Saturday, October 22, 2016

Finding Lehi’s Isle of Promise – Part XIII

Continuing with Mormon’s descriptions that enable us to find and locate the Land of Promise today by understanding what was upon the land anciently. As has already been stated, certain things are relevant and even critical in using to define the location of the geographical setting of the Land of Promise. We have already discussed several parts stated by Nephi and Jacob, and a couple so far by Mormon.
    Obviously, any true Land of Promise must match all of the descriptions listed in the Book of Mormon—it is not a pick and choose arrangement in selecting those that agree with your point of view and rejecting tose that do not. Any model must match all of the descriptions of the scriptural record to be considered the Jaredite/Nephite Land of Promise.
    So let us look at still another description that enables us to look more closely at a Land of Promise location is the continual use of forts, fortifications, and resorts (small fort) mentioned in the scriptural record. In the book of Alma alone, resort is used 3 times, fort l4, fortifications 8, fortify or fortified 13, and stronghold 14 times. Obviously, the existence of forts and fortifications were an important part of the Nephite landscape.
Typical of the Andean mountain top fortresses, this Kuelap Fortress ruins of the Chachapoyas culture also known as the Cloud Forest People, discovered 1843, showing its obvious defensive construction with only two entrances into the complex and those through this steep narrow pathway between stone walls where defenders could stand upon and shoot arrows down or throw stones (slings) while attackers had to negotiate this long, narrow climb

    Obviously, defense was on the mind of the Nephites throughout their 1000-year history and, except for the 200 years of their golden age following the advent of the Lord on the Americas following his crucifixion, the Nephites and Lamanites were almost constantly at war with one another. And unlike how we see things today, anciently wars or battles were fought during certain times of the year—Spring through the Fall, with a cessation of hostilities during the winter months while the Lamanites basically returned to their lands to sit out the weather at a time of the year where the weather that made fighting difficult to impossible.
    During these off times, Mormon writes that Captain Moroni “had been strengthening the armies of the Nephites, and erecting small forts or places of resort; throwing up banks of earth round about to enclose his armies, and also building walls of stone to encircle them about, round about their cities and the borders of their lands; yea, all round about the land” (Alma 48:8), And in their weakest fortifications he did place the greater number of men; and thus he did fortify and strengthen the land which was possessed by the Nephites” (Alma 48:9).
    Thus, we should find all sorts of forts, stone walls, and high-ground fortresses throughout the Land of Promise. Moroni not only dug ditches and built walls of timber for these fortress walls (Alma 49:18-22; 50:1-6), but he also built “walls of stone to encircle them about, round about their cities and the borders of their lands; yea, all round about the land” (Alma 48:8).
Major hilltop fortresses and walls around cities. Andean Peru has scores of such sites, all walled and built for defense—there are only open city complexes like found all over Mesoamerica without defense the issue. It is obvious that these Andean forts were built with serious defense in mind

    Obviously, these fortifications were not just wooden stockade walls that would deteriorate over time and disappear as some Theorists claim, but also built walls of stone that would not only withstand a concentrated attack by the enemy, but last for centuries.
    It should also be pointed out that the first mention of resorts is in connection with the    defector Zoramites “being the most acquainted with the strength of the Nephites, and their places of resort” (Alma 48:5), suggesting that the Zoramites, having lived among the Nephites, were not only well acquainted with the strength of their cities (fortresses), stone walls, etc., but also their small forts—which can only mean that they knew about the Nephite system of warning outposts. Nor were these fortifications in just one particular area, for “Moroni had fortified, or had built forts of security, for every city in all the land round about” (Alma 49:13; see also 50:11 and 62:42).
Perhaps nowhere else in the entire Western Hemisphere, and nowhere outside of Europe and Asia with their warring cultures, do we find an area as fortified anciently as that of Andean Peru—there is no question that these early people built for their defense against an aggressive and long-standing enemy where savage attacks seemed to have been the norm, judging from the construction of their forts and fortresses and walls that surrounded their cities

    In addition to major forts and fortresses, Mormon describes a unique type of building that appears only in Andean Peru, and that is what he called “resorts,” which is defined as “last resort or means of relief,” “a place to fall back,” “to resort to other means of defense,” “a strategy or course of action.” Mormon himself defines “resort” as a “fort.”
    While the purpose of these small forts, or resorts, is not mentioned in the scriptural record, other than they are included with the construction of defensive strongholds (Alma 52:6), it must be concluded that they served a defensive purpose in the war against the Lamanites. Thus, we might see that a resort or fort of this nature would be a small area not meant for serious defense, but an area of warning or an outpost—that is, a small military camp or position at some distance from the main force, used especially as a guard against surprise attack.” Such areas have been used where attacks were common as a means of providing an advance notice of an approaching army or military force.
These small resort forts, typically situated in mountain passes, overlooking valleys, or canyon approaches, served as an early warning system for the Nephites

    It should also be understood that the first mention of resorts is in connection with the defector Zoramites “being the most acquainted with the strength of the Nephites, and their places of resort” (Alma 48:5), suggesting that the Zoramites, having lived among the Nephites, were not only well acquainted with the strength of their cities (fortresses), stone walls, etc., but also their small forts—which can only mean that they knew about the Nephite system of warning outposts. Nor were these fortifications in just one particular area, for “Moroni had fortified, or had built forts of security, for every city in all the land round about” (Alma 49:13; see also 50:11 and 62:42).
    Obviously, any Land of Promise location must show not only erected buildings, impressive as they might be, but such fortified areas, stone walls, hillside or mountainous small forts as a remnant of a once powerful Nephite nation that withstood the constant attacks of a dedicated enemy for nearly 800 years before being finally exterminated. While there are many stone edifices in Mesoamerica, there are few fortresses and no outpost stone structures serving as lookout resorts. There are none whatever in any of the other suggested locations for the Land of Promise, except of the crudest manner. Such structures are only found in the Andean area of South America, in Ecuador, Peru and western Bolivia,and northern Chile.
    There is also a particular mention of a fortification that the Nephites built across the land to stop the advance northward of the Lamanite invasion. At this time, in 36 B.C., three years after Helaman died, the war broke out with great fervor—a war that saw the Lamanites conquering all of the Land of Zarahemla and driving the Nephites and Moronihah’s army back into the Land of Bountiful. Mormon writes: “and there they did fortify against the Lamanites, from the west sea, even unto the east; it being a day's journey for a Nephite, on the line which they had fortified and stationed their armies to defend their north country” (Helaman 4:7). 
For two years this war progressed as Nephite dissenters stirred up the Lamanites to battle.
So heated was the war, that the Nephites lost almost all of the Land Southward until they were driven back to a point where Moronihah had the Nephites build a fortified wall across the land in Bountiful after the army retreated northward. This fortified line was so successful, that it stopped the Lamanite advance, and the following year the Nephite army retook many parts of the land and regained many cities, which had previously fallen into the hands of the Lamanites (Helaman 4:9). The year after the Nephites gained more, even half of all their previous possessions in the Land Southward (Halaman 4:10).
    Obviously, then, this was no mere ditch or mounded earth piled up, but an impenetrable, well fortified wall that stretched across the land from the west sea eastward. Since this wall was the length of a day’s journey for a Nephite (Helaman 4:7), it obviously had some eastward terminus that was impassable by the Lamanites, such as deep canyons or steep mountains. Nor was this wall a mere temporary, quickly constructed chest-high fortification (breastwork, barricade or parapet), but a sturdy, stone wall (bulwark) that stopped the Lamanite invaders in their tracks and turned the tide of the three year war.

Top: The Great Wall of Peru, built to defend against attack from the south (right) runs parallel to the north side of the Santa Valley; Center: Pics of the actual wall, its thickness is up to three feet at the base; Bottom: the walls as it crossed the mountain passes and along the ridge

    This Great Wall of Peru, which stretches from the west coast of northern Peru near the mouth of the Santa River in what is now a large marsh, was stone and broken rocks set in mud mortar as it crossed the Santa Valley and hilly interior. It stood as high as 20 to 30 feet, with 14 stone fortresses located on hills overlooking the wall, dated to the period between 900 B.C. to 100 B.C., which should suggest to all who study the scriptural record, that any true Land of Promise must match all of the descriptions listed in the Book of Mormon—it is not a pick and choose arrangement in selecting those that agree with your point of view, but must match all of the descriptions, beginning with those discussed in these first 13 posts.
(See the next post, “So Where is the Land of Promise? – Part XIV,” for more of these descriptions as listed in the scriptural record of the Book of Mormon)

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