27 And it came to pass that the king sent a proclamation throughout all the land, amongst all his people who were in all his land, who were in all the regions round about, which was bordering even to the sea, on the east and on the west, and which was divided from the land of Zarahemla by 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.
As I read this lengthy verse, I wondered why so much of the precious space on the plates was being used to describe their geography. Apparently it was to delineate the Nephite and Lamanite lands. But even that, why? They must have known that it would be very difficult if not near impossible to identify their lands thousands of years later. Or perhaps this is just one of the errors of men that Mormon (?) asked us to not condemn the book for? Although this can hardly be considered an error, giving an accurate description of their geography.
This is a huge stretch, and I actually don't believe it myself, but is it possible that they knew, back then, that there would be heated debate in the church over Book of Mormon geography? And that the archeology and history of their people would go largely undiscovered and unknown, purposely repressed and hidden? Did they know the world would be clueless about the most important part of their history? That they believed in a Messiah! And worshipped him! And that he was the center of their lives.
Did they know that the general body of the church would be convinced for almost its entire life that their people lived in South America? And they wanted us to know where they lived by giving some details that we could identify, like the Great Lakes sea west and sea east etc.? Or was it just a brief geography lesson pertaining to their history?
I do not know.
I will say it’s a shame that the mountains of evidence proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Nephite civilization lived in this chosen, promised land, the United States, and mainly in the heartland of America, and that there is so much evidence. Or, perhaps it’s not a shame. Perhaps it was the Lord’s will to keep those things hidden, so that those who believed would have to believe in faith and not scientific evidence. Perhaps it was a test of faith. Perhaps that is why the tens of thousands of Michigan tablets that unequivocally showed evidence of a people who’s archeological timeline exactly matches that if Lehi’s posterity, and who believed in Jesus Christ, sat gathering dust in a storage unit in Salt Lake City for years and never saw the light of day- and this known by the Brethren.
Perhaps it was a test of faith. Perhaps there’s a reason why these things are mostly known by those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, and that even in the church there are those who blind and deafen themselves to the mountain of evidence because they have been taught that everything started in South America, even though there is little to no evidence suggesting that for two thousand years they all lived on the Yucatán Peninsula and that Moroni walked over three thousand miles, carrying wagon loads of plates and records, just to plant them in the Hill Cumorah.
Anyway! The good news is that King Lamoni made a proclamation! And a king’s proclamation is no small thing! It’s an edict, a law, a commandment, a direct order. And he made sure it was known to every corner of the land. This showed how important it was to the king. He did not want any of his people to miss out. And what was this proclamation? What was it so important that all of his people were made aware? We will have to read further to find out. :-)
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