The Final Jaredite Battleground – Part III

Continued from the previous post regarding the points Mesoamericanists use to defend their Limited Geography theory for the Land of Promise.
    Since the terms “Land of Promise” and “promised land” are used frequently in the geographical context of the land the Lord promised to Lehi and his descendants, perhaps we should take a closer look at the meaning of such terms.
    It should be noted that the term Land of Promise has reference to the land—i.e., this is a Land of Promise. To whom it is promised is not the issue—that it has been promised is the point. On the other hand, the term promised land has reference to the promise of the land, i.e., to whom it has been promised. Thus, the Land of Promise is an area that was held in reserved after the waters of the Flood withdrew, revealing this land of the Western Hemisphere, which the Lord said was a land more choice than any other. As a result, Lehi was led to the Land of Promise (an area), and given a promise of a portion of that land for his inheritance and that of his descendants.
    The problem arises when theorists get these two terms mixed up, or fail entirely to understand there are two factors involved, i.e., the land and to whom it (or a portion of it) was promised.
    As for the Mesoamerican theorists, the accuracy and legitimacy of the Mesoamerican claim is based largely on Ether staying near his cave as he watched the Jaredites annihilate themselves—and that only one cave existed where Ether hid. The fact of the matter is, we do not know if there was a single “cavity of a rock” involved in Ether’s hiding, or if there were several areas he hid following the nights he followed the running battles across the land. To assume there was just one cave in one location of a battle that swept across the Land Northward is not realistic.

Could Ether have been hidden in a cave near the battlefields and not have been discovered by the thousands and thousands of combatants who were all in a killing mood and looking for the enemy at all times?

To the Mesoamericanist, however, Ether had but one cave and that cave was in the neighborhood of Moron and that Moron being near the land of Desolation are well-established facts, and so, too, they claim, is the Land of Desolation’s proximity to Zarahemla, as demonstrated through the story of Limhi’s men confusing the two locations. However, as pointed out earlier, there is no confirming statements that the Land of Zarahemla was close to the Land of Desolation. In fact, Mormon tell us that the Land of Bountiful was between Zarahemla and Desolation (Alma 22:28-29), as also was an unnamed land between Bountiful and Zarahemla (3 Nephi 3:23).
    It would not have been possible for Ether to have watched everything unravel in the general area around the cave near Moron, including the final battle at Ramah/Cumorah. Obviously, he would have had to travel far at night to have seen such calamities as where armies had clashed in numerous running battles during the day. Most likely, the Lord used Ether’s viewing of the battle results to impress upon his mind a vision of what had taken place across a much larger field, or that he did not return to a single cave each night, but hid during the day in various caves or cavities of the rocks as he followed the events of these armies over the vast landscape. This is supported by the fact that Ether’s cave actually drops out of the story long before the final battle is fought.

Failing to convince Coriantumr to repent, Ether flees the city and heads back to his cave

Sorenson, in his summary of the events, includes the cave in his picture of the last battle and the death of Shiz, but the last we actually read of it in the narrative is in Ether 13:22, when Ether fled back to the cave after failing to convince Coriantumr to repent. This took place very early on, in Ether’s second year of hiding. Ether later watched the armies of Shiz and Coriantumr gather together around the Hill Ramah and “went forth” to size things up after Coriantumr was victorious, but no mention is made of the cave in either case (Ether 15:33).
    Eventually, of course, Coriantumr killed Shiz and became “the last man standing” of the entire Jaredite civilization other than Ether (15:31-33). In these running battles, it should be kept in mind the distances that were covered as they “Came forth to the land of Moron (Ether 14:6) and also “Came up unto the land of Moron” (Ether 14:11), then a running battle took place where the battle covered the area of many cities that were overthrown by Shiz, who sacked and burned the cities (Ether 14:17). It is also stated that these battles took place “throughout all the land” (Ether 14:18), and also the “whole face of the land was covered with the dead” (Ether 14:21).
    We need to keep in mind that when an army flees to the seashore, flees to the wilderness, fled to that quarter of the land, fled again before the army of the brother of Lib, fled to the land of Corihor, fled from the army of Shiz, you are talking about very large armies moving quickly in retreat over vast distances of land to protect themselves so they can reach a place that they can defend. It seems a little simple-minded to suggest that this was all done in a rather small area as Mesoamericanists claim, mostly to justify their location of the Hill Cumorah being quite close to his narrow neck of land.
    It should be noted, however, that Ether and his cave, which Sorenson uses to proximate the distances of the battle, is never mentioned after Ether 13:22. Yet, we are told that Ether beheld all the doings of the people” (Ether 15:13), and the Lord told him “to go forth” to see the words of the Lord had been fulfilled (Ether 15:33), obviously referencing the battle was ended and all the Jaredites were killed. But in neither case is there any mention of his cave or cavity of a rock as had been earlier. Thus, we have no knowledge if Ether was returning to a single cave each night after his nocturnal wanderings, or found another place to stay from time to time, remaining in the vicinity of the battles that were taking place.
    The point being, that a Limited Geography theme is not justified by either the events that took place, or the topography described. This was an invention of Mesoamericanists in order to justify their limited geographical setting of Mesoamerica—not what Mormon or Moroni wrote. Thus, we find that the final battleground of the Jaredite kingdom was fought over most of the Land Northward, and not in a small, isolated portion of that land, or a single stand and gigantic battle as involved the Nephites a thousand years later.

“After the waters had receded from off the face of this land it became a choice land above all other lands, a chosen land of the Lord; wherefore the Lord would have that all men should serve him who dwell upon the face thereof”

It is also important to note that from the beginning, the Lord has reserved choice lands for righteous followers. They include the Garden of Eden for Adam and Eve (Genesis 2:9), a "land of promise" for Enos (Moses 6:17), and Zion for Enoch and his people (Moses 7:19). Notably, God received up Zion's inhabitants (Moses 7:69), who will return to earth to the New Jerusalem during the last days (Moses 7:62-64; Rev. 21:2).
    The first land that was promised through covenant was the land the Lord promised to Abraham, which was Palestine, including the land from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates river (Exodus 23:31). The promise was first made to Abraham (Genesis 12:1,7; 15:18-21), then confirmed to his son Isaac (Genesis 26:3), and then to Isaac's son Jacob (Genesis 28:13), Abraham's grandson. This land is also defined as marked by the Red Sea, the Sea of the Philistines (Mediterranean), and the River (Euphrates), and included the lands of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaite, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites. The Lord said to Joshua: “See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them” (Deuteronomy 1:8).
    However, it was a smaller portion of that land which was later conquered and occupied by the Children of Israel—at its furthest extent, it was during the time of David and the United Kingdom of Israel (Douglas K. Stuart, Exodus, B&H Publishing Group, 2006, p549; Tyndale Bible Dictionary, Walter A. Elwell and Philip Wesley Comfort, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2001, p984).
(See the next post, “The Final Jaredite Battleground – Part IV,” for more on the points Mesoamericanists use to defend their Limited Geography theory for the Land of Promise; and where exactly was the last Jaredite battleground)