Jesus was not born of Mary at Jerusalem. He was born at Bethlehem.
Closer inspection, however, discloses that Alma meant the land of Jerusalem,
for he said, “born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers.”
Throughout the Book of Mormon these people customarily called lands by the
leading cities in them; such as, the land of Zarahemla, which really included a
score of cities and villages. Nephi, who would not have had the later American
colloquialism of referring to lands by cities, spoke of the Messiah living at
Nazareth, an idea supported by Hebrew thought centuries before his time. (Wesley
Ziegler, An Analysis of the Book of Mormon [Pasadena, Calif.: Wesley
Ziegler, 1947], 81)
