how far
Sorenson is willing to go to stretch reality and believability to prove his
Mesoamerican Theory)
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