The Mulekite Homeland in the Land of Promise – Part VII

Continued from the previous post regarding the Mulekite homeland, where they landed, where they settled, and who they were, and how numerous theorists have treated this subject erroneously.
    One of the problems historians, scholars and theorists seem to have, is they neglect or ignore the fact that the Lord is in charge and has a Plan to which He adheres judiciously. And to continue on with Lehi’s comments, following this last statements, he adds, “Wherefore, 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...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 1:6,9). It would seem obvious there were two thoughts here, 1) those who would “come into this land” were the Jaredites, Nephites/ Lamanites, and Mulekites, followed much later by the Gentiles described in Nephi’s vision, and 2) this land would remain the promised inheritance of the Nephites, Mulekites and Lamanites, and there would be none else “to molest them, nor to take away the land” from them.
    There is no mystery about who Lehi was referring to when he said “all those who should be led out of other countries by the hand of the Lord” (2 Nephi 1:5). However, Lehi, in this same discussion, speaking of his posterity later on who would dwindle in unbelief, says,

With the Jaredites, Nephites and Mulekites being annihilated, only the Lamanites were left, when the Lord gave the land of Promise to the European Gentiles

“Yea, he will bring other nations unto them and he will give unto them power, and he will take away from them the lands of their possessions, and he will cause them to be scattered and smitten” (2 Nephi 1:11). That is, in this overall prophesy to his children and grandchildren, after arriving in the land of promise, Lehi tells them of the promise they have in the land as long as they remain righteous, but if they fall away, he tells them of the terrible calamities that will befall them—that is, the terrible calamities that befell the Nephites was the total annihilation of their nation and society; the terrible calamities of the Lamanites was the total destruction and subjugation of their societies by the Spanish conquerors, which is illustrated further in the book Lehi Never Saw Mesoamerica.
    This is hardly talking about other people being led to the land while Lehi’s people are righteous— which remains until about 350 A.D., when the Spirit of the Lord ceased to strive with the people (Mormon 5:16).
    The fact is, the scriptures not only give no evidence of any connection between the Jaredites and the Mulekites or Nephites, but we find numerous evidence to show there was no contact, such as this exchange between Ammon and Limhi, one a Nephite and the other a Mulekite. Consequently, since there is no mention of the people who had been destroyed in the land northward living among the Nephites or Lamanites and not among the Mulekites (other than Coriantumr) either before, during, or after the last great battle at Cumorah that annihilated the Nephites, one can only wonder why these scholars continue to claim such contact existed and that it altered and influenced the behavior and culture of both the Mulekites and the Nephites.
4. Coriantumr died in the Land Northward and the Mulekites later migrated into the Land Southward, bringing with them the stone Coriantumr carved upon.

Coriantumr’s stone upon which he carved a brief history of his chronology and genealogy

Since Coriantumr’s engraving was on a “large stone” (Omni 1:20), one might wonder why the Mulekites would have carried it with them had there been a migration from the Land Northward to the land of Zarahemla in the Land Southward. They could not read the engraving, and not knowing who Coriantumr was, would have had little interest in preserving the stone if they were traveling. And if there were Jaredites mingled with the Mulekites, as many Mesoamerican Theorists claim, there would have been no need for the stone, for the Jaredites would have known their own history, and who Coriantumr, their last king, was without a stone engraving. If there were no Jaredites with the Mulekites, then why bother lugging the stone all that way since Coriantumr had died among them and was buried by them (Ether 13:21) and would have offered no further interest to them since they had no idea they would run into anyone who could interpret it later on.
    On the other hand, since the Mulekites spent their entire time in the area of Zarahemla “where Mosiah discovered them” (Omni 1:16), there never was a migration and such a point is a mute one. It is most likely this stone was placed over Coriantumr’s gravesite and forgotten until Ammon showed up and an interest in who these people were rekindled.
5. The Jaredites were in such a weakened condition from the many wars by the time the Mulekites arrived among them, that the Mulekites easily conquered and subjugated the Jaredites.
    Once again, there is absolutely no reference to anything in scripture that would cause someone to arrive at this conclusion. Common sense should indicate otherwise had these two groups ever come together. Consider:
• The Jaredites are described continually as large and mighty men, having greater strength than other men. Even in their last battles, when so weakened from strenuous battle and loss of blood, they continued to revive and chase one another in continued running battles until only one man was left standing.

The Jaredites were a warring people, who fought numerous civil wars among themselves

• The Jaredites were a violent (Ether 13:31), fearsome people (Ether 14:2), willful to do murder (Moroni 9:23), well-schooled in the skill of battle (Ether 13:25) with at least 1600 years of experience in warfare by the time the Mulekites arrived. It would seem unlikely that any invading force would have easily overcome the Jaredites, especially Mulek and his friends;
• When the Mulekites landed, they would not have numbered very many souls. In fact, it is very likely that Mulek, as the youngest son, may well have been just a baby or young child at the time of the Babylonian victory and, therefore, unknown to Nebuchadnezzar—and as such, was whisked away by court attendants and those assigned to look after the royal lad. In such case, we are looking at a group of people whose value to Zedekiah, Mulek’s father and king, would have been in their caring for, protecting, and tutoring the young child—not in any combative capability (Mulek, from mlk, might well have been a title, such as king, and not a name at all—which may well be why the people of Zarahemla were never referred to as Mulekites in the record. In any event, these fleeing court and family retainers gathered a few people with them and somehow built a ship (or ships) and sailed to the land of promise. There is no indication that Mulek and his friends were warriors or soldiers, and their numbers would have been very few against the Jaredites who had numbered in the millions (Ether 14:4, 21, 31; 15:2)
• Using some Theorists dates, if the Mulekites landed among the Jaredites around 600 B.C., but the Jaredites were not completely destroyed until around 200 B.C., how could a handful of Mulekites conquer and subjugate many millions of Jaredites who Ether lists as having been killed in the final half dozen years before their total destruction?
• By the time the Mulekites encountered Coriantumr, all the Jaredites had been destroyed. This is easily seen by the fact that the Jaredites spent four years “gathering together the people, that they might get all who were upon the face of the land, and that they might receive all the strength which it was possible that they could receive” (Ether 15:14). They did this by gathering together “all the people upon all the face of the land, who had not been slain, save it was Ether” (Ether 15:12). In the previous battle, “so great and lasting had been the war, and so long had been the scene of bloodshed and carnage, that the whole face of the land was covered with the bodies of the dead” (Ether 14:21) which numbered “nearly two million people” (Ether 15:2).

This last battle, which included men, women, and children (Ether 15:2, 15), began and was fought for one entire day (Ether 15:15) and many were killed (Ether 15:16), and they fought the next day and again many were killed (Ether 15:17). By the fourth day, only 52 were left on Coriantumr’s side and 69 on the side of Shiz (Ether 15:23). The next day saw only 27 left alive on Coriantumr’s side and only 32 on the side of Shiz (Ether 15:25). On the last day, they fought for only three hours before Coriantumr’s side fled, but Shiz and his men caught up to them and they fought again (Ether 15:27-29). This time, only Coriantumr and Shiz remained alive, and finally Coriantumr killed Shiz (Ether 15:30). Earlier, the utter destruction of the Jaredites had been prophesied by the Lord’s prophet (Ether 11:20), and when it was over, the Lord told Ether to go and look, and Ether “went forth and beheld the words of the Lord had all been fulfilled” (Ether 15:33).
(See the next post, “The Mulekite Homeland in the Land of Promise – Part VIII,” regarding the Mulekite homeland, where they landed, where they settled, and who they were)