Continuing with the 12 Landforms of the Land of Promise and how Mesoamerican, Heartland and Great Lakes theories measure up to how Mormon and other prophets of the scriptural record have described them. The first nine points were covered in the previous posts. Here we continue with #10:
10. “The land of Zarahemla is north of the land of Nephi; the lands of Zarahemla and Nephi are near an east and a west sea; and a narrow strip of wilderness divides the land of Zarahemla from the southern land of Nephi (Alma 49:10; 51:11; 53:10)”:
Mormon makes it clear that the Land of Promise was on a cardinal direction of north-south. Beginning with the far south, Mormon tells us that the area of Lehi’s landing was along the West Sea to the south in the overall Land of Nephi. However, Joseph Smith is said to have stated that this was called the Land of Lehi according to the lost 116 pages; and the area where they landed was referred to as the place of the “fathers’ first inheritance,” as Alma stated and Mormon abridged: “on the west in the land of Nephi, in the place of their fathers' first inheritance, and thus bordering along by the seashore” (Alma 22:28, emphasis added).
Moving northward from there is 1) the land where Nephi settled after escaping from his brothers, called the Land of Nephi (2 Nephi 5:7-8); 2) a Narrow Strip of Wilderness that ran from the East Sea to the West Sea, separating the Land of Nephi—on the south—and the Land of Zarahemla—on the north (Alma 22:27); 3) northward of the Land of Zarahemla was the Land of Bountiful (Alma 22:29), with an unknown land in between (----); 4) “far to the north” was the Land of Bountiful with the Land of Desolation north of Bountiful (Alma 22:31); to the distant north was the Land of Many Waters with the Land of Cumorah within and the Hill Cumorah (Mormon 6:4).
The directions of the Mesoamerican model are 90º off from Mormon’s descriptions
• Mesoamerica: According to John L. Sorenson’s map, the Mesoamerican theorists have their Land of Zarahemla west of their Land of Nephi (not north), and their Land of Bountiful west (not north) of their Land of Zarahemla, with their Land of Desolation west (not north) of their Land of Bountiful.
The location of Heartland cities and lands are generally east to west, not north to south
• Heartland: According to Jonathan Neville’s map, the Heartland theorists have their Land of Nephi bordering on both their Land of Zarahemla and their Land of Bountiful. They also have their Land of Zarahemla to the west of the Land of Bountiful (their city of Moroni is beyond the Allegheny Mountains, east of their Land of Bountiful); the hill Cumorah is not in the Land Northward, but to the northeast of Bountiful, beyond the Sea East. And their Land Bountiful and Land of Nephi are south of their Sea South.
Great Lakes limited model by Phyllis Carol Olive shows the entire Land of Promise in the area outlined in white in the small inset map
• Great Lakes: There is more than one map for the Great Lakes theory, as there are more than one map for the Heartland and Mesoamerican theories—we are using for all three theories maps of the most popular locations. Note that the Sea East is to the west of the hill Cumorah in Olive’s map, and how very small the overall location, and how tiny an area is the Land Northward, which at one time housed several million Jaredites.
11. “There are limits to how far north the land existed in the Land of Promise (3 Nephi 4:23; 7:12”:
The Mesoamerican location has a land extension to the north of their Land of Promise as well as one to the south—stated differently, they have no sea north nor sea south. John L. Sorenson argues in his 1985 book “An American Setting for the Book of Mormon,” that the Land of Promise continued northward but that the Nephites in escaping from the Lamanites, did not continue into this northern extension because other peoples already had the best parts of the land. However, Mormon states a different reason:
“And it came to pass that Zemnarihah did give command unto his people that they should withdraw themselves from the siege, and march into the furthermost parts (the most distant or farthest parts) of the land northward” (3 Nephi 4:23). And also, “Jacob seeing that their enemies were more numerous than they, he being the king of the band, therefore he commanded his people that they should take their flight into the northernmost part of the land, and there build up unto themselves a kingdom” (3 Nephi 7:12)
Now the word furthermost, means “most distant, farthest,” and entered our lexicon in the 15th century. Also, the word Northernmost meaning “furthest to the north,” first entered our lexicon in 1577, but were likely gone sometime by the early 1800s, since neither word is found in Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language. The point being that both words were used by Joseph Smith in his translation of Mormon’s writing and were common enough in antiquity when first used, and understood by Joseph in 1828.
Thus, we read that the Nephites understood there was a limit to the Land Northward, that is, they could only travel to the most distant, the farthest, or the furthest to the north of the Land Northward, i.e., to its northern border where there would have been nothing to the north of this point. Again, we see verification of Jacob describing their Land of Promise as an island.
• Mesoamerica: Beyond their Land of Promise to the north was Mexico and the United States.
• Heartland: Beyond their Land of Promise to the north was Canada.
• Great Lakes: Beyond their Land of Promise to the north was Canada.
All three do not fit the descriptive information Mormon used to describe the Land of Promise.
12. “Lehi's promised land or Land of Promise was an island (2 Nephi 10:20)”:
(Black) the Biblical islands of the Mediterranean; (Yellow) the Biblical coastal and interior lands
First
of all, it needs to be understood that in Biblical writing, the word “isles”
was not only used to refer to islands—as in Cypress, Crete, Rhodes, Patmos,
Samos, Sicily—but also for distant coastal lands as well—such as Tarshish,
Pul, Lud, Tubal, and Javan. Thus it
is important to know in which context the word “isles” is used—either for “a
distant land” (the key word being “distant”), which was always applied to a faraway
land (typically a distant or faraway coastal land), but never to the land upon
which the writer or speaker was located.
As an example: "Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock" (Jeremiah 31:10, emphasis added), and “Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea” (Isaiah 24:15, emphasis added); and “Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure” (Ezekiel 26:18, emphasis added); and “The king Ahasuerus laid a tribute upon the land, and the isles of the sea” (Esther 10:1, emphasis added); “The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof” (Psalms 97:1).
• Jeremiah talks of “isles” that could mean islands or coastal lands—but they are “far off” or distant from his location in Israel;
• Isaiah could mean either or both islands or coastal lands
The Bible use of “Isles” has various meanings
• Ezekiel, with “in the sea,” was referring to islands, for coastal lands are adjacent to the sea, not within the sea;
• Esther is most likely talking about islands since the statement includes “isles” or coastal “lands,” and “isles land and sea”;
• Psalms could mean either islands or coastal lands.
Thus, one must look at the actual content of the statement to see if a specific location is mentioned. And that is what is found in Jacob’s statement, which refers to the land upon which he and his listeners were located, and would not have been used for a far-away coastal land but as an island “embosomed in the sea.” He made this quite clear when he spoke to the Nephites in the temple, with Nephi writing down his words on the sacred plates. In this talk Jacob delivered during the culmination of a two-day conference in the temple attended by the Nephites, he talks about their being on an island:
“And now, my beloved brethren, seeing that our merciful God has given us so great a knowledge concerning these things, let us remember him, and lay aside our sins, and not hang down our heads, for we are not cast off; nevertheless, we have been driven out of the land of our inheritance; but we have been led to a better land, for the Lord has made the sea our path, and we are upon an isle of the sea” (2 Nephi 10:20, emphasis added).
We are upon (present tense)—Jacob is referring to their present location—an “isle” of the sea. The use of “isle” is not referring to a distant land or island, but to the land where they were presently located, which as Jacob makes clear, was an island!
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