Misunderstanding the “Narrow Neck of Land,” and the “Sea That Divides the Land” – Part IV

Continued from the Previous post regarding the sea that” divideth the land” and how theorists either ignore this statement, or completely misunderstand it, since if they truly understood it the way Mormoni wrote it in his abridgement, they would discard their models and look elsewhere (hopefully by following the scriptural record and not just their own opinions and beliefs).

As mentioned previously, at no time do we find the Jaredites giving a name to a sea, though the term “seashore” is used four times referring at least twice to an east sea (Ether 9:3; 14:26), probably twice to a west sea since referring to being in the land of Moron (Ether 14:11,12-13), which was in the West, inland from where the Jaredites landed.

The ancients often understood that there was one basic sea that filled the earth, and called it by directional names (Sea East, Sea West) or names associated with it (Irriantum = many waters) or Ripliancum (largest, exceeds all), or location (Sea in Wilderness)

 

The term “sea in the wilderness” (Ether 2:7) is given, and “that great sea which divideth the lands” (Ether 2:13) but thereafter was simply called “sea,” by the Lord (Ether 2:24, 25) and “sea” by the Brother of Jared (Ether 3:4), and simply “sea” in the narrative (Ether 6:4, 5, 6, 10), though they did call the land there Moriancumer (Ether 2:13).

With that in mind, it might be understood that in this case, as in the others, because the Land of Promise was an island in Jacob’s time (2 Nephi 10:20) and, therefore, no doubt in the time of the Jaredites, that the term “sea” was simply understood, i.e., that great sea that surrounded the entire land. Thus, the reference in this case to “the sea that divideth the land,” is merely a statement that “the sea,” meaning the waters around them, at this particular spot, divided the Land Northward from the land Southward.

Thus, the name or the reference given was “the sea that divideth the land” to this gulf or bay by the Jaredites, or at least by Moroni in his abridgement, because it divided the Land Northward (their homeland) from the Land Southward (the land they did not occupy and kept for an animal preserve).
The Jaredites, at this point, decided not to venture into the Land Southward for settlement, but to keep it pristine so that many of the animals who had escaped into that land nine generations earlier, would remain nearby and could be hunted from time to time for food. Consequently, no Jaredite settlements were built in the Land Southward as seen by the following statement: “And they did preserve the land southward for a wilderness, to get game. And the whole face of the land northward was covered with inhabitants” (Ether 10:21).

This, by the way, should eliminate from Mesoamericanists thinking the idea that the Olmec were the Jaredites, since the Olmec built settlements in many places in their Land Southward, though the Jaredites did not! The problem for most theorists, however, is the question “what sea is being described here?” in the introduction of the “sea that divides the land?”

The small or narrow neck of land as described by Mormon as the only land between the Land Southward and the Land Northward (Alma 22:32), which had the Sea West and the Sea East on either side

 

Now, as mentioned earlier, the word “sea” is described as being “properly branches of the ocean, and upon the same level; the ocean, as to go to sea” also called “the deep,” “the great deep,” “high seas,” and “sea,” or “seven seas.” It is not beneficial in understanding Mormon’s writing to try and make a differential between “sea” and “ocean,” since the words are interchangeable—the main difference lying within the political or cartographic usage, such as calling the northern part of the Indian Ocean the “Sea of Arabia,” where it flows past and into the Arabian Peninsula; or the Levantine Sea, Libyan Sea, Sea of Sicily, Adriatic Sea, Aegean Sea, Sea of Sicily, and several others seas which are all part of the Mediterranean Sea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean.

It should be kept in mind that in ancient times there was no specific word for “ocean,” since the word “sea” was sufficient. In ancient Greek, the word “mare” meant “sea”—literally “body of water” (“marine” meant “of the sea,” today a branch of the military); in German, “mori,” “mari,”“meer” meant “sea.” In Old English, the word “mere” meaning “sea.”

The point is, because the word “ocean” does not appear in the Book of Mormon, many theorists try to validate their models by claiming “sea” meant “lake” or even a wide “river.”

This, by the way, should eliminate from Mesoamericanists thinking the idea that the Olmec were the Jaredites, since the Olmec built settlements in many places in their Land Southward, though the Jaredites did not! The problem for most theorists, however, is the question “what sea is being described here?” in the introduction of the “sea that divides the land?”

In addition, the sea that divides the land is mentioned in conjunction with the Narrow Neck of Land. And the city the Jareditres built there, and the sea mentioned, is along this narrow neck. So to understand the sea, it needs to be understood what made this land narrow at the neck. We also need to keep in mind that this is written by Moroni who is reading the Jaredite record, and who had the advantage of spending most of his life in the Land Southward, knowing very well what that land looked like, how it was shaped, how the land narrowed to form the narrow neck of land, and what waters flowed around the south countries, i.e., south of the narrow neck of land.

The Narrow Neck connecting the Land Southward to the Land Northward. Called “seas” in late BC times, these “seas” are part of an overall ocean

 

When Ether is read, which Moroni abridged, it should be kept in mind that he, like his father Mormon, knew how the waters formed around this narrow neck and its narrow passage which had seas on the west and east (Alma 50:34). He also knew about Hagoth’s shipyard and from where the ships that went northward sailed. Moroni was fully capable of writing about the Land of Promise and those areas with which he had personal experience—and thus, writing clearly and specifically about the geography of the entire area.

From Ether’s record, his father’s writing, and his own experiences, Moroni knew of the Narrow Neck of Land, and the seas to the west of it, and to the east of it (Alma 50:34). He also obviously, writing in the 4^th century AD, knew of the rise of the Mountains (Helaman 14:23) that replaced the East Sea

(Left): Narrow Neck and surrounding land seen today (with the earlier East Sea shown where Brazil lies today beyond the Andes Mountains; (Right): the Land of Promise in Jaredite and Nephite times, showing Hagoth’s shipyard

 

It is interesting that in his abridgement of the many writers, of the sacred records, especially Alma, Mormon knew very well about the Sea East and the Neck of Land between the Land Southward and the Land Northward, which he called “small” (Alma 22:32), and also called “narrow” (Alma 63:5)—which should be clear to all that the Small Neck of Land and the Narrow Neck of Land were one of the same. It is also curious that while Mormon mentioned the East Sea or Sea East in his abridgement six times before the crucifixion, he never mentioned it afterward, yet in his own book, written in the middle to late 4^th century AD, as chief captain of all the Nephite armies, he was driven out of the Land Southward after years of fighting battles with the Lamanites across the land, and into the Land Northward, continually retreating before the Lamanites from land to land until they reached the Land of Cumorah.

As shown above, the Bay of Guayaquil in southwestern Ecuador that divides the western coast of Andean South America, once separating the sea around Lehi’s Land of Promise, today is a 23-mile-wide corridor, or neck or passage, between Peru (south) and Ecuador (north). Since the rise of the Ades at the time of the crucifixion, blocked on the east by the sheer height of the Andes Mountains, and on the left by the sea. However, in Nephite times, prior to the crucifixion, the Andes had not yet risen and this area to the east of the Narrow Neck was a sea, named today “the Pebasian Sea” by geologists, and further east, the Amazon Sea; to the south of the Pebasiah was the Paranense Sea and further south the Paranan Sea.

The point is, today’s Gulf of Guayaquil, was anciently referred to as the “sea that divides the land,” i.e., divides the Land Southward from the Land Northward. This dividing sea was not a separate sea, but a part of the Sea West as it cut into the land, forming a gulf. Neither Mesoamerica nor the Heartland nor Great Lakes can show such an area in their models.