Circle Squared
A Textual Analysis of the Book of Mormon
Chapter 18: "Nephi Sails the Ocean Blue"
Chapter Summary:
The ship is finished--The births of Jacob and Joseph are mentioned--The company embarks for the promised land--The sons of Ishmael and their wives join in revelry and rebellion--Nephi is bound, and the ship is driven back by a terrible tempest--Nephi is freed, and by his prayer the storm ceases--The people arrive in the promised land. About 591–589 B.C.
Nephi and his theologically flip-flopping brothers, who had just been literally shocked by god through Nephi's outstretched hand, finish building the boat and collect a bunch of food for their journey. Lehi has two more sons, Jacob and Joseph, and they all board the ship and set sail for the Promised Land in America.
Nephi makes sure to let the reader know that he did not build the boat after the manner of men, but as instructed by god with curious yet unspecified workmanship. This is often used as a blanket excuse for the criticism that no one in the world at this time had the technological capabilities to build a boat sturdy enough to travel from Yemen around India and Asia, through the tumultuous Pacific Ocean to the coast of Mexico/California. But, as the argument goes, god does possess such technology.
As with the magic 8-ball compass given to Nephi before compasses were invented (but were in common use in Joseph Smith's time), such is also the case of the boat Nephi built capable of traveling across oceans. And, as I stated before that I would have been more impressed had god given Nephi "Google Earth" rather than a compass, I would be much more impressed had god given Nephi schematics for an airplane.
It is supremely telling of the sheer inventedness of the Book of Mormon that all of the spectacular and "ahead of their time" technologies mentioned in the book as gifts from god to Nephi and his kin were common in Joseph Smith's day and age. So far not a single piece of uniquely modern technology has been mentioned. This makes the Book of Mormon appear more as a book of retro-fitted prophecies than a book of actual prophecies. And there is nothing supernatural or divine or even original about that.
While on the boat, Laman and Lemuel and their families "began to make themselves merry, insomuch that they began to dance, and to sing, and to speak with much rudeness." Being the puritanical prude that he is, Nephi fears that because of this unbecoming behavior god will sink their boat and kill them. Nephi chastises his brothers yet again, and they don't like it.
They bind Nephi and leave him exposed to the elements on the deck of the boat during a mighty storm. Nephi explains that god, rather than electrocuting his brothers again, lets Nephi suffer through this physical pain to prove a point. And what is this glorious and useful point which the omni-benevolent lord of all wishes to convey to his fallible, imperfect children? God can do anything, including punishing, torturing and killing anyone he wants for crimes such disbelief, merry making and rudeness. This is more of the primitive idea that natural disasters, in this case a storm at sea, are the direct result of god's disapproval of the actions of mortal men. Disgusting, ignorant, shameful opportunism.
The storm rages for four days. Lehi and other righteous members of the family exhort Laman and Lemuel to let Nephi go because the magic 8-ball has stopped working and they will soon be swallowed up in to the sea. Laman and Lemuel only let Nephi go when they realize that the storm was from god, again without explaining how they came to this conclusion.
Once loosed, Nephi rushes to the compass, says a prayer to god and voila! No more storm and the compass works again. If only all of god's workings were so straightforward and predictable. Unfortunately for people who actually exist, god doesn't answer their prayers so obviously. I guess he is too busy being mysterious.
After sailing the ocean blue for many days (the book is not any more specific than this), Nephi, et al. arrive in America, presumably along the coast of Mexico or California. They set up camp and before long they have a budding civilization.
The final verse leaves us with a string of historical anachronisms which are difficult for Mormons to explain given the utter lack of archaeological evidence supporting the existence of several of these items in pre-Columbus America: "there were beasts in the forests of every kind, both the cow and the ox, and the ass and the horse, and the goat and the wild goat, and all manner of wild animals, which were for the use of men. And we did find all manner of ore, both of gold, and of silver, and of copper."
That's right; Nephi finds cows, horses, copper, silver, and gold in ancient America, none of which have been found by modern archaeologists to have been in America in the time-frame proposed in the Book of Mormon. This is only the beginning of a long list of such anachronisms in the Book of Mormon.