More Comments from Readers – Part II

Here are more comments that we have received from readers of this website blog:
Comment #1: “What about a route through Europe to Gibraltar and across the Atlantic to the great lakes as Joseph Smith might have said? Is there any reason why not?” Ldswoman.
Response: In your inquiry regarding one of our articles, “The Lord’s Route for the Jaredite Voyage - Part I,” first of all, Joseph Smith never said or hinted at such a journey, direction, embarkation point or point of landing.
    Second, it would seem highly unlikely for the Jaredites to move toward the Mediterranean Sea, since 1) that area was heavily populated, and 2) a barge blown by the wind would not move toward the Straits of Gibraltar and out into the Atlantic Ocean.

Blue lines are the currents that flow inward into the Mediterranean from the Atlantic with at least three major currents moving inward around 1) the Balearic Sea, 2) the Tyrrhenian Sea, and 3) the Ionian Sea, and 4) the Aegean Sea, all swirling around into the Mediterranean toward the east—in the opposite direction the Jaredite barges would need to move

This is one of the reasons why the Phoenician ship went east and down the Red Sea in their 3-year trip around Africa, which sailed back eastward into the Mediterranean through the Straits of Gibraltar.
Third, there would be no need to cross “many waters” (Ether 2:6) nor would there have been a “sea in the wilderness” (Ether 2:7) to tempt the rebellious brothers to want to stop and remain.

Three possible routes out of Mesopotamia for the Jaredites: Green: eastward across Asia to the Pacific Ocean (a route favored by Hugh Nibley; Red: westward through the Mediterranean to the Atlantic; Blue: Going south down to Lehi’s Bountiful and through the Indian Ocean

If you look on a map, you will see that the Jaredites would have been within a total land walking region toward the east through Asia to the Pacific, or the west through Iraq and Syria to the Mediterranean, and not need to build barges to cross many waters or would they have passed a sea in the wilderness which the Lord them not to stop beyond it. Now, if the Jaredites built barges to move across the Mediterranean as the “many waters,” why have them disembark and spend 4 years on the coast just to build more barges to cross the ocean?
    In addition, there are no winds and currents that would have taken the barges westward through the Mediterranean, and if they walked, the distance would have been 3,200 miles. Even so, crossing the Atlantic Sea to the Western Hemisphere, would have to go south and then turn westward at the Canary Islands (Columbus’ course) none of which which would have been a direct course for barges being borne on the winds and waves.
    On the other hand, to the south would be across the Mesopotamian Marshes, a 7,700-square-mile wetlands area encompassing the Central, Hawizeh and Hammar marshes in which there are many waters to cross. In fact, all of the overall Marsh area can only be crossed by boat, raft or barge (this area is the home of the Marsh Arabs, who live in secluded villages of elaborate reed houses throughout the marshes that can only reached by boat).
    In addition, once through the marshes, they would have passed the Arabian Sea, the ancient name of the Persian Gulf, which the Lord warned them not to stop at or beyond, until they came to “the great sea which divideth the lands” (Ether 2:13).
Fourth. It would have been a very, very long walk from the east coast of the U.S. inland to any location that might even conceivably be said to match any of the Land of Promise descriptions. Fifth, and on the other hand, from near Babylon to Khor Rori in Salalah in Oman, the distance would be only 1900 miles—and a much easier trip, plus encountering the “many waters” the “Sea in the Wilderness” and the eventual site Lehi would leave from that he found so well populated with animals and crops, fruit, honey, etc., which could only have come from the Jaredites.
Comment #2: “You don't fact check your quotes you copy, do you? As it happens I have physically seen the "Anthropological Journal of Canada." It is not an actual science publication, but a mimeographed pamphlet put out by some Canadian creationists (my alma mater, Eastern Washington University, happened to have the hard copy)” James D.

Response: “The Anthropological Journal of Canada” (Anthropololgique du Canada), is published by the Anthropological Association of Canada (Association anthropologique du Canada), of Ottawa. It is listed on the OCLC World Cat Reference for Items in Libraries, (the World’s largest Library catalog) of which their top 10 libraries are Washington, UC Berkeley, Arizona, UCLA and Portland State in the West; Cornel, Ohio State and Maryland in the east; plus Orbis Cascade in Oregon and McGill University in Canada. Their formats are basically Journals and Magazines, and the one quoted is a Journal Magazine Anthropology Periodical, and is listed in the University of Utah Marriott Library; BYU Harold B. Lee library; as well as the U of Colorado, U of Denver, U of Nevada, and U of New Mexico. In fact, 149 libraries hold a copy of the edition we quoted.
    It should be noted, that we did not comment in our article on the quality or acceptance to all of our reference. We simply state where the article could be found. We fact check information in digital form in some of the world’s largest reference data bases. If a reader wants to verify our comment(s) they can do so and we provide the source from which we obtained it. Since the “publication” had a reference in several libraries of significant stature, it seems acceptable to use as a reference. We did not, as stated above, cover the quality of the sourcing, only that it existed and what it said.
Comment #3: “Why do you think the Army chasing Alma lost him so easily? Surely he would have left a huge sign with 450 people, plus flocks and herds” Rita B.
Response: Other than what hand the Lord played in this: “And now the Lord said unto Alma: Haste thee and get thou and this people out of this land, for the Lamanites have awakened and do pursue thee; therefore get thee out of this land, and I will stop the Lamanites in this valley that they come no further in pursuit of this people” (Mosiah 24:23).
    One can only imagine how the Lord stopped the Lamanite army in the valley that they came no further in pursuit of Alma and his people. On the other hand, it should be noted that Alma was heading for Zarahemla, and heh ad Ammon with him who had come the other way a few days or weeks before, and would have known the pass through which Alma would have to pass through to get beyond the Cordillera and to Zarahemla. If the Lamanite commander and soldiers did not know of the pass, then it is understandable why they came no further, since finding mountain passes is very difficult if you don’t know where they are.

Are there any passes through these mountain? One would not know until they reached the mountains and searched for one

Today, of course, one needs follow mountain roads, trails, etc., that lead to a pass, but in Alma’s day, there would have been no indication and finding your way through mountainous country without ending up in box canyons, gorges that go nowhere, and cuts that peter out, can be most difficult, as no doubt the Lamanite army learned.