No Other People in The Land of Promise

 

When reading scripture, it can be vitally important to pay attention to the tense which is a verb to indicate the time of action—that is, when action described is to take place. As seen in grammar, Future Tense is identified by he words “will” or “shall” plus the verb. As an example in “He shall bring,” in scripture, refers to the fact that the Lord will in the future bring to pass whatever is the noun of the sentence.

    To understand this is to better understand the Book of Mormon, since most people read the scriptural record quickly, often like they would read a novel. However, what is done quickly, often misses the point of the scripture involved. An example of this is in the Simple Future Tense, which is an action that has still to take place, the statement “shall see him,” “next year will be 2020,” “shall be brought,” indicate such a tense. An example in scripture is “inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments, ye shall prosper, and shall be led to a land of promise” (1 Nephi 2:20), meaning: 1) a person shall keep commandments; 2) a person shall prosper; 3) a person shall be led to the land of promise. The point is, these three points had not yet been achieved when the statement was written.
    So how does that effect our reading of the Book of Mormon? First of all, by understanding this, we are able to answer some questions being asked, such as: “Were there people living in the Land of Promise before Lehi arrived?”
    Mesoamerican theorists adamantly claim there were. Of course, they have to, since the sciences involved claim that the Olmecs entered Mesoamerica near Veracruz in Mexico, laying “many of the foundations for the groups that followed them. So if the Olmecs were in Mesoamerica from 1600-1500 BC to about 400 BC, what Book of Mormon people could they have been? Certainly not the Jaredites, who arrived in the land around 2100 BC, nor the Nephites or the Mulekites who both arrived around 600 BC. Nor can it be suggested that any group before about 2350 BC, time of the Flood, have occupied the land that continued through the Flood and survived it. However, it id suggested that the Olmecs derive in part from neighboring Mokaya or Mixe-Zoque, who are said to have arrived in Mesoamerica around 2500 BC.
    So how do we deal with Mesoamrica?  First, to find out if Mesoamerica is the location of the Land of Promise by determining what the Book of Mormon says about people in the land before Lehi.
    This brings us back to the future tense of the scriptural record.

From the very beginning, the Lord told Nephi that he “shall be led to a land of promise; yea, even a land which I have prepared for you; yea, a land which is choice above all other lands” (1 Nephi 2:20). The Lord had also made it clear to Lehi that this Land of Promise was to be for him (1 Nephi 5:5) and his posterity—a person’s children and descendants (2 Nephi 1:5) often called “seed” in scripture. Lehi and his family and household, as well as Ishmael’s family and household, were eventually led into the Land of Promise by the hand of the Lord (1 Nephi 17:42), which they ultimately obtained (2 Nephi 1:3).
    Lehi states: “But, said he, notwithstanding our afflictions, we have obtained a land of promise, a land which is choice above all other lands; a land which the Lord God hath covenanted with me should be a land for the inheritance of my seed. Yea, the Lord hath covenanted this land unto me, and to my children forever, and also all those who should be led out of other countries by the hand of the Lord” (2 Nephi 1:5, emphasis added).
    Obviously, “should be” is an event to occur in the future—that is, when Lehi was in the Land of Promise and making this statement, no other people had, as yet, been led to the land. In other words, Lehi arrived in a virgin land that no other people had yet been given.
    We learn more on this empty land from Ether when Moroni abridges the Jaredite record, writing: “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” (Ether 13:2), meaning that no one had ever come to this land, this Land of Promise that had not been brought by the Lord, who also told Lehi that this Land of Promise would be kept from other people as stated above (2 Nephi 1:8).
    Thus, we see that this land, the Americas, was to be a choice land—would be meaning after it was settled. When this statement was made (Ether 13:2), the Jaredites, Nephites and Mulekites had not yet arrived. Nor had anyone else, or all this future tense language would not have been used.

Even after Lehi arrived, the Lord was telling him of future people to be brought to the Land of Promise, which may have meant the Mulekites, or later the Europeans. The point is, Lehi was told that no others occupied the land, but that others in the future would arrive.
    As a result, Lehi prophesied that “I, Lehi, prophesy according to the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that there shall none come into this land save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord” (2 Nephi 1:6), and note the future tense language of those who would be brought at some point in the future from Lehi’s time: “This land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever” (2 Nephi 1:7).
    Lehi then adds on these future events: “Wherefore, I, Lehi, have obtained a promise, that inasmuch as those whom the Lord God shall bring out of the land of Jerusalem shall keep his commandments, they shall prosper upon the face of this land; and they shall be kept from all other nations, that they may possess this land unto themselves. And if it so be that they shall keep his commandments they shall be blessed upon the face of this land, and there shall be none to molest them, nor to take away the land of their inheritance; and they shall dwell safely forever” (2 Nephi 1:9).

    However, Lehi, having seen the future of his posterity in the Land of Promise adds:  “Wherefore, I, Lehi, have obtained a promise, that inasmuch as those whom the Lord God shall bring out of the land of Jerusalem shall keep his commandments, they shall prosper upon the face of this land; and they shall be kept from all other nations, that they may possess this land unto themselves. And if it so be that they shall keep his commandments they shall be blessed upon the face of this land, and there shall be none to molest them, nor to take away the land of their inheritance; and they shall dwell safely forever” (2 Nephi 1:9).
Once again, in grammar, a future tense is a verb form that generally marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future. When we read these passages for what they are, future tense statements, we get an understanding of the fact that there were no other people in the Land of Promise after Lehi arrived other than himself and his people.
    Thus, in all of this, it should be noted that Lehi was speaking of a future time from when he uttrered the words. That up until he came, the land had been kept free from those who would be upon it in his time, that is, none were left of the Jaredites and no other people were in the land when he, Lehi, arrived. In fact, at that time, the Land of Promise was empty of all people other than his party, except for Coriantumr, the last surviving Jaredites, who eventually wandered into the camp of the Mulekites at Zarahemla. There were no other people and the Lord promised Lehi it would remain that way as long as they were righteous.
    Thus, when Mesoamericanists claim their area was the Land of Promise, it should be noted that Mesoamerica was inhabited by large numbers of people prior to the arrival of the Olmecs in 1600 BC, such as Mokayas in 1900-1600 BC, the Proro-Mixe-Zoque, 2000-1200 BC, and it was also occupied before that. While the Olmecs are considered the earliest known major civilization in Mesoameric with their formative period 1500 to 400 BC, Pre-Olmec cultures had flourished in the area since about 2500 BC, but by 1600–1500 BC, early Olmec culture had emerged, centered on the San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán site near the coast in southeast Veracruz.
    None of these dates match anything in the Book of Mormon.