What Was Meant by the Narrow Strip of Wilderness? – Part I

There are numerous references to this narrow strip of wilderness first mentioned by Mormon in his inserted geographical description of the land in Alma 22. But it is also referenced in other areas by other descriptive terms, such as “the wilderness at the head of the river Sidon” (Alma 22:29); “the wilderness which divided the land of Nephi from the land of Zarahemla” (Alma 27:14; “the line between the Nephites and the Lamanites” and “the line between the land of Zarahemla and the land of Nephi” (Alma 50:11); “the line of the possessions of the Lamanites” (Alma 50:13); and “the mountainous barrier people crossed over “ (Alma 25:2, 27:14).
    Mormon, inserting into the record a lengthy statement about the geographical setting of the Land of Promise, described the Land of Nephi over which the Lamanite King ruled, as “all of the land in all the regions round about…bordering even to the sea, on the east and on the west, and which was divided from the land of Zarahemla by a narrow strip of wilderness, which ran from the sea east even to the sea west, and roundabout on the borders of the seashore, and the borders of the wilderness which was on the north by the land of Zarahemla…thus were the Lamanites and the Nephites divided” (Alma 22:27).

To understand one descriptive reference, sometimes it has to be compared with a second reference

Mormon later stated that “the land of Nephi did run in a straight course from the east sea to the west” (Alma 50:8). In this case, since his earlier comment said the narrow strip ran from sea to sea, then in this latter statement, Mormon used elliptical writing, leaving out the word “sea” but meaning “to the west sea.”
    In looking at the term “straight course,” it is only found five times in the entire Book of Mormon, in two of the four uses in Alma, and the one time in 2 Nephi, it has to do with pointing toward a straight course to eternal bliss; following in a straight course; and on the narrow path. In one case in Alma, it is used relating to the Liahona pointing a straight course for Lehi to the promised land. The only use of “straight course” dealing with a border, is one in Alma saying the Land of Nephi did run in a “straight course” from the east sea to the west” (Alma 50:8). This is also born out when Mormon states: “fortifying the line between the Nephites and the Lamanties, between the land of Zarahemla nd the land of Nephi, from the west sea” (Alma 50:11).
    In a typical theorist statement, in trying to prove their Land of Promise model, one such theorist stated: “Straight course means a direct line from one point to another, without encountering an obstruction, or being diverted. Having the same direction its entire length, undeviating, uninterrupted, unswerving, without detour, extending continuously, without detour.” While this might be found in some modern dictionary, though we have not run across it, the meaning in Joseph smith’s time when he translated that Nephite phrase into English, the term meant:
Straight: “direct; passing from one point to another by the nearest course; not deviating or crooked; as a straight line; a straight course,” and
Course: “a passing; a moving, or motion forward, in a direct or curving line.”
    To better understand this meaning, we need to see what Alma also wrote about a “straight course” when he said about people and their need to “give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land” (Alma 37:44, emphasis added).
    Now the meaning of this is plain and simple, for when Lehi used the Liahona to point their direction from the Gulf of Aqaba along the Red Sea and to what he named Bountiful, they went “in a south-southeast direction (1 Nephi 16:13), but then later they “did travel nearly eastward from the time forth” (1 Nephi 17:1). Then later, in Nephi’s ship, where he used the Liahona for direction, they went southward in the Indian Ocean, and then turned eastward across the Pacific, or as some theorists try to convince us, they turned westward and then northward across the Atlantic; however, in either case, the course was not straight in an undeviating direction

Lehi’s “straight course” to Bountiful involved at least three specific compass changes in direction

Thus, in both Lehi’s direction to Bountiful, and the ship voyage to the Land of Promise, the course deviated, that is the “straight course” changed and was not “a direct line from one point to another, without encountering an obstruction, or being diverted,” yet it was called a “straight course” according to Mormon’s description of that sea voyage to the Land of Promise.
    Thus, when we try to decipher or understand a scriptural meaning, we need to compare its meaning in multiple uses to come up with an overall meaning that applies to each use.
    As an example, in “Behold, the way for man is narrow, but it lieth in a straight course before him“ (2 Nephi 9:41), and in “give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss” (Alma 37:44), shows that for a person to achieve a goal, one must follow a “straight course” toward it, that is, not to lose focus or not to be preoccupied with other matters, problems, desires, temptations, that would move one away from the goal.
    In another instance, the term “straight course” is used in the description of the Lamanites pursuing Antipus and his men, the Lamanites “did not turn to the right nor to the left, but pursued their march in a straight course after us” (Alma 56:37). In each of these cases, the intent of the phrase is obvious—they were not sidetracked away from reaching their goal or objective. It is not a matter of moving in a perfect straight line—but with a singleness of mind and intent toward the objective.

The Narrow Strip of Wilderness as described by Mormon (Alma 22:27)

As to better understanding the narrow strip of wilderness Mormon describes, certain factors are given us, and if we intend to try and locate such a landmark in the Land of Promise, now or in the past, all of Mormon’s descriptions must apply to the area we locate. In using the 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language, the dictionary Joseph Smith chose for his School of the Prophets, and therefore the language known to Joseph in his translation, we can also better understand the meaning of his translation of Mormon.
1. Dividing Line or Border. The Land of Nephi “was divided from the land of Zarahemla by a narrow strip of wilderness” (Alma 22:27). That is, the narrow strip ran between the Land of Zarahemla (which was to the north) and the Land of Nephi (which was to the south). Thus the narrow strip acted as a northern border for the Land of Nephi and a southern border for the Land of Zarahemla.
2. From sea to sea. The “narrow strip of wilderness which ran from the sea east even to the sea west” (Alma 22:27). Thus, any narrow strip has to extend from an ocean on the east to an ocean on the west. This means that the Land of Nephi, and the overall land of Zarahemla stretched from an ocean to the east to an ocean to the west, being nearly surrounded by water (Alma 22:32).
3. West and East. The narrow strip “ran from the sea east even to the sea west” (Alma 22:27). The West Sea, then, was located west of the land of Nephi, west of the land of Zarahemla, and west of the western end of the narrow strip of wilderness (Alma 22:28). In addition, the East Sea was located east of the land of Nephi, east of the land of Zarahemla, and east of the eastern end of the narrow strip of wilderness (Alma 22:27-29). It should also be noted that “the Nephites had inhabited the land Bountiful, even from the east unto the west sea” (Alma 22:33), which hemmed in the Lamanites on the south so they could not overrun the Land Northward, and could have no more possessions north of the narrow strip of wilderness (Alma 22:33-34). This means there was no land in the Land of Promise to the east of the East Sea or west of the West Sea, they being the boundaries of the Land Southward.
(See the next post, “What Was Meant by the Narrow Strip of Wilderness? – Part II,” regarding where it was located, what purpose it served, and how the Nephites used it as a line of defense)