dan vogel wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2024 2:25 am
I said the maps were too early because they didn't even include the Gulf of Aqaba. The cartographers on ships passed the Straits of Tiran, and saw the Islands and didn't get closer, assuming it was a bay. So, how could Joseph Smith use a map that didn't have the fountain of the Red Sea?
It's reasonable to assume that Smith would have read the title to the
map you featured in your podcast and understood the implications of what it suggests, namely,
"A NEW MAP OF ARABIA Divided into ITS SEVERAL REGIONS and DISTRICTS." The borders of the regions and districts in question are shaded with the colors: red, yellow, and green. The area to include
Acaba that is shaded in green is titled,
"Arabia Petraea" which was a province that belonged to ancient Rome. It's also reasonable to assume that Smith would have interpreted the colored borders along waterline as salted sea water. The rivers on the map are black-lined and distinct in showing they are rivers and a close examination will show that several of the named rivers on the map are titled with an "R." to designate they are rivers (fresh waters).
The text in the Book of Mormon informs us how the river Laman
"emptied into the Red Sea; and the valley was in the borders near the mouth thereof." The mouth is a part of the Red Sea and is salted water mixing with fresh, the same as indicated in the map regarding the
"MOUTHS OF THE NILE" which receive river water that empties into the Mediterranean. The main point being is the green shading along the waterline is indicative of sea water. There is no river indicated by an extensive black-line that leads into Acaba! If there is no black-line then there is no river and if there is no river there is no mouth! And if there is no mouth then there is no fountain in which
"the waters of the river emptied into the fountain of the Red Sea." It's not reasonable to assume that Smith would have interpreted salted gulf water as a river or a fountain!
Websters Dictionary 1828 wrote:FOUNT',
FOUNT'AIN, noun [Latin fons.]
1. A spring, or source of water; properly, a spring or issuing of water from the earth. This word accords in sense with well, in our mother tongue; but we now distinguish the, applying fountain to a natural spring of water, and well to an artificial pit of water, issuing from the interior of the earth.
2. A small basin of springing water.
3. A jet; a spouting of water; an artificial spring.
4. The head or source of a river.
5. Original; first principle or cause; the source of any thing.