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| obmar |
Strange findshttp://72.14.235.104/search?q=cac...45&gl=my&client=firefox-a |
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http://www.nephiproject.com/Moroni's%20Harbor.htm |
| The Inquisitor |
That is weird:
A MALAY SITE FOR BOOK OF MORMON EVENTS |
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Here is the full text.
What should someone do when a long-held hypothesis fails? In seeking a setting for Book of Mormon events that matches the text’s descriptions, one Latter-day Saint found himself looking in a very surprising part of the world. \ A MALAY SITE FOR BOOK OF MORMON EVENTS By Ralph A. Olsen We owe almost all our knowledge not to those who have agreed but to those who have differed. —C. C. COLTON1 HE BOOK OF MORMON IS A SCRIPTURAL ACCOUNT of three small groups of Middle Easterners who mi- grated to a “land of promise.” To date, the site of Book of Mormon events has not been found. Without strong phys- ical evidence indicating the actual existence of the peoples and happenings described in the Book of Mormon record, many have found it difficult to accept the book as genuine scripture or Joseph Smith as a prophet of God. The quest for a suitable site matching Book of Mormon descriptions—of the geog- raphy, climate, cultural traits, and so forth—is therefore of great importance to those, like me, who believe scripture should be taken at face value as much as possible. No revelation regarding the site has been received. As Book of Mormon scholar John Sorenson states: “Church au- thorities from the time of Joseph Smith to the present have come to no consensus, made no authoritative statement, and reported no definitive solution to the question of Book of Mormon geography.” I nitially, Book of Mormon lands were thought to occupy all of South America—“the land southward”—and North America—“the land northward”—with the Isthmus of Panama understood to be the “narrow neck of land” con- necting the two. Those who have followed Book of Mormon scholarship for the past few decades have become aware of problems with this view. Indeed, a whole range of problems and difficulties, already well documented in many books, arti- cles, and essays, make both the hemispheric and limited geog- raphy models seem untenable.3 Recent DNA studies of Amerindians have also convincingly shown that most of them are descended from peoples from Northeast Asia, not from the Middle East.4 Taken together, these problems have caused me to wonder for some time why very few researchers seem to have consid- ered the possibility that Book of Mormon events occurred somewhere other than in America. In the physical sciences, when evidence indicates flaws in an accepted hypothesis, even if the inconsistencies might at first seem slight, researchers ac- tively seek a better hypothesis. Mormonism’s Ninth Article of Faith reminds us that many truths are yet unknown, and Apostle John A. Widstoe has encouraged honest inquiry: “There can be no objection to the careful and critical study of the scriptures, ancient or modern, provided only that it be an honest study. . . a search for truth.”5 In the sciences, as in life, there is no shame in trying and sometimes failing; the shame comes in not trying at all. Strengthened by sentiments like Elder Widtsoe’s and aware of the difficult problems with the settings currently being pro- posed as the site of Book of Mormon events, I have for some time now been actively searching for a more suitable location.6 And my search has led me to a surprising candidate: the Malay Peninsula in Southeast Asia. In presenting what I label the “Malay Hypothesis,” I realize I am suggesting that studies aimed at locating Book of Mormon lands and accurately identifying the descendants of Book of Mormon peoples would need to undergo a radical paradigm shift—one that many would consider quite far- fetched. I am fully aware that no Church leader, Joseph Smith included, has pointed toward a Southeast Asian setting, but neither have they made statements which rule it out. |
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I began developing this hypothesis many years before
DNA studies began pointing toward Asian origins for Amerindian peoples, and the Malay Hypothesis does not rely upon those findings. Still, I hope the results of that research might em- bolden some advocates of the various Western Hemisphere sites to seriously consider the Malay Peninsula (hereafter, Mala). I have developed the Malay Hypothesis in great detail, 7 but in this short essay, I will present only a very brief introduction and overview of some its interesting matches with the Book of Mormon text. I present Mala for consideration, but I do not undertake any detailed discussion of deficiencies in the pre- dominant models. 8 My hope for this presentation is to “prime the pump,” asking for a fair hearing and for interested readers to look at my longer study and, perhaps, read for themselves the Book of Mormon with Mala in mind. 9 Because I believe the Book of Mormon is a genuine record of actual peoples and events, not merely a metaphorical or spiritual record, I believe the quest for discovering the lands and peoples described is a very valuable one. T HE J OURNEY A CCORDING TO MY reading of the Book of Mormon, sometime between 3000 and 2500 B.C., the Jaredites walked to Nimrod (Ether 2:1) near the upper Tigris River. (See current day maps of Iraq.) They built barges on which they floated down the “many waters” of the river (Ether 2:6) to the Persian Gulf, “the sea which divideth the lands” (Ether 2:13). There they built new barges to cross an ocean (Ether 2:16). The Lehites’ voyage began about 600 B.C., from the nearby southern coast of Arabia (1 Nephi 17:5–  . They
also made their way to the land of promise by means of an ocean voyage. The following is a partial list of interesting factors to con- sider in hypothesizing about Book of Mormon journeying. • In their travels to the ocean, the Jaredites were getting far- ther away from America but closer to the Mala. If we grant that the Lord was directing the Jaredites, having them travel west from Nimrod via the Mediterranean Sea would have been a far shorter and more sensible route if the land of promise was to be somewhere in the Americas. It would have been even more sensible for Nephites originating near the sea in Jerusalem. • Under precarious conditions—with families and live- stock aboard, and with no experience, no maps, no naviga- tional skills, and no technical equipment—a 4,000 mile voyage to Mala would have been far more likely to succeed than a 16,000 mile voyage to the Americas (which actually takes them past Mala). • To avoid becoming separated (in the case of the Jaredites) and to replenish requisite supplies of food, feed, and water, coast-hugging voyages seem to make the most sense. A journey toward Southern Asia meets this ideal, but one that continues across the Pacific, with only occasional islands as potential stopping places, does not. • The Book of Mormon makes no reference to sickness, fa- talities, drownings, shipwrecks, food, feed and water shortages, nor to serious mutinies or despair. Perhaps relatively short voy- |
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ages on one of the earth’s calmer oceans are indicated?
10 • Joseph Smith is quoted as saying: “Lehi went down by the Red Sea to the great Southern Ocean, and crossed over to this land.” 11 From Arabia, the “great Southern Ocean” extends eastward to the Malay Peninsula but not to the Americas. There are coordinated currents (gyres) going past Arabia and as far east as the Malay Peninsula. These would have been cru- cial to the sail-less, drifting Jaredite barges. Getting through the Indonesian isles alone (past Mala) would require skilled guidance and some means of propulsion. GEOGRAPHY AS A CANDIDATE for the land of promise, Mala has many significant geographical features matching Book of Mormon descriptions. As readers consider the points that follow, it will be helpful to refer to the map on page 32. The following list of advantages for the Malay Hypothesis is not exhaustive, and although I don’t argue in any detail against the various proposed American settings, each “posi- tive” for Malay listed here solves a related problem in many of the other settings: • Peninsula and Orientation. As a peninsula, Mala is “nearly surrounded by water” (Alma 22:32). The leading proposed Mesoamerican site, on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, is nearly surrounded by land and has no terminus at all. Mala is also oriented northward-southward, as Book of Mormon descrip- tions state, whereas the Isthmus of Tehuantepec extends east- west. 12 I see no reason to believe that Book of Mormon direc- tions are not the same as ours. The Liahona served as a compass, and the Lehites knew they were going south-south- east along the Red Sea (1 Nephi 16:13). For Mala, directions are not a problem. For the dominant Mesoamerican hypoth- esis, many places where Book of Mormon authors mention di- rections are seriously skewed counter-clockwise. • Seas. Seas to the east and west predominate in Mala but not in many of the favored Mesoamerican proposals. 13 • Boundaries. In Mala, the land southward would be pre- sent-day Malaysia, the land of Bountiful would be Thailand, and much of the land northward would be Myanmar (Burma). Could it be that ancient boundaries have been retained? • Land of Bountiful. In the Mala setting, the land of Bountiful can correctly occupy the entire narrow neck of land and ex- tend from sea to sea (Alma 22:29–33; 50:8–11, 32–34). 14 • Width and length. A Nephite could cross the northern end of the narrow neck in 1.5 days (Alma 22:32). In going from Zarahemla on the land northward (through the narrow neck of land), Nephites traveled “an exceedingly great distance” (Helaman 3:3–4). As seen on the map (page 32), Mala pro- vides the requisite geography. 15 • Inlet. Mala has an inlet of the west sea by the narrow neck of land, which would account nicely for a reference to a place near the narrow neck “where the sea divides the land” (Ether 10:20). • The land southward. The land southward was nearly sur- rounded by water with a small neck of land extending north- ward (Alma 22:32). This matches a Mala setting. |
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• Sidon River. A major river, Sidon, runs north to the sea
past Zarahemla to the west. The Kelantan River matches the accounts (Alma 2:15; 2:34; 16:6,7; 43:22). • A narrow strip of mountain wilderness. A narrow strip of wilderness extends east-west across the midsection of the land southward (Alma 22:27). The Cameron Highlands of Mala match the account. 16 • Inhabitable terrain. Well-inhabited hilly terrain was located along two hundred miles or more of the northeastern seashore in the land southward (Alma 50–62). Mala matches very well, whereas some proposed sites in America have no lands along a northeastern seashore portion of the land southward at all ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAVE FOUND many evidences in Palestine that support biblical accounts. As scholars have noted, the few evidences found in support of Book of Mormon events occurring in Mesoamerica are mostly circumstantial and un- convincing. 17 By contrast, the Malay Peninsula has much in its cultural history that aligns with Book of Mormon peoples and events, including: • Jewish affinities. Hugh Nibley has noted that the Karens of Burma “have displayed such aston- ishing cultural affinities with the Jews that some observers have even claimed them to be of Jewish origin.” There are also striking resemblances be- tween Karen beliefs and those in the Book of Mormon. 18 • Script and languages. Nibley also reports that writing in the India-Burma region (directly north of the Malay Peninsula) “was actually derived from Aramaic and Phoenician forms ultimately taken from the Egyptian.” 19 • Mining, metallurgy, tools, and weapons. In a 1979 study of Thai metallurgy, D. T. Bayard re- ports that bronze may have been in use as early as 3,000 B.C. The introduction of iron tools has been dated at about 1340 B.C. 20 These dates match the chronology and activities of the Jaredites (Ether 10:23–27) and Nephites (Jarom 1:
• Inscribed metal plates. The Karen tribe (men- tioned above) made metal plates not only of copper but of gold. In nearby India, copper plates, inscribed, perforated, and linked together by metal rings have been found. 21 • Animals for food. Book of Mormon peoples are described as having domesticated cattle, oxen, cows, sheep, goats, swine and other ani- mals (Ether 9:1 . All of these animals are indige-
nous to the Old World (none in America). Evidence for pigs, dogs, fowl, goats, and cattle during Book of Mormon times has been found in Southeast Asia. 22 • Animals for work. Book of Mormon peoples are described as having horses and asses, and the more useful elephants and cureloms and cumoms (Ether 9:1 . Horses and
asses and elephants are indigenous to the Orient. Mala also has water buffalo and other bovines (could these be cureloms and cumoms?) which are more useful than horses and asses in the Southeast Asian climate and for indigenous forms of agriculture. • Grains. Middle Eastern grains included wheat, oats, barley, rye, millet and possibly rice. Successful production re- quires tillage operations using farm implements and work ani- mals. Wheat, barley, and other cereal grains have long been cultivated in Southeast Asia. 23 There is no evidence of their cultivation in Mesoamerica. |
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• Fruits. Valued Middle Eastern fruits included apple, pear,
plum, cherry, apricot, peach, fig, persimmon, melon, quince, pomegranate, banana, orange, lemon, lime and date. 24 An early naturalist in the southern Burma area found pineapple, grape, banana, coconut, breadfruit, plum, apple, orange, lime, citron and many other fruits under cultivation. 25 • Silk. The Book of Mormon describes an abundance of silk (Alma 1:29; Ether 10:24). The silk arts were developed in neighboring China about 2,600 B.C. 26 As a way to reconcile Book of Mormon terms with other settings, some have sug- gested that the terms may not have been translated correctly: maybe “silk” doesn’t really mean silk. However, I prefer that terms be interpreted literally, if possible. The Introduction to the Book of Mormon quotes Joseph Smith as saying that the Book of Mormon is the “most correct of any book on earth and the keystone of our religion.” I believe we should not simply reinterpret or assign vague meanings to those parts of the book that do not fit our preconceived notions. • Volcanic explosions. The Book of Mormon reports that at the time of Christ’s crucifixion, devastating events took place in the land of promise (3 Nephi . The effects are so cata-
strophic, I believe they can best be explained by an explosive volcanic event (not simply an extrusion of lava). The Malay Peninsula provides a good setting. For example, the Krakatoa (1883) and Tambora (1815) explosions both in Indonesia, just south of the proposed Mala site, caused huge quantities of ma- terial to be blown into the atmosphere, leaving calderas. There were tempests and thunderous noise and frightful earthquakes and lightning, and fires and tsunamis, all of which killed tens of thousands of people. The accompanying darkness lasted for several days and affected the entire world with low tempera- tures, hurting crop yields. 27 The days of darkness were to be a sign of the crucifixion to those on the isles of the sea (I Ne. 19:10). With many isles nearby, the Malay Peninsula provides a good setting for the events. • Place names. Palestine still has many place names which existed in Biblical times. One might reasonably expect a com- parable array of place names in the Book of Mormon to exist in the land of promise. The proposed Mala setting is intriguing for this reason. Owing to dissension and incessant warfare, groups of people from the peninsula are thought to have “hived off,” and it is natural that they would not travel farther than necessary. On or within reasonable distances from the peninsula, the twenty-two place names listed on the map (page 32) can be found on modern-day maps. Not only are the names compa- rable to Book of Mormon names but the locations match Book of Mormon accounts. For example, in Ether 13–15, we read that in the final battles, the Jaredites fought near Moron (Manoron) and then went eastward to a seashore through a range of hills and fought near a Hill Ramah (Hill Maw). The priceless plates of Mormon—the “records which had been entrusted [to him] by the hand of the Lord” (Mormon 6:6)—may still be there. Another possibility: Madagascar was settled by people from the Malay area between 300 and 500 A.D. 28 This was about the time Moroni, and possibly other survivors, were fleeing fo |
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their lives from the victorious Lamanites. Could it be possible
that this is the reason that a city of Moroni is found on an is- land off the shore of Madagascar? 29 • Polynesian origins. “A basic view held in the Church is that Polynesians have ancestral connections with the Book of Mormon people. . . .” Church leaders have indicated that among Polynesian ancestors were the people of Hagoth who set sail from Nephite lands about 54 B.C. (Alma 63:5– .
30 Migrations westward into islands of the Pacific are obviously proposed in the various American-setting hypotheses. In an overview of perspectives about Polynesian origins, Russell T. Clement, a special collections librarian at BYU -Hawaii writes: “In few cases is the Mormon Church at such odds with the learning of men as in its answers to the intriguing questions of Polynesian origins and migrations.” 31 Clement then quotes from a statement representative of the widespread scholarly consensus on the subject: “What seems beyond question is that, wherever the Pacific peoples might have come from in the first place, they reached the Pacific by way of Asia.” 32 I’ll share two items from the very long Polynesia section of my larger work that support the Malay Hypothesis: (1) Hawaiians claim they came from a great and huge land (compared with their islands?) joined by an isthmus; the east and west sides were washed by oceans. 33 Coupled with the scholarly consensus that their ancestral home was Asia, the Malay Peninsula is a nice fit. (2) Easter Island, off the coast of South America, is said to have been settled about 600 A.D. by Polynesians who mi- grated from the west. 34 The people were called “long ears” by some for their custom of piercing their ear lobes and using weights to induce them to grow to shoulder length. Malaysians practiced the same custom. 35 Also of interest is a legend that the first king on Easter Island brought seven tribes with him: the Nephites recognized seven subdivisions (Jacob 1:13). On Easter Island, seven huge stone structures were erected in honor of the seven tribes. These statues “stare out beyond the island across the ocean to the west, remembering where they came from.” 36 • DNA . A traditional LDS belief is that all Amerindians are descendants of Book of Mormon people. As mentioned earlier, DNA evidence suggests that most descended from Asian peo- ples. The Malay Hypothesis is compatible with this belief, for it postulates that small groups of Book of Mormon peoples fled Southeast Asia and arrived at many sites in the Americas. CLOSING THOUGHTS T O THE BEST of my knowledge, all Book of Mormon accounts can be reasonably accommodated to the Malay Hypothesis. This hypothesis seems to me to work much better with statements that the people of Babel, the House of Israel, and even the Lehites themselves “should be scattered upon all the face of the earth” (1 Nephi 10:12–13; Ether 1:33). The Malay Hypothesis proposes that there are many cherished lands of promise (or Zions) throughout the world, not just one |
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The Malay Hypothesis has not been sanctioned by the
Church. As Brigham Young states, “We are to judge opinions of leaders about geography or other matters for ourselves.” 37 As an old chemist meddling in hallowed ground, I have un- doubtedly made mistakes. But I’ve done my best. I hope and pray that others will help in determining its validity. If true, the potential spiritual benefits to brothers and sisters now and in the eternities to come are immense. NOTES 1. Kevin Goldstein-Jackson, ed., The Dictionary of Essential Quotations (Totowa, NJ: Rowman & Littlefield, 1983), 84. 2. John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1996), 4. 3. See, for instance, Brent Lee Metcalfe, ed., New Approaches to the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1993), especially chapters 7 and 8; Earl M. Wunderli, “Critique of Limited Geography for Book of Mormon Events,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 35, no. 3 (Fall 2002); Thomas W. Murphy, “Simply Implausible: DNA and a Mesoamerican Setting for the Book of Mormon,” Dialogue 36, no. 4 (Winter 2003); Stan Larson, Quest for the Gold Plates: Thomas Stuart Ferguson’s Archaeological Search for the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Freethinker Press, 1996). 4. See Thomas W. Murphy, “Lamanite Genesis, Genealogy, and Genetics,” in American Apocrypha: Essays on the Book of Mormon, eds. Dan Vogel and Brent Lee Metcalfe (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002, 47–77; Simon G. Southerton, Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA , and the Mormon Church (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, forthcoming); references to more than a dozen DNA studies re- lated to Amerindian ancestry are cited in Brent Lee Metcalfe, “Reinventing Lamanite Identity,” S UNSTONE (March 2004), pages 23–24, note 3. 5. John A. Widtsoe, In Search of Truth: Comments on the Gospel and Modern Thought (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1930), 81–82. 6. In particular, I’ve focused on the problems associated with the Mesoamerican setting proposed by John L. Sorenson in Ancient American Setting (and many other books and articles), which is currently the hypothesis driving most geographical studies conducted by the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies ( FARMS ). So entrenched is this Mesoamerican hypothesis that Sorenson was led to say that “the prospect that any other part of America than Mesoamerica was the scene of Book of Mormon events is so slight that only this obvious candidate will be considered here.” John L. Sorenson, The Geography of Book of Mormon Events (Provo: FARMS , 1990), 407. 7. Ralph A. Olsen, The Malay Peninsula as the Setting for the Book of Mormon, 1997, unpublished. Copies are available in libraries at Montana State, Utah State, and the University of Utah. My family and I are considering options for making this study available online or in some more easily accessible way. We will decide soon and notify the Sunstone offices. In the meantime, those interested may email Sunstone, info@sunstoneonline.com, to be put on a contact list. 8. I am not the “discoverer” of the many problems with the proposed Mesoamerican and other American settings, nor am I unaware of the many studies and articles which have attempted to defend against the various deficiencies. I re- spect these scholarly attempts, but many of the solutions proposed seem strained to me, requiring a great deal of effort to accept. My hope in presenting Mala is that, when someone looks hard at it as a potential site, it will be seen as the more parsi- monious explanation. As William of Occam suggests, “One should not increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything.” 9. For copies of my study, see the information above in footnote 7. 10. Skeptics are encouraged to try to repeat the Jaredite voyage under compa- rable adverse conditions. Under far more favorable circumstances, only two of Magellan’s five ships managed a comparable voyage to the Philippines. The crews experienced many of the problems listed above. Encyclopedia Britannica (2003), s.v. “Ferdinand Magellan.” 11. Joseph Smith Jr., Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, comp. Joseph Fielding Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1938), 267. 12. Because of space limitations for this article, and because this article is fo- cusing on Mala and not particular critiques of the Mesoamerican hypotheses, we’ve not reproduced Mesoamerican maps here. One can view two different maps of Mesoamerican proposals that postulate an Isthmus of Tehuantepec setting in Metcalfe, ed., New Approaches to the Book of Mormon, 274–75. 13. BYU archeologist John E. Clark concludes that “Any geography that tries to accommodate a north and south sea is doomed to fail.” John E. Clark, review in Review of Books on the Book of Mormon, vol. 1 (1989), 65. Unless one tries to un- derstand certain Book of Mormon references as metaphorical, which ultimately is Clark’s strategy for dealing with this issue, the proposed Mesoamerican setting is not a good candidate for Book of Mormon events. 14. For a good discussion of Book of Mormon references to the land of Bountiful, see William Hamblin, review in Review of Books on the Book of Mormon, vol. 1 (1989):74–75. 15. Mala’s width is thirty miles, whereas the narrowest point on the Mesoamerican model is 130 miles. 16. John E. Clark writes: “Internal evidence in the Book of Mormon is con- vincing that ‘wilderness’ refers to mountainous regions. . . .” (Clark, 27). 17. Central America, for example, has many ruins scattered throughout a highly diverse terrain and no natural boundaries to delineate Book of Mormon lands. As indicated by several hypotheses, there are many possible ways of jug- gling proposed locations of Book of Mormon lands. Each hypothesis has some ad- vantages, but none match very well. See Deanne G. Matheny, “Does the Shoe Fit? A Critique of the Limited Tehuantepec Geography,” chapter 7 in New Approaches to the Book of Mormon; and Glenna Nielsen-Grimm, “The Material Culture of the Book of Mormon,” delivered as the May 1992 Sunstone Book of Mormon Lecture (tape BM92–005). 18. Hugh Nibley, Lehi in the Desert and the World of the Jaredites (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980), 121. Karen historical events match those of the Book of Mormon peoples to an amazing extent. The Karens (Lamanites?) lost their copy of Y’wa’s book. The white brothers (Nephites?) carefully preserved their copy. As a re- sult, white people became righteous and are known as “guides to God.” They sailed away in ships with “white wings” but will return with Y’wa’s “white book.” Some traditions say the book would be of gold or silver. See Don Richardson, Eternity in Their Hearts (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1981), 74. 19. Ibid., 20. 20. D. T. Bayard, “The Chronology of Prehistoric Metallurgy in Northeast Thailand” in R. Smith and W. Watson, eds., Early Southeast Asia (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1979), 151. 21. Hugh Nibley, Lehi in the Desert (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980), 121. A picture of one of the inscription plates with Hebrew lettering can be viewed at A. Bunker, “On a Karen Inscription Plate,” Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 10 (1872): 712. 22. P. S. Bellwood, Conquest of the Pacific (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979), 136. 23. R.L. Pendleton, Thailand, Aspects of Landscape and Life (New York: Duell, Sloan, and Pearce, 1962), 177. 24. Milton R. Hunter and Thomas Stuart Ferguson, Ancient America and the Book of Mormon (Oakland, CA: Kolob Book, 1964), 159. 25. F. Mason, Tenasserim (Maulmain, Burma: American Mission Press, 1852). 26. Encyclopedia Britannica (2003), s.v. “silk (fibre).” 27. Encyclopedia Britannica (2003), s.v.v. “Krakatoa,” “Volcanism and Tectonic Activity,” “Tectonic Landforms.” 28. Mervyn Brown, A History of Madagascar (Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener, 2000), 14. 29. Oxford Atlas of the World, 10th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), Index: “Moroni, Comoros Islands.” 30. Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed., Daniel H. Ludlow (New York: Macmillan, 1992), s.v. “Polynesians.” 31. Russell T. Clement, “Polynesian Origins,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, vol. 13, no. 4 (Winter 1980), 88. 32. Ibid., 89. The quote is from Glen Barclay, A History of the Pacific from Stone Age to Present Day (London: Sigdwick & Jackson, 1978), 3. 33. Paul R. Cheesman, Early America and the Polynesians (Provo: Promised Land Publications, 1975), 16. 34. Paul Trachtman, “Mysterious Island,” Smithsonian (March 2002): 90. 35. Gavin Young and Paul Wachtel, Malaysia: Heart of Southeast Asia (Singapore: Archipelago Press, 1991), 169. 36. Trachtman, 94 (emphasis added). Of additional interest to readers might be the extensive list of similarities between Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and the western shores of America published in John L. Sorenson and M. H. Raish, Pre-Columbian Contact with the Americas across the Oceans (Provo: FARMS , 1990), sections F-217 and F-034B. These include: shell trumpets and other similar mu- sical instruments, pellet bows, barkcloth, blowpipes, games, the use of jade, arch calendaring, porcelain, makara, elephant motif, artistic depictions of the cosmic tree, crouching human figures, human sacrifice, animal deities, Quetzalcoatl, hand symbolism, serpent dragons, and tiger demons. 37. John A. Widtsoe, Discourses of Brigham Young (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1941), 135 MARCH 2004 |
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaredite
According to the narrative, the people were guided by God through the wilderness, and were eventually directed to cross the sea in "barges."[1] Ether is the last in the royal line that began with one of the sons of Jared. From the time of the first king to the destruction of the Jaredites, there were only occasional times of peace and prosperity. These times of peace were interrupted by intrigue to the throne, civil war, and the accession of wicked kings. Thus the history of the Jaredites proved the fear of Jared and his brother that a monarchy would lead to captivity.[2] The Jaredites grew to a civilization that exceeded two million people just prior to its destruction.[3] They finally destroyed themselves about the time Lehi and the other refugees from Jerusalem arrived in America (see also Nephites, Lamanites, and Mulekites). A prophecy given[4] by Ether is fulfilled, and the last Jaredite king, Coriantumr, lives both to see the total destruction of his people and the arrival of another people to inherit the land.[5] |
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Ether's grandfather, Moron, had been king of the Jaredites. Moron was overthrown and "dwelt in captivity all the remainder of his days" (Ether 11:1. Ether's father, Coriantor, was born while his father was captive and Coriantor "dwelt in captivity all his days" (Ether 11:23). Ether "was a prophet of the Lord" (Ether 12:2) and "lived in the days of Coriantumr; and Coriantumr was king over all the land" (Ether 12:1).
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According to the Book of Mormon, when Jerusalem was destroyed by Babylon during the reign of Zedekiah, all of the sons of Zedekiah were killed except Mulek.[1][2]
Along with "as many as would hearken unto the voice of the Lord," Mulek escaped into the wilderness and traveled "across the great waters" to the Americas, founding a new nation.[3] The Mulekites establish their capital at Zarahemla, north of where Lehi and his people landed.[4] |
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In the Book of Mormon, the Nephites are a people descended from or associated with Nephi, a prophet who, according to the text, left Jerusalem at the urging of God in 600 BC[1] and traveled with his family to |
| The Inquisitor |
You're right, obmar. That's totally bizarre. I don't see how people from that time frame could have made it to the new world. The only known crossing I've heard of is the Bering Straits some 40,000 years ago, and that was completely up north around Alaska and Siberia.
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Add the norms accepted then that the world was flat, it is difficult to believe |
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Were There Two Cumorahs?
Sidney B. Sperry Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, 1995. Pp. 260–268 Were There Two Cumorahs? Abstract: No one doubts that the hill where Joseph Smith received the plates is known as Cumorah, but is the hill where the final battles between the Nephites and Lamanites took place another Cumorah? The book of Ether tells us that Omer traveled to this place of the last battles of the Nephites, and that the relatively short duration of this journey would not account for the three thousand miles from Middle America to New York. A similar journey was undertaken by Limhi's men, of equally short duration. The description of the geographical features around the final battle site is also at odds with the topography of present-day Cumorah. It is not our intention in this book1 to embark on the sea of Book of Mormon geography, that is, to consider the numerous problems connected with it. Others have written on the subject.2 But it is advisable, because of its interest and importance, to consider here the question of whether or not there were two hills known as Cumorah. It should be kept in mind that no Latter-day Saint students of the Book of Mormon doubt for a moment that the hill in New York from whence the Prophet Joseph Smith received the plates of the Book of Mormon has been known as Cumorah from the earliest days of the Church. But a number of such students, for many years now, have held that the Cumorah of the Book of Mormon, the one in which Mormon originally hid the records of his people (Mormon 6:6), and the one around which the final battles between the Nephites and the Lamanites took place (Mormon 6:8–15), was located somewhere in the area of Mexico, not in New York. In 1937 Jesse A. Washburn and Jesse N. Washburn hinted, in the final pages of their book From Babel to Cumorah,3 that the last great battles of the Nephites and the Lamanites took place near the lands of their early settlements. And in 1939 they more strongly affirmed that fact in their book An Approach to the Study of Book of Mormon Geography. In other words, they were convinced that the Cumorah of which the Book of Mormon speaks was somewhere in Middle America. In 1947 Elder Thomas Stuart Ferguson, a lawyer, in his Cumorah—Where? rather objectively reviewed the case made by those who hold that the only Cumorah is in New York, and in the same objective vein reviewed the evidence supporting the contention that the Cumorah of the Book of Mormon is in Middle America.4 He himself was, and is, converted to the Middle-American view. Brother Fletcher B. Hammond, also a lawyer, vigorously contends in his Geography of the Book of Mormon that the evidence in the Book of Mormon upholds the view that the Cumorah of the last great battles is in Middle America. The friendly controversy still goes on, the one camp holding that the only Cumorah in or out of the Book of Mormon is the traditional one in New York State, the other supporting the view that the Cumorah in New York has been named after the one in Middle America, but is not the one around which the last great battles of the Nephites and the Lamanites took place. Now which of these two points of view is correct? It would be desirable, if possible, to come to a unity in the matter. Truth should never be on the defensive, but sometimes it is hard to decide just where it is. Perhaps most people of the Church hold to the traditional view of Cumorah, and, indeed, I have defended that view in some of my writings.5 But in recent years we have again gone over the Book of Mormon evidence very carefully and are prepared to present what we feel are the elements of the strongest case that can be made for a Cumorah in Middle America. Let us present it fairly and objectively as a historical question, letting the chips, so to speak, fall where they may. Omer, a Jaredite King Most of the Book of Mormon evidence will be taken from the books of Ether, Mormon, Mosiah, and Omni. The first piece of evidence concerns Omer, a righteous Jaredite king, who was warned by the Lord to flee out of his land in order to save his life. In the words of Moroni: And the Lord warned Omer in a dream that he should depart out of the land; wherefore Omer departed out of the land with his family, and traveled many days, and came over and passed by the hill of Shim, and came over by the place where the Nephites were destroyed, and from thence eastward, and came to a place which was called Ablom, by the seashore. (Ether 9:3) We are concerned more especially with the words in italics. Notice that Omer and his party passed by the hill Shim, a place recognized by all Book of Mormon students as being the hill in the land Antum where Ammoron hid the sacred records of his people (Mormon 1:3; 4:23). No one would question the fact that this hill and Antum were in turn in the larger territory of Desolation (see Mormon 4:19; cf. 4:23), somewhere in or about Middle America. Next we observe (notice the casual language employed) that Omer came "by the place where the Nephites were destroyed." Moroni must certainly mean the place of the last destruction of his people. If the Cumorah in New York was the place, then Omer and family traveled at least 3,000 miles away from the hill Shim to reach it. In view of the casual language employed, does such a long journey seem reasonable? If the party traveled an average of twenty miles per day by primitive means for "many days," let's say an improbable sixty, they would cover only 1,200 miles. How very improbable it is that Omer traversed the distance to Cumorah in New York is reinforced by Ether 9:9 in which a certain Nimrah "gathered together a small number of men, and fled out of the land from which Omer had fled, and came over and dwelt with Omer." Notice that Nimrah knew where to find Omer and "came over" to him. Not the slightest hint is given that would lead us to believe a three-thousand-mile journey was attempted. It may reasonably be assumed that "Ablom, by the seashore," where Omer temporarily dwelt, was on the Gulf of Mexico side, not too far from "the place where the Nephites were destroyed" (Ether 9:3). Omer was restored eventually to his kingdom (Ether 9:13), but not the slightest hint is given that he had to retrace his steps a great distance to get to it. So if we are correct in presuming that in Ether 9:3 Moroni was referring to the place of his people's final destruction, the evidence thus far would seem to favor the view that it was somewhere in Middle America. Jaredite Battles No matter to what land Omer went in exile, the fact is clear that he returned to, and his successors dwelt in, the traditional southern home of the Jaredites. This is made very clear by such statements as "their flocks began to flee before the poisonous serpents, towards the land southward, which was called by the Nephites Zarahemla" (Ether 9:31), and "they built a great city by the narrow neck of land, by the place where the sea divides the land" (Ether 10:20). Now let us examine the evidence presented by Moroni relative to the territory in which the last great Jaredite battles took place.6 In Ether 14:5–6 we are informed that a certain brother of Shared came up against the army of King Coriantumr, "and he came forth to the land of Moron, and placed himself upon the throne of Coriantumr." Where was the land of Moron? Its location is clearly indicated in an earlier chapter of Ether. Now the land of Moron, where the king dwelt, was near the land which is called Desolation by the Nephites. (Ether 7:6) Thus we see that Moron, early seat of government of the Jaredites, was in the south land, near territory known by the Nephites as Desolation. Notice Coriantumr comes to "the seashore" of the land of Moron (Ether 14:13). This might possibly mean a Pacific Ocean border of Moron. In the remainder of Ether 14, it is made clear that Lib was slain and his brother Shiz continued the sanguinary struggle with Coriantumr. In the course of events we are told that Shiz did pursue Coriantumr eastward, even to the borders of the seashore, and there he gave battle unto Shiz for the space of three days. (Ether 14:26) Where was the seashore mentioned here? The geography isn't altogether clear, but let us assume in all fairness that it was on the Gulf of Mexico side, in deference to the word "eastward." Could it be in a spot on the seashore somewhere on the eastern border of New York? The difficulties involved in such an assumption are enormous. Keep in mind that the battles in Ether 14:6–13 are in Moron by the narrow neck of land (cf. Ether 7:6; Alma 63:5). Are we to assume a few battles later that the armies involved are on the eastern border of New York, some three thousand miles distant? Are we to admit that armies composed of men, women, and children (see Ether 14:22) on both sides had the physical strength (not to mention the logistical facilities) to cover three thousand miles in a relatively short time and engage in their final destruction? No army men of my acquaintance would believe it possible. Let us notice that the very last battles were fought near a hill called by the Jaredites Ramah. And it came to pass that the army of Coriantumr did pitch their tents by the hill Ramah; and it was that same hill [i.e., Cumorah] where my father Mormon did hide up the records unto the Lord, which were sacred. (Ether 15:11; cf. Mormon 6:4–6) Notice that Moroni does not add that Ramah or Cumorah was the hill where he should yet hide up the plates that his father Mormon left to him (see Mormon 6:6). This omission seems strange if the Ramah mentioned was the Nephite hill Cumorah in New York. Another important fact should be observed in connection with our problem: Notice that in coming to the hill Ramah, Coriantumr and his armies were pursuing the armies of Shiz southward, not northward as we should expect if they were coming up from southern Mexico or Central America. And it came to pass that the armies of Coriantumr did press upon the armies of Shiz that they beat them, that they caused them to flee before them; and they did flee southward, and did pitch their tents in a place which was called Ogath. (Ether 15:10) Final Evidence Now let us gather up some final evidence having a bearing on the problem. It will be remembered that when King Limhi, whose people were living in the early lands of their fathers' first inheritance (Lehi-Nephi, Shilom; see Mosiah 7:21; 9:1, 6), wanted to get them back to the land of Zarahemla, he sent out forty-three men to search for it (Mosiah 8:7). What happened? They were lost in the wilderness for the space of many days, yet they were diligent, and found not the land of Zarahemla but returned to this land, having traveled in a land among many waters, having discovered a land which was covered with bones of men, and of beasts, and was also covered with ruins of buildings of every kind, having discovered a land which had been peopled with a people who were as numerous as the hosts of Israel. And for a testimony that the things that they had said are true they have brought twenty-four plates which are filled with engravings, and they are of pure gold. And behold, also, they have brought breastplates, which are large, and they are of brass and of copper, and are perfectly sound. And again, they have brought swords, the hilts thereof have perished, and the blades thereof were cankered with rust. (Mosiah 8:8–11) Since the king was speaking of a people whose destruction was hitherto unknown to the Nephites and, furthermore, since his men had also found twenty-four plates written in an unknown language (Mosiah 8:11), we may presume that the people destroyed were the Jaredites. And indeed, we know that the twenty-four plates were Ether's record of the Jaredites and that he had hidden them in such a way that Limhi's people found them (Ether 16:33; see also Mosiah 28:11–17). Now the lands of Lehi-Nephi and Shilom, the territory where Limhi's people dwelt, were presumably in Central America. No Book of Mormon student would doubt that they were in "the land southward." But is it reasonable to believe that Limhi's men would travel over three thousand miles to find the site of the last great Jaredite battles and the Jaredite records, assuming they were at or near a hill Ramah in our state of New York? Is it reasonable to believe this in view of the fact that Limhi's men would unquestionably know that their fathers had traveled but a moderate distance from Zarahemla to Lehi-Nephi and Shilom? (cf. Mosiah 21:25–26 and note the implications). Would a party travel, for example, three thousand miles in order to find a place they knew could not be over three hundred miles away? Notice the story of the return of Limhi's people from Shilom to Zarahemla (Mosiah 22:11–13). Even though they traveled "many days," they ended up in Zarahemla, undoubtedly located in Middle America. Observe also the fact that the elder Alma's branch of Limhi's people arrived in Zarahemla after twelve days' journey (Mosiah 24:25) from the valley of Alma, a place we assume was some distance from Lehi-Nephi (it was eight days from the waters of Mormon to the land of Helam—Mosiah 23:3, and a one-day flight from there to the valley of Alma—Mosiah 24:20). Zarahemla, in all probability, was not more than three hundred miles from Lehi-Nephi. Those of the one-Cumorah (New York) persuasion may with some logic argue that Mosiah 8:8–11 does not specifically say that the forty-three men of Limhi found the last battlefields of the Jaredites, and that the passage does not disprove the possibility that the prophet Ether could have brought his records from the region of Ramah in New York to Central America, where they could be found. But such arguments seem somewhat forced, and especially so when it is pointed out that the people of Zarahemla, the Mulekites, found Coriantumr, the last ruler of the Jaredites (Omni 1:21). Moreover, he "dwelt with them for the space of nine moons." Just how reasonable is it to believe that he departed from a Ramah in New York after his last great battle and wandered three thousand miles south into Middle America, where he was found? Isn't it more likely that the finding of Coriantumr fits better into the overall pattern presented by the book of Mosiah and the chapters cited above in the book of Ether? Coriantumr apparently wandered a few hundred miles southward from Ramah (Cumorah) in Middle America to, or around, the land of Zarahemla, where he was found. Isn't such a view the more reasonable one to believe? In fact, all the Book of Mormon evidence points to the same general conclusion, that Ramah-Cumorah was somewhere in or near Middle America. One more piece of evidence needs to be presented which concerns that nature of the territory in which the hill Cumorah was located. Mormon says that the hill "was in a land of many waters, rivers, and fountains; and here we had hopes to gain advantage over the Lamanites" (Mormon 6:4). Assuming Limhi's men, in their search for the land of Zarahemla, found the last great battlefields of the Jaredites, it will be observed that they are described as being "in a land among many waters" (Mosiah 8: . These descriptions are in general accord with Moroni's "waters of Ripliancum" (Ether 15:, near which the last great battles of the Jaredites were fought. It is true that the site of Ramah-Cumorah in New York is in a region of great bodies of water, the Finger Lakes and the Great Lakes, into which pour many streams. But is one to assume with any logic that a Ramah-Cumorah in or around Central America could not be similarly endowed? As a matter of fact, geographers and Latter-day Saint travelers know full well that there are great waters there.7 Moreover, certain geographical features in Middle America fit in rather fully with the overall physical geography in the Book of Mormon.
Now we have covered materials that have been set forth in greater detail by Washburn, Ferguson, Hammond, and others like them, who all agree that the Book of Mormon Ramah-Cumorah, the hill around which the last great battles of the Jaredites and Nephites took place, was in Middle America. Our emphasis on the Book of Mormon evidence, independently evaluated, has been different in a number of respects. Now, if it is agreed that the Book of Mormon evidence points inevitably to a Ramah-Cumorah in Middle America, the question then arises as to how the hill in New York from which the Prophet Joseph Smith received the sacred Nephite records came to be called Cumorah. No details are afforded us as to either how or when the hill was so named. But certainly no adherent of the Middle-American view of Ramah-Cumorah would object to the suggestion that Moroni himself may have called the hill Cumorah in honor of the one in Middle America. He may even have told the Prophet Joseph Smith about it, but of this we have no proof. We do know, however, that the name Cumorah has been applied to the hill from Joseph Smith's day to this. Finally, it should be pointed out that if the great records hidden up by Mormon in a Middle-American Ramah-Cumorah (Mormon 6:6) were transported eventually to the Cumorah in New York, the Book of Mormon gives no account of it. If the Lord wanted that done after the last great battles between the Nephites and Lamanites, he would have provided a way through his almighty power. But that is not the problem of this chapter. Notes This previously unpublished handout was used in a Religion 622 class on 31 March 1964. 1. This handout was apparently planned initially as a section in Sperry's Book of Mormon Compendium (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1968); cf. 447–51. 2. See, e.g., Fletcher B. Hammond, Geography of the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Utah Printing, 1959; revised 1964), and Jesse A. and Jesse N. Washburn, An Approach to the Study of the Book of Mormon Geography (Provo, UT: New Era Publishing, 1939). 3. Jesse A. Washburn and Jesse N. Washburn, From Babel to Cumorah (Provo, UT: New Era Publishing, 1937). 4. Thomas S. Ferguson, Cumorah-Where? (Independence, MO: Zion's, 1947). 5. For example, Sidney B. Sperry, The Book of Mormon Testifies (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1952), 335–36. 6. We do this because the book of Ether makes clear that the very last battle of the Jaredites took place near the same hill where the "Nephites were destroyed" (Ether 9:3; 15:11). 7. See, e.g., Milton R. Hunter and Thomas S. Ferguson, Ancient America and the Book of Mormon (Oakland, CA: Kolob, 1950), 139. Those who do not have this book can read the significant part concerning rivers and lakes as quoted in Hammond, Geography of the Book of Mormon, 91. |
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More of Olsen's.
Mesoamerica is the most popular setting for Book of Mormon events. Unfortunately it is not a suitable location. Major problems include: 1. Virtually impossible 16,000 mile, open-sea voyages for amateurs on barges with families and livestock. 2. Directions, e.g. the totally wrong orientation of Tehuantepec. 3. Non-peninsular setting (See Alma 22:32). 4. No Middle East script or hieroglyphics or writing material (e.g. clay tablets). 5. No reasonable similarity to Middle East languages. 6. Serious chronology mismatches, e.g., no advanced culture in 3,000 B.C. (Jaredite). 7. Tehuantopec is far too wide to cross in 1.5 days and is not long enough. 8. None of the Book of Mormon animals were there during BofM times. 9. Important Mesoamerican animals, including Bison, Jaguars, Turkeys and Quetzal birds are not mentioned in the B of M. 10. There were no useful wheels or carts or chariots or carriages or beasts of burden to pull them. 11. Virtually no Middle East grains, fruits, vegetables, spices, or other plants were grown there. 12. America had extremely productive crop plants (tomatoes, potatoes, squash, etc.). Yet, none of them is mentioned in the BofM (Note: the term “corn” does not necessarily refer to maize). 13. No evidence of mining, metallurgy, bellows, crucibles, molds, etc. have been found. 14. Mesoamericans had no metal tools, weapons, helmets, breastplates, farm equipment, etc. They were still in the Stone Age when Spaniards arrived. 15. It has no narrow strip of mountain wilderness extending across the Land Southward. 16. It has neither East nor West Sea. 17. It has no major river (Sidon) which runs continuously north. 18. It had no well-populated centers (capitals parts of land) near the mouth of the proposed Sidon (Grijalva). 19. Not even a single Book of Mormon artifact has been found which convincingly indicates the presence of Book of Mormon people. 20. No Book of Mormon place names in reasonable locations have been found in Mesoamerica. 21. Mesoamerican Hypotheses provide no way to explain why Book of Mormon people exhibited Oriental thoughtand behavior. 22. No evidence of explosive-type volcanic eruptions to explain the cataclysmic events at the time of the crucification. 23. Many massive stone temples (ziggurats) were constructed with huge expenditures of time and energy. Yet there is no mention of stone buildings in the Book of Mormon. 24. Unlike Book of Mormon accounts (e.g. 3 Ne 11) the temples were used for slaughter of thousands of innocent victims to appease vindicitive gods! Body parts were eaten as delicacies! 25. Mesoamerican Hypotheses provide no reasonable way to incorporate the Polynesians into the Book of Mormon family. 26. Most advanced Central American cultures originated after the Jaredites and Nephites had all been annihilated. 27. How can the Gospel go forth to the Nephites and the Jacobites and the Josephites and the Zoramites in the Latter Days (D & C 3:16-1 if they were all annihilated?
Fortunately, the Malay Peninsula provides a setting to reasonably resolve all of these problems. . . AND MORE! Having an appropriate setting should help immeasurably in authenticating the Book of Mormon as genuine scripture and Joseph Smith as a genuine Prophet. I've identified over 180 items where Malay works over Meso. The more promising land of promise contains evidence supporting a new site for book of mormon events. It provides a narrow peninsula extending northsouth. Not only do the geograpy and terrain match, the voyages would have been easier, the animals and plants are indegineous. Many sites in reasonable locations and with reasonable names match those of the Book of Mormon. Inscribe metal plates held together with rings have been found nearby. Hebrew letterings has been found as have references to the Bible. Languages and beliefs have Mideast connections. Small Groups "hived off" the peninsula and went elsewhere (including islands of the pacific and to america) It even accomodates DNA evidence. On modern maps there exists a Hill maw (Hill Ramah? where most of the inscribed gold plates of Mormon were hidden). These plates could be the most important archaelogical find the history of mankind. Copies of a book on the topic are in the main libraries at Utah State University, University of Utah, and Montana State University (Title: The Malay Peninsula as the Setting for the Book of Mormon). Or you can purchase "A More Promising Land of Promise" or "The Malay Peninsula as the Setting for the Book of Mormon" from this site. Good Mormoning to All, Ralph A. Olsen |
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The Years of the Jaredites
By John L. Sorenson Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, . P. N/A The Years of the Jaredites John L. Sorenson Reprinted by permission from BYU Today, September 1968, pp. 18–24 The Book of Mormon has been in print for 140 years. In that time, no one has written a chronology of Jaredite history using the dates and calendar familiar to modern readers. As a result, Jaredite history floats in readers' minds in a chronological limbo. This lack led to no serious problem as long as there was nothing in secular history with which to compare the civilization described in Ether. Today, however, ancient American cultures known through archaeology and assignable to the period of Jaredite existence are coming to sufficient attention that systematic comparison ought not to be put off longer. To make sound comparisons will require that the events of Jaredite history be dated firmly enough to allow their being lined up with the archaeological record. This article proposes a plausible chronology for the Jaites. In the nature of their record as we have it, it is impossible to pin down precisely just when they lived, but inferences can at least be made which have considerable value. That is what is done here—to show when events recorded in the Book of Ether might well have taken place, even if no one can be precise about the details. There are at least three ways in which such dates can be useful. They give a greater sense of reality to the record, especially by allowing it to be tied to other, more familiar, sequences, such as biblical events. Dates also allow comparison between specific historical events or patterns referred to in Ether and from archaeology. Finally, developing a chronology stimulates inquiry into the meaning and internal consistency of the scriptural record as history, possibly provoking in the process new and broader interpretations and appreciations in our minds of what the book has to say to us. The method followed here has been quite simple. First it was necessary to settle upon beginning and ending dates for the Jaredite civilization in terms of chronological frameworks outside the Book of Mormon. Next an attempt was made to distribute the events in the Book of Ether over the whole time period marked out in a way which did no violence to the facts in the book. The beginning date for the Jaredites depends upon historical data from the Old World. Unfortunately even that information is not firmly established, so a certain amount of reasoning must be employed. Ether begins by talking of a "great tower" which is the same as the "tower" referred to in Genesis 11. Can the events surround the construction of that tower be dated? Fundamentalist Christians and some Latter-day Saints have accepted a date of around 2200 B.C. for the tower event. Actually there is no adequate basis in the Bible for such a date. In fact there are strong arguments against it on the basis of the Bible alone, but that source proves insufficient to settle the matter, for the early chronology of the Old Testament is not precise enough and even appears to be conflicting at a number of points. (Note that in questioning the dating, I do not question that actual events in fact occurred which are more or less correctly described in the brief language of Genesis 11. That language is not, however, clear enough to allow anyone to make a single clear interpretation as to precisely what happened—let alone when it took place.) The secular history of ancient Mesopotamia, which included what Genesis refers to as the "land of Shinar" where the tower was constructed, refers to a "flood" just as does the Bible. The description is strikingly similar in some features to the account in Genesis, and all serious scholars consider the two accounts to be closely related. In addition there are some evidences from archaeology of several floods in Mesopotamia, one of which could have been the one referred to in the traditions. The annals of rule, or king lists, of the Sumerians who dominated the lower Mesopotamian plain in earliest historical times trace back rulership to a time just following this flood. (Compare Genesis 10:8–10, on Nimrod.) In the history and archaeology of the land-between-the-rivers, the nature of the "tower" of the Bible and the Book of Mormon becomes clear. It is the ziggurat or temple-tower whose remains still dot the plain of southern Iraq. This architectural form first appears in the concluding centuries of the fourth millennium B.C. The flood/tower combination of Genesis is undoubtedly derived from the same source as the flood/tower of secular Mesopotamian history. The latter is most comfortably dated in the second half of the fourth millennium B.C. On this basis a date for the beginning of the Jaredite story can be estimated. About 3100 B.C. is acceptable. Possibly it could be a little later. The end of the Jaredite account cannot be dated without question either. Ether 11:20–21 implies that the later immigrant peoples (of Zarahemla and of Lehi) had not yet reached the promised land in America at a time just before Ether, the last Jaredite prophet, was born. On the other hand Coriantumr, the final Jaredite king, "was discovered by the people of Zarahemla; and he dwelt with them for the space of nine moons." (Omni 20–21) We know that the arrival of the people of Zarahemla was some time after 556 B.C., the date of the fall of Jerusalem from which that group of people fled. The encounter with Coriantumr could have taken place at any time in the first decades, or somewhat later, of the Mulekites' inhabiting the new land. (However, if Ether 11:20–21 indeed precedes the arrival of the Israelite group Coriantumr could not have lived as late as, say, 400 B.C.) That it was early in their history may be inferred from the fact that more extensive mention of contacts would have been likely had the people of Zarahemla and the Jaredites lived in adjacent lands for any length of time. Also the fact that the Mulek group "discovered" Coriantumr, rather that the reverse, and that he died after only nine lunar months with them, suggests that the fallen king had been incapacitated by his wounds (see Ether 15:32) and so did not live long after the final Jaredite battle. A reasonable conclusion is that the most likely date for the end of the Jaredite people falls not earlier, and not much later, than 580 B.C. (Of course the "end of the Jaredite people" by no means indicates that all Jaredites were wiped out. That would be far-fetched. There is solid evidence in the Book of Mormon itself, and certainly more from archaeology, indicating that remnants of the old population survived in various spots after the final organized battle. The scripture only talks, after all, of the destruction of the Jaredite people as a social entity, not the extinction of the entire population. Why the later Nephite account does not take more account of the Jaredite remnants could be treated at some length, but not here.) How confident can we be about the beginning and ending dates decided upon here? They could be off by as much as several centuries on the early end. The possibilities range from perhaps 3250 to 2800 B.C. On the other hand the final date seems to be on firmer ground, but conceivably it could be stretched as late as 400 B.C. In any case the overall duration of about 2500 years has considerable likelihood of being about right—to within a century or so. The next task is to distribute between 3100 and 580 B.C. the history of the Jaredites as reflected in statements in the Book of Ether. This involves judgment, for on many points the book is cryptic or silent. For example, Ether 10:8–9 tells of the overthrow of a ruler named Riplakish, followed by the statement "And it came to pass after the space of many years, Morianton, (he being a descendant of Riplakish)" gained control. In other cases terms are used such as "old age," "many days" or "exceeding old age." Durations in years are sometimes added which act to an extent as controls on the language, but not always. An attempt has been made here to be consistent in interpreting the chronological terms, yet admittedly other readers could come to somewhat different conclusions. No one answer can be considered correct. Instead emphasis must be placed on plausibility and reasonableness in the light of the whole. Once a reasonable distribution of the events through time had been reached, memory-aiding period markers were sought. Significant shifts in Jaredite history seem to be implied at the division points chosen. The period names are hopefully descriptive of the major directions in that history; someone else's labels might be better yet. Since the dates are approximate at best, minor adjustments were made in order to make the main periods come out in convenient segments. The duration of these periods should be easier for readers to remember because they are in round numbers, which also emphasizes their tentativeness. Now that chronological frame work is established comparisons of Jaredite, events and tendencies internally can be made, as well as pointing out how that picture relates to what is revealed by archaeology. A Logic for Jaredite Chronology I. Pioneering Phase (3100–2920 B.C.) Years Departure from the "great tower" to arrive at land 30 Adjustment to choosing a king 70 Orihah's rule ("exceeding many days," 31 children) 80 Total duration of phase 180 II. Formation Phase (2920–2320 B.C.) A. Early Formation Kib begets Corihor after he becomes king, then reigns 32 years until Corihor's flight 34 Corihor prepares to rebel, fathers children who help 32 Corihor rules, with father captive, until latter is very old 25 Kib, the father, begets Shule, who grows to manhood before seizing the throne 25 Shule has children, including Noah who rebels and reigns over half the kingdom 33 Cohort Noah's son, succeeds him, ruling half the land 15 Nimrod, another son of Cohort succeeds, then gives up the half kingdom to Shule, reuniting the nation 10 Thereafter Shule begets children in his old age 25 Omer, Shule's son, begets Jared, then the latter has children 30 Jared plots, Omer flees, Jared rules one year 1 Akish kills Jared. Akish's one son is imprisoned; he then has others 35 Akish wars with his sons for many years 35 (Sub-phase total) (300) B. Late Formation Omer regains the throne. While old, begets Emer, who comes to reign 20 Emer's "house" reigns 62 years 62 Coriantum follows and rules until 142 years of age 142 Com reigns 49 years until Heth is born; Heth grows up then kills his father 30 Heth rules until the drouth becomes unbearable 24 (Sub-phase total) (300) Total duration of phase 600 III. Disruption Phase (2320–1720 B.C.) A. Early Disruption Interval 30 Shez picks up the pieces after drouth, and lives long 88 Interval 100 Riplakish, a descendent of Shez, gains power, then reigns 42 years, until killed in a rebellion 42 Interval 100 (Sub-phase total) (360) B. Late Disruption Morianton, a descendent of Riplakish, prepares, fights far years to gain central power 40 He lives to "an exceeding great age" 60 His son Kim succeeds him, reigning's years while his father still lives 8 Kim's brother later overthrows him; Kim goes into captivity 15 Kim begets Levi in his old age 65 Levi lives in captivity 42 years after father's death 42 Then Levi fights and gains the throne 10 (Sub-phase total) (240) Total duration of phase 600 IV. Elaboration Phase (1720–1120 B.C.) A. Early Elaboration Levi rules to "a good old age" 60 Corom replaces Levi and "saw many days" 66 Kish then reigns and passes away 60 Lib next reigns, living many years 60 Hearthom rules for 24 Years before being overthrown 24 (Sub-phase total) (270) B. Late Elaboration He then lives in captivity many years 60 Heth lives in captivity all his days 60 Interval 30 Aaron (a "descendent") lives in captivity 60 Amnigaddah also lives in captivity 60 Corianton also was in captivity all his days 60 (Sub-phase total) (330) Total duration of phase 600 V. Decline Phase (1120–570 B.C.) A. Early Decline Com matures, prepares, and gains control bf half of the kingdom 30 He then rules for 42 years (10:32) 42 After that he wars "for many years" with Amgid 30 After Amgid's demise, Com rules to the accession of his son Shiblom 18 Shiblom rules through much trouble, then is slain 35 Seth (apparently the successor) in captivity all his days 60 His son Ahah retakes the kingdom; "few were his days" 25 Interval 30 (Sub-phase total) (270) B. Late Decline Ethem (a "descendent") obtains the kingdom, reigns 50 Moron, his son reigns CIO), loses half the kingdom (35), fights but loses all (5), then is a captive (20) 70 Coriantor in captivity all his days 60 Interval 40 Ether (a "descendent") sees the end of the nation 60 (Sub-phase total) (280) Total duration of phase 550 Total duration of Jaredite tradition 2530 (Note: two additional timelines from the original article are not included in this HTML document.) This FARMS preliminary report reflects substantial research but is not ready for final publication. It is made available to be critiqued and improved and to stimulate further research. Please direct any comments or suggestions regarding this page to Michael Nelson MichaelN@cc.usu.edu |
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GUIDE TO THE SCRIPTURES
Jaredites See also Book of Mormon; Jared; Jared, Brother of People in the Book of Mormon who were descendants of Jared, his brother, and their friends (Ether 1: 33-41). They were led by God from the Tower of Babel to the Americas, a promised land (Ether 1: 42-43; 2-3; 6: 1-1 . Although their nation had at one time millions of people, they were all destroyed by civil war brought on by wickedness (Ether 14-15).
References 1. Ether 1: 33-43 33 Which aJared came forth with his brother and their families, with some others and their families, from the great tower, at the time the Lord bconfounded the language of the people, and swore in his wrath that they should be scattered upon all the cface of the earth; and according to the word of the Lord the people were scattered. 34 And the abrother of Jared being a large and mighty man, and a man highly favored of the Lord, Jared, his brother, said unto him: Cry unto the Lord, that he will not confound us that we may not bunderstand our words. 35 And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did cry unto the Lord, and the Lord had compassion upon Jared; therefore he did not confound the alanguage of Jared; and Jared and his brother were not confounded. 36 Then Jared said unto his brother: Cry again unto the Lord, and it may be that he will turn away his anger from them who are our afriends, that he confound not their language. 37 And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did cry unto the Lord, and the Lord had compassion upon their friends and their families also, that they were not confounded. 38 And it came to pass that Jared spake again unto his brother, saying: Go and ainquire of the Lord whether he will drive us out of the land, and if he will drive us out of the land, cry unto him whither we shall go. And who knoweth but the Lord will carry us forth into a land which is bchoice above all the earth? And if it so be, let us be faithful unto the Lord, that we may receive it for our inheritance. 39 And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did cry unto the Lord according to that which had been spoken by the mouth of Jared. 40 And it came to pass that the Lord did hear the brother of Jared, and ahad compassion upon him, and said unto him: 41 Go to and gather together thy aflocks, both male and female, of every kind; and also of the bseed of the earth of every kind; and cthy dfamilies; and also Jared thy brother and his family; and also thy efriends and their families, and the friends of Jared and their families. 42 And when thou hast done this thou shalt ago at the head of them down into the valley which is northward. And there will I meet thee, and I will go bbefore thee into a land which is cchoice above all the lands of the earth. 43 And there will I bless thee and thy seed, and raise up unto me of thy seed, and of the seed of thy brother, and they who shall go with thee, a great nation. And athere shall be none bgreater than the nation which I will raise up unto me of thy seed, upon all the face of the earth. And thus I will do unto thee because this long time ye have cried unto me. 2. Ether 6: 1-18 1 And now I, Moroni, proceed to give the record of aJared and his brother. 2 For it came to pass after the Lord had prepared the astones which the brother of Jared had carried up into the mount, the brother of Jared came down out of the mount, and he did put forth the stones into the vessels which were prepared, one in each end thereof; and behold, they did give light unto the vessels. 3 And thus the Lord caused stones to shine in darkness, to give light unto men, women, and children, that they might not cross the great waters in darkness. 4 And it came to pass that when they had prepared all manner of afood, that thereby they might subsist upon the water, and also food for their flocks and herds, and bwhatsoever beast or animal or fowl that they should carry with them—and it came to pass that when they had done all these things they got aboard of their vessels or barges, and set forth into the sea, commending themselves unto the Lord their God. 5 And it came to pass that the Lord God caused that there should be a afurious wind blow upon the face of the waters, btowards the promised land; and thus they were tossed upon the waves of the sea before the wind. 6 And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were caused by the fierceness of the wind. 7 And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was no water that could hurt them, their vessels being atight like unto a dish, and also they were tight like unto the bark of Noah; therefore when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters. 8 And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters; and thus they were adriven forth before the wind. 9 And they did asing praises unto the Lord; yea, the brother of Jared did sing praises unto the Lord, and he did bthank and praise the Lord all the day long; and when the night came, they did not cease to praise the Lord. 10 And thus they were driven forth; and no monster of the sea could break them, neither awhale that could mar them; and they did have light continually, whether it was above the water or under the water. 11 And thus they were driven forth, athree hundred and forty and four days upon the water. 12 And they did aland upon the shore of the bpromised land. And when they had set their feet upon the shores of the promised land they bowed themselves down upon the face of the land, and did humble themselves before the Lord, and did shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his ctender mercies over them. 13 And it came to pass that they went forth upon the face of the land, and began to till the earth. 14 And Jared had four asons; and they were called Jacom, and Gilgah, and Mahah, and Orihah. 15 And the brother of Jared also begat sons and daughters. 16 And the afriends of Jared and his brother were in number about twenty and two souls; and they also begat sons and daughters before they came to the promised land; and therefore they began to be many. 17 And they were taught to awalk humbly before the Lord; and they were also btaught from on high. 18 And it came to pass that they began to spread upon the face of the land, and to multiply and to till the earth; and they did wax strong in the land. |