Circle Squared
A Textual Analysis of the Book of Mormon
Chapter 16: "The Ultimate Magic 8-Ball of Ultimate Destiny"
Chapter Summary:
The wicked take the truth to be hard--Lehi’s sons marry the daughters of Ishmael--The Liahona guides their course in the wilderness--Messages from the Lord are written on the Liahona from time to time--Ishmael dies; his family murmurs because of afflictions. About 600–592 B.C.
Nephi's brothers complain to him in the first couple verses of Chapter 16 that the things about which Nephi spoke to them in the previous chapter (hell, eternal punishment for finite crimes against an omnipotent god, etc.) were "hard things, more than we are able to bear." To which Nephi replies that if they were following god’s commandments then the things which he had told them would not be "hard". To be clear, the term "hard" used in these verses refers to how the admonitions make the listener feel relative to their conscience and not to the difficulty of the concept to be understood.
Nephi continues in verse 3: "And now my brethren, if ye were righteous and were willing to hearken to the truth, and give heed unto it, that ye might walk uprightly before God, then ye would not murmur because of the truth, and say: Thou speakest hard things against us."
This is an appeal to conscience. Nephi seems to assume that his brothers (who, mind you, have allegedly seen an angel) understand and know the same things he knows and understands about god. But speaking to a person in such a guilt-inducing way is simply emotional manipulation. It is no different than someone (like say, Mormon apostle Richard Scott who is well known for this very tactic) decrying premarital sex and telling perpetrators that they really do know better. Muslims could just as easily say that I "know better" than to eat pork. First Mr Scott should explain in a coherent way why premarital sex is a bad thing before appealing to one's guilty conscience.
Nephi also does not specify any wicked acts his brothers might have committed except for "murmuring" against their father for saying such confusing things about things which they cannot verify in a reliable way. Simply saying that they "know better" doesn't clarify anything and it certainly doesn't validate or confirm any of the supernatural claims made thus far.
This also ties in with the concept discussed in the previous chapter that we are apparently expected to follow god's commandments to show our commitment to him before we have a good reason to suppose his existence. Confirmation comes after a display of faith. As I pointed out in my review of Chapter 15, this is backwards.
This appeal to conscience is enough to convince Nephi's brothers to be humble and it is implied that it should also be sufficient for readers to do the same. Nephi becomes optimistic that his brothers will finally follow god's commandments and stop murmuring, etc. This is peculiar to me, though, because Nephi has just finished seeing a vision in which he sees the wickedness of his brothers cause a division between his seed and theirs. This division will lead to the creation of two great civilizations, one of which will see Jesus and then fall away and record all of these events to the convincing of the remaining civilization to become Mormons. This was all spelled out clearly to Nephi by the angel. Why would Nephi think for even a moment that his brothers' new found righteousness would actually stick this time? He knows how this plays out and the whole narrative depends on the division between the two houses. It seems that Nephi is the one who should “know better.”
Lehi decides to wander around the area and discovers a strange ball with two spindles on it. One spindle points to where he should take his family. How he knows this is not explained and no explanation of the second spindle is given here. This extraordinary device is implied to be some form of compass. Although this is not explicitly stated here, it is the common understanding of Mormons. This is especially extraordinary because compasses were not to be invented by humans until several centuries later when we had some idea of magnetism and the earth's poles.
Isn't it amazing that god would give Lehi an invention commonly used at the time of publishing the Book of Mormon (1830) long before such a device was invented?
Honestly, it would have been more impressive had god given Lehi "Google Earth" since that had yet to be invented even in Joseph Smith's day. But, of course, such specificity of future events (rather than retro-fitting well known historical events to appear as prophecy) is never attempted by most charlatans as this could betray their lies.
Lehi and his family use the device to wander around the boarder of the Red Sea, hitting oasis after oasis as directed by the compass. Convenient, no?
In verse 18 we have one of the first, and most controversial, anachronisms in the Book of Mormon. Nephi goes in to the wilderness and breaks his bow "which was made of fine steel" (this is a reference to Psalms 18:34).
It is true that as early as 1500 BCE some primitive civilizations dabbled in smelting steel. It was rare, and nowhere near as sturdy and reliable as today's steel, but it happened nonetheless. However, most peoples which had the technological capability to smelt metals at this time (600 BCE) only worked with copper, brass and sometimes iron. Steel was a rare anomaly.
This may seem like a small bone to pick, but the Book of Mormon will go on to explain how smelting metals, in particular steel, was fairly common among Lehi's descendants while living in America. No archaeological evidence has yet been found supporting the claim that any Native Americans had the capability to work with copper, brass or iron, much less steel. No steel artifacts or furnaces capable of the task dating pre-Columbus have been found on any of the American continents. Why would this be if the Book of Mormon is an historically accurate account of the ancient Native Americans?
Nephi's brothers and their families, and even the stalwart Lehi, begin to "murmur against The Lord" because they could get no food. I suppose hunger will do that. They began to question whether they should have left Jerusalem to begin with. Again, hunger will do that. Ever-faithful Nephi makes a new, albeit down-graded, wooden bow and asks Lehi to inquire of the ball-compass where he should go to find food (Why didn't they do this in the first place? I mean, if god gives you a magic ball through which you can talk directly to him whenever you want, why would you ever not use it?). Lehi feels ashamed for murmuring, repents and asks the magic ball for directions to get food.
Nephi determines that the magic 8-ball of destiny only works when his band of travelers are faithful to god and adhere to whatever spiritually enlightening messages the ball sends to them (no examples are given). Again, we see god dangling truth just out of reach unless you first comply and follow his rules based solely on the assumption that doing so will award you with a retroactive reason. Bass ackwards.
Let's assume that this story actually happened--why would they ever doubt god? I mean, sure, they have yet to explain how they know the ball is a conduit for god, thereby ruling out all other options or potential explanations of how the ball works or how messages magically appear on it. These people are convinced that this is exactly how the ball works. Why would they question god if they have such a tangible way to speak to god directly?
I ask myself similar questions whenever I see a half-hearted believer. Either you believe it or you do not. If you do believe it, why would you ever knowingly rebel against god or slip out of church activity, etc. Such people come across to me as having a “belief in belief”, as philosopher Daniel Dennett describes it. They believe, likely through indoctrination or upbringing, that belief in religion makes a person behave more morally. I have yet to see evidence supporting this hypothesis.
Despite the fact that these people have a magic ball that talks to god (more or less) confirming that god exists, as soon as the father of the second family, Ishmael, dies in a place called "Nahom", several members of the family turn against Nephi and his father--almost to the point of murdering them--so they can return to Jerusalem. Why the mutineers could not just leave the group and return on their own is never explained. My guess is that Joseph wanted to avoid the implications of a group of dissenters returning to a recently, or soon to be, sacked Jerusalem. This would have really messed with his preferred narrative of having the two factions war against each other throughout the rest of the Book of Mormon. It works better to set up this gradually building divide culminating in perpetual war once they make it to America.
Going back to Ishmael's death, Mormon apologists love to point to the name of the place of his burial as a firm "hit" for the book of Mormon's authenticity. Mormons have long speculated the possible route of Lehi and his family through the Middle East to the coast. There are a few landmarks named in the book, however none of the names are used outside of the Book of Mormon. This makes it difficult for believers to corroborate the text with real-world evidence.
Never mind that this process of working backwards to find evidence in support of their preconceived conclusion is not very scientific, Mormon apologists now have a "smoking gun" in their favor. You see, a few years ago archaeologists found a grave site in southern Yemen, one of the proposed routes for Lehi's family, where a stone grave marker had the Hebrew letters "NHM" engraved on it. "NHM?" Why, that's a spot-on match for "Nahom", the place where the Book of Mormon describes Ishmael's burial! Do you believe it now?
Unfortunately for Mormons, "Nahom" is no more a real place than it is a real ancient Hebrew word (yet the Book of Mormon footnote says it is close to the Hebrew word "naham", meaning to "be sorry, console oneself"). Ancient Hebrew did not contain vowels when written, so there are as many as 25 possible Hebrew words which could fit the inscription. The most likely candidate to me is "Nihm"; not because "The Secret of Nihm" was one of my favorite books as a child, but because not far from the site is a town called "Nihm". And in case I need to spell this out, "Nihm" is no more the same word as "Nahom" than "crape" is the same word as "crap".