In his book entitled Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Allen works to establish the geographical ties of the text of the Book of Mormon to Mesoamerica. And while the evidence is quite convincing, this is not the object of this post. In this post I share the argument that Allen makes regarding the spiritual message of the geographical sections of the Book of Mormon. In this way, whether you are a believer in the Heartland Model or the Mesoamerican Model, you can appreciate the nuance of the text in a new way by being exposed to Joseph Allen’s work in this area.
He writes:
Because Mormon could only write one hundredth of what took place among the Book of Mormon peoples, why does he waste valuable space talking about geography?
We contend that Mormon used geography to teach a spiritual message. This thinking suggests that Mormon uses geography as a type and shadow to emphasize the plan of salvation, why, by the way, is the central theme of the so-called geography section of Alma 22.27-34.
This thinking is highlighted in the account of acceptance of the gospel by the old Lamanite king who was taught the gospel by Aaron: “O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day” (Alma 22.28).
If the verses in Alma 22.27-34 which are written in Hebrew-style parallelism, are not placed in the text by Mormon to emphasize a spiritual concept, then they are out of context with the stated purpose of the Book of Mormon and the theme of Alma 22. But when we translate this section into a spiritual format, it is both beautiful and powerful.
We maintain that the eight verses in Alma 22.27-34 are written in the Hebrew parallelistic style of writing and that they together form a literary masterpiece. The overall passage appears to have been written in a chiasmic format, and chiasmic structures are also found within the overall passage. For example, verse 29-31 repeat the following:
Bountiful
Desolation
Desolation
Bountiful
For this exercise, we will extract the chiasmus of the entire text in general to illustrate the spiritual message Mormon emphasizes. The text follows a pattern of Mesoamerica-type couplets in which two words or phrases are side by side as repetitive statements or as contrasting statements. The central theme of the chiasmus deals with the distance for a Nephite from the east boundary line of Desolation to the west sea with a dualistic concept of man’s journey through this life.
We will first introduce the chiasmic structure of these eight verses and then follow with a more detailed account as outlined in Alma 22.27-34.
A. The land of Nephi
B. Sea on the east and on the west
C. A narrow strip of wilderness
D. Surrounded by the Lamanites
E. The land Bountiful and the land Desolation
F. A day and a half’s journey
E. The line Bountiful and the land Desolation
D. Surrounded by water
C. A small neck of land
B. The east unto the west sea
A. The land of Nephi
And it came to pass that the king sent a proclamation throughout all the land,
A. amongst all his people (land of Nephi) who were in all his land, who were in all the regions round about, which was bordering even to
B. the sea, on the east and on the west, and which was divided from the land of Zarahemla by
C. a narrow strip of wilderness, which ran from the sea east even to the sea west, and round about on the borders of the seashore, and the borders of the wilderness which was on the north by the land of Zarahemla, through the borders of Manti, by the head of the river Sidon, running from the east towards the west—and thus were the Lamanites and the Nephites divided. Now, the more idle part of the Lamanites lived in the wilderness, and dwelt in tents; and they were spread through the wilderness on the west, in the land of Nephi; yea, and also on the west of the land of Zarahemla, in the borders by the seashore, and on the west in the land of Nephi, in the place of their fathers’ first inheritance, and thus bordering along by the seashore. And also there were many Lamanites on the east by the seashore, whither the Nephites had driven them. And thus the Nephites were
D. nearly surrounded by the Lamanites; nevertheless the Nephites had taken possession of all the northern parts of the land bordering on the wilderness, at the head of the river Sidon, from the east to the west, round about on the wilderness side; on the north, even until they came to the land which they called
E. Bountiful. And it bordered upon the land which they called Desolation, it being so far northward that it came into the land which had been peopled and been destroyed, of whose bones we have spoken, which was discovered by the people of Zarahemla, it being the place of their first landing. And they came from there up into the south wilderness. Thus the land on the northward was called Desolation, and the land on the southward was called Bountiful, it being the wilderness which is filled with all manner of wild animals of every kind, a part of which had come from the land northward for food.
F. AND NOW, IT WAS ONLY THE DISTANCE OF A DAY AND A HALF’S JOURNEY FOR A NEPHITE, on the
E. line Bountiful and the land Desolation, from the east to the west sea; and thus the land of Nephi and the land of Zarahemla were
D. nearly surrounded by water, there being a
C. small neck of land between the land northward and the land southward. And it came to pass that the Nephites had inhabited the land Bountiful (land southward), even from
B. the east unto the west sea, and thus the Nephites in their wisdom, with their guards and their armies, had hemmed in the Lamanites on the south, that thereby they should have no more possession on the north, that they might not overrun the land northward. Therefore the Lamanites could have no more possessions
A. only in the land of Nephi, and the wilderness round about. Now this was wisdom in the Nephites (Alma 22.27-34).
By translating these eight verses of Alma chapter 22 into a spiritual message, which we believe Mormon intended, we come up with a marvelous study of how geography is utilized as a type and shadow of the plan of salvation.
The following chart illustrates the couplets, or parallelistic structures, and their symbolic counterparts as outlined in Alma 22.27-34:
Aaron teaches the creation, the fall, and the redemption to the old Lamanite king, who was the father of Lamoni, and to his brother, Anti-Nephi-Lehi. In Alma 22.18, the king says, “I will give away all my sins to know thee, and (to know) that I … (will be) saved at the last day.” If the old Lamanite king could repent and be saved after all he had done, we too, can also repent and be saved.
Does it seem likely that Mormon would interrupt such a spiritual and doctrinal treatise to talk about geography if it were not for the purpose of driving home the message of repentance and the redemption of Christ?
In the context of Mormon’s writing, we understand that the land of Nephi, which was taken over by the Lamanites, represented evil and that the land of Zarahemla, the new promised land to the 200 BC Nephites, represented good. When the two Nephites colonies of Limhi and Alma returned to Zarahemla, they were received by King Mosiah with open arms. These events may be likened unto us when we return repentant to God, who will receive us with open arms. Our desire is to go to the land Bountiful, which represents paradise or eternal life, as opposed to going to the land Desolation, which represents death and hell. You will notice that even the animals left the land northward (land of Desolation) to get food that was available in the land southward (land of Bountiful). Both Zarahemla and Nephi (good versus evil) and Bountiful and Desolation (eternal life versus damnation) are separated by “that which is narrow” – that is, Nephi was separated from Zarahemla by a narrow strip of wilderness, and Bountiful was separated from Desolation by a narrow (small) neck of land.
This analysis is reminiscent of the scripture where we are told that “whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked” (Helaman 3.29; emphasis added)…
The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ. Its purpose is to bear witness of Christ. The Nephite writers were skilled in the art of dualism- of types and shadows. Here, in only eight verses in Alma 22, Mormon utilizes geography in such a manner as to teach the plan of salvation. 1
Notes
- Joseph Allen and Blake Allen, Exploring the Lands of the Book of Mormon, revised edition, Covenant Communications, 2011, p. 422-426.