Many theorists, especially those promoting Mesoamerica and those touting the Heartland, are so confused about what they believe are separate statements by Mormon that they have created multiple “narrow necks,” and multiple “narrow passes,” for their Land of Promise models. Yet, in doing so they ignore other statements by Mormon and others that makes their so-called separate land form statements really quite understandable as singular geographical areas.
It all begins with what Mormon meant by a “Small Neck of Land” (Alma 22:32); a “Narrow Neck of Land” (Alma 63:5); a “Narrow Passage” (Mormon 2:29); and “Narrow Pass” (Mormon 3:5)—the latter two describing ingress into the Land Southward from the Land Northward. At the same time, Mormon described the “Narrow Pass” as providing ingress into the Land Northward from the Land Southward (Alma 50:34)—and shortly afterward states that this “Narrow Pass” provided ingress into the Land Northward from the Land Southward (Alma 52:9).
Additionally, a statement by Mormon’a son Moroni, also confuses these theorists:, when he wrote: “And they built a great city by the narrow neck of land, by the place where the sea divides the land” (Ether 10:20, emphasis added). This West Sea to the west of the narrow neck is also the place where Hagoth had his shipyard: “on the borders of the land Bountiful, by the land Desolation” (Alma 63:5) and where he launched his ships: “…and launched his ships “into the West Sea, by the narrow neck which led into the land northward“ (Alma 63:5).
To make sure we understand these different descriptions of land form, we need to keep in mind certain geographical points.
Land Southward and the Land Northward
• First: the Land of Promise obviously had two major land surfaces, the Land Southward (Helaman 5:16), including the Land of Nephi (Alma 2:24), Land of Zarahemla (Omni 1:13), and the Land of Bountiful (Alma 22:32)—with numerous other smaller lands and their cities—and the Land Northward (Alma 22:33), including the Land of Desolation (Alma 22:31), the Land of Many Waters (Mormon 6:4), and the Land of Cumorah (Mormon 6:2).
Land Southward nearly surrounded by water
• Second: the land Southward had a sea nearly surrounding it. “On the line Bountiful and the land Desolation, from the east to the west sea; and thus the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla were nearly surrounded by water” (Alma 22:32).
Now the word “nearly” is clearly defined as: “closely; very close; virtually; almost.” Thus, Mormon’s statement above could read: “and thus the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla were almost or virtually surrounded by water.” In fact, for clarification (if one is needed), Mormon goes on to add that this sea virtually surrounding the Land Southward was “very close” to completely surrounding the Land Southward (like an island), except for a narrow neck of land which ran between the two land masses, i.e., the Land Southward and the Land Northward.
Third: to better understand this, we need to keep in mind how Jacob described the Land of Promise: “Wherefore, I will consecrate this land unto thy seed, and them who shall be numbered among thy seed, forever, for the land of their inheritance; for it is a choice land, saith God unto me, above all other lands, wherefore I will have all men that dwell thereon that they shall worship me, saith God. And now, my beloved brethren, seeing that our merciful God has given us so great 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 10:19-20, emphasis added).
Fourth: “Isle” and “island” in Hebrew are "האי" pronounced “e-ee”; “isle” in 1828 dictionary: A tract of land surrounded by water, or a detached portion of land embosomed in the ocean—Noah Webster went on to say: “Island is an absurd compound of isle and land, that is, land-in-water land, or ieland-land. There is no such legitimate word in English” (Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 Edition).
Hagoth launched his ships
Thus, Mormon’s descripton of the land and his writing: “This West Sea to the west of the narrow neck is also the place where Hagoth had his shipyard: “on the borders of the land Bountiful, by the land Desolation” (Alma 63:5) and where he launched his ships: “…and launched his ships “into the West Sea, by the narrow neck which led into the land northward“ (Alma 63:5).
In putting all this together, Jacob and Nephi state that the Land of Promise was an island when Lehi landed (2 Nephi 10:20); when Nephi established the city of Nephi (2 Nephi 5:7-8), when Mosiah discovered Zarahemla (Omni 1:14); and Mormon’s covering of when the Nephites finally went into the Land Northward to inherit the land (Helaman 3:3). Not until the time of Samuel the Lamanite and his predictions of vast changes in the land (Helaman 14:21-24), and the subsequent time of the Disciple Nephi and the crucifixion in Jerusalem did the geographical setting of the Land of Promise change (3 Nephi 8:5-18).
Thus it is seen that “the whole face of the land was changed” (3 Nephi 8:12), and the
“face of the whole earth became deformed (3 Nephi 8:17); “And behold, the rocks were rent in twain; they were broken up upon the face of the whole earth, insomuch that they were found in broken fragments, and in seams and in cracks, upon all the face of the land” (3 Nephi 8:18). In terraforming of the Land of Promise, cities sank into the ocean (3 Nephi 8:9), and mountains covered other cities (3 Nephi 8:10); and other cities sank into the earth (3 Nephi 8:14). During that period, the earth must have separated in some manner, for Mormon states that: “it did shake the whole earth as if it was about to divide asunder” (3 Nephi 8:6), and then adds at the conclusion of all the turmoil, “And the earth did cleave together again, that it stood (3 Nephi 10:10, emphasis added).
Earth torn apart in the Land of Promise at the time of the Crucifixion, then cleaves back together again
Cleave: To join together, to adhere, to stick together like glue;
Together: With each other Again: Once more; returning to a previous position or condition
“The earth came together, adhered or joined back as it was previously.”
The bottom line is that the Land of Promise had two major land masses: The Land Northward and the Land Southward. In between these two land masses was a “small” or “narrow” neck of land providing ingress into both lands, i.e., both into the Land Northward or into the Land Southward.
Now this should suggest to anyone interested in the simple truth of the Book of Mormon that any narrow pass or narrow passage would have to be within the small or narrow neck of land. While many of these theorists in both Mesoamerica and Heartland models show multiple necks of land and even more narrow passes or passages, Mormon simply states the method of moving through the neck of land to reach either the Land Northward or the Land Southward was a Narrow Pass, which provided a passage between the two lands, albeit a narrow one.
With this in mind, we can eliminate the Mesoamerica model, since it has no small or narrow neck of land between two large land masses—the Isthmus of Iehuantepec simply is not narrow enough to be considered as a “narrow” or “small” neck of land. The same can be said about the Heartland, whose narrow neck of land is a passage between sections of shallow wetlands, called the Great Black Swamp, hardly a deterrent, as claimed by these theorists, to a dedicated attacking force like a Lamanite army.
(See the next post regarding the sea that” divideth the land” and how theorists either ignore this statement, or completely misunderstand it)
No comments:
Post a Comment