The Book of Mormon Geography
By Porter
Nahom
Nahom is the city in the middle east where Ishmael was buried after he died.
Warren Aston notes,
“The recent discovery by a German archaeological team of a stone altar in Yemen referring to the tribal name NIHM was announced in the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies in 1999.(1) Perfectly preserved under centuries of sand, the altar had been dated by its excavators to about 600-700 BC, thus placing it squarely in the time frame of the Book of Mormon ‘Nahom’ (1 Nephi 16:34) where Ishmael was buried. Unlike most places mentioned in the account of the journey from Jerusalem, Nephi’s wording makes it clear that Nahom was already called such by the local population.”
So it is clear that we have discovered an alter with the characters, “NHM”.
1 Nephi 16:34 says
34 And it came to pass that Ishmael died, and was buried in the place which was called Nahom.
Which is a crystal clear reference to the place, Nahom. According to Hebrew “nahom” likely means
“consolation,” from verb naham, “be sorry, console oneself.”
Which sounds like it means something related to consolation which is what Lehi’s family felt when Ishmael died.
It is said that archeologists have also found a stone with the name “Ishmael” inscribed upon it. The top is a face carving and below it are the south Arabian characters, “YASMA IL” which is the South Arabian form typically translated as Ishmael. The stela is stylistically similar to come from 6th or 7th century BC which is the same time Lehi and his family traveled through the wilderness. It looks like it came from near the “Wadi Jaf” which is near the exact region which is where researches believe Nahom was located. Several ancient burial grounds have been documented in and near the Nihm tribal grounds, Nihm tribe existed near this same precise location.
Lehi’s family traveled nearly eastward from that time forth until they reached the coast. Any burial in or near the Wadi Jaf would be near the turning point of the Frankincense trail that Lehi may have trabeled.
We can say with a high degree of certainty that there was an individual from the north named Ishmael who was buried near the Nihm tribal region around 6th century BC which is around the very place and time where the Book of Mormon claims it had taken place. That is pretty significant.
Mesoamerican Model
Presented in John Sorenson’s Article
The Mesoamerican model is basically the proposition that the Book of Mormon events occured in or near central america including, but not limited to Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras.
- Correspondence with Book of Mormon geography: Proponents of the model argue that the geography described in the Book of Mormon matches the Mesoamerican region, including features like rivers, mountains, and valleys.
Key locations in the Mesoamerican Model:
Book of Mormon references:
The river Sidon is mentioned in Alma 2:15.
15 And it came to pass that the Amlicites came upon the hill Amnihu, which was east of the river Sidon, which ran by the land of Zarahemla, and there they began to make war with the Nephites.
Proposed locations for the river Sidon:
- Magdalena River in modern Colombia
- Usumacinta River
- Grijalva River
The Valley of Nephi:
- Wadi Tayyib al-Ism, a river valley in northwest Arabia
| Book of Mormon verse | phrase | Modern Geographical location |
|---|---|---|
| Alma 22:32 | The narrow neck of land | The Isthmus of Tehuantepec |
| col 2 is | centered | ok |
| zebra stripes | are neat | ok |
- The Grijalva River: Suggested as the River Sidon ().
- 1 Nephi 4:1-2
- The Usumacinta River: Proposed as the River Sidon’s headwaters ().
- Alma 22:29
Heartland Model
Limited Geography Mesoamerican Model
South American Model
Baja California Model
Hill Cumorah
Mormon 6:6 And it came to pass that when we had gathered in all our people in one to the land of Cumorah, behold I, Mormon, began to be old; and knowing it to be the last struggle of my people, and having been commanded of the Lord that I should not suffer the records which had been handed down by our fathers, which were sacred, to fall into the hands of the Lamanites, (for the Lamanites would destroy them) therefore I made this record out of the plates of Nephi, and hid up in the hill Cumorah all the records which had been entrusted to me by the hand of the Lord, save it were these few plates which I gave unto my son Moroni.
We are not trying to convince people; we are trying to lead them to have spiritual experiences of conversion, and reduce obstacles to faith with the best information we have. We can demonstrate that our faith is reasonable, but we don’t want to reason people into the Gospel, because that’s not lasting #conversion. “But even at its best, the resolution of doubts by reason and appeal to evidence cannot take us far. It is helpful to meet a brilliant mind who defends gospel truths with fact and logic. There is comfort in finding that such a person has confronted the same questions with which you struggle and has retained his faith. But there is a hazard. Even the most brilliant and faithful person may defend the truth with argument or fact that later proves false. The best scholarship has, at least, incompleteness in it. But even flawless argument has a weakness if you come to depend on it: What happens to the next doubt, or the next? What if no physical evidence or persuasive logic can be produced to dispel it? You will find then what I have found— that faithful scholar who reassured you with logic did not base his faith there. It was the other way around. His faith reassured him that someday, when God told him how it was all done, he would see all truth as perfectly logical, transparently reasonable. In the meantime he was enjoying discovering what he could with the logic he could muster.” -President Henry B #Eyring. To Draw Closer to God, p. 142 “It is commonly said that if rational argument is so seldom the cause of conviction, philosophical [and scholarly] apologists must largely be wasting their shot. The premise is true, but the conclusion does not follow. Though argument does not create conviction, the lack of it destroys belief. What seems to be proved may not be embraced; but what no one shows the ability to defend is quickly abandoned. Rational argument does not create belief, but it maintains a climate in which belief may flourish.” -Austin Farrer
- Let’s be clear about the difference between “evidence” and “proof.”
- “Evidence” comes in different kinds, and virtually every religion has some evidence for it.
- Faith is not the result of accumulating a certain amount of evidence, but rather, spiritual experience and personal conviction.
Evangelicals (And Reformed/ Calvinists in particular) are prone to both cluelessly overemphasize the role and amount of evidence for Protestant beliefs.
So is there evidence for the Book of Mormon? Sure. Is it relevant? Not really. We want people converted, not convinced.
“I had only traveled a short time to testify to the people, before I learned this one fact, that you might prove doctrine from the Bible till doomsday, and it would merely convince a people, but would not convert them. You might read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and prove every iota that you advance, and that alone would have no converting influence upon the people. Nothing short of a testimony by the power of the Holy Ghost would bring light and knowledge to them—bring them in their hearts to repentance. Nothing short of that would ever do. You have frequently heard me say that I would rather hear an Elder, either here or in the world, speak only five words accompanied by the power of God, and they would do more good than to hear long sermons without the Spirit. That is true, and we know it. (JD 5:377.)” - Discourses Of Brigham Young, p. 330; Teaching, No Greater Call p. 43. “Debate and argument have not that saving effect that has testifying to the truth as the Lord reveals it to the Elder by the Spirit. I think you will all agree with me in this; at least, such is my experience. I do not wish to be understood as throwing a straw in the way of the Elders storing their minds with all the arguments they can gather to urge in defense of their religion, nor do I wish to hinder them in the least from learning all they can with regard to religions and governments. The more knowledge the Elders have the better. (JD 8:53) -Discourses Of Brigham Young, p. 33
d between Little Fishing and Big Fishing rivers, which streams were formed by seven small streams or branches. As we halted and were making preparations for the night, five men armed with guns rode into our camp, and told us we should ‘see hell before morning;’ and their accompanying oaths partook of all the malice of demons. They told us that sixty men were coming from Richmond, Ray county, and seventy more from Clay county, to join the Jackson county mob, who had sworn our utter destruction. During this day, the Jackson county mob, to the number of about two hundred, made arrangements to cross the Missouri river, above the mouth of Fishing river, at Williams’ ferry, into Clay county, and be ready to meet the Richmond mob near Fishing river ford, for our utter destruction; but after the first scow load of about forty had been
set over the river, the scow in returning was met by a squall, and had great difficulty in reaching the Jackson side by dark. When these five men were in our camp, swearing vengeance, the wind, thunder, and rising cloud indicated an approaching storm, and in a short time after they left the rain and hail began to fall. The storm was tremendous; wind and rain, hail and thunder met them in great wrath, and soon softened their direful courage, and frustrated all their designs to ‘kill Joe Smith and his army.’ Instead of continuing a cannonading which they commenced when the sun was about one hour high, they crawled under wagons, into hollow trees, and filled one old shanty, till the storm was over, when their ammunition was soaked, and the forty in Clay county were extremely anxious in the morning to return to Jackson, having experienced the pitiless pelting of the storm all night; and as soon as arrangements could be made, this ‘forlorn hope’ took the ‘back track’ for Independence, to join the main body of the mob, fully satisfied, as were those survivors of the company who were drowned, that when Jehovah fights they would
rather be absent. The gratification is too terrible. Very little hail fell in our camp, but from half a mile to a mile around, the stones or lumps of ice cut down the crops of corn and vegetation generally, even cutting limbs from trees, while the trees, themselves were twisted into withes by the wind. The lightning flashed incessantly, which caused it to be so light in our camp through the night, that we could discern the most minute objects; and the roaring of the thunder was tremendous. The earth trembled and quaked, the rain fell in torrents, and, united, it seemed as if the mandate of vengeance had gone forth from the God of battles, to protect His servants from the destruction of their enemies, for the hail fell on them and not on us, and we suffered no harm, except the blowing down of some of our tents, and getting wet; while our enemies had holes made in their hats, and otherwise received damage, even the breaking of their rifle stocks, and the fleeing
of their horses through fear and pain. Many of my little band sheltered in an old meetinghouse through this night, and in the morning the water in Big Fishing river was about forty feet deep, where, the previous evening, it was no more than to our ankles, and our enemies swore that the water rose thirty feet in thirty minutes in the Little Fishing river. They reported that one of their men was killed by lightning, and that another had his hand torn off by his horse drawing his hand between the logs of a corn crib while he was holding him on the inside. They declared that if that was the way God fought for the Mormons, they might as well go about their business.”