FAIR Study Aids/Gospel Doctrine/Book of Mormon/Lesson Five

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Lesson Four
A FAIR Analysis of:
Book of Mormon: Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual
 		Lesson Six

Lesson 5: "Hearken to the Truth, and Give Heed unto It"

LDS Lesson Manual

Lesson 5: Hearken to the Truth, and Give Heed unto It: off-site _

1. The Lord guides the families of Lehi and Ishmael according to their faith and diligence. (1 Nephi 16)

Helpful Insights

  • Timeline: The chapter begins with the family in the “Valley of Lemuel” (v 6). The journey from there to their final Old World location (Bountiful) should have taken about three months, yet a total of eight years will pass before they arrive in Bountiful (1 Nephi 17:4-5).
    • Brant Gardner, “Second Witness: Analytical and Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon”, vol. 1, pp. 272.

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  • Nephi and metalwork: Scholars have observed that Nephi, regardless of what his professional training was, had a clear fascination with metalwork. This is manifested twice in chapter 16 where he uses precious space on his plates to include adjectives describing metal objects. The first is when he describes the Liahona as being of “curious workmanship” (v 10), and the second is when he describes his own bow as being made of “fine steel” (v 18).
    • John A. Tvedtnes, The Most Correct Book: Insights from a Book of Mormon Scholar (Salt Lake City: Cornerstone Publishing, 1999), 76-98.

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  • The Liahona: The Liahona was a type of compass which included one pointer that indicated the direction they should go, and another pointer whose purpose is unknown. Scholars have made educated observations about the nature of the Liahona and the meaning of the word “Liahona”.
    • “Lodestone and the Liahona” by Robert F. Smith
    • “The Design of the Liahona and the Purpose of the Second Spindle” by Robert L. Bunker
    • “Liahona: ‘The Direction of the Lord’: An Etymological Explanation” by Jonathan Curci

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Potential Criticisms and Faithful Information

Faith Affirmations

  • Lehi’s Route through the Wilderness: The possible route that Lehi’s family took in the wilderness has received significant attention by LDS scholars. It is likely that Lehi’s family would have traveled south along the ancient Frankincense Trail, a well known (and relatively safe) route that would have brought them into contact with many inhabitants of Arabia. Nephi never mentions meeting other people along their journey, but they surely would have. Most scholars believe that Lehi’s family traveled south along this trail through Arabia, and then turned east after arriving at Nahom which is in modern day Yemen. They finally stopped and built their boat at “Bountiful” on the coast of Oman.
    • Aston and Aston, “Lehi’s Trail and Nahom Revisited” in Reexploring the Book of Mormon. [1]
    • “On the Trail with Journey of Faith” by S. Kent Brown in Journey of Faith: From Jerusalem to the Promised Land. [2]
    • Eugene England, “Through the Arabian Desert to a Bountiful Land: Could Joseph Smith Have Known the Way?” in Book of Mormon Authorship: New Light on Ancient Origins. [3]
    • Lynn M. Hilton and Hope Hilton, “Discovering Lehi: New Evidences of Lehi and Nephi in Arabia”, Springville, Utah: Cedar Fort, 1996).
    • “Journey of Faith”, DVD, The Neal A. Maxwell Institute, [4]

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  • The Naming of Places: As Lehi and family traveled through the wilderness they occasionally gave names to places, rivers, and valleys, sometimes naming them after members of their own family (ie. “the river Laman” of 1 Nephi 16:12). This practice is in keeping with ancient middle eastern custom, which Joseph Smith would likely not have known.
    • Eldin Ricks, Book of Mormon Commentary: Comprising the Complete Text of the First Book of Nephi with Explanatory Notes (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1953), 44.

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  • Shazer: Hugh Nibley suggested that the name “Shajer” (v 13) means “trees” in Semitic languages, and is pronounced as “Shazher” by many Arabs. The location of Shazer has been suggested to be the wadi Agharr which lies along the Gaza arm of the Frankincense Trail.
    • Nibley, Hugh, “Hugh Nibley, An Approach to the Book of Mormon”, ed. John W. Welch, 3rd ed. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1988), 101.
    • Potter and Wellington, “Lehi’s Trail: From the Valley of Lemuel to Nephi’s Harbor” in JOBMS 15/2. [5]

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  • Nephi’s Broken Bow: After Nephi’s bow broke he crafted another one (1 Nephi 16: 18-23). Nephi also describes how he made a new arrow along with his new bow. Ancient arrows needed to be custom made to fit a specific bow (the arrows for his steel bow would not work with his wooden bow), a fact that Joseph Smith likely would not have known. Furthermore, the bow was ancient symbol of political power. Nephi’s bow broke, and his brother’s bows lost their spring, but when Nephi fashioned a new bow for himself his brothers soon accused Nephi of having political ambitions (1 Nephi 16:37-38). It is probably that Nephi’s original bow was not made of “steel” in the modern sense of the word, but was made of some other metal which was more malleable and possible to break.
    • William J. Hamblin, “Nephi’s Bows and Arrows” in Reexploring the Book of Mormon”. [6]
    • William J. Hamblin, “The Bow and Arrow in the Book of Mormon,” in Warfare in the Book of Mormon, ed. Stephen D. Ricks and William J. Hamblin (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book/Provo, Utah: FARMS, 1990) [7]

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  • Nahom: In recent decades scholars have discovered archaeological remains of a place called “Nahom” in the Arabian desert that neatly corresponds to the path that Lehi and his family likely traveled. The word “Nahom” appears to have been the name of the place before Lehi and his family arrived there, and has the possible ancient meaning of “to console” or “to mourn”. This is appropriate because it is the place were Ishmael died and was buried.
    • Warren P. Aston and Michaela J. Aston, “Lehi’s Trail and Nahom Revisited”, from Reexploring the Book of Mormon, [8]
    • S. Kent Brown, “New Light: ‘The Place that was Called Nahom’: New Light from Ancient Yemen”. From Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 8/1, [9]
    • Warren P. Aston, “Newly Found Alters from Nahom”, From Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 10/2. [10]

2. Nephi demonstrates unwavering faith by fulfilling the Lord’s command to build a ship. (1 Nephi 17)

  • Raw Meat: The image of Lehi’s family eating “raw meat” communicates great hardship to the modern reader who may imagine them eating freshly cut and bloody bits of meat. However, modern Arabs still eat spicy, raw, and partially dried meat “bastern”. Lehi’s family probably ate something similar to this on their journey.
    • Brant Gardner, “Second Witness: Analytical and Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon”, vol. 1, pp. 293.

3. Laman and Lemuel bind Nephi, who shows courage and gratitude despite this trial. After they free him, he guides the ship to the promised land. (1 Nephi 18)

  • "It was good" as a description of Nephi's ship: Nephi employs an Old Testament allusion when describing the ship when he says that his brethren "beheld that it was good". This is a key phrase that occurs seven times in the Old Testament creation account, and by recalling this phrase Nephi is suggesting that the ship is a creation of God, not of man.

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  • Design of Nephi's Ship: Scholars of ancient seafaring have noted that in order to cross the deep and wide ocean Nephi's ship must have been constructed with a "deep, tall hull", a method that was not done regularly at the time of Nephi. This may be why Nephi says his ship was not constructed after the manner of men (1 Nephi 18:2). Nephi's ship also must have been equipped with two large rudders in order to guide the vessel through the open sea. The sails may have been similar to the sails of Nephi's day since Nephi doesn't mention them, but they would have been very large rectangular sails. The rope used on the ship may have been made from the "small dwarf palm" found in the Dhofar region of Oman which makes excellent cordage and strengthens when wet. Nephi's ship need not have been more than 35 ft long, and must have taken 2-3 years to complete.

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  • The Ship's Route to the Promised Land: Most LDS scholars believe that Lehi's family steered their ship eastward from their location on the coast of the Arabian peninsula. They would have clung to the coasts as much as possible (for safety, water, supplies, etc.) and so probably would have crossed the Indian ocean by navigating along the coasts of India, and then weaving through the islands of southeast Asia (modern day Malaysia, Indonesia, etc.). Crossing the Indian Ocean from west to east means they likely would have set sail around August and sailed that leg of the journey through the winter season, when the prevailing winds and currents would be moving that direction. The trip likely took a very long time, with many stops along the way. The last leg of the trip would be to cross the great Pacific Ocean, guided by the Liahona, until they reached the western shores of the New World (perhaps Guatemala). They possibly would have been aided by the easterly winds produced by El Nino to help them across this most difficult portion of the trip. LDS scholar Brant Gardner notes:
"While God can alter regional or even global climates if he wishes, typically, he acts more conservatively, using existing conditions in the world to accomplish his purposes. In this case, simply directing the party to leave around August would have placed them not only at a time of harvest, but also at the beginning of the monsoon season. Perhaps there was a divine reason for the eight years in the wilderness of which the family was unaware. Perhaps the Lord was waiting for the climatic conditions that would enable the journey."

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  • Arriving in the Promised Land: Most LDS scholars believe that Lehi's party would have finally ended their journey on the western coast of Guatemala in central America. The geography of Guatemala approximately matches descriptions that come later in the Book of Mormon. There is some indication that the prophet Joseph Smith believed that Lehi's party landed on the coast of Chile, although whether Joseph actually believed that has been questioned by later General Authorities (B.H. Roberts and John A. Widtsoe). Furthermore, most LDS scholars believe that upon arriving in the New World Lehi's family would have encountered native inhabitants already living there.

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  • Anachronistic items in the New World: 1 Nephi 18:25 lists a number of items which are not yet known to have existed in the New World before European colonists arrived. LDS scholars have pointed to a number of important possibilities in understanding this issue. One distinct possibility is that these items did exist but have not yet been discovered yet. For example, barley was discovered to have been domesticated in pre-Columbian times in Arizona, contradicting previously held views about the history of barley in the Americas. LDS Mesoamerican scholar John Clark has noted that as the decades have passed since the publication of the Book of Mormon the list of alleged "anachronisms" in the Book of Mormon has only gotten shorter, not longer, and significantly. so.
Another possibility is that the names of certain items in the Book of Mormon are the result of applying a familiar name to something unfamiliar. For example, when Romans discovered the hippopotamus they called it a "river horse" (the literal meaning of "hippopotamus"). LDS scholar Brant Gardner notes the following:
"The Book of Mormon provides two possible occasions for such a mislabeling. The first is when the Lehites must describe animals they find in the New World. In this case, Joseph Smith would be accurately translating a label applied by the Nephites....The other possibility is that Joseph Smith is mislabeling unknown animals during the translation process according to his cultural expectations, regardless of the technical meaning of the terms on the plates."


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