“Up to” and “down
from” Jerusalem
Embedded in the opening chapters of
Nephi’s account is another remarkable testament to his ability to record
accurate, real-world geographical facts. As a native of Jerusalem, Nephi knew
first-hand that travel from the city in the Judean mountains in any direction
literally meant doing “down from” it; and that to travel to Jerusalem was to “go
up.” Jerusalem’s elevated geography is further, uniquely, accentuated by the
huge Wadi Arabah to its east, containing the Dead Sea, some 1,300 feet below
sea-level. In no less than 25 instances, Nephi’s first-hand record correctly
uses the terms in the same manner that biblical writers also did when
discussing the various travels of the family to and from Jerusalem.
Significantly, though, this convention
was not continued in the Book of Mormon by later authors and editors.
While they likely knew that Jerusalem was situated in mountains, that knowledge
had less impact and relevance to those who had not personally experienced the topography
of the Holy City themselves. Writing years later in the New World, Nephi
himself adapted his terminology to suit, as when he prophesied of a distant day
when his descendants would be taught “that we came from Jerusalem” (2 Nephi
30:4). In this context, speaking of the gradient leading down from Jerusalem or
the directions traveled—another point of consistency—would be simply
superfluous; unnecessary detail when addressing people who never knew Jerusalem
first-hand.
We also find topographical statements
concerning Jerusalem are completely absent from Nephi’s brief introduction to
the First Book of Nephi. Although it mentions the initial exodus from Jerusalem
twice, and the return of Lehi’s sons to obtain the records of Laban, there are
no qualifying terms referencing geography. It was simply unnecessary detail in
a summary. Later writers in the Book of Mormon were not unaware of the term to “go
up.” In Mosiah 10;10, for example, Zeniff uses the term three times when
describing a battle against the Lamanites. Yet, just two verses later (vs. 12),
when referring back to the original departure from Jerusalem, there is no “down
from” attached to it. This consistency is a striking affirmation both of multiple
authorship and of the record’s historicity. (Warren P. Aston, Lehi and Sariah
in Arabia: The Old World Setting of the Book of Mormon [Xlibris, 2015], 37)