Continuing from the previous post regarding Lehi landing in the Panhandle of Florida at Apalachicola, and a Heartlander’s view of the location and model.
• Comment: “Wind current routes across the Atlantic (in the fall when honey and fruits were available, and the natural currents in the fall take you west) would put them somewhere in the Caribbean.”
Response: First, as any wind and ocean current map will show, the currents across the Atlantic are static; that is they are the same year round, unlike in the Indian Ocean where winds and currents are drastically affected by Monsoons that change the winds every six months—which blow out of the northeast toward the southwest, then reverse themselves to blow out of the southwest toward the northeast.
Second, many of the fruits and vegetables are harvested freshly in Israel year round. As an example, lettuce, carrots, peppers, red cabbage, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and bananas are always available. The pattern of rainfall in Israel makes the difference between other fruits and vegetables availability summer and winter availability. (Raajeshwari Ashok, Oman: No shortage for fruits and vegetables, World Gulf,
August 29, 2020; “When Various Fruits and Vegetables are in Season in Israel,” Jewish Heritage Experience, Shalom Israel Tours).
Stands of Fruits and Vegetables all year round
Where seasons in most of the world determine what is available, in Israel winter and summer produce of the same fruit or vegetable often determines taste—as an example, though the typical Israeli-grown banana is a different variety than the bananas imported from Latin America and sold in the US, you can buy bananas in Israel all year. However, winter bananas are more firm and flavorful.
Another aspect of the fruit and vegetable marketplace to be aware of is that Israel imports far less produce than the US. As a result, many varieties of produce are strictly available according to their growing seasons. Here are some of Israel’s most distinctive seasonal produce. Also, peaking in the late spring are apricots and avocados; strawberries are a winter fruit in Israel. There will be piles of sweet, ripe, red strawberries for a few months, starting in December. Additional winter produce species include lettuce, spinach, pears, citrus, beats and artichokes. Pomegranates start to ripen in late July and by September/October), they are at their peak. Mangoes and dates also peak in the fall here, as well as the famed Dragonfruit.
The point is, produce in Israel at the time of Lehi was very different than one might expect, and could not be used as a point in time when Lehi left Jerusalem. Nor can one extrapolate that fact to the time of ocean currents and winds as to when he left his home outside Jerusalem.
What can be determined is his route. To do this we need to understand winds and currents across the Atlantic here theorists claim Lehi went in the Phoenician ship.
• Comment: “This route was proven to be possible by the Phoenicia Expedition of 2009.”
Response: First of all, the Phoenician Ship Expedition was a re-creation of a 6th-century BC Phoenician voyage conceived by Philip Beale, of which we have written several articles about. Note that it is a voyage conceived by a person to prove the seaworthiness of a ship design and construction method used by a people in 600 BC living just north of Israel.
The word “conceived” is defined as: “a plan or idea in the mind.” It is not a factual event. There is no record that Phoenicians ever sailed to North America. Philip Beale claims his ship was designed after a 600 BC Phoenician ship, as well as the construction method. There are no plans, photos, or even drawings of such a ship. Beale used flat, non-scale etchings on ancient rocks to determine his ship, extrapolated a size, and asked a current ship maker, believed to be making ships the ancient way, to build it.
Replica according to Philip Beal of a Phoenician ship in 600 BC.Pretty modern for a 600 BC boat
Secondly, the voyage itself departed from Syria in August 2008, to sail through the Suez Canal, around the Horn of Africa, and up the west coast of Africa, through the Strait of Gibraltar and across the Mediterranean to return to Syria. The objective of the expedition was to prove that ships built by the ancient Phoenicians could withstand the conditions around the African coastline
The expedition reached South Africa in January 2010 and Beirut in October of the same year. This alone disqualifies the voyage, since in 600 BC Pharoah Necho II had Phoenician seamen sail around Africa and they took three years, stopping every night and coming ashore before dark and settling in, then leaving the next morning. They also planted four crops in their voyage around Africa, waited for the crops to grow, then harvested them before starting out again. In each of the overnight stays and the three-month long stay waiting for the crop to grow, they made repairs on their ship, replaced broken or weak parts and when starting out again, had nearly a new boat.
Third, sailing around a given land mass is very different than sailing out into the great deep, without any knowledge what to expect, or all the unannounced niceties of such a voyage, such as having no GPS, no radio, no safe or trailing boat, no knowledge of how far to sail (this almost stopped Columbus’ first expedition). Just five hundred years after Columbus, Beale made his voyage, with all the knowledge previous sailing and studying the way westward. The Phoenicians would have had none of this.
• Comment: “The ship was constructed at Arwad Island, the site of an ancient Phoenician city-state just off the Syrian coast, by Syrian shipwright Khalid Hammound using traditional methods.”
Response: First, the term “using traditional methods” of ship building, makes it sound like that is the sure-fire answer. However, who is to say that the methods used today are the same used in 600 BC. In fact, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to determine that the methods today mirror the methods of 600 BC. Of course they mirror ancient methods as father passed on to son over many generations. But who is to say those methods did not change a little, or even a lot over 2600 years and 10,500 generations? It would only take a tiny bit on what might seem initially to be unimportant to bring about a major difference that nobody would have known about, and argued against—but change there would be.
• Comment: “They went where the Lord directed them with the Liahona, so I don’t think they would have just landed wherever the wind blew them (which would probably have been Hispaniola or maybe the East Coast of Florida or South Carolina).”
The Lord organized the world and placed rivers and oceans where he wanted. Does anyone think He did not have a plan?
Response: We need to keep in mind that the God of all space and the universe, of storm-tossed seas, snows and rains, and the winds and ocean currents that determined early travel throughout the world; the God that devised the Plan of Happiness, the development of the of Man upon the planet—He would have had a plan to bring Lehi from Jerusalem to the Land of Promise.
That he used the Liahona should be a forgone conclusion, but more importantly, he devised the manner of travel and the route of travel for Lehi. It was not as willy-nilly course dependent upon winds and ocean currents, but on winds and ocean currents God put in place to accomplish the task he desired.
(See the next post on how space and elevation are erroneously stated to confuse or alter the point of view to what is agreeable to the Heartland theory and model and the so-called Florida landing at Apalachicola, Florida)
No comments:
Post a Comment