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| Ship Building in Dubai, UAE |
After Lehi's party arrived in the Land of Bountiful, one would think that the grumblers would finally be content, but they were not. After many days, the Lord called Nephi to journey up into a tall mountain. There He commanded Nephi to build a ship to take his family across the ocean they called Irranteum. Nephi, of course, had logistical questions, but the Lord reassured him that He would be by his side through it all and that they would arrive safely in a land which would be choice above all other lands.  |
| Izapa Archaeological Site, Chiapas, Mexico |
Many years ago (how time flies!) I was teaching 15 and 16 year-old Sunday School students from the Book of Mormon. When we came to this part of 1 Nephi, I divided them into teams of two; gave each team a large sheet of butcher paper and a box of markers; and asked them to draw Lehi's dream. It made for an interesting lesson because they had to look beyond the symbols to the meaning of the symbols as they drew. They loved it! 
Nephi then saw the Messiah teaching among men and choosing twelve to follow Him. He saw the wicked men of the world fighting against Messiah and His apostles. This, the Spirit said, was the wisdom of the world in the great and spacious building. Nephi wrote: And the multitude of the earth was gathered together; and I beheld that they were in a large and spacious building, like unto the building which my father saw. And the angel [said] Behold the world and the wisdom thereof . . . I saw and bear record, that the great and spacious building was the pride of the world; and it fell, and the fall thereof was exceedingly great. And the angel [said] Thus shall the destruction of all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, that shall fight against the apostles of the Lamb. (1 Nephi 11: 35-36)
Nephi wrote: And the angel spake unto me, saying: Behold the fountain of filthy water which thy father saw; yea, even the river of which he spake; and the depths thereof are the depths of hell. (1 Nephi 12: 16) Nephi later taught his brothers: The water which my father saw was filthiness . . . It was an awful gulf which separated the wicked from the Tree of Life and from the Saints of God. . . It was the representation of that awful hell . . . prepared for the wicked . . . there cannot any unclean thing enter into the kingdom of God; wherefore there must needs be a place of filthiness prepared for that which is filthy. (1 Nephi 15: 23-29, 34)
And the mists of darkness are the temptations of the devil, which blindeth the eyes, and hardeneth the hearts of the children of men, and leadeth them away into broad roads, that they perish and are lost . . . And a great and a terrible gulf divideth them; yea, even the word of the justice of the Eternal God, and the Messiah who is the Lamb of God, of whom the Holy Ghost beareth record, from the beginning of the world until this time, and from this time henceforth and forever. (1 Nephi 12: 17-18)
I have saved this story for the end of Lehi's Arabian sojourn because of it's spiritual power. It involves a dream Lehi had early in their travels. It caused him to rejoice for his wife and sons, Nephi and Sam, but to worry about his oldest boys, Laman and Lemuel. Nephi describes the dream in the following words from the Book of First Nephi in the Book of Mormon. I have edited out the phrase "and it came to pass" in order to make the reading more concise. [1] 
[W]hile my father tarried in the wilderness he spake unto us, saying: Behold, I have dreamed a dream; or, in other words, I have seen a vision [2] . . . Behold, methought I saw in my dream, a dark and dreary wilderness. And . . .I saw a man, and he was dressed in a white robe; and he came and stood before me. And . . . he spake unto me, and bade me follow him. And . . . as I followed him I beheld myself that I was in a dark and dreary waste. And after I had traveled for the space of many hours in darkness, I began to pray unto the Lord that he would have mercy on me, according to the multitude of his tender mercies.. . .
After I had prayed unto the Lord I beheld a large and spacious field. . . .I beheld a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy. . . I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen. As I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit. . . .
As I cast my eyes round about, that perhaps I might discover my family also, I beheld a river of water; and it ran along, and it was near the tree of which I was partaking the fruit. And I looked to behold from whence it came; and I saw the head thereof a little way off; and at the head thereof I beheld your mother Sariah, and Sam, and Nephi; and they stood as if they knew not whither they should go. . . . I beckoned unto them; and I also did say unto them with a loud voice that they should come unto me, and partake of the fruit, which was desirable above all other fruit. And . . . they did come unto me and partake of the fruit also. . . .
I beheld a rod of iron, and it extended along the bank of the river, and led to the tree by which I stood. . . . I also beheld a strait and narrow path, which came along by the rod of iron, even to the tree by which I stood; and it also led by the head of the fountain, unto a large and spacious field, as if it had been a world . . . I saw numberless concourses of people, many of whom were pressing forward, that they might obtain the path which led unto the tree by which I stood. And . . . they did come forth, and commence in the path which led to the tree.
And . . .there arose a mist of darkness; yea, even an exceedingly great mist of darkness, insomuch that they who had commenced in the path did lose their way, that they wandered off and were lost. And . . . I beheld others pressing forward, and they came forth and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press forward through the mist of darkness, clinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree. And after they had partaken of the fruit of the tree they did cast their eyes about as if they were ashamed.. . .
I also cast my eyes round about, and beheld, on the other side of the river of water, a great and spacious building; and it stood as it were in the air, high above the earth. And it was filled with people, both old and young, both male and female; and their manner of dress was exceedingly fine; and they were in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers towards those who had come at and were partaking of the fruit. And after they had tasted of the fruit they were ashamed, because of those that were scoffing at them; and they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost.
And great was the multitude that did enter into that strange building. And after they did enter into that building they did point the finger of scorn at me and those that were partaking of the fruit also; but we heeded them not . . . For as many as heeded them, had fallen away. And Laman and Lemuel partook not of the fruit, said my father. (1 Nephi 8: 2, 4-35)
Critics of the Book of Mormon have often attacked 1 Nephi 17 because of the land Nephi describes that is due east of the burial place of Ishmael. This is what he wrote:
The Hiltons suggest that the possible site of Ishamel's death was the city now known as Al Qunfudhah in the southernmost part of Saudi Arabia. The picture above is of the ruins of the "old town" of Al Qunfudhah. Whether or not it is the same place Lehi visited is only conjecture.
The other possible site of Ishmael's death is just across the border in present-day Yemen: Nihm. Nephi wrote that Ishmael was buried in a place called Nahom. It is the only site along the trail that was not renamed by Lehi, but called by it's existing name. Nihm and Nahom in pronunciation are similar enough to suspect that they may have been the same place 
Immediately following Ishmael's death, Lehi turned due eastward following the guidance from the Liahona. This abrupt change of direction could have occurred from either Al Qunfudhah or Nihm because those sites are close to one another. This led them to their final destination on the Arabian Peninsula: the area now known as Salalah, in the Nation of Oman. |
| Ruins at Jiddah, Saudi Arabia |
One day, about a year after Carm's death, I was pruning my fruit trees. I found myself apologizing to the trees for ignoring them last year. It was then that the Spirit spoke and said: "Last year, I was pruning you." I try to remember that.
Slings have been used as weapons only slightly later than rocks. It was with a sling that David slew Goliath, a bear, and a lion. Those who grew up using slings would be very accurate and very deadly in killing game. Because they lived a nomadic life during at least part of their journey, Lehi's family didn't always have the luxury of planting and sowing grain and other foodstuffs (although they did take seeds and did camp in at least three places long enough to have sown and harvested a crop.) Their ability to find animals for food, skins, etc., would have been of utmost importance. (1 Nephi 16)
Wooden bows and arrows were also taken on the journey. The bows would have been of a fairly simple design. However, bows made of wood can lose their spring. If an area is more humid than the area where the bow was made, it can become too resilient to string properly. If the area is less humid, the wood can become brittle and break when being strung. This did happen to Lehi's family group. It was a huge problem because of the scarcity of wood in the area in which they traveled. Nephi was finally able to make a new bow, but not without a great deal of difficulty. (1 Nephi 16)
Composite bows were in use in Egypt by the time of the Hyksos who ruled Egypt during the days of Jacob and Joseph. (Such a bow was found in King Tut's tomb!) These bows had wooden cores, but the wood was reinforced and stabilized by things such as horn, bone, sinew, and metal. Nephi had one such bow, which he called his "steel-backed bow." They may have acquired it in Aqaba which had smelters for iron and bronze and was at the crossroads of the Egyptian trade routes to the east. [1] 
When the other bows broke, Nephi's bow was the only thing upon which Lehi's family could rely. However, with a wooden core, Nephi's bow eventually broke and there was tragedy in the camp. (1 Nephi 16) According to the Hiltons, this may have taken place near the current site of Jiddah, Saudi Arabia. It is in this area that watering holes could be as far apart as 66 miles or several days' journey. There are two areas in Saudi Arabia where this occurs and it seems to coincide with two times recorded in the Book of Mormon where the party of Lehi had particular struggles finding food. Water and wood was so scarce that when they were able to kill game, they ate the meat raw. [4]
They called the ball the Liahona. LDS scholar, Dr. Hugh Nibley, offered these insights into the meaning of the word: