Lehi’s Trail The Book of Mormon was published in the year 1830. At that time there was little in the way of scholarly or archeological evidence to support it. Joseph Smith (and Mormons ever since) claim that it is a true historic account that really happened. We will call this claim one. The critics claim that the Book of Mormon is false and that it was fabricated by Joseph Smith and/or some of Joseph’s associates. We will call this claim two. Let us, therefore, set up a very simple and common sense guideline for evaluating these two positions: If the claim one is true, then we would expect, over time, that science and various branches of archeology, language studies, cultural studies, etc… would produce a convergence of data and evidence that supports the book. Even if there was no, or little, evidence to support the Book of Mormon in 1830, we would expect now, after 181 years, that at least some significant discoveries would have been made which verify or support different parts of the Book of Mormon. These would have to be discoveries or information that was not available to Joseph Smith in 1830 which were discovered since that time and which verify or support various parts of the Book of Mormon. These would be things that an author, who was fabricating a book, could not get right by guessing If claim two is true then we would expect the opposite of the above. We would expect that more and more details in the Book of Mormon would be shown to be false as more discoveries in archeology and other fields are made. It turns out that the longer we go, the more evidence is discovered which confirms parts of the Book of Mormon. There are literally scores and scores, probably several hundred, Book of Mormon details that are now confirmed or supported by evidence that was not available in Joseph Smith’s time. Because of the large amount of evidence which has been discovered we can only look at a small amount at any one time. Let’s start off by looking at just one area which is known as the Lehi’s Trail information. Lehi’s Trail The Book of Mormon tells us about how Lehi and his family left Jerusalem in about 600 BC, went down by the Red Sea and traveled in a south-south east direction (1 Nephi 16:13), roughly parallel to the east side of the Red Sea (1 Nephi 2:5, 1 Nephi 16:14), until they reached Nahom (1 Nephi 16:34), where Ishmael was buried. There was considerable mourning at Nahom. They then traveled nearly due eastward (1 Nephi 17:1) until they reached a place they called Bountiful (1 Nephi 17:5) which is on the coast of the Arabian peninsula. Bountiful is described by the Book of Mormon as rich, green garden spot with trees, abundant fruit, water, honey, and a mountain. At this wonderful site they stayed at least long enough to construct a ship from the abundant timber. Metal obtained from ore was also used to make tools. The details of Arabian Peninsula geography, travel routes, water and food sources, etc… were not known in Joseph Smith’s day. Maps on the Arabian Peninsula were marked as “unexplored territory.” Books and maps described Arabia as waterless barren sand and rock. One book claimed that Arabia was so hot that animals were roasted on the plains and birds in midair. If someone were to make up a fictional story about a family traveling through this area they would have to guess as to where the safe travel routes were and where they could find food and water because the information was not known in the days of Joseph Smith. Yet the details in the Book of Mormon match what has been found to be true by modern research and discovery. The Book of Mormon Gets it Right Again! youtube/watch?v=9ATGGwbll3c+6 Valley of Lemuel In the Book of Mormon we read about one of the first travel stops Lehi’s party made after three days journey as described in 1 Nephi Chapter 2. After thee days journey they stopped at a valley by a river or stream which emptied into the Red sea which ran continually. The Book of Mormon stresses that they named the river and the valley after the two eldest sons. Modern critics having far more education and knowledge of the Arabian Peninsula than Joseph Smith had scoff at the Book of Mormons description of the impressive Valley of Lemuel with its river, continually running into the Red Sea (1 Nephi 2:9-10). Everyone knows that there are no such rivers. The critics chuckle that there are NO RIVERS flowing into the Red Sea, at least not anything that could be said to be continually flowing. Sure, a few wadis might get a momentary trickle during a rainstorm, but nothing that could be the basis for Lehis lecture to Laman. Yet the Book of Mormon has Lehi and his family stopping in an impressive valley with a river that continually (year round?) flows into the Red Sea. An excellent candidate location for the River of Laman and the Valley of Lemuel has been found in an entirely plausible location at about the right distance for a three day journey as described in the Book of Mormon. Photographic evidence and other documentation is provided in George D. Potters article, A New Candidate in Arabia for the Valley of Lemuel, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1999, pp. 54-63. Potter reports that in looking for a well in Arabia, about 8 miles north of Maqna on the Gulf of Aqaba, he stumbled across a magnificent narrow canyon that ended in a palm-lined cove on the coast of the Red Sea. The canyon actually has a small stream that flows continually, throughout the entire year, and is surrounded by very tall mountain walls. This valley is known as Wadi Tayyib al-Ism (Valley of the Good Name). The article is available to FARMS members online. In both location and description this valley seems to be an exact match to the one described in the Book of Mormon which was published in 1830 – a time when no one in the western world knew anything about the geography of this area. This discovery was not made and was not known to the western world until about 25 or 30 years ago – at least 150 years after the publication of the Book of Mormon. Nephi’s Bow 1 Nephi 16:18, 23 describes how Nephi broke his steel bow, made a new one. Details of this account, turn out to be quite authentic from the archeological evidence now shows that they did have the capability to make steel bows in that time and area. Also of interest is the current knowledge that the area does support animals that can be hunted – a belief not adhered to in 1830 when the Book of Mormon was published. Also of great interest is the fact that Nephi makes new arrows for his wooden bow. Why not use the ones he already had? Archery experts know that arrows have to be made to match the strength and tension of the bow being used. Arrows that are right for one bow will not work with another bow. This is a touch of authenticity that most people would not know about and which Joseph Smith is very unlikely to have known. The Book of Mormon is full of such details that prove to be authentic, and yet, would be impossible for even an educate author to get consistently correct in a work of fiction. Joseph Smith had only three years of formal education. Yet the Book of Mormon is full of authentic details, many of which were not know in Joseph Smith’s day to even the most educated - let alone to Joseph. The bow and arrow information is just one example of many. Happy to do that for you otdave. The following is archeological confirmation of a specific locatoin mentioned in the Book of Mormon. This location and the description and details of the rout taken by the Book of Mormon peoples (Lehis group) were not known when the Book of Mormon was published in 1830. The specific descovery was made my a non-Mormon archeological team from Germany. Nahom 1 Nephi 16:34-35 The Book of Mormon describes a place called Nahom (NHM) in a very specific location and time period. It turns out that this is a spectacular bulls-eye for the Book of Mormon. This place, discovered in the last 20 years by archeologists, actually exists in just the location predicted by the Book of Mormon and it dates to the right time period as well. In this account we learn that Ishmael died and was buried “in the place which was called Nahom.” From this we learn that Nahom was a place that already existed when Lehi and his party came to it. The place “was called Nahom” it was not named Nahom by Lehi’s party. Here we have a place name given in the Book of Mormon that was already in existence when Lehi and his group arrived. If Joseph Smith (or anyone else in 1830) made up the Book of Mormon that means that the place name of Nahom was also made up and, therefore, we would not expect to find such a placed in the real world. But if this place actually existed in the location and time period that the Book of Mormon claims for it, then the Book of Mormon is an authentic ancient text and Joseph Smith was telling the truth. Therefore, can we find a place in the Arabian Peninsula with that name in about the right place? Starting in 1988, A German archaeological team under the leadership of Burkhard Vogt excavated the Baran temple in Marib, the ancient capital of the Sabaean kingdom that lies about 70 miles due east of modern San‘a, the capital of Yemen. Burkhard Vogt is a non-Mormon archeologist. Once excavation of the temple was completed in 1997, four seasons of restoration work followed, ending with the formal opening of the site to the public on 18 November 2000. An altar was discovered by Vogt’s team that has the tribal name of NHM carved into it. The altar is located in the same vicinity in which the Book of Mormon describes the Lehites stopping in Nahom to bury Ishmael. Not only does Nehom actually exist in the location specified in the Book of Mormon but it also and dates to the time period when Lehi passed through that area. Remember that the Hebrew language doesnt use vowels, and thus NHM could be rendered Nahom. This location has been dated and it existed at the time Lehi went through the area and is in the right place as described by the Book of Mormon. Two more altars were found with the name NHM (Nahom or Nihm) on them. A 1999 article by S. Kent Brown in the Journal noted that an altar recently uncovered at the excavation of a temple near Marib in Yemen bore the tribal name Nihm, a variant of Nahom, where Ishmael was buried while Lehi’s group was en route to Bountiful (1 Nephi 16:34). On 12 September 2000, Warren P. Aston and fellow researchers Lynn Hilton and Gregory Witt identified and examined one of the two additional altars at the site. In.May 2001, David Johnson, a BYU archaeologist working in Marib as part of an excavation team, identified the tribal name Nihm on one of those altars (altar 3). This is an amazing find by non-Mormon archeologists showing that the Book of Mormon correctly identifies the name and location of Nahom quite accurately. The information was not available to Joseph Smith. The Book of Mormon Gets it Right Again! Nahom - a Traditional Burial Site 1 Nephi 16 states that Ishmael died but does not say where he died. He could have died anywhere along the route taken by Lehi. However it does say he was buried at Nahom. Why would the Lehi group take Ishmael’s body to Nahom and bury it there? Scholars have found that the origin of the name Nahom is connected to a place of burial. Nahom is a traditional place of burial along the travel route. A French team conducted the first archaeological examination of a huge area of ancient burial tombs in the area. This vast cemetery covering many square miles and numbering many thousands of tombs is the largest burial area known anywhere in Arabia. Scholars have recognized for some time that the Semitic roots of the name Nahom closely relate to sorrow, hunger, consoling, and mourning, obviously very appropriate for a place of burial, and may therefore reflect the origin of the Hebrew name used for the site.. 1 Nephi 16:35 states that “the daughters of Ishmael did mourn exceedingly, because of the loss of their father, and because of their afflictions in the wilderness.” This also fits perfectly the meaning of Nahom as a burial site and place of morning. How many things could Joseph Smith make up only later to have them confirmed in discoveries made over 150 years later? This could not be done by guessing or by fabrication. Bountiful After burying Ishmael at Nahom The Book of Mormon has Lehi turning nearly due east and traveling until reaching the coast of the ocean. Although it was not known in Joseph Smith’s day this is exactly where the travel routes turn east. The Book of Mormon not only gets the travel routs correct, these were unknown to westerners in Joseph Smith’s day, but it gets the existence and location of Nahom correct, it gets the turn eastward from Nahom correct, and then, to top it off, it gets the location of Bountiful correct. How did Joseph Smith guess all of this correctly if he were really guessing.? The answer is that he was not guessing. He was translating a genuine ancient document. We also read that the following things were available at this site called Bountiful by Nephi: • A place of much fruit and Meat and wild honey ( 1 Nephi 17:1,5-6; 1 Nephi 18:6) • A place suitable for camping on the shore (1 Nephi 17:5,6) • A place suitable for launching a ship (1 Nephi 18:8). • Enough timber existed to build a durable ship (1 Nephi 18:1,2,6). • Freshwater was available year-round to enable a prolonged stay. • There was a nearby mountain that Nephi described as the mount (1 Nephi 17:7; 18:3). • Cliffs were available from which Nephis brothers could threaten to cast him into the sea (1 Nephi 17:48) • Ore and flint were available (1 Nephi 17:9-11,16). In Joseph Smith’s day none of this detail were known. The southern coast of the Arabian peninsula was thought to be completely barren and composed of rock and sand. The most complete general guide to Arabia that was likely available to Joseph described the whole southern coastline as a rocky wall, as dismal and barren, without so much as a blade of grass or a green thing. Even into the late 20th century one anti-Mormon scoffed at the Book of Mormon for describing Bountiful as a land of much fruit and also wild honey (1 Nephi 17:5). Even after Europeans explored Arabia and discovered that it truly was a barren, desolate desert; where could possibly be the forested area Nephi used to build his ship? The very idea was preposterous. Arabia, claimed one critic, is bountiful in sunshine, petroleum, sand, heat and fresh air, but certainly not in much fruit and also wild honey. This same critic found it objectionable that 1 Nephi 18:1 states that the Lehites found ample timber for ship building in Southern Arabia (Thomas Key). Even today a recent anti-Mormon books continue to mock the possibility of a place like Bountiful existing. The Arabian desert does not have luscious garden spots: Joseph Smith blew it. Case closed. Yet almost due east from Nahom, just as the Book of Mormon describes, are two locations that fit the description given in the Book of Mormon. Salalah and the nearby port of Khor Rori, and the Wadi Sayq. These areas lie within one degree of being due east of Nahom and are luscious garden spots fed by monsoon moisture from the Indian Ocean. Substantial new evidence identifies a lush area in the western corner of Oman as the possible location where Nephi built the ship that carried Lehis family to the promised land. Wadi Sayq is one of two rivers in Arabia that flow near the shore with water all year round. Trees abound with much fruit available in the form of date-palm fruit. Dolphins frolic in the waters near the beach, wild flamingos wade in the fresh water and honey bees as the Book of Mormon indicates. This is a place that perfectly matched Nephis description. A mountain occupies the southwest side of the beach. Towering tarmarind and sycamore trees suitable for shipbuilding grow up in the wadi a few hundred yards away from shore. Here is a freshwater source, sardine in the sea for eating, land and water to grow crops. There is simply no way that Joseph could have obtained enough information about Arabia to fabricate more than a minute fraction of the voyage described in First Nephi. This is shown in a study which collected all the information available in, and prior to 1830 which was made by Eugene England in Through the Arabian Desert to a Bountiful Land: Could Joseph Smith Have Known the Way?, in Book of Mormon Authorship: New Evidences of Ancient Origins, edited by Noel B. Reynolds (Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1982), pp. 143-156. Also see S. Kent Browns excellent response to critics who have challenged the significance of finds in the Arabian Peninsula dealing with the place Nahom. His article, On NAHOM/NHM, is posted on The Nephi Project. The Arabian peninsula evidence for Book of Mormon authenticity is fascinating, though many will still dismiss it. If I asked you to write about a journey across Tasmania or through Bhutan or some other place about which you knew little, could you possibly describe a journey and its course in a way that would gain credibility with time? Is there any chance that you could even describe a reasonable general direction to travel? Could you pick a route that would later comply with routes used by others in the area? Could you name a site and over a century later have others find a map with a similar name at that place? Could you describe an unusual place that seems entirely out of line with what little you and others knew about the area, only to have others later discover an excellent candidate for that location in a place entirely consistent with the course you describe? To me, this is one of literally hundreds of confirmations of the Book of Mormon as an authentic ancient document. The Book of Mormon Get’s it Right Again!
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 23:06:16 +0000
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