Directionally Challenged Lehites

In reading the drama surrounding the BoM Zeniffites I have been surprised how often various groups got lost in the wilderness and it has me thinking there is something about this recurring theme that speaks to the nature of the Promised Land.

The first indication that something was up was when Ammon and his buddies set out from Zarahemla to find the land of Nephi. Their goal was to figure out what happened to Zeniff and his crew after they left Zarahemla. Keep in mind, it wouldn’t have been that long ago that Mosiah I led the Nephites out of the land of Nephi so there should at least be some record of their travels, which way they went, landmarks, etc. But Ammon has no clue, actually.

And now, they knew not the course they should travel in the wilderness to go up to the land of Lehi-Nephi. Therefore they wandered many days in the wilderness, even forty days did they wander.

Granted, he probably knew the general direction but that’s it apparently. I thought that was a little odd but no biggie. I assumed they just didn’t keep a record of their travels when they fled the land of Nephi originally. I find that unlikely but I can’t think of any other normal reason to explain not knowing how to get back. But we’re just getting started.

The next odd “wandering” we hear of is when we get Zeniff’s first-person account. He tells us that their first attempt to find the Lamanites was successful but there was a big fight amongst the Nephites on whether to kill the Lamanites or not, so they naturally settled on killing each other instead. (The spirit of Contention was hanging around that day I’d say.)

The survivors returned to Zarahemla, but later set out again to find the land of Nephi. But it’s not a straight shot, which you would expect since they had already found it once. Instead, Zeniff says:

Nevertheless, after many days’ wandering in the wilderness…

I don’t see any other way to read that as they really didn’t know how to get there again despite having already made the journey and so they had to wander to eventually find it.

Hmm. Odd. Not too bright on Zeniff’s part to not take note of the “course they should travel” the first time around.

You’d think they would have at least learned their lesson this second time and kept a detailed travel log or made maps so that if they ever wanted to find their way back to Zarahemla, they could.

You’d be wrong.

When Limhi is later the king, he sends out a group of 43 men to find Zarahemla so that they can flee there. They apparently had no clue how to find it though:

And they were lost in the wilderness for the space of many days, yet they were diligent, and found not the land of Zarahemla but returned to this land, having traveled in a land among many waters, having discovered a land which was covered with bones of men, and of beasts, and was also covered with ruins of buildings of every kind, having discovered a land which had been peopled with a people which were as numerous as the hosts of Israel.

What they actually found was the desolate land of the Jaredites, a land no other group on the Promised Land had as yet found. But they thought it was the land of Zarahemla. What’s odd, though, is that the Jaredite lands had to be an entirely different direction from the land of Nephi than Zarahemla was or else it would be very hard to explain how the Jaredite lands hadn’t already been discovered by the Mulekites or Nephites.

If so, why on earth would those 43 men head out in the wrong direction? Was there really no indication in their records of which general direction Zarahemla was from their own lands? Could they not just observe the direction of the sun and use that as a guide toward Zarahemla? Extremely odd imo.

It’s a miracle these 43 men found their way back to the land of Nephi as directionally challenged as they were.

When Limhi and his people escape, things go better. They are led by Ammon and his buddies back to Zarahemla:

…being led by Ammon and his brethren. … And they pursued their journey. And after being many days in the wilderness, they arrived in the land of Zarahemla…

But it was not necessarily a straight shot because the journey took “many days”. That detail will be relevant later. Ammon and his buddies apparently did take some detailed notes I suppose? However, check out what happens to the pursuing Lamanite army:

… the Lamanites … sent an army into the wilderness to pursue them. And after they had pursued them two days, they could no longer follow their tracks. Therefore they were lost in the wilderness.

Say what? The Lamanites don’t know the nearby lands well enough that two days away from town they are completely lost? They couldn’t tell which way they had gone from home base? No mountain or river was visible to give them a clue how to get back? Come on, bro.

And explain losing the tracks. The Limhites were not a small band of people traveling light. They took flocks and herds with them. Even if it rained something fierce on the second night to cover their tracks, or if they were traveling over extremely rocky land, just follow all the poo! Flocks and herds and people would definitely leave a scat trail that wouldn’t be too hard to follow even if you couldn’t detect other obvious signs which is also pretty unlikely.

Now it’s possible Limhi’s people were very adept at trail obfuscation. There are historical examples of this but they seem to mostly involve rocky, desert terrain, which may be what’s happening here but the BoM lands are described as pretty lush most of the time. I’ll be generous, though, and say that they had enough time and knowledge to create false trails and a weather event was well timed to aid their efforts. That is at least plausible.

None of that would explain what happens to their pursuers, however.

Now the armies of the Lamanites, which had followed after the people of King Limhi, had been lost in the wilderness for many days. And behold, they had found those priests of King Noah, in a place which they called Amulon.

So after two days they aren’t just a little lost, they are a lot lost, so much that they find an entirely different land where Noah’s wicked priests had settled down, a place that was unknown to them before that.

And Amulon and his brethren did join the Lamanites, and they were traveling in the wilderness in search of the land of Nephi, when they discovered the land of Helam, which was possessed by Alma and his brethren.

What’s odd about this case is Amulon and his buddies used to live in the land of Nephi. What’s more is they had once snuck back to that land and stole a bunch of grain and treasures. They also kidnapped some Lamanite women to marry. Did they also forget the direction or remember any landmarks to help them get back?

These Lamanites keep searching for home, however, and who do they find? Alma and his people who had left the land of Nephi about 25 years prior.

The Lamanites strike a deal with Alma: show us how to get back and we’ll leave you in peace. Amulon should have been able to answer that question already. Regardless, Alma shows them and the double-dealing Lamanites don’t keep their word and instead place Amulon in charge as king of the land of Alma.

Alma and his people are later miraculously delivered from this unpleasant scenario. Their overseers fall under a Wizard of Oz style deep sleep which allows Alma’s people to escape, again with all their flocks.

But check this out, Alma leads them away only one day of travel before stopping. Wha???

And when they had traveled all day they pitched their tents in a valley, and they called the valley Alma, because he led their way in the wilderness.

I mean how far can you get with a large group of people and animals in just a single day for heaven’s sake? Why did they think it was safe to stop? I guess they assumed the deep sleep would last longer than it did, but apparently God agreed this was not gonna cut it. As we learned before, you need two days of travel to lose Lamanites, not just one! God warns Alma to flee but promises to stop the Lamanites in that same valley. He doesn’t say how, but my guess: they would get lost!

Regardless, Alma and his crew head straight for Zarahemla. They find it in a stunning 12-day travel despite having never made the journey before. Remember it took Ammon and his buddies 40 days to find the land of Nephi from Zarahemla and then “many days in the wilderness” to retrace the same journey with Limhi and his people. Maybe “many days” means about 12 but it sounds like more to me.

What to make of this?

I have a really hard time believing that all of these groups are so directionally challenged. It would be easier to think some of these groups went full retard:

Or to assume this is just a really bad plot hole in the BoM. But what I really think is this tells us something important about the nature of the Promised Land. First let’s make sure these various Lehite groups have normal means of directional travel:

• Was there a sun?
  • The BoM makes it clear that from this land you can see a sun in the sky, that it rises and sets in a predictable manner, and is the source of their light, and that the earth they are on moves around said sun.
• Did they understand cardinal directions?
  • There are several references to the cardinal directions in the BoM.
• Did they have visible landmarks by which to judge travel?
  • There are rivers, mountains, oceans, etc.
• Were they poor outdoorsmen?
  • There’s no indication of that and many counter-indications. Plus, you’d think military men would have a basic understanding of Orienteering. Even boy scouts learn those basics.

If we accept the BoM as a true tale, that just leaves one possibility, in my opinion: magic or enchantments. We read of many such examples in Tolkien’s writings: The Old Forest, Mirkwood, the Girdle of Melian, Rivendell, Fangorn, the Gray Havens, Lothlorien, the Shadowy Seas. All of those are places that confuse, bewilder, deter, and disorient travelers.

It would also explain Alma’s group not being troubled by such enchantments and making short work of the same journey that vexed so many others, being, as they were, favored of God.

The Gentiles that reach the Promised Land will need to understand this. Presumably whatever they learn in the corrupted Book of the Lamb will include knowledge that gives them power over such enchantments or else they will never be able to sweep the Lehites from their own lands.