The Heartland and the Great Black Swamp – Part V

 Continued from the previous post regarding the answer to Mormon’s clear and precise descriptions. Mormon makes it clear how the “Small Neck,” the “Narrow Neck,” the Narrow Pass,” and “Narrow Passage,” are connected in relation to one another, and that there is only one place in the entire Land of Promise where they could be located. The problem for theorists in finding this location, which lies in how they approach Mormon’s information.

The Narrow Pass through the Narrow Neck of Land

 

Mormon made it quite clear that between these two major land surfaces—the Land Southward and the Land Northward, was a small (Alma 22:32), narrow (Alma 63:5) neck of land (Alma 22:32). Within this neck ran a passage (Alma 50:34; Mormon 2:29) or pass (Alma 52:9) that gave a means of access between these two land masses, i.e., the Land Southward (Mormon 2:29) and the Land Northward (Alma 50:34).

Now this narrow neck of land with its pass or passage, was bordered on the east and on the west with water, for “they had come to the borders of the land Desolation; and there they did head them, by the narrow pass which led by the sea into the land northward, yea, by the sea, on the west and on the east” (Alma 50:34). Thus there was a West Sea on the west of the narrow neck and an East Sea on the east of the narrow neck.

Obviously, the Land Northward had a West Sea, North Sea and East Sea (Helaman 3:8), and the Land Southward had a West Sea, East Sea, and South Sea (Helaman 3:8). This North Sea was likely called Ripliancum (Ether 15:8), though there is no specific supportive evidence of this, other than the fact that the entire Land of Promise was an island as Jacob said: “For the Lord has made the sea our path, and we are upon an isle of the sea” (2 Nephi 10:20), and since Ripliancum means “by interpretation, is large, or to exceed all” (Ether 15:8), what could be larger or exceed a North Sea connected to an East Sea, West Sea and South Sea around the island of the Land of Promise?

Thus the narrow neck of land, with its narrow passage or pass that ran between the Land Northward and the Land Southward, was narrow enough that a Nephite, or common man, could walk across it in a day and a half (Alma 22:32)—a distance of about 25 to 30 miles.

Based on these simple descriptions in the Book of Mormon there is no need to make it complex by trying to invent lakes and rivers and calling them “seas,” and using interpretations of the ancient Hebrew language, which is a very questionable approach, since the Book of Mormon was originally written in Reformed Egyptian (Mormon 9:32) and not Hebrew (Mormon 9:33), or trying to show that an ancient lake bed was once the “south sea” which did not connect to anything else. Jacob made it clear—they sailed across a very large ocean and while upon that ocean, they landed on an island (2 Nephi 10:20), but simple understanding meant that the entire Land of Promise was an island in the middle of the ocean.

 

By the way, the word “ocean” in Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language—the language known to Joseph Smith—was derived in part from the Welch word dwfn mawr meaning “great deep.” And in ancient Hebrew taken from the word gadhol (gadol) גָּדוֹל, meaning “greatness” and Rabh (Rab) רַב, meaning “many,” or “much” (“more numerous; abundant; greater than, exceedingly”).

It should be noted that there was no word in Biblical Hebrew, or Modern Hebrew for that matter, for the word “ocean.” Instead, Hebrew uses the same word that English borrowed from Ancient Greek Ὠκεανός, and later Aramaic אוקינוס—thus, in Hebrew before the 3^rd century, the word אוקיינוס was used.

In modern English, the word “Ocean” covers the world as a single body of water. The word Sea, which comes from the Old English sǣ, of Germanic origin (saiwa), and related to Dutch zee and German See, was used originally, before the word ocean came into use, which was first used in Middle English in the late 13th century and before the word Ocean, and came from an Old French word “occean”, which came from the Greek ōkeanos via Latin.

Originally, the word Sea, which was first known before the 12^th century (used before Ocean) and meant the same thing as “Ocean,” however, today the word Sea has been relegated to a division of an ocean, such as the Sea of Arabia and the Red Sea, which are part of the Indian Ocean; the Bering Sea, Yellow Sea, Tasman Sea, etc., are part of the Pacific Ocean; and the Greenland Sea and Labrador Sea are part of the Atlantic Ocean.

Ancient Hebrew used the word “Yam” יָם, meaning “Sea,” defined as “a great body of salt water that covers much of the earth,” which is the same definition of the English word “Ocean.” Anciently, the word Sea “yam” was used 12 times in Genesis and 28 times in Exodus. However, in 1828, the word ocean was understood to mean “the sea or great sea.” Quoting Webster: “It is customary to speak of the ocean as if divided into three parts: the Atlantic ocean, the Pacific ocean, and the Indian ocean, but the ocean is one mass or body, partially separated by the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa on the one side, and by America on the other.” Webster also noted in his definition “the ancients understood the ocean to encompass the earth.”

Thus, “sea” as used by Joseph Smith in his translation, was known to be the ocean—that which covers more than three-fifths of the world’s surface. Obviously, then, the narrow neck of land separated the two land masses that made up the island of the Land of Promise, with the “sea” on all sides. 

 

Looking at the outline of the Great Black Swamp and the other areas: Lake Chicago, Grand Kankokee Marsh, Maumee Lake, and both Michigan and Erie lakes, the area between these latter two was difficult for family movement, but men often braved it and Indians hunted in it, all before it was drained. The point is, this area could not have been a narrow neck of land, since there was about 90 miles of land between the ancient swamp and marsh.

After a long history of dealing with the settlers as trading partners and allies in war, the Ottawa Indians were pushed to the Maumee River Valley at the edge of the Great Black Swamp. Though they lived on the edge of the swamp, they did use it for resources, and hunted in the swamp, something many white settlers would not do. The Ottawa learned to stay on sand ridges in the swamp—these ridges were prehistoric elevated areas of land forming beaches within the swamp upon which they traveled and hunted.

There is no question that this area was difficult and a deterrent to farming or family travel—but to the dedicated military, or Lamanite advances across the Swamp, it was doable if necessary. The Ottawa would follow the game in there, but they wouldn’t live in there because it was too mosquito infested. However, people crossed it, hunted in it, and fought battles across it. It was not impassable as Heartland theorists claim.

(See the next post regarding further answers to Mormon’s clear and precise descriptions)