Sunday, March 29, 2020

Alma 53:6-7 as an example of the "Mistakes of Men" in the Book of Mormon



And it came to pass that Moroni had thus gained a victory over one of the greatest of the armies of the Lamanites, and had obtained possession of the city of Mulek, which was one of the strongest holds of the Lamanites in the land of Nephi; and thus he had also built a stronghold to retain his prisoners. And it came to pass that he did no more attempt to battle with the Lamanites in that year, but he did employ his men in preparing for war, yea, and in making fortifications to guard against the Lamanites, yea, and also delivering their women and their children from famine and affliction, and providing food for their armies. (Alma 53:6-7)

In the above text, we have an example of the “mistakes of men” were are told about on the title page of the Book of Mormon. In Brant A. Gardner, Second Witness: Analytical and Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Volume 4: Alma (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2007), 683, we read the following:

Translation: Verse 6 comments that "the city of Mulek, . . . was one of the strongest holds of the Lamanites in the land of Nephi." But Mulek is obviously in Zarahemla, not Nephi. Daniel Ludlow proposes "three possible explanations . . .: (1) Perhaps this land is being called 'the land of Nephi' by the Lamanites because they now possess it as they also possess the land of Nephi in the south. (2) The Nephites could have a 'land of Nephi' in the north, although such a land has not been mentioned before and is not mentioned later. (3) The phrase 'in the land of Nephi' might be used to identify those particular Lamanites mentioned in the verse and to differentiate them from Lamanites living in other parts of the country." [1]

Unfortunately, none of these explanations is satisfactory. As for the first time, there is no evidence whatsoever for a "land of Nephi" in the north. As for the second, this is a Nephite record, and unlikely to use Lamanite names; indeed, we cannot be sure that the Lamanites called their land the "land of Nephi"--the term consistently used throughout Mormon's record--and their antipathy to Nephi suggests that they would not.

Obviously, this is simply an error.[2] Mulek is the land of the Nephites, not the “land of Nephi.” I read it as Joseph’s slip, not as Mormon’s. If it had been Mormon’s, he might have meant to write: “the city of Mulek, which was one of the strongest holds of the Lamanites in the land of Nephites.” But Mormon would have been unlikely to make the mistake of interchanging Nephite territory and the land of Nephi. “Nephite” is not typically how Mormon referred to lands under Nephite control. The internal reference to the political entity holding this land is “the land of Zarahemla.” Mormon uses “Nephite” to designate a group of people, but not to refer to the land. Thus this mistake would be a difficult one for Mormon, but an easy one for Joseph, who was much less aware of these geo-political nuances.

Notes for the Above

[1] Daniel H. Ludlow, A Companion to Your Study of the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1976), 236.

[2] J.N. Washburn, Book of Mormon Guidebook and Certain Problems in the Book of Mormon (Bound in one volume and self-published, 1968), 52, adds the possibility that Mormon confused “land of Nephi” for “land of the Nephites.” Without actually saying so, Washburn agrees with my contention that this is an error in the text. John L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book/Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1985), 286, assumes that the error was that of the “original scribe or Mormon.”

 On the issue of the inspiration of the Book of Mormon and related topics, see: