Book of Mormon Geography

[Zosimus]

This is the most interesting and illuminating post I have read in a long time. I thank you for it!

There's a truly captivating story behind all this that I'm still unraveling.

We know that Luman Walters studied in Paris in the early 1800s. Like other Americans studying in Paris at that time (Jonas King for example), Walters would have become familiar with the writings of a well-known Orientalist named Antoine Isaac Silvestre de Sacy. De Sacy was one of the first linguists to crack open pieces of.the Rosetta Stone. Professor de Sacy also acted as mentor for two students who went on to decipher the Rosetta Stone, Åkerblad and Champollion. Through his research into the history of Arab relations in Egypt, de Sacy encountered references in Arabic geographies to a people called the Kumr, he wrote about them in his French translation of an Arabic text published as "Relation de l'Egypte" (source). As I've discussed in previous posts, the Kumr were a Biblical clan descended from Japheth. They were the ancestors of the Polynesians and had originally built a city called Komoriyya on a large island called Komr. According to Arabic historians, in the first centuries AD, the Kumr launched raids against Aden on the Arabian Peninsula and established settlements in Egypt and Ethiopia where they gave their name to the well-known Gibbel-al-Komr and the Gibbel-al-Kamar, or Mountains of the Moon. (source)

Imagine that, ancient Polynesian marines launching navel strikes from their forts on the Arabian Peninsula against Ethiopians to gain control of a mountain called Komoriyya. BYP, how's that for a youtube video?

These Mountains of the Moon, named after the Kumr clan, were said to be the source of the Nile River and became a sort of centerpiece for Enochian and Hermetic lore. Surprisingly, James Bruce on his search for the mystical Mountain of Komoriyya, discovered not only the first, but the first three, copies of the Book of Enoch.

in my opinion the Book of Mormon is a historical fiction describing a group of Morians, or Egyptian Ethiopians (source), known as the Kumr, and their adventures with a sealed book of hermetic secrets on the island of Komoriyya. My hot take is that the toponym Moriancumr in the Book of Mormon is a portmanteau including Morian (an 18th century term for Ethiopians and/or Indians) + Kumr (a grandson of Noah who sailed with his family to a land called Komoriyya in boats modelled after Noah's ark. Ether 6:7 reminds us that the Jaredites modeled their boats after Noah's ark.

If there's interest, I can go into more detail about how the internal map of the Book of Mormon matches the geography of the ancient kingdom of Komoriyya with unmistakable precision. I could also go into more detail about how the historical founder of Komoriyya (named Maroni) ends up standing watch over a set of Golden Plates buried in a hill called Cumorah in New York.

[Kishkumen]

You have my attention! That sounds fascinating!

[Moksha]

in my opinion the Book of Mormon is a historical fiction describing a group of Morians, or Egyptian Ethiopians (source), known as the Kumr, and their adventures with a sealed book of hermetic secrets on the island of Komoriyya.

I suppose the opposite end of the scale would be the Dan Vogel approach of viewing the book as a super-righteous deception or a Shulem-like approach of the book being part of a money-making scam.

[Shulem]

Dear readers,

I wish to impress upon you that in the mind of Joseph Smith, the setting for the Book of Mormon was a fantasy he played out and created in order to produce faith in the hearts of those who embrace the story. Smith had ideas of what the Book of Mormon would contain prior to dictation and production. Smith’s main goal was to establish the USA as a heartland for Christians on this continent where covenants established by God in ancient times would be renewed and restored through a latter-day seer. The promised land was literally within the USA.

It was critical to the entire story of the Book of Mormon to get the plates to Joseph’s backyard. Smith understood the value of time, distance, and proximity. He understood how dating events on a linear scale must seem logical in order to maintain a perception of reality based on common sense. The Book of Mormon has its own internal clock and geography that works within it. Land, sea, and direction are a constant theme of the Book of Mormon and all of that is married to the idea of getting the plates from Zarahemla to Cumorah where the story would be finalized and buried within the very soil of Smith’s backyard whereafter they would be miraculously uncovered and magically translated.

Everything Smith ever envisioned while dictating the Book of Mormon was for the ultimate purpose of getting the plates to New York. Understand that according to Joseph Smith, Moroni and his contemporaries were literal inhabitants of ancient New York and the lands leading southward into a special land surrounded by water on three sides. Smith used numbers, names, and various features to build the story and make it all happen in a coherent way. He was ever cognizant of time, space, and distance. The story makes it ever clear that distance between New York and Zarahemla was given on a scale in which the actual story could be played out in ancient times just as it reads in the text. The story is developed and processed to induce readers in believing that a northern land in which the plates were buried led to the land southward and through a bridge (narrow neck) which adjoined with the heart of Bountiful where Jesus Christ himself visited.

[Zosimus]

Smith’s main goal was to establish the USA as a heartland for Christians on this continent where covenants established by God in ancient times would be renewed and restored through a latter-day seer. The promised land was literally within the USA.

If I understand you correctly, establishing the USA as the heartland for Christians was his main goal, that he immediately dropped after publishing the book. After publication his main goal became directing attention away from the Heartland and the USA by not correcting the common perception (that may have come directly from himself) that the Lehites arrived in Chile and a significant part of the story played out somewhere between Panama and northern Mexico. After publication, Joseph became more interested in the narrative fitting with a real-world archaeology that dated to the right time period, in South and Central America, and he wasn't concerned that the geography in the Book of Mormon no longer fit the distances between the Delmarva Peninsula, or anywhere else in the USA, to the hill where he met the angel.

I'm trying to understand your argument that Joseph mapped out every geographical feature and carefully plotted distances between Philadelphia and Palmyra to establish the Book of Mormon as the American Bible, but then once everyone started speculating that the Lehites landed in Chile and the narrow neck was Panama, Joseph embraced it. Why would he do that if it ran counter to what you say was his main goal?

[Shulem]

If I understand you correctly, establishing the USA as the heartland for Christians was his main goal, that he immediately dropped after publishing the book. After publication his main goal became directing attention away from the Heartland and the USA by not correcting the common perception (that may have come directly from himself) that the Lehites arrived in Chile and a significant part of the story played out somewhere between Panama and northern Mexico. After publication, Joseph became more interested in the narrative fitting with a real-world archaeology that dated to the right time period, in South and Central America, and he wasn't concerned that the geography in the Book of Mormon no longer fit the distances between the Delmarva Peninsula, or anywhere else in the USA, to the hill where he met the angel.

I'm trying to understand your argument that Joseph mapped out every geographical feature and carefully plotted distances between Philadelphia and Palmyra to establish the Book of Mormon as the American Bible, but then once everyone started speculating that the Lehites landed in Chile and the narrow neck was Panama, Joseph embraced it.

Yes, on all accounts. In the beginning, Joseph was solely interested in creating an ancient history of the American Indians -- the very same Indians who inhabited the USA and the adjoining territories of the western states -- the very native Americans with feathers in their hair! As a young lad, Joseph imagined what life was like for the native Americans thousands of years ago and how they arrived here and how they claimed the land for themselves. American Indians were what young Joseph focused his interest on and he thought of them as Lamanites and he explained their ancient existence very thoroughly to his mother and family.

The American heartland was foremost in Joseph’s mind and in every respect, it developed into the supreme capital in which God endowed with every blessing and promise. Later in Smith’s ministry he developed the idea of the American continent as the original land in which God first founded for his people and that doctrine sprung out of the revelation of Adam-ondi-Ahman. The heartland became the very place where Adam dwelt and we learn how the New World was in reality the original world in which was first peopled.

Why would he do that if it ran counter to what you say was his main goal?

Because Joseph Smith was a man of change and changing philosophy and ideas was exactly what he was wont to do. He moved with the times and developed his theology on the fly. Take for example changes to the First Vision and how he jettisoned his original beliefs of a Trinitarian God and developed the idea of the plurality of the Gods. That was about the biggest change anyone could make. It ran contrary to his original ideas and beliefs. But moving forward is all that mattered to Joseph Smith.

Smith was a perpetual liar and a conman of many talents. He lied to everyone pretty much all the time. That is what he did. That is how he lived. He valued his lies as a necessary means in which to establish his cause, all to the glory of God. Dan Vogel has summed it up as “pious fraud.” Smith would do and say whatever it took to maintain a following. He adopted and changed course as needed. Take for example the command to build the temple in Missouri as if it was the most important thing the Church would ever do. We see how that changed too.

[Shulem]

Later, Pratt will specifically identify Chile as the place of Lehi’s landing.

Dan Vogel,

The hemispheric model was first conceived by the Pratt brothers, Orson & Parley. The brothers were some of the first to have read the Book of Mormon and joined the Church in September of 1830. Their introduction to the Book of Mormon at that time was rather cursory in nature unlike what we do today. The Pratts read into the geography of the Book of Mormon in a rather simplistic way, perhaps as any 10-year-old today might like to do. Bear in mind, they were invited to read the book but they were not the ones who wrote the book, let alone conceived it. Even Oliver Cowdery was not the brains behind the story and he played no part with the lost 116 pages.

So, in this vein, I would like to repeat myself in stating that I believe the Pratts were responsible for the hemispheric model because they interpreted the narrow neck to be Central America where Panama was the connecting bridge that led into the land southward. It was the Pratts who came up with the original dumb idea. Smith simply went along with it out of convenience in the interest of allowing their faith in the Book of Mormon to be maintained and grow.

I believe Delmarva was the very land of Nephi in which Smith originally envisioned when he dictated the story to Oliver. I also believe that Smith had his eye on Cumorah during the entire dictation and was well aware of the distance between the two points of interest. He imagined the wars and migrations between Delmarva and Cumorah. That was the setting for the Book of Mormon when telling the story.

Have a nice day.

Shulem

[Zosimus]

The hemispheric model was first conceived by the Pratt brothers, Orson & Parley.

On 18 November 1830, the Observer and Telegraph published a statement from a witness stating that Oliver Cowdery gave a public address in Kirtland, and included the information that Lehi’s party “landed on the coast of Chili 600 years before the coming of Christ".

[Shulem]

The hemispheric model was first conceived by the Pratt brothers, Orson & Parley.

On 18 November 1830, the Observer and Telegraph published a statement from a witness stating that Oliver Cowdery gave a public address in Kirtland, and included the information that Lehi’s party “landed on the coast of Chili 600 years before the coming of Christ".

Well, the number of people involved in Mormonism was quite small at that time and dating a correspondence between the new members is rather tight, nonetheless, let’s proceed. Whatever Cowdery may have publicly said in November is after the fact in question: (1) Pratt brothers reading of the Book of Mormon prior to Cowdery’s address (2) Pratt brothers being baptized prior to Cowdery’s address.

Here are some clips from Wikipedia to help frame the story:

While traveling to visit family in western New York, Pratt read a copy of the Book of Mormon owned by a Baptist deacon. Convinced of its authenticity, he traveled to Palmyra, and spoke to Hyrum Smith. Pratt was baptized in Seneca Lake by Oliver Cowdery on or about September 1, 1830, formally joining the church. He was also ordained to the office of elder. Continuing on to his family's home, he introduced his younger brother, Orson Pratt, to Mormonism and baptized him on September 19, 1830.

Arriving in Fayette, New York, in October 1830, Pratt met Joseph Smith and was asked to join a missionary group assigned to preach to the Native American tribes on the Missouri frontier. During the trip west, he and his companions stopped to visit Sidney Rigdon. They were instrumental in converting Rigdon and approximately 130 members of his congregation within three weeks.

Thus, we see how Pratt enjoyed close contact with founding members of the Church, including Cowdery, and was involved in early missionary work of proclaiming the message of the Book of Mormon to the world. Pratt was directly involved with missionary work at that time. It seems he was an active participant with the brethren when the Observer and Telegraph published Cowdery’s statement about Lehi’s landing.

[Shulem]

QUESTION FOR DAN VOGEL REMAINS UNANSWERABLE

The introduction of the Book of Mormon in conjunction with original publication states how the people of Jared came from the “TOWER” -- the fabled Tower of Babylon which was the cause for the confounding of a single language resulting in multiple tongues rather than one Adamic. The point being, we are given the origins of both races having come from the Old World: Babylon & Jerusalem, respectfully.

Now, with that said, do you not think it strange that Smith did NOT reveal a point of destination in the introductory Title Page of the Book of Mormon? Is it not strange that Smith did not reveal the geographical landings of either party in settling the New World? Let me just say that the reason Smith did not reveal that was because Delmarva and the East Coast was his original secret kept from everyone, including the Pratts. The brothers came after and introduced their own ignorant unversed theory on where Lehi landed.

YOU might think that if Smith had originally conceived the idea that Lehi landed in South America, the Title Page of the Book of Mormon would have included information to that effect. Origin and Destination go hand in hand unless one is keeping it a secret for reasons I’ve explained in my threads -- I, having gotten into the mind of Joseph Smith. It makes no sense to think that Smith imagined South America as the original destination while dictating the stories of the Book of Mormon! Everything in the text leads us to understand that the geography was localized and within the region in which the plates were found.

Wake up, Dan.