Sixteen years after the battle at Cumorah and Mormon’s death (Mormon 8:3) from his wounds (Mormon 6:10), Moroni proceeds to finish what his father earlier had commanded him to write (Mormon 8:1). Where Moroni was at this time is unknown, but it seems certain he was no longer at Cumorah. Three statements tend to bear this out:
•. There were some 300,000 to 400,000 blood-lusting Lamanites (Mormon 6:8) swarming all over and around Cumorah—if this hill was the one in New York, there would have been no place for him to hide there;
Moroni records the events of the Nephites as he travels around, avoiding the Lamanites who were engaged in their civil wars
2. In 400 AD, 15 years after Cumorah (Mormon 8:6), Moroni states that the depraved Lamaniters had degenerated into fierce wars among themselves: “The Lamanites are at war one with another; and the whole face of this land is one continual round of murder and bloodshed; and no one knoweth the end of the war” (Mormon 8:8)—a war that was still being fought 36 years after Cumorah (Moroni 1:2) and, obviously, throughout this time Moroni was running and hiding from the Lamanites: “I wander whithersoever I can for the safety of mine own life” (Moroni 1:3);
3. There were at least 230,000 Nephites (Mormon 6:11-15) and a guesstimate of perhaps 50,000 Lamanites killed at Cumorah—the stench of their dead bodies would have been more than a person could have borne, not to mention the arrival of fierce wild animals in search of the carrion that would have been drawn to the battle site.
All of these would have driven Moroni out of the region of Cumorah to an area where he might feel safer from the Lamanites who swarmed all over the land in their civil wars. Surely, he would not have stayed in the vicinity of Cumorah were the Lamanite wars erupted and spread. During this time, some fifteen years after Cumorah, Moroni selects the plates of Ether containing the record of the Jaredites, taken from the twenty-four plates found by the people of Limhi in the days of king Mosiah, and abridges them: "And now I, Moroni, proceed to give an account of those ancient inhabitants who were destroyed by the hand of the Lord upon the face of this north country. And I take mine account from the twenty and four plates which were found by the people of Limhi, which is called the Book of Ether” (Ether 1:1-2). However, he did not abridge the full account, but condensed a part of that record: “But behold, I give not the full account, but a part of the account I give, from the tower down until they were destroyed” (Ether 1:5).
In hiding, Moroni abridges the account of the Jaredites
One of the passages Moroni writes is the general terms of his whereabouts when he states: “Upon the face of this north country.” From this we can conclude that Moroni was still in the Land Northward when he was engraving the plates.
As we have mentioned from time to time, small words in the Book of Mormon often tell us more than we realize. An example that has been made before is that the word “at,” which means around, outside, without, expresses location or arrival at a particular place; while the word “in” suggests inside, within, being within. Thus, “my father spent all his days at Jerusalem,” is quite different than “my father spent all his days in Jerusalem.” Jerusalem, of course, was a walled city—at the time of Lehi, the outer wall enclosed the entire city whereas today it only establishes an area within the larger city boundaries.
The family had donkeys that transported their belongings down from Jerusalem where they would have purchased camels
Thus, when Nephi wrote that his father spent all his days “at” Jerusalem, he was telling us that Lehi lived without or outside the city walls. Now is this important? Well, since there was little room within the city for planting, for large Beduouin-style tents, or for animals, it lends accuracy to the fact that Nephi wrote of large amounts of seeds to be planted in the Land of Promise: “we had gathered together all manner of seeds of every kind, both of grain of every kind, and also of the seeds of fruit of every kind” (1 Nephi 8:1). And also that they had large tents (1 Nephi 4:38; 5:7; 7:5), and animals (donkeys) on which to carry these tent as well as their supplies for an extended trip in the wilderness (1 Nephi 2:4-5; 3:4,9).
The point is, it lends to the accuracy of the Book of Mormon and adds to our testimony of its divine authenticity.
Thus, when Moroni says “this north country,” he is referring to something or someone within the boundaries of where he is located—that is, he is in the north countries as he speaks or writes this statement. That is because “this” is used to indicate the person, thing, or idea that is present or near in place, time, or thought or that has just been mentioned—used to indicate the thing that is closest to you or that is being shown to you
This is seen in the passage: “Now, do ye suppose that the children of this land, who were in the land of promise, who were driven out by our fathers, do ye suppose that they were righteous? Behold, I say unto you, Nay” (1 Nephi 17:33, emphasis added) and “The time cometh that after all the house of Israel have been scattered and confounded, that the Lord God will raise up a mighty nation among the Gentiles, yea, even upon the face of this land; and by them shall our seed be scattered” (1 Nephi 22:7, emphasis added), and also “these things must shortly come; yea, even blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke must come; and it must needs be upon the face of this earth; and it cometh unto men according to the flesh if it so be that they will harden their hearts against the Holy One of Israel (1 Nephi 22:18, emphasis added).
The same can be said of Moroni’s
statement to Joseph Smith: “Built upon the American continent is a different
statement than,
Built upon this, the American
Continent.” “The American continent” suggests that the speaker could be
anywhere—on any land in the world; but “This, the American Continent” is a
statement of whereabouts—that is, the speaking is within the boundaries of the
place to which he is referring, i.e., he is within the American continent.
Thus, again, Moroni’s statement places him within the north country—the Land Northward.
This Land Northward is certainly large enough for Moroni to find seclusion from the Lamanites, which he does for 36 years—the last dated material he records on the plates. Since he tells us he was wandering wherever he could for his own safety (Moroni 1:3), we can rightly assume he was not at Cumorah all this time, thus he would not have been at Cumorah when he hid the platesin the earth. In fact, we have no evidence Mormon told his son where he had buried the majority of the sacred records.
Moroni was in the Land Northward when he finished his record and abridgement
“Therefore I will write and hide up the records in the earth; and whither I go it mattereth not” (Mormon 8:4). When Moroni made this statement, 15 years after Cumorah, he was likely in some distant area of the Land Northward, and not knowing where he would be at any time since he was wandering about, had no idea where he would be when he hid the records in the earth.
When Mormon was about ten years old, the prophet Ammaron told him about all the sacred records that were buried in the Hill Shim in the land of Antum—this was not the Hill Cumorah. Ammaron told him, “When ye are about twenty and four years old I would that ye should remember the things that ye have observed concerning this people; and when ye are of that age go to the land Antum, unto a hill which shall be called Shim; and there have I deposited unto the Lord all the sacred engravings concerning this people” (Mormon 1:3).
We learn that when the land of the Nephites (evidently the Land Southward) was about to be overthrown by the Lamanites, Mormon went to the Hill Shim and retrieved all the records Ammaron hid there (Mormon 4:23). These he took with him to the land of Cumorah and hid up in the Hill Cumorah except for the few plates that he gave to his son, Moroni (Mormon 6:6).
Again, we simply do not know where Moroni hid these plates (our present Book of Mormon) 36 years later, other than the fact he intended to hide up the records in the earth when he finished writing on them (Mormon 8:4), but for him to have made his way back through the Lamanite held lands to Cumorah is highly unlikely.
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