(gentle music)
- Welcome everybody to
Part 6 of the presentation.
Here we're talking about the lands north.
First of all, we're going to
cover northward migrations,
and then we're going to
look at Mormon's own account
of the lands in the north.
So we answer first of all this question,
were the Nephites in the
heartland of the United States?
The answer to that is a definite yes,
from everything that I can
derive from the Metals Map
and The Book of Mormon geography.
We know that from 55 B.C.
The Book of Mormon records
there were migrations north
from Zarahemla and Bountiful,
and that these migrations north
included Nephites,
Lamanites and Mulekites.
We also know from the
records of The Book of Mormon
and from what was given in
revelation to the prophet Lehi,
that there may have
been others in the north
from Jerusalem whose
records we do not have.
We know that Lehi records
that America was pledged to quote,
"also all those who should be led
"out of other countries
by the hand of the Lord."
So the question is who were these people?
Where did they go?
He also referred, he, Lehi, also referred
to "those whom He, the Lord,
shall bring out of Jerusalem."
This might not be the Mulekites
since Lehi had already
seen Jerusalem destroyed
and the Mulekites may have
already arrived in America.
On the other hand, it may
have been the Mulekites.
But it also might refer to others.
And also this explanation by Lehi
as given in Second Nephi
chapter one, that for the whole,
"the Lord has led away from time to time
"from the house of Israel
"according to his will and pleasure."
So it's very clear that Lehi believed
that there were going to be others coming
from not only from other countries
but also from Jerusalem into America.
We know that historians have connected
the Israeli Phoenician merchant fleet,
which was quite famous, and
ranged quite great distances.
They dealt in copper from
the Lake Superior area.
And that copper from these
mines has been identified
in ancient artifacts in Europe
and also in the Middle East
from this trade.
So certainly that trade route
would have been accessible
at least to wealthy families
in both Israel and Judah.
Because of that Israeli
Phoenician merchant marine fleet.
We know that the Mound
Builders seemed to have had
some connection with the Jewish faith.
For example, the city, that
Mound Builder city in Ohio
that has earthworks that depict
items from the Hebrew temple.
Also this discovery here,
which had the 10 Commandments on it,
and this figure with the
name Moses over his head.
Also found in the Ohio.
But it's not just that heartland area.
But also to the west.
Remember we talked about
the Los Lunas Decalogue
which has the Ten Commandments
inscribed on it in New Mexico,
from an ancient form
of the Hebrew language.
So let's talk a bit more
about these migrations to the north.
Well Alma chapter 63 describes
in a fair amount of general detail
the migrations to the north.
We learn for example,
from about 55 to 52 B.C.
that "5,400 men with
their wives and children
"departed into the land
which was northward.
And we learned about Hagoth
who "built an exceedingly large ship
"on the borders of the land Bountiful,
"by the land Desolation,
"and launched it forth into the west sea,
"by the narrow neck which
led into the land northward.
"Many of the Nephites took
their course northward.
"This man built other ships
"and the first ship did also return.
"And many more people did set out again
"to the land northward.
"One other ship also did sail forth."
Again, there were "many people,
"went forth into the land northward."
And we learn that "Corianton
(one of the sons of Alma)
"had gone forth to the
land northward in a ship."
- I have a question.
- Yes?
- [Male Voice] You started
this when you showed,
you highlighted the eastern
half of the United States.
Yet, the ships are going up the West Sea
on the western side of the United States.
- That's correct.
- [Male Voice] Address how they might have
gotten across and all that in terms of...
- The Book of Mormon gives
us insufficient details
to be able to talk about that.
It seems to me that many of these people
migrated to the north by land.
That seems to be implied for example
in verse four of Alma's chapter 63.
And then there's the specific discussion
about the ship migrations under Hagoth
and his building of ships.
So I think that it occurred in both ways.
And this will be confirmed more for you
as we get into Mormon's
account of the land north.
Here again in Helaman chapter 3,
where we learned that there
was an "exceedingly great many
"who went into the land northward.
"They did travel an
exceeding great distance"
where they discovered
"large bodies of water
"and many rivers.
"There was no part of the
land that was desolate."
Of what?
There must have been
not desolate of people.
"Save it were, for timber."
So the desolation up there
had to do with timber.
And therefore they became
"exceedingly expert
"in the working of cement."
They began, The Book of Mormon says,
"to cover (the) whole Earth,
sea south to sea north,
"sea west to sea east
"(and) they did send forth
much timber by shipping."
"Many of the people of
Ammon," if you remember them,
"did also go forth into this land."
And, it is said, that
there were "many records,
"very large, kept
chiefly by the Nephites,"
of those people up north.
We also learn from Helaman six,
"many Lamanites did go
into the land northward."
"Nephi and Lehi," remember
they were the sons
of the prophet Nephi, did also
go northwards "to preach."
We learned from Helaman chapter seven,
that after six years,
"Nephi returned to Zarahemla
"(and) they (had)
reject(ed) all his words."
So there was also this missionary effort.
Now we go into Mormon's
account of the lands north.
Let me explain this.
Mormon, of course, wrote the abridgment
of The Book of Mormon.
And The Book of Mormon
within the Book of Mormon
is, of course, Mormon's written book.
But he also put other
editorial comments in,
in a number of the other
areas of The Book of Mormon,
such as the Words of
Mormon, places in Alma,
also places in Helaman,
these are quite prevalent.
So let's look at Mormon's orientation.
What we will discover is,
Mormon is one who actually was
born and raised in the north
and came south to Zarahemla.
We have already read this account.
This was one of Mormon's accounts
and it is a summary of the north.
He goes into it
and speaks of how much they
spread throughout the north.
We've already read these scriptures
so I'm not going to go over them again.
Here likewise, again, still
quoting from Mormon's summary,
in Helaman, the people that went north.
Again, we have read this.
Let us take a moment, though,
to read this particular verse, verse nine.
"And the people who were
in the land northward
"did dwell in tents and
in houses of cement,
"and they did suffer whatsoever
tree should spring up
"upon the face of the land
that it should grow up,
"that in time they might have
timber to build their houses,
"yea, their cities and their
temples and their synagogues
"and their sanctuaries and all
manner of their buildings."
We of course learn from
the Book of Ether that,
we learn that the Jaredites as
they have populated the north
had striped away much of the trees.
Continuing in Mormon's
summary of the north,
let's take a little bit more
focus now on the records.
He stipulates here that
"there are many records kept
"of the proceedings of
this people, (up north),
which are particular and
very large concerning them."
But he says, "behold, a hundredth part
"of the proceedings of this people,
"their shipping and
their building of ships
"and their building of temples
"cannot be contained in this work."
So Mormon, himself, tells us
that with respect to the
people that went north,
he hasn't had space in his
abridgment of the Plates of Nephi
to cover this part of
the people's history.
"But behold there are many
books and many records
"of every kind, and they
have been kept chiefly
"by the Nephites."
Let's consider the people
north now for a minute.
Let's note here that the Metals
Map also seems to correlate
with another great cultural
entity in the Central Americas,
actually in Mexico,
right beside Mexico City,
the great city of
Teotihuacan, and that culture.
Let's look at that for a moment.
So again we have the Mayan history
from 350 B.C. to 250 A.D.,
that period being called
the Late Pre-Classic Period.
We know from the Book of
Mormon that about 55 B.C.
we have significant migrations north.
Interestingly there's some
interesting things that happened
according to historians with respect
to the Mayan civilization.
They refer to it as the first century A.D.
Maya collapsed
and then rebuild.
And they don't know why this happened.
Interestingly, the Book of Mormon gives us
some great explanation
as to why this happens.
We know that from 16 to 22 A.D.,
during the time of this
great Maya collapse,
the people gathered out of
their towns into a smaller area
within Zarahemla and Bountiful,
up to the border of Desolation
for protection from the Gadianton robbers.
So that tells us that a
great deal of these cities
were abandoned for
several numbers of years.
We also have in 33 A.D. that
great volcanic destruction
in the area that resulted
in the city of Zarahemla being burned,
and many other cities
completely destroyed.
So there again, that occurs in that time
of the first Maya collapse.
It matches with that quite nicely.
Then by 60 A.D., we have
cities being rebuilt,
including Zarahemla which also matches
the secular history of the Maya,
how it collapsed and then rebuilt
in that first century A.D.
So that matches very nicely
to Book of Mormon history.
Now let's take another exercise
that I think you'll find interesting.
Let's follow the prophet and the records
that the prophet takes with him.
Remember we've already
had this discussion.
Remember how Nephi left the
land of first inheritance,
he fled it and went to the land of Nephi.
Took the records and everything with him.
And then around 280 B.C.
we also have King Mosiah I
also fleeing the land of Nephi,
going north and discovering
the people, the Mulekites
and brings with him the scriptures
and the records of the people.
Well we have evidence that this movement
of the prophets north continues.
So let's look at that and
see how that matches up
with the great temple complex
in the great city known as Teotihuacan.
On the top left hand corner
there you see a picture
taken from the Temple of the Moon,
out over the temple complex.
And in the distance you
see the Temple of the Sun.
This great cement and stone complex
in it's history is fascinating
and seems to fill a gap for us
in the period of the Nephite history
from just after Christ's coming to America
and then the beginning of their demise.
It's that 300 years that's covered
in the book of Fourth Nephi
which as we described
earlier is super, super thin.
(laughs) There's not much
given to us about this time.
But we can deduce a number of things.
First of all, on the bottom left there,
you'll see the relationship
between the Mayan area
and the Teotihuacan area
with the red star.
And the Book of Mormon
Metals map references
would give us Zarahemla and
Bountiful in the Maya area,
Desolation and then somewhere west
and a little north of Desolation
would have been the land of Moron,
where the Jaredite kings
have their residences.
But let's talk about
Teotihuacan specifically
as we track the movement of
the prophet and the records,
the sacred records.
First of all Teotihuacan means,
"the place of those who
have the road of the gods."
An interesting name.
For LDS folks that might
be a very good description
of people who have temples
and understand temple ordinances.
And of course those temple
complexes there at Teotihuacan
would seem to also match that.
In fact that temple complex
in many ways is very close
in its construction to the
prophesied temple complex
of the New Jerusalem.
So what do we have?
Again, in red, we have
the secular history.
300 B.C.
Teotihuacan has its first
settlers from the south.
Well that probably would
have been Mulekites.
We have 280 B.C. the
prophet king, Mosiah I,
who travels up from the
land Nephi up to Zarahemla.
So there we have the prophet
moving with the records.
And about 100 B.C. we have Teotihuacan
with its first major cemented structures.
Also, 55 B.C., that seems
to match up quite nicely,
we have The Book of Mormon
recording these migrations northward
out of the lands Zarahemla and Bountiful.
Interestingly at 30 B.C.,
according to Helaman 5:14,
we have the prophet Nephi
no longer in Zarahemla.
He is described as being
in the city, Bountiful.
Zarahemla at that time
was under the control
of the Lamanites.
By 33 A.D., which is
when the Savior arrives
in the American continent,
after the great destruction,
the volcanic destruction,
in 33 A.D., the prophet Nephi
is described as being at
a temple in Bountiful.
The city is not specifically named,
but he's at a temple in Bountiful.
And he has the records with him.
We know because the savior
has him bring the records.
And then we have this period
from 33 A.D. to about 300 A.D.
that we refer to as that
Nephite righteous period,
recorded in Fourth Nephi,
which tells us almost nothing.
(laughs) Okay.
Question.
Did Nephi move the records
and the center of worship
north from Bountiful?
Is it possible that Teotihuacan
may have become the
center of temple worship
during that period?
Well, we know that Teotihuacan
was a multi-cultural, religious center.
We know that by 100 A.D.
the Temple of the Sun had been finished,
and that by 250 A.D. the
whole complex was completed.
Now what's interesting about
this Teotihuacan culture
is that historians tell us
that the influence of this
culture can be measured
as far north as New Mexico
and as far south as Colombia.
And it was a religious society.
It was not a kingdom,
or a political society
as we would think of it
today, of nations or kingdoms.
But rather it was a religious culture
that dominated its period.
So that would fit very nicely
with the description in Fourth Nephi.
We know that from The Book of Mormon
that at 320 A.D., the
prophet Ammaron is described
as being in the land Antum
and that he hides the
records in the Hill Shim.
That land is north of Desolation.
So perhaps this is also evidence
of the northward movement
of the center of worship,
the prophet, and the records.
Another interesting thing as
we look at this possibility,
that as we said the land of
Antum is north of Desolation,
it includes the Hill Shim
where the prophet Ammaron
hides those sacred records.
Now what does Antum mean?
Interestingly it appears
to be a Semitic word
and the element of "An" is a common affix
used in all Semitic languages.
It occurs especially in
abstracts, meaning abstract nouns,
similar to the use of the affix "ship"
in the English language,
such as "kingship."
"Tum", the second element of the word,
could be the common western Semitic root
meaning "complete, whole,
innocent, perfect," et cetera.
Both the noun form and the infinitive form
in the Hebrew are "tom",
which reverts in its
earliest form to "tum",
when it is not stressed.
Forgive me if I've not
pronounced those correctly.
But interesting that translation
then gives us this meaning,
"to join, or to put on,
or add on perfection."
Again, a very apt
description for LDS people
of a land where there is a temple,
or a temple complex.
And so perhaps, Teotihuacan
is itself in the land Antum,
where one can put on perfection.
And of course a perfect name
for a center of religious worship,
for a period of 300 years.
So where was Teotihuacan?
This was what it would have
looked like in 1519 A.D.,
it's in the basin of Mexico
where the City of Mexico is today.
That great lake, of
course, is no longer there.
But was this the land of Antum?
As we take a closer look at Teotihuacan
and the red icon there is
on the Temple of the Sun,
we see that there are a number
of hills around that valley,
which could mean, could be the Hill Shim,
where Ammaron could have
secured the records.
Now let's build this
just a little bit further
and now bring in Mormon.
Ammaron, who has hid the records
in the Hill Shim, in the land Antum,
passes custody of the records to Mormon.
Mormon's home is north of Desolation.
In 385 A.D. then, Mormon himself,
then transfers the
sacred records to Moroni,
further north near Cumorah.
As told us in Moroni chapter nine.
So we see this progression
again of the prophets,
of the religious culture of the Nephites
fleeing throughout their history
the Lamanites and their kings.
Progressively moving further north.
Let's build on that
just a little bit more.
So let's look at Mormon's time
and his history specifically,
to build this case a little bit more.
Again, we're talking
about the Mayan period
known now as the...
Well now I'm shifting into what's called
the Early Classic period
from 250 A.D. up to 550 A.D.
One of the things that
distinguishes this period
is human sacrifice.
OK
We've seen, we know how that fits
into the Book of Mormon account.
Because as the Lamanites
pushed the Nephites north,
they are described as sacrificing
the Nephites to their gods.
But anyway, in 320 A.D.,
Mormon's father brings him south
into the land Zarahemla,
in fact to Zarahemla
and at a young age he is appointed
the chief captain of the armies.
In 321 A.D. there is a war
that begins in the land of Zarahemla.
The Nephites begin to retreat
towards the north countries.
By the way, let me mention that the armies
are fairly matched in their numbers
at the beginning of this war in Zarahemla.
They're approximately 40,000
men in each of the armies.
That number becomes significant
as we see what happens.
By 350 A.D. because the
Nephites have had to retreat
into the north countries,
there is subsequently in 350 A.D.
a treaty with the Lamanites,
specifically King Aaron
and the Gadiantons.
And Mormon records that "our
inheritance (was) divided.
"(the Nephites having)
the land northward ..."
Now listen to this description,
"even to the narrow passage
"which led into the land southward."
See how Mormon's orientation is?
Mormon is from the north.
His geographic orientation
is from the north.
He describes then,
that the Nephites retain
all this land to the north,
but south of this narrow pass
he refers to as the land southward
and it is given to the Lamanites.
"And we did give the Lamanites
all the land southward."
However by 375 A.D. King
Aaron invades Desolation
to the north, as far
north as the city of Boaz.
And at that point, the prophet Mormon
removes the records from the Hill Shim.
Now what's interesting about that date
is notice how nicely tied
that is to a significant date
in the history of Teotihuacan itself.
Because in 378 A.D.
there is a new dynasty
established in Teotihuacan
and it changes the rulers
as far away as Tikal.
Well Tikal is down here,
on the Yucatan peninsula.
So notice how that matches also
with our Book of Mormon history.
Now let's take a look at the lands north,
and the cities north
that Mormon describes.
Remembering again that
he is from the north.
So when we look here first
of all at these arrows,
and the reference to
the treaty in 350 A.D.,
the lands north are north
from that narrow pass,
that narrow neck of land by the west sea
and Mormon describes
the lands south of that
as the lands south.
Well what lands are those?
Bountiful and Zarahemla.
Earlier in the Book of Mormon,
these were referred to
as lands up in the north.
OK
Notice there all of the
cities that are named.
There are some that we're not sure
whether they are south of the
pass, or they're north of it.
And those I've put off onto the left side.
Joshua, David and Angola.
But in Desolation, north
of the narrow pass,
we have Desolation, the city of Teancum,
we have further north, Boaz.
And then we have described various lands,
Shem, Jashon, Antum, with the Hill Shim,
and we learn that in the land Shem,
there's also the city, Shem.
But then Mormon describes
lands that are north of that.
And he doesn't name them.
There's only three cities that are named.
He refers to the city of Jordan,
where he himself was defending,
and there were other
cities that he mentioned,
two of them by name,
Moriantum and Sharizah
that were defended by
some of his compatriots.
And then further north of that,
is the land Cumorah with
its hill named, Cumorah.
Let's see how this fits
into Mormon's account
of the destruction of the Nephites.
Their retreat to the north.
First of all we have the treaty broken.
Actually, interestingly,
broken by the Nephites
who thought that they
could take back the lands
in the south first.
But they were unsuccessful.
Subsequent to that, King
Aaron invades the north.
And he has a major victory
all the way up to the
city of Boaz in 375 A.D.
And so the Nephites are
pushed now further north.
This is when Mormon takes
command of the armies.
Mormon removes the records
from the Hill Shim,
he takes command of the armies,
because he had given up
command for a period of time,
because the people were so wicked.
But now at this point,
he now takes command of the armies again.
But now he has the sacred records with him
and they're being moved north.
He retreats north through
other lands, which he names,
and to the city of Jordan and
then ultimately up to Cumorah.
He writes to Moroni of sacred
records he has to give him.
Again Moroni chapter
nine that is recorded.
So now Mormon is up in the city, Jordan.
Well five years later, King
Aaron continues to move north
and defeats this defensive line
including the city of Jordan,
and then five years later,
we're told that they
continued to gather people
and their final battle in
defense of the Nephites
is up in the land Cumorah
and they are ultimately
destroyed there in 385 A.D.
Now let's notice something.
The northern lands must have
been very heavily populated.
Why?
This is a ten year retreat.
There are major battles going on
in which thousands and thousands of men
are losing their lives.
And yet during this
period the Nephite army
grows from 40,000 down in Zarahemla
to 230,000 by the time of the last battle.
Notice also that the
Lamanite army also grows
from 40,000 down near Zarahemla
to an overwhelming number
that was uncountable
by the time of the last
battle up in Cumorah.
So it appears that this
was an internal revolution
with the majority favoring a Lamanite king
over a Nephite religious order.
Or I would say that the religious order
to a great extent had collapsed
and I would suggest that
the Nephites now consisted
with people who wanted to
be independent and free.
But the majority of the
people were wanting a king.
And so the majority of
the people were siding
with the Lamanite king
and their armies grew to
an uncountable number.
This is an interesting summary
again, back into Helaman,
the Book of Helaman.
An interesting summary again by Mormon
of the north and the
records that were kept.
Verse 15 and 16, "but
behold there are many books
"and many records of every kind,
"and they have been kept
chiefly by the Nephites.
"And they have been handed down
"from one generation to
another by the Nephites,
"even until they have
fallen into transgression
"and have been murdered,
plundered and hunted
"and driven forth and slain and scattered
"upon the face of the Earth
"and mixed with the Lamanites
"until they are no more
called the Nephites,
"becoming wicked and wild and ferocious,
"yea even becoming Lamanites."
And so this is the final
state of the Lamanites.
I'm sorry, the Nephites.
(gentle music)
