Understanding Hebrew Directions – Part II

Continuing with the previous post on how we can understand Hebrew words and their meaning in order to better understand what Mormon is writing, specifically as it relates to the many directions and his usage of compass directions to describe the Land of Promise.
    It is not difficult to find errors by theorists when they start claiming a word means something in Hebrew, when in reality it is not as they claim. Take the word “north.” John L. Sorenson likes to claim it is from the word “semol” (semovl) שְׂמֹאול which actually is translated as “left,” and out of 54 uses in the Old Testament it is translated as “north” only three times (and then as relating to “on the left” or “on the left hand”) while being translated as “left” 51 times.
    However, the word “tsaphon” צָפוֹן means “north.” It is used 153 times in the Old Testament and is translated as north in each case, and has nothing to do with left.
    In addition, in the Book of Mormon, we see subjects like the East Sea; the West Wilderness; the Land Northward, the Land South, which are not names, like the Mediterranean Sea; the Judean Desert; the Land of Goshen (Gesem/Kesem), or Land of Canaan. Instead they are location names—like Southern California; the West Bank; Mesoamerica (Middle America); Norway (Way of the North).
    There are also Book of Mormon places that are not true names: Wilderness of Hermounts (meaning place of wild beasts); Bountiful (meaning place of plenty); Anti-Nephi-Lehies (means combining Nephi and Lehi). There are other words in Hebrew that non-Hebrew-speaking people think are names, but are descriptions, such as the word torah (תּוֹרָה, which means “Law.” While most people think of the Torah as the name of the first five books of the Bible, which is correctly called the Pentateuch, the Torah is simply “the Law.”
    It is also important to know that in Hebrew, it is not “Nephi’s Land,” or even “East Wilderness,” but it is the “land of Nephi,” and the “wilderness to the East.” In some cases, Joseph Smith made the transition from Hebrew (Reformed Egyptian glyph) to English, as in “East Wilderness” but sometimes he didn’t, and kept the Hebrew grammar, such as “land of Nephi.” Some linguists and scholars point this out from time to time, but for some reason, don’t carry the idea over to when they start using Hebrew translations that agree with their narrative even though as to the understanding of the word, it is in error.
    We also need to keep in mind when translating or interpreting Hebrew words, especially directional ones, that to the Hebrew/Jew/Nephite, there is only one direction of east, one of south, one of west and one of north. It is also critical to know and understand the “point of view” or the direction of view of the speaker or writer. In illustration, their land is looked at in this way:

To know what is “north, east, south or west,” in Mormon’s descriptions, we have to know where he is and from what point he is writing or describing

Whenever one is interpreting a direction in the Book of Mormon (or any Hebrew work), one must consider where the speaker or writer is located. As an example, in 1 Nephi 18:23 through 2 Nephi 5:5, Nephi is writing from the location of their first landing site. From 2 Nephi 2:8 through Omni 1:12, Nephi, Jacob, and the other writers are located in the City and area around Nephi. From Omni 1:14 through most of Alma, the writers are in the city and Land of Zarahemla, etc. That point of view is different than the point of view when Mormon is writing from Mormon 3:1, where the story line is completely in the Land Northward.
    Now, having establish the Point of View of the writer, we move on to the direction he sees the world from that point. He does not see it as we do, north, northeast, east, southeast, south, southwest, west, northwest, etc. And, if needed, north, north by northwest, northwest by west, etc. The Hebrew sees the four directions only (though, he can give us an ordinal point, such as south southeast as Nephite does in 1 Nephi 16:13, if he feels the need for a specific line—and even then often uses “which was west and north away from the borders of the land” (Alma 2:36, emphasis added), showing that his main way of thinking is within the four cardinal points.
    Therefore, our job in understanding and interpreting, a passage of direction., is to not only realize this, but when a direction is given, we need to place that location in our mind based on the Hebrew’s point of view and direction viewpoint of the writer. As an example, take Alma 22:27:
    “Now, the more idle part of the Lamanites lived in the wilderness, and dwelt in tents; and they were spread through the wilderness on the west”

“and on the west in the land of Nephi, in the place of their fathers' first inheritance, and thus bordering along by the seashore

And Alma 22:28: “also there were many Lamanites on the east by the seashore”

“nevertheless the Nephites had taken possession of all the northern parts of the land“

So from this we find that there is a wilderness to the west of a portion of the Land of Zarahemla, and that was occupied by idle Lamanites living in tents, all the way from the Land of Zarahemla to the Land of First Inheritance along the western seashore. Now that is quite clear. However, when it comes to the head of the River Sidon, the South Wilderness and the narrow strip of wilderness, people start fudging the meaning in order to place these areas in the direction and location that agrees with their pre-determined ideas and model.
As an example, some think that the head of the river Sidon was in a location to the north of the city of Zarahemla in a mountainous wilderness that they label the “South Wilderness.”

How some erroneously see the narrow strip of wilderness and the east and south wildernesses 

However, this is not what Mormon said, and not the locations that the Hebrew mindset would have considered. As an example, the Hebrew directional-mindset would not allow for:
1. Both an “east” and “south” wilderness in one direction—in this case, “east.”
2. Both a “south” wilderness and then another wilderness south of that (narrow strip of wilderness).
3. A “south” wilderness to the “east” of the point of view location of the writer, i.e., the Land of Zarahemla.
    So what exactly does Mormon say about this land makeup in Alma 22:27-33? The following nine points cover Alma 22:27, with italicized words taken directly from the scriptural record:
1. The “borders” of the Lamanite lands or Land of Nephi stretched “from the east sea to the west sea”
2. Land of Nephi was “divided from the land of Zarahemla by a narrow strip of wilderness”
3. Narrow strip of wilderness “ran from the sea east even to the sea west” 
4. Narrow strip of wilderness ran “round about on the borders of the seashore”
5. “The borders” of the narrow strip of “wilderness which ran on the north by the land of Zarahemla”
6. Narrow strip of wilderness ran “through the borders of Manti”
7. Narrow strip of wilderness ran “by the head of the river Sidon”
8. Narrow strip of wilderness “running from the east towards the west”
9. “Thus were the Lamanites and the Nephites divided” by the narrow strip of wilderness.

How Mormon describes the narrow strip of wilderness and the east and south wildernesses 

(See the next post, “Understanding Hebrew Directions – Part II,” regarding how we can understand Hebrew words and their meaning in order to better understand what Mormon is writing, specifically as it relates to the many directions and his usage of compass directions to describe the Land of Promise, as well as the Point of View of the writer or the subject of the writing)