Compass, Coins, and other Miscellaneous
Book of Mormon Anachronisms Part 6
By Michael R. Ash
Editor's Note:
The following article is courtesy of FAIR, a non-profit organization
dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms
of LDS doctrine, belief and practice. FAIR can be found
online at http://www.fairlds.org/. This
is a last in a series of six articles featuring supposed “anachronisms”
in the Book of Mormon. It covers topics that are difficult
to categorize, and that haven’t appeared in the previous articles.
Some
of the supposed Book of Mormon anachronisms are difficult to
categorize, so they are included here.
“Coins”
The
term “coins” is never actually used in the Book of Mormon text.
The chapter heading of Alma 11 that mentions “coins” is in error
and was inserted during a nineteenth century editing. It is
not part of the original Book of Mormon text.
Alma
11 does deal with Nephite money, which is not anachronistic.
Some ancient Mesoamericans, for instance,
used cacao beans for money.1 Not only were cacao
beans used as money anciently, but they were still used as money
in Mesoamerica until about fifty years ago.
Money
need not take the form of coins as long as it serves as a standard
measure of value. In the Book of Mormon, Alma employs a monetary
system based on weight units of metal (though not coins). It
is interesting therefore to note that a recent excavation in
Ecuador turned up 12,000 pieces of metal money, thereby confirming
that the ancient Americans used standard units of metal money.2
Some
critics found the Nephite monetary system laughable — especially
the fact that they had a “fixed standard of value for
barley.”3 While such a monetary system would
have been odd for 1830 New York, the system was not so strange
for a society with roots in the ancient Near East.
The
Law of Mosiah recognized a system of legal exchange equivalents.
Exchange ratios were given for gold, silver, barley and all
kinds of grain (see Alma 11:7). Likewise, in ancient Mesopotamia,
the Laws of Eshnunna gave an exchange equivalent of “‘1 kor
barley for 1 shekel silver’ and then established fixed prices
for services of harvesters, boatmen, and other workers.”4
The
main concept behind the Nephite monetary system appears to be
Near Eastern in origin but was altered according to the needs
of the Nephites.
Compass
During
the Lehites’ pilgrimage in the wilderness, Lehi was given a
device, called “Liahona,” which helped guide them on their journey.
Nephi described the Liahona as round, made of brass and containing
two spindles or arrows (see 1 Nephi 16:10). Nephi called the
ball a compass (see 1 Nephi 18:12) and mentions that there were
things written in the Liahona that gave them instructions (1
Nephi 18:27, 29).
Likewise,
Alma tells us that the word “Liahona” means “compass” (Alma
37:38). The critics, however, deride the Lehite “compass,” claiming
that the magnetic compass was unknown in the sixth century B.C.
First
of all, the function of magnetic hematite — the naturally magnetic
principal core of iron — was well understood in both the Old
and New Worlds before Lehi was given the Liahona. The
Olmecs may have been using magnetite compasses as early as the
second millennium B.C. And the very word “magnetite” comes from
Magnesia of Asia — the place from which the ore was mined
as early as the seventh century B.C.5
Secondly,
the Liahona does not operate in the typical fashion of
a magnetic compass. Rather than pointing to cardinal directions
(or pointing to magnetic North), the Liahona operated
by the power of God (1 Nephi 16:28) and told the Lehites the
direction they should go.
One
of the primary definitions of “compass” is round or circular.
In fact the word “compass” seems to be just the word to describe
the Liahona. As Dr. Nibley has observed, the derivation of the
word “compass” remains a mystery. It has, however, two basic
meanings:
This
second definition refers to the motion of making a circle. Either
way, the word “compass” could correctly refer to the Liahona
because of its round (ball) shape or the motion of the arrows.6
Not
surprisingly we find that the Liahona/compass fits neatly into
Old World traditions, thanks to non-Mormon scholar T. Fahd.
In 1959, Fahd “published the hitherto scattered, scanty, and
inaccessible evidence that makes it possible for the first time
to say something significant about the Liahona.”7
Fahd
engaged in a study of belomancy, which is “the practice of divination
by shooting, tossing, shaking, or otherwise manipulating rods,
darts, pointers, or other sticks, all originally derived from
arrows.”8 Fahd notes how the pre-Islamic Arabs consulted
the Lord through the tossing, or manipulating of pointers. Thus
the Arabs believed that through such divination the Lord instructed
his people.
Interestingly
enough — as noted by Nephi and by Fahd — the pointers, or arrows,
had inscriptions upon them that gave the people their instructions.
“The inscriptions on the arrows themselves give top priority
to travel....”9
Whether
the devices studied by Fahd worked for the ancient Arabs or
not is irrelevant (with Nephi it was God who guided the Liahona
arrows and messages — certainly something the Lord could see
fit to do). The fact that Joseph Smith, however, tells us about
an ancient practice, long forgotten to modern man, is very relevant.
Glass
When
the Jaredites were building their barges, the brother of Jared
was concerned about the lack of light in their vessels. The
Lord asked:
Some
critics have taken this to mean that the Jaredites understood
the concept of glass — which, they claim, is anachronistic for
the time period (approximately 2000 B.C.).
Thanks
to modern research, however, we find that some Egyptians had
plaques of blue glass and glass beads as early as the third
millennium B.C.10
Submarines
and Shining Stones
More
than one critic has found amusement in ridiculing the Jaredite
barges—or “submarines,” as some critics chide.
According
to the Lord’s instructions, the barges were to be water-tight,
peaked at the ends, with holes at the top and bottom creating
some sort of reserve air supply (Ether 2:17-20). Because they
were unable to have windows, the Lord provided sixteen white
stones that would shine in the darkness (Ether 3:1-4).
Studies
of ancient tales of Noah’s ark (from which the barges were patterned
[see Ether 6:7] — and which were not readily available to most
frontiersmen in 1830), reveal some interesting similarities.
According to these non-Biblical writings, Noah’s ark was also
peaked — resembling a crescent moon. Like the barges, the ark
was sealed by closing a door — in fact the Egyptian word for
“ark” meant “box, chest, or coffin”
because of the essential cover or lid.11
Like
the barges, the ark apparently had a special air hole or ventilator
(nappashu — in some versions translated “window”) that
designated a “breather” unlike any ordinary window. Both vessels
were sail-less, yet driven by the winds, and both would be covered
(at times) by ferocious waves.12
Just
as the Jaredites had illuminating stones, some of these ancient
texts tell us that the Ark was illuminated with a miraculous
light-giving stone.13 During Noah’s twelve-month
journey, this polished gem would provide light in the Ark and
would change in brightness to indicate whether it was day or
night outside.14
One
of the names for this gem was “Moonfriend,” or Jalakanta,
which interprets, “that which causes the waters to part.” Thus
the peculiar power of this shining gem was that of “enabling
its possessor to pass unharmed through the depths of the waters.”15
In
some texts the Ark is called a “bright house” or “moon-boat”
partially because of its crescent shape, partially
because it wandered through space for twelve months, and partially
because it was illuminated by a miraculous light.16
It
was mentioned earlier that in some text the Ark was equipped
with a breather or ventilator (nappashu), which can also
be translated as “window.” In Genesis, the Hebrew word for the
Ark’s window is tsohar. This same word can also be translated
as shiner or illuminator.17 The Book
of Mormon version, which is a fuller account than any other,
contains both ideas — the ventilator and the illuminator.
Headless
Swordsman
At the end of the last
Jaredite battle, Coriantumr decapitated his opponent, Shiz,
after which the fallen foe “raised up on his hands and fell;
and after that he had struggled for breath, he died” (Ether
15:29-32). Critics have laughed at these verses, supposing that
Joseph Smith had seen too many headless chickens on the farm.
One
professor of neuropathology has noted however, that Shiz’s death
struggle is a not uncommon reflex
among animals (including humans) when the upper brain stem is
severed from the brain. This M.D. suggests that Coriantumr must
have cut Shiz’s head a little high — at the midbrain level—thereby
causing the reflex.18
For
more details on this topic see http://www.mormonfortress.com
or http://www.fairlds.org.
Written by Michael R. Ash for the Foundation for Apologetic
Information and Research (FAIR), Copyright © 2003. www.fairlds.org.
Notes
1 Virginia
Morell, “The Lost Language of Coba,” Science 86 (March
1986),
52.
2 John
L. Sorenson, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of
Mormon
(Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company and FARMS,
1985),
233.
3 Rev.
M. T. Lamb, 302-303.
4 John
W. Welch, “The Law of Mosiah,” ReExploring the Book of
Mormon,
edited by John W. Welch (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book
Company,
1992), 160.
5 Robert
F. Smith, “Lodestone and the Liahona,” ReExploring the
Book
of Mormon, edited by John W. Welch (Salt Lake City: Deseret
Book
Company, 1992), 45.
6 Hugh
Nibley, Since Cumorah (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book
Company,
1967), 296.
7 Ibid.,
283.
8 Ibid.,
287.
9 Ibid.,
291.
10
Hugh Nibley, Lehi in the Desert & The World of the Jaredites
(Salt
Lake
City: Bookcraft, 1980), 213-214.
11
Hugh Nibley, An Approach to the Book of Mormon (Salt
Lake City:
Deseret
Book Company, 1963), 279.
12
Ibid., 279-281.
13
Hugh Nibley, Since Cumorah, 279.
14
Nibley, An Approach, 282.
15
Ibid., 285-286.
16
Ibid., 289.
17
Hugh Nibley, Lehi In The Desert & The World Of The
Jaredites/There
Were Jaredites, 364.
18
M. Gary Hadfield, “Neuropathy and the Scriptures,” BYU Studies
33:2
(Spring 1993), 313-325.
