Continued from the previous post regarding the comments and questions from our readers about the geography of the Book of Mormon and Land of Promise:
• Comment: “At most there was only three days of changes to the land before the earth did cease to tremble, and the rocks did cease to rend (3 Nephi 10:9) No other changes to the land were significant enough to report.”
Response: There were three hours of changes—quaking of the whole earth, whirlwinds, lightening and thundering and where the earth did cease to tremble (earthquake) and the rocks did cease to rend (aftershocks)—the three days had to do with the darkness that covered the Land of Promise—and probably elsewhere (Helaman 14:27, emphasis added).
There were more things to report, and both Samuel the Lamanite and Nephi reported their future occurrence, and the disciple Nephi reported their taking place: “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).
Nephi saw the destruction of the future Land of Promise during a vision
“I saw a mist of darkness on the face of the land of promise; and 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 12:4).
When one says: “No other changes to the land were significant enough to report,” there were some of significance:
Many highways broken up (Helaman 14:24);
1) Opening of the earth (3 Nephi 10 :9);
2) Mountains laid low (Helaman14:23);
3) Valleys appear where mountains had been, mountains appear where valleys had been (Helaman 14:23);
4) Mountains buried cities (3 Nephi 8:10);
5) Cities were sunk into the sea (3 Nephi 8:14; 9:4);
6) Face of the whole earth was changed (3 Nephi 8:17; 9:7);
7) Cities sunk into the ground (3 Nephi 9:8);
8) Cities covered with earth (3 Nephi 9:5-6);
9) Cities covered with water (3 Nephi 9:7)
10) Cities sunk into the ground and hills and valleys covered the ground where they had been (3 Nephi 9:8);
Now these upheavals happened all over the entire Land of Promise. Samuel prophesied it was “to the intent that they might believe that these signs and these wonders should come to pass upon all the face of this land, to the intent that there should be no cause for unbelief among the children of men (Helaman 14:28, emphasis added).
• Commenet: “Even after the destruction that came to the land after the Crucifixion, the River Sidon was still flowing in the same place, running by Zarahemla. Considering the river ran South to North, if there was a large mountain range that rose up out of the East (and North towards the narrow neck), then how was the river running in the same place? An elevation change would have changed the course of the river, yet there is no mention of this.”
The Waters of Mormon have been interpreted to mean a pool or standing body of water
Response: There is no mention of the “River Sidon” after the Crucifixion, only the “Waters of Sidon,” which may or not be significant. Likewise, there is no mention of the East Sea after this time. “Waters,” as used in the scriptural record would seem to be a word used for a body of water, such as a pool, lake, or pond, such as the “Waters of Mormon” (Alma 5:3). However, the “Waters of Sidon,” is also used in Alma where people were baptized (Alma 4:4) and both Lamanite and Amlicite dead were thrown into the Waters of Sidon (Alma 3:3) that had access to the sea (Alma 2:34)—whether this is a collected area of water, or a standing body of water such as a lake, lagoon or pool that feeds a tributary river to the Sidon is not known.
If it was, then the changes of mountains at the time of the crucifixion could well have sealed off the Sidon, or changed its course, leaving an area Mormon called the waters of Sidon. The point is, the Waters of Sidon mentioned in Mormon 1:10 is not mentioned in connection with a river, and therefore might suggest a different arrangement of the river or waters then called Sidon. The point is, we do not know and cannot arrive at a conclusion in either direction from the scant mention by Mormon.
• Comment: “The only mention of the river after the Crucifixion has it running in the same place. Mormon 1:10.”
Response: That is not what Mormon 1:10 states. “And it came to pass that the war began to be among them in the borders of Zarahemla, by the waters of Sidon” (Mormon 1:10). We don’t know that it ran in the same place, or in the same direction. After all, considering the river ran South to North, if there was a large mountain range that rose up out of the East (and North towards the narrow neck), then how was the would a river be running in the same place? Or, an elevation change could have changed the course of the river. There is no mention of this, negating any comment about it.
• Comment: “We know that the Sidon River ran just to the east of the city of Zarahemla.”
Response: Fiorts, the Sidon River was evidently not near the City of Zarahemla, but ran near the borders of the Land of Zarahemla, and evidently marked the border with the land and that of the Land of Gideon, with the City of Gideon further to the east (Alma 6:7).
Second, when the mountains rose, we do not know exactly where that was in connection to the River Sidon, since all rivers that were once in the Land of Promise, after the rise of the Andes, would have been altered to some degree to then flow either west to the Pacific, or east to the Amazon (Amazonian Drainage Basin) and then to the Atlantic, or in a few cases, north to what is now the Caribbean Sea. It is difficult to start speculating on a particular mountain and how it was configured at this time to effect the River Sidon or any other river or body of water in the Land of Promise. The rising of the Andes effected Lake Titicaca in the time of man as evidenced by the fact Titicaca was once at sea level as is show by the water level markings on the cliff walls around the area, and as we have shown in these posts from time to time, specifically Puma Punku and Tiahuanacu, with Titicaca rising as the Andes came up and trapped parts of the sea amidst its rising peaks.
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