Were there Really Earthquakes? – Part II

Continued from the previous post regarding the unusual and specific wordage of events that accompanied the destruction outlined in 3 Nephi): “And there was also a great and terrible tempest; and there was terrible thunder, insomuch that it did shake the whole earth as if it was about to divide asunder” (3 Nephi 8:6)

 

“Divide asunder” means to break up in “bits and pieces”

 

Now divide means to part or separate an entire thing; to part a thing; a fraction of a whole; Asunder is an adverb that means into parts; separately; in a divided state, into separate pieces, apart, in bits and pieces, to shreds, dismantled, a fraction of a whole, divided, parted.

Thus, “it did shake the whole earth as if it was about to divide asunder” in 3 Nephi means that something shook the entire Land of Promise so violently (like a very high magnitude earthquake) that people feared the earth would be divided and broken into bits and pieces and they would all be killed.

We need to keep in mind that known wordage to Mormon would not have included many common words known to us today. The word “earthquake” is a relative modern word, coined in the late 13^th century, with a meaning and etymology of: "movement or vibration of a part of the earth's crust,” from eorthequakynge (earth + quake). In this sense Old English had eorðdyn, eorðhrernes, eorðbeofung, eorðstyrung.

Nor would Mormon have known the words epicenter, tremblor, or tremor (nor would tremblor have been known to Joseph Smith); “tremor” was associate only with people in Joseph Smith’s time, such as “a tremor was an involuntary trembling, a shivering or shaking.” The word epicenter was coined late in the 19^th century and was taken from Greek: “epi” meaning “upon,” and “Kenton” meaning “center”). None of these words would have been known to Mormon, though the events would have—and in describing the events, he had the knowledge of those who experienced it to draw from and used words to describe it. Thus, “the tempest did shake the whole earth as if it was about to divide asunder,” was his way of describing the event.   

Thus “shake the whole earth,” was like Mormon saying “there was an earthquake—a very violent earthquake.”

Not only was there an extremely furious earthquake, Mormon went on to state that its violence and intensity was “such as never had been known in all the land” (3 Nephi 8:7), suggesting there had been other earthquakes, just nowhere as strong.

A tempest that shook the earth to and fro until people thought it would be divided asunder

 

In describing this unusual event, Mormon called the storm: “a great and terrible tempest” (3 Nephi 8:6), which word tempest means “A violent tumult or commotion; an extensive current of wind of long continuance, rushing with great velocity and violence—a storm of extreme strength and fierceness. Today, we name storms according to their respective degrees of force and rapidity: a breeze, a gale, a storm, a tempest (which tempest may or may not be attended with rain, snow or hail).

That is, this storm (a rushing, violent wind) was accompanied by a great and terrible tempest (a storm of extreme velocity and violence) and terrible thunder (the sound which follows the explosion of electricity or lightening). There were whirlwinds (a violent upthrust of air moving in a spiral, upward form), and the entire earth shook as it if was about to divide (to part) asunder (into separate parts). During this storm of severe proportions, more severe than had ever been known in 600 years of occupation of the land of promise, floods occurred, ground liquefied and sunk into the earth, dropping cities from sight; seasides or shorelines were so eroded and demolished that cities fell into the sea. Great upheavals of earth occurred, burying cities beneath millions of tons of earth and rock. 

A mountain cordillera in the Andes

 

Cordilleras (a system or group of parallel mountain ranges together with the intervening valleys and plateaus, especially in the Andes) rose from the depths of the earth, shoving level ground upward and forming great mountains and very tall peaks. At the same time, great earthquakes struck the land, shaking the earth, and tumbling buildings. Highways were destroyed, broken into pieces, heaved up and thrust down and diverted from their regular path. These earthquakes were not simply local quakes, but shook the entire Land of Promise, both in the Land Southward and in the Land Northward (3 Nephi 8:11-12) covering thousands of square miles.

Generally, Mesoamerican and North American theorists claim that the damage to the Land of Promise was not sufficient to cause Mormon not to identify pre- and post-period topography of the Land of Promise three centuries after the events. They cite Mormon’s comment: “thus the face of the whole earth became deformed, because of the tempests, and the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the quaking of the earth" (3 Nephi 8:17); however, they seem to ignore Samuel the Lamanite who prophesied with the words the Spirit put into his mind, saying: “behold, there shall be great tempests, and there shall be many mountains laid low, like unto a valley, and there shall be many places which are now called valleys which shall become mountains, whose height is great” (Helaman 14:23, emphasis added), and even Nephi’s comment from his vision, ”I saw lightnings, and I heard thunderings, and earthquakes, and all manner of tumultuous noises; and I saw the earth and the rocks, that they rent; and I saw mountains tumbling into pieces; and I saw the plains of the earth, that they were broken up; and I saw many cities that they were sunk; and I saw many that they were burned with fire; and I saw many that did tumble to the earth, because of the quaking thereof” (1 Nephi 12:5, emphasis added), or the disciple Nephi’s description of the destruct he saw: “The earth was carried up upon the city of Moronihah that in the place of the city there became a great mountain” (3 Nephi 8:10, emphasis added). It is hard to say that these changes were just cosmetic.

While Mormon obviously understood the topography after the damage caused by the 3-hour earthquake-storm-tempest, that does not mean the Land of Promise was not significantly changed by the destruction.

Top: Before the crucifixion, rocks above and below the surface were all connected in one solid mass; Bottom: After the crucifixion, they were broken up in seams and cracks

 

Nor can it be said, as these theorists insist, that these changes were only surface changes, for Samuel makes it clear that these changes were not limited to the surface: “Yea, at the time that he shall yield up the ghost there shall be thunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours, and the earth shall shake and tremble; and the rocks which are upon the face of this earth, which are both above the earth and beneath, which ye know at this time are solid, or the more part of it is one solid mass, shall be broken up; Yea, they shall be rent in twain, and shall ever after be found in seams and in cracks, and in broken fragments upon the face of the whole earth, yea, both above the earth and beneath” (Helaman 14:21-22, emphasis added).

(See the next post, “Were there Really Earthquakes? – Part III, for more on the unusual and specific wordage of events that accompanied the destruction outlined in 3 Nephi)